Conference trucks::football;1

The USSR coach Anatolij Bysjovets have used 22 players during the qualification
for Euro-92. With everything changing rapidly in the replublic, there's a chance
that only one is left to play for USSR in Sweden. Theres also a big chance 
that USSR won't exist next summer. Here's a list that is published in today's 
paper.

Player			Born in	      Plays	    Current club


Sergej Alejnikov	Byelorussia   Midfield      Lecce, Italy

Uleg Kuznetsov		Ukraine	      Defender      Glasgow Rangers, Scotland
Vladimir Tatarchuk	Ukraine	      Defender      CSKA Moscow
Aleksej Michailichenko  Ukraine	      Midfield      Glasgow Rangers, Scotland
Sergej Duran		Ukraine	      Forward	    Benfica, Portugal
Oleg Protasov		Ukraine	      Forward	    Olympiakos, Greece

Stanislav Tjersesov	Georgia       Goalkeeper    Spartak Moscow
Achrik Tsveiba		Georgia	      Defender      Dynamo Moscow

Dmitrij Charin		Russia	      Goalkeeper    CSKA Moscow
Alexander Uvarov	Russia	      Goalkeeper    Dynamo Moscow
Dmitrij Galjamin	Russia	      Defender      CSKA Moscow
Sergej Gorlukovitj	Russia	      Defender      Borussia Dortmund, Germany	
Andrej Tjernisjov	Russia	      Defender      Dynamo Moscow
Vasilj Kulkov		Russia	      Defender      Benfica, Portugal
Igor Sjalimov		Russia	      Midfield      Spartak Moscow
Dmitrig Kuznetsov	Russia	      Midfield	    CSKA Moscow
Igor Kornejev		Russia	      Midfield	    CSKA Moscow
Alexander Mostovoj	Russia	      Midfield      Spartak Moscow
Oleg Sergejev		Russia	      Forward	    CSKA Moscow
Igor Kolyvanov		Russia	      Forward	    Foggia, Italy
Igor Dobrovolskij	Russia	      Forward	    Servette, Switzerland

Andrej Kantjelskis	USSR	      Midfield	    Manchester United, England

Kantjelskis is born in Kazakhstan witch still is a part of USSR. Bysjovets said 
in September that "all players will be available for next summer because it's 
most unlikely that FIFA will grant the indipendent republics membership before
the tournament in Sweden". Now, nobody's sure.

FIFA will have to deal with this situation soon. With USSR and Yugoslavia in the
same group things are becoming coplicated. UEFA must make a desicion before 17 
January about Yugoslavias participation in Sweden, and if they where to be 
disqualified, what about USSR? One thing is clear. No provins or republic can 
take USSR or Yugoslavias place In Sweden, or their place in WC-qualifications. 
Suddenly Italys match against Cyprus is very important.

If you go by the book, group 5 will only contain Hungary, Greece, Iceland and
Luxembourg if Yugoslavia and USSR where to be disqualified, but both FIFA and 
UEFA thinks thats unfair. There's been rumours about a re-draw, but that would
be unfair to the rest of Europe. A draw is a draw.

As someone mentioned, perhaps we will se Iceland in the WC-finals for the first
time.

Mats

    
    	I think that proves the point that the three Baltic states are in
    	for a tough time in International football over the next two years.
    	
    	Even sides like Lux., Malta, Albania would fancy beating them I 
    	would expect...
    
    	Andy.

    
    Re -1, Andy I think they'll do far better than you think and will
    upset a few teams (hopefully not us).  Lithuania in particular will be
    stronger than the likes of Albania and Luxembourg.  However it's all
    guess work at this stage.
    
    Gary. 

Re .1

Kantjelskis may have been born in Kazhakstan, but with a name like that he
is almost certain to have Baltic (probably Latvian) origins.

So maybe he's not available for the "USSR" after all.

    What happens to these players now that they already played for the
    USSR? Will the rules be altered so they can now play for their newly
    formed countries? Well...whatever happens the USSR, assuming it will
    exist as it relates to football, will be just as tough as ever.
    
    JC

Has anyone heard what is happening with this group?

Will the USSR compete under the CIS banner? If so, that means we won't see any
new teams (Russia, Ukraine etc.) until after the 1994 World Cup finals.

What about Yugoslavia? Now that Croatia and Slovenia have been recognised by
the EC I doubt if their players will be able to take part in a team playing
under the Yugoslavian flag. I guess Yugoslavia could continue, we'd just have to
accept that all their players are Serbian!

Have they agreed to meet to arrange fixtures yet?

Any news appreciated.



	Chris.

    
    Last night;
    
    Greece	-    Iceland      1 - 0

Hungary  (1) 1  Iceland  (0) 2

Kiprich 3       Orlygsson 51
                Magnusson 73

    
    With the USSR & the CIS no longer in existence...RUSSIA will replace
    the CIS in this World Cup qualifying group.
    
    Del.

Are Yugoslavia being thrown out?

    What about Ukraine? Seems that the bulk of the old USSR team came from
    that area and Dynamo Kiev. The Ukraine has a national team that played
    the US recently, and they are also planning a Ukraine League to start
    play in the fall.
    
    Tom 

    
    Luxembourg  -  Hungary    (or was it the other way?)
    
        0             3
    
    Mats

    What's going on with this group? Have they sorted out who takes the
    place of Yugoslavia, or because of the war, did they just drop out?
    
    As far as I can tell, these are the only results so far: Any fixture
    schedule?
    
         	Pl W D L  F A  Pts
    Greece      1  1 0 0  1 0   2
    Hungary     2  1 0 1  4 2   2
    Iceland     2  1 0 1  2 2   2
    Russia      0  0 0 0  0 0   0
    Yugoslavia  0  0 0 0  0 0   0 <--------???? Did Croatia or Slovenia
    Luxumbourg  1  0 0 1  0 3   0          replace Yugoslavia
                      

    
    Wednesday the 30:th is the deadline for FIFA to decide weather
    Yugoslavia is out of the competition or not.
    
    The UN embargo agaist Yugoslavia stands. President Panic have though
    asked the UN to easen up the athletic boycott. He feels that all
    Yugoslavian athletes are suffering, and he sees a danger of having the
    best people moving abroad. Of course the people in other republics such
    as Croatia and Slovenia has other opinions.
    
    Yugoslavias first games is sceduled for October 14:th (i think) against
    Hungary in Budapest. Hungary must have some time to prepare themselves,
    so thats why wednesday is the dead-line.
    
    One thing i certain, Croatia or Slovenia will not take Yugoslavias
    place, both UEFA and FIFA has stated that.
    
    Mats
    
    PS Russia has replaced the old USSR, just as your table indicates. 

This question was asked in this note before, but here it is again.

Why do Russia take the USSR's place. Ukraine has a team, doesn't it, and 
maybe some of the other states have teams too? 

What I understand is:

Russia takes the USSR spot because, in the United Nations, Russia takes the 
seat left vacant by the USSR, same goes for FIFA.

On another hand, Ukraine, Lathia, Georgia etc. are given a spot each too, 
aren't they?

Is my assumption right?

�JF?

    I think this has more to do with the fact that the USSR was still a
    footballing "nation" at the time the draw was made. Good question as to
    why Russia gets the USSR spot, since most of the better USSR players 
    seemed to be from the Ukraine. Not as if they need even more fuel for 
    ethnic strife in that area. Maybe they should have had a 2 gmae
    playoff for the place.
    
    Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were given places of their own because
    they were still memebers of FIFA/EUFA, even though they were swallowed
    up by the USSR in 1940. I think Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus and Amenia
    are also UEFA/FIFA members, so they will be thrown into the draw for
    the 1996 Euro Championships. As for the other ex-Soviet republics, I 
    would think that some of them would be better off playing under the
    Asian federation. Uzbekestan, Turkmenistan, etc. probably have a lot
    more in common with their neighbors in Afganistan, Iran, Pakistan, etc. 
    in culture, economic situation and football ability than they do with
    most of Europe.
    
    As for ex-Yugoslavia, Slovenia and Croatia probably will also play in
    the 96 qualifiers, but it looks doubtful about the other republics. If
    the war were to end soon, some form of "Yugoslavia" woud probably emerge,
    but they might go under a different name.
    
    In any event, it seems like an awful lot of countries will be involved in
    European Internationals in the coming years. Certianly this will cause
    headaches for the people who determine groups, formats and schedules.
    
    Tom                                

I don't know any more details, but Yugoslavia have been kicked out of the 1994
World Cup.

I do feel sorry for the players involved. There is a lot of talent in their
team. However, the events in the country are far to serious to allow them the
privilege of competing on the world stage. Just MHO of course.

Al

Yugoslavia were very nearly a great side in the last world cup and lost very 
unluckily to Argentina. They then won their Euro group quite convincingly, finishing top of
the group ahead of Denmark, and look what happened to them. They were a very 
talented team and its sad for soccer that they're not around anymore. I presume 
they  would have been pretty poor anyway even if they were to be involved in this 
world cup as they haven't played much football lately.

 - Kevin

Do not not forget the vast majority of "Yugoslav" players play abroad and do not
lack competitiveness at all.

JF

    Yes, I was just thinking back to the Argentina game of 1990. They were
    definitely the better team that day, but they lost the shooutout. I was
    hoping for them to win the WC, but it looks like another era has
    passed. 
    
    I don't know what the ethnic breakdown was of the team, but I think
    it's safe to say that individual republics won't be able to equal what
    was definitely one of the better teams in Europe, if not the world.
    
    All the same, with everything going on there, football shouldn't be the
    area where they devote the most resources.
    
    Tom
    

    
    Played this week?
    
    Iceland  -  Greece         0 - 1
    
    Correct me if i'm wrong.
    
    Mats

From the results shown in this conference, this group table now looks
like this :

                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
Greece		2  2  0  0  2  0  4
Hungary		2  1  0  1  4  2  2
Iceland		3  1  0  2  2  3  2
Russia		0  0  0  0  0  0  0
Luxembourg	1  0  0  3  0  3  0

Russia	    1   Iceland   0

Yuran 64



                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
Greece		2  2  0  0  2  0  4
Hungary		2  1  0  1  4  2  2
Russia		1  1  0  0  1  0  2
Iceland		4  1  0  3  2  4  2
Luxembourg	1  0  0  3  0  3  0

    
    
    Spot the deliberate mistake in -1
    
    
    Mr padantic !!!
    
    
    mac

Go on, then.....

    
    You have Luxembourg PLAYED 1, yet have LOST 3 games ??!!!
    
    
    Mac :) :) :)

First your geography, now your maths Kev. Tut tut, no hope for the boy.

Kevin.

re -last few.

Leave Kevin alone, just because his best subjects weren't grography and maths
doesn't mean he is a complete idiot ;-).

                            James

    If he isn't a complete idiot, does that mean parts of him are missing?
    
    Tony

Russia	2	Luxembourg  0


                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
Russia		2  2  0  0  3  0  4
Greece		2  2  0  0  2  0  4
Hungary		2  1  0  1  4  2  2
Iceland		4  1  0  3  2  4  2
Luxembourg	2  0  0  2  0  5  0
                      

From last night : 

	Greece	0   Hungary  0


                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
Greece          3  2  1  0  2  0  5
Russia		2  2  0  0  3  0  4
Hungary		3  1  1  1  4  2  3
Iceland		4  1  0  3  2  4  2
Luxembourg	2  0  0  2  0  5  0
                      

    
    
      17-Feb-93
    
       Greece 2 Luxembourg 0
    
    
    Updated table
    
                   P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
    Greece         4  3  1  0  4  0    7
    Russia         2  2  0  0  3  0    4
    Hungary        3  1  1  1  4  2    3
    Iceland        4  1  0  3  2  4    2
    Luxembourg     3  0  0  3  0  7    0

    from VNS russia beat hungary 3-0 which I guess turns the heat up on
    Greece - were there any other games in this group recently.
    
    Regards,
    
    Andrew.D.Wicks

    
    If Greece beat Luxembourg in October they qualify.  If Russia beat
    Greece in Moscow or win in Iceland they qualify.  This group is
    virtually over.  Russia and Greece are certainties with their 2
    meetings to decide who tops the group.
    
    Gary.

    
    RUSSIA 1 	GREECE 1
    
    
    Greece become the first European team to qualify for next years World
    Cup Finals in America.
    
    This is the first time they have ever reached the finals.
    
    
    mac

    Are you sure - my maths tells me they can still be caught by both
    Iceland and Luxembourg - unlikely or not. Is there some more complex
    pattern that i'm missing here.
    
    Regards,
    
    Andrew.D.Wicks

    
    Ah I see according to VNS the score posted in .36 is wrong and Greece
    beat Russia 2-1 so that's how they qualify.
    
    Can someone confirm this?
    
    Regards,
    
    Andrew.D.Wicks

    
>    Can someone confirm this?
	The score I heard on the radio and saw in a local paper a couple
	of days ago was indeed 1-1. They also had that story about Greece
	qualifying but since they included no table I didn't care...

								.Andre.

    
    Greece drew 1-1 and duly qualified.  
    
    Gary.

    did/do Russia play before the summer break or when is the game that
    they need 1 point from?
    
    regards,
    
    Andrew.D.wicks

    
    Russia got a 1-1 draw in Iceland last night.  It's all over now.
    
    
    Gary.

    Gary,
    
    Thanks - don't suppose anyone has the latest table - couldn't
    Russia still overtake Greece to win the group and be seeded.
    
    Regards,
    
    Andrew.D.Wicks

    
    Russia currently top the group on goal difference from Greece.  They
    meet in the last gam ein Athens.  Meanwhile Russia visit Hungary and
    Greece visit Luxembourg.  The last match will decide who wins the
    group.
    
    Gary.

What's this about seeding ? 

If Russia (and therefore I assume any team) finish top 
of their group will they be seeded or will FIFA do what 
they did the last time and base it on the previous 3 
world cups (weighted)? 

I suspect that it wont be the same as last time as 
England probably will not qualify now and the recognised
reason why FIFA went back so many years last time when 
seeding the teams was to ensure that England would be a 
number one seed and could be put on Sardinia.