Subject: World Cup 2014 Qualifying stage - Europe

lucky you, I was going to the stadium in a heavy rain...left home at 19, just got back - all wet

i've been in that disappointing situation too, only at that time it was a match in indonesia super league.

in all fairness, from what I know both TEAMS are to blame - they refused to play under the roof so it was left open...

hmm.. for international matches i thought that was something the match officials to decide for, not the team, wasn't it?

From what I've read, there are 4 sides that decide - both teams, uefa official and the organizer

apparently all sides were against the opening of the roof the day before

the rules state, that the match should take place in the same conditions as the last training = no roof

then, when weather conditions deteriorate, it is only up to the referee to make a decision of opening/closing roof

unfortunately, the decision wasn't made till last moment - and then it was too late, because the roof is made in such modern technology [yaay!] that it...can't be opened when there is a lot of water on it

Poland - England: no match but fun:)
(edited)

well, apart for whose to blame, this situation is funny. how come a 5 stars stadium and just having held a big event months before got it's pitch waterlogged? what happened with its' drainage system? why the ground man / match officials didn't do their job like what we saw before in a match between france-ukraine at euro under similar weather condition, which is trying to get the water out of the pitch by using their modern tools? :D

this simple decision of having a roof to be close or not hours before the game surely effect everything, as to reschedule an international game is not an easy task to do since there are many things to consider with.
and after all, the players themselves needs time to recover and prepare for their next club's game this week-end, right?

I agree

as for the drainage system, from what I've read it was...removed, because the pitch was getting rotten all the time and they had to change it 4 times already[!]; after the removal of drainage system the pitch was doing much better....

such a shame, I wonder how many people will be at the stadium today - I'm going, but the game is at 18 sk time...when most people are still in work + big part of those who bought the tickets was from other cities

I won't be surprised with 50% of the stadium filled with people...

what? removed? no wonder :D

let's hope the pitch will be in ideal condition for an international match although it's only less than 24 hours from getting a heavy rain on it.

They've said that it is possible to make it dry in about 30 minutes, but I have no idea how it will look like

yesterday the ball didn't even bounce when it was thrown on the pitch

there are reports that the pitch is in perfect condition

we will see at 17:00 :)

mate, the referees were awful today, but nederland totally deserved to win the game....we had a penalty, their last goal was scored from offside but they were the better team

Nice game of Poland yesterday, totally deserved 1pt, we were even better than England according to British newspapers. :)

up

some interesting results already.

Spain didn't win :o

Great game from us, kind of Chelsea-style last season. And a great equalising goal. For once I feel good after watching our NT-match. Nice feeling!! ;)

Well done!

We almost scored against Netherlands. Also made great 1s half, but still lost 3:0 in the end.

Difficult first half in Macedonia, Belgium eventually won 0-2. 13/15 together with Croatia.

Lots of luck in Macedonia. I expect an even more difficult match for you on Tuesday. It's always difficult to beat a team that you're not convincingly better of twice in a row.

In any case, prepare for play-off because there are no points for you in Zagreb. ;)