This is the second article about UCD AFC gaining a place at the UEFA Europa League 1st Qualifying Round Draw June 22nd through the UEFA Fair Play route. UCD Fans already know, under UEFA FP criteria, UCD AFC are the FAI’s representatives and the Rep. of Irl (IRL) are currently top of fifty-four countries in UEFA FP ranking list, where the top three are awarded a Europa League spot. UCD Supporters Blog: UCD’s Chance of European Place (Mar 2015)
So what happens now? Well we wait…..
for UEFA to finalise their Fair Play ranking that runs from 01st May 2014 to 30th April 2015 as Club games in UEFA competitions and International competitive matches from Senior down to Under-17 are played over the Spring.
While UEFA Match Delegates will mark each individual game based on the 6 criteria. It’s not vital for RoI to be successful with the match result, what UCD Fans are looking out for is the obvious Yellow & Reds cards and Positive play perhaps goals and shots on/off target.
After 55 games played by Republic of Ireland sides already this season, there isn’t many left for UEFA to calculate
Dates for Your Diary
The matches to look out for are happening around this time
U17 Elite Round Group 4 (Wronki and Grodzisk, Wielkopolski, Poland)
Sat. 21st March Irl 2:2 GRE Goals:2 goal; Cards:1 yellow Further Stats IRL 2:2 Gre
Mon 23rd March BLR 1:3 IRL Goals:3; Cards: 2 yellow; Further Stats BLR 1:3 IRL
Thurs 26th March IRL 0:1 POL Goals: 0 Cards: 1 yellow Further Stats IRL 0:1 POL
UEFA U21 Qualifying
March 26th IRL 1:0 AND, Waterford Regional Sports Centre, Goals: 1 Cards: 3 yellow Further Stats IRL 1:0 AND
U19 Elite Round Group 2 (Mannheim and Sandhausen, Germany)
Thurs 26th March IRL 0:1 CZE Goals: 0 Cards: 1 yellow Further Stats IRL 0:1 CZE
Sat. 28th March GER 3:2 IRL Goals:2; cards: 3 Yellow Further Stats GER 3:2 IRL
Tues 31st March IRL 2:2 SVK Goals:2; Cards: 3 yellow,1 red Further Stats IRL 2:2 SVK
European Championship Qualifying Group D
Sun 29th March IRL 1:1 POL, Aviva Stadium, Dublin Cards: 5 Yellow;Goals:1 Further Stats IRL 1:1 POL
After the first two games above, there’s nothing that stands out against the Irish, if anything the BLR v. IRL game appeared to be very attacking from an Irish point of view.
Connection between FAI Hosting Qualifying Group in U17s & U19s and an unprecedented first place on UEFA’s interim FP list
Ireland have hosted Qualifying or Elite rounds of the under-age tournaments in the past, but last year the FAI hosted both the U17 and U19 Qualifiers in the ROI group. There must be a connection between the Organsation, the Welcome, the Attitude of Players, the Attitude of Fans at the matches and IRL’s unprecedented pole position on the UEFA interim FP ranking list. So THANK YOU Officials, Players and Fans at Ferrycarrig Park (Wexford Youths), Regional Sports Centre (Waterford United), Athlone Town Stadium (Athlone Town), Terryland Park (Galway Utd) and Flancare Park (Longford Town) it’s your efforts that have put the Republic of Ireland on top of the pile.
UCD AFC Supporters Club
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Author
So looking at the day yesterday ( Thurs 26th March) we had u21s kicking off their Euro 2017 Qualifying campaign with a 1:0 win against Andorra down in Waterford. Irish U19 started their Elite group with a 0-1 loss to Czech Republic but Republic of Ireland U17s qualified for Bulgaria 2015 as a best Runner-up after a 0-1 loss to Poland.
Two out of three great results, especially the U17s competing in Bulgaria May 6th to 22nd, it would seem churlish and unfair to analise the matches any further…..
U21 qual: IRL 1:0 AND Goals 1; Cards 3 yellow
U19 Elite IRL 0:1 CZE Goals 0; Cards 1 yellow
U17 Elite IRL 0:1 POL Goals 0; Cards 1 yellow
The above results seem a little modest and very average, so IRL may lose some ground to opponents in UEFA Fair Play Ranking list.
However, U17s qualifying for Bulgarian in May, that’s sweet.
Author
The main article above has been updated with the U19s GER 3:2 IRL and the Senior International IRL 1:1 POL.
The U19s Stats reads like a real gutsy backs-to-the-wall-but-don’t-forget-to-go-up-the-field-and-score. the Irish did that twice but couldn’t keep the Germans out. Heart-Breaking.
The Senior International Stats has an extra ‘Attacking Momentum’ timeline which looks very good for the second half. The Positive Play, Crowd Behaviour should compensate a little for the 5 Yellow cards RoI collected. This individual game won’t be a high scorer but with over Republic Of Ireland International and Club sides in UEFA competition for the 2014/15 season it will hardly register.
Nothing calamitous has occurred in any of the March games so far, with one U19 International to go. I don’t believe there is any more games for Rep of Irl to be assessed on so the average should still remain quite high.
Author
The final game of the different squads competing over the last week produced some fireworks. With a three yellows and a red card shown during the final minutes of Ireland’s U19 game against Slovakia.
However coming back to equalise from two-goals down may be seen as a little bit of positive play. Slovakia were neck and neck with Germany and were chasing a big score to match the hosts.
It’s in the laptops of the UEFA match Delegates now.
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