[Angus Con]

Originally Posted by Portlaw

I actually don't rate Italy or Sweden too much this year, I'm a big Ibra fan but he puts Sweden on his back when he plays, a lot like Bale with Wales. Over here everyone makes the joke of saying who are Bale and Ibra playing in the Euros instead of saying Sweden and Wales. The Ireland 11 is the weakest in the group but somehow we manage to grind out results so realistically we need to 4 points off of Sweden and Italy and hope the other results go our way but I think it's possible.

The justice and karma in that happening against France would be all too sweet, I'd still rather avoid them though cause they are far too strong

Agree on Sweden. I believe the Irish have a great chance at edging out the Swedes here. I really hate the Italian style of play at major tournaments, but that said, Italy usually provides dull 0-0 or 1-0 results, which means they are always in the tournament with their defense & goalkeeping unfortunately. I think we are both guilty of pushing Belgium through considering they have very little proven track record in tournaments.