All to play for in Euro Group B!
Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)
The permutations remain as complicated as they did before Tuesday evening as Group B of Euro 2012 qualifying remains wide open after the eighth round of fixtures threw up a couple of brilliant results for Ireland.
Luck was certainly on Ireland’s side as they somehow managed to come away from Moscow with a point after Russia tore them asunder.
Richard Dunne starred in a heroic defensive performance for the Irish and after that game finished scoreless, all eyes were trained on the game between Slovakia and Armenia.
In the shock of the group so far, the Armenian’s blitzed Slovakia away from home to win 4-0 and draw level with Slovakian’s in third place.
That means that, with two games remaining, Russia still lead the way on 17 points, with Ireland lurking behind in second position on 15 as both Slovakia and Armenia are tied on 14.
Russia can earn a maximum of 23 points, Ireland a maximum of 21 and Armenia/Slovakia can gather 20. This means two wins from two and the Irish will take at least a playoff spot.
Going a step further with that, were Russia to lose to Slovakia, and Ireland earn max points, the Irish will qualify automatically.
So Ireland and Russia need four points from six to see off the other two. Anything less and they can be caught and the possibilities grow too varied for here.
Having a look at one negative scenario, if Armenia were to win both their games, they would be uncatchable by Ireland and the Republic would need all kinds of madness to occur to even get a playoff spot (including Russia not getting any points from six, and Slovakia beating the Russians and at best drawing with Macedonia). The group is that finely balanced.
So this group boils down to four days in October. The final series of games take place on the 7th and 11th October and god knows how it will pan out. At this stage even games against Andorra, who Ireland face away from home on the 7th before welcoming the Armenians, can't be taken for granted.
The Euro 2012 Group B League Table
Luck was certainly on Ireland’s side as they somehow managed to come away from Moscow with a point after Russia tore them asunder.
Richard Dunne starred in a heroic defensive performance for the Irish and after that game finished scoreless, all eyes were trained on the game between Slovakia and Armenia.
In the shock of the group so far, the Armenian’s blitzed Slovakia away from home to win 4-0 and draw level with Slovakian’s in third place.
That means that, with two games remaining, Russia still lead the way on 17 points, with Ireland lurking behind in second position on 15 as both Slovakia and Armenia are tied on 14.
Russia can earn a maximum of 23 points, Ireland a maximum of 21 and Armenia/Slovakia can gather 20. This means two wins from two and the Irish will take at least a playoff spot.
Going a step further with that, were Russia to lose to Slovakia, and Ireland earn max points, the Irish will qualify automatically.
So Ireland and Russia need four points from six to see off the other two. Anything less and they can be caught and the possibilities grow too varied for here.
Having a look at one negative scenario, if Armenia were to win both their games, they would be uncatchable by Ireland and the Republic would need all kinds of madness to occur to even get a playoff spot (including Russia not getting any points from six, and Slovakia beating the Russians and at best drawing with Macedonia). The group is that finely balanced.
So this group boils down to four days in October. The final series of games take place on the 7th and 11th October and god knows how it will pan out. At this stage even games against Andorra, who Ireland face away from home on the 7th before welcoming the Armenians, can't be taken for granted.
The Euro 2012 Group B League Table
About Gareth Penrose
Gareth Penrose founded extratime.com in 2008 and has worked as a reporter / editor / developer on the site since.
Over the last 14 years, Gareth has covered games in the League … View Full Profile