Spain v Italy could be a tasty encounter tonight.

 

Pique booed by Spanish fans because the match is being played at Madrid.

France drew against Luxembourg hahaha with Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Thomas Lemar, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe all started

France drew against Luxembourg hahaha with Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Thomas Lemar, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe all started

That makes England's woeful performance on Friday seem quite good :lol:

France will win the World Cup next summer I reckon.

Mexico and Belgium have qualified for the World Cup!

 

I said earlier in this thread that I thought France or Germany will win the World Cup and I'm sticking with that for now. I think they have the best squads in World football at the moment but if Germany get too complacent it could cost them.

I love how Luxembourg mucked things up by getting that draw in France. Wow. The best chance for Sweden is for France to be held in Bulgaria next month but they didn't do themselves any favors with their loss in Bulgaria.

 

 

As for Asia qualifiers going right now:

 

Australia beat Thailand as expected, but only 2-1. Bit of a shocker. So they are still behind Saud Arabia in goal differential. Jeddah will undoubtedly be rocking here soon, because any kind of win by the Saudis over Japan means Australia is headed to the playoffs.

 

Syria jumped out to an early lead in Tehran, but Iran has since tied right before halftime. As long Syria don't win and Uzbekistan can find a way ahead at home vs. South Korea, then Uzbekistan will earn their first World Cup berth. However, anything less than a win means the Koreans will go and it will be between Syria and Uzbekistan for playoffs.

What a mess. Uzbekistan not only failed to score and beat South Korea to advance directly to the World Cup, but since Syria grabbed a stoppage time goal in Tehran they move onto the playoff on goal differential and Uzbekistan is completely out.

Edited September 5, 20177 yr by DJHazey

Terrible result for Ireland tonight - difficult to see the momentum changing next month! Serbs were a bunch of time wasters tho, ref terrible!!

Some great outsiders look like they could qualify... Egypt, Burkina Faso, Peru, Panama are all in qualification spots as it stands! Would be such a story if Syria manage to get there too.

United States have to beat Panama next month and then they could still be headed for playoffs if they trip up and lose in Trinidad. Even as an American supporter, I can't lie and say I wouldn't be intrigued by a Australia/USA playoff for the World Cup. Bobby Wood's goal yesterday though was HUGE and we're at least not on life support because of it.

 

Gabon beating Ivory Coast in Abidjan (after being destroyed in Libreville three days prior) means that Morocco again has a shot, but they likely will need to pull off an upset away to Ivory Coast.

 

The biggest story is the "WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?" from Cape Verde Islands. A team that captured everyone's imagination in the 2013 African Cup of Nations and has since fallen off. They started out looking like the same story would continue playing out, including a disappointing 0-2 home loss to Burkina Faso. Now they find themselves in first place. If they make this fairytale a reality, then it would be equal to Iceland making the Euro last year.

 

 

It would be one of the biggest stories in World Cup history if Syria qualified, I kind of hope that it happens as it could give a morale boost to people who live there but then it could also lead to more potential terrorist bombings if there are gatherings of people watching Syria's matches.

Pre-October update:

 

Qualified: Russia, Brazil, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Belgium, South Korea, Saudi Arabia

 

 

Asia:

 

Syria vs. Australia (10/5 and 10/10) -- Winner plays the 4th place CONCACAF team.

 

 

Africa:

 

 

Group A - Tunisia (10) Congo DR (7)

 

10/7: Congo DR at Libya

10/7: Tunisia at Guinea

 

Tunisia wins the group with a win/draw and Congo DR loss.

 

Group B - Nigeria (10) Zambia (7)

 

10/7: Zambia at Nigeria

 

Nigeria wins the group by winning this match.

 

Group C - Ivory Coast (7) - Morocco (6) - Gabon (5) - Mali (2)

 

10/6: Ivory Coast at Mali

10/7: Gabon at Morocco

 

Ivory Coast wins group with a win and Morocco loss.

 

Group D - Burkina Faso (6) - Cape Verde Islands (6) - Senegal (5) - South Africa (1)

 

10/7: Senegal at Cape Verde

10/7: Burkina Faso at South Africa

 

Nobody can win the group yet.

 

Group E - Egypt (9) - Uganda (7) - Ghana (5)

 

10/7: Ghana at Uganda

10/8: Congo at Egypt

 

Egypt wins the group with a win and a Ghana win or Ghana/Uganda match draw.

 

 

CONCACAF:

 

 

Mexico (18) - Costa Rica (15) - Panama (10) - United States (9) - Honduras (9) - Trinidad & Tobago (3)

 

10/6: Trinidad at Mexico

10/6: Honduras at Costa Rica

10/6: Panama at United States

10/10: United States at Trinidad

10/10: Costa Rica at Panama

10/10: Mexico at Honduras

 

Costa Rica advances to WC with any kind of positive result in either match. United States vs. Panama winner has the best chance to advance considering Honduras has a brutal schedule. Either Panama/USA/Honduras will go to playoff round with Asia.

 

South America:

 

Uruguay (27) - Colombia (26) - Peru (24) - Argentina (24) - Chile (23) - Paraguay (21) - Ecuador (20)

 

The top three from this part of the group would advance to the WC and the 4th place team (currently Argentina) would play New Zealand.

 

10/5: Ecuador at Chile

10/5: Paraguay at Colombia

10/5: Peru at Argentina

10/5: Uruguay at Venezuela

10/10: Venezuela at Paraguay

10/10: Bolivia at Uruguay

10/10: Chile at Brazil

10/10: Argentina at Ecuador

10/10: Colombia at Peru

 

Europe:

 

Group A - France (17) - Sweden (16) - Netherlands (13) - Bulgaria (12)

 

10/7: France at Bulgaria

10/10: Sweden at Netherlands

 

Sweden's best chance at winning this group is to have Bulgaria pull off that upset result against France. Then they would head to Amsterdam Arena with a chance to win and send the French to the playoffs.

 

Group B - Switzerland (24) - Portugal (21)

 

10/10: Switzerland at Portugal

 

Doesn't get any bigger than this. If Portugal wins, then goal differential would see them over the Swiss.

 

Group C - Germany (24) - Northern Ireland (19)

 

10/5: Germany at Northern Ireland

 

A Northern Ireland win would make things interesting, but not really as the Germans host Azerbaijan on the last match day. This is likely already your WC qualifier and playoff team from this group.

 

Group D - Serbia (18) - Wales (14) - Ireland (13) - Austria (9)

 

10/9: Ireland at Wales

 

Serbia is likely winning this group, but that 10/9 match in Cardiff is going to be one of the bigger matches in each country's national team history. It will likely be winner goes to the playoffs and loser is out. How amazing would a "BAAAAAAALE!" moment be in like the 89th minute or something?

 

Group E - Poland (19) - Montenegro (16) - Denmark (16)

 

10/5: Denmark at Montenegro

10/8: Montenegro at Poland

 

It's undoubtedly a tall order, but if Montenegro grab two wins then they would qualify for their first World Cup. Denmark would need to win and get help. A draw would mean that Montenegro goes ahead since their goals scored and differential are amazingly the same and Montenegro won their first match 1-0 in Copenhagen.

 

Group F - England (20) - Slovakia (15) - Slovenia (14) - Scotland (14)

 

10/5: Slovenia at England

10/5: Slovakia at Scotland

10/8: Scotland at Slovenia

 

For the Scottish to make a playoff run, they would likely need to get two wins. Unless they win big over Slovakia and then draw at Ljubliana.

 

Group G - Spain (22) - Italy (19)

 

It's pretty much elementary at this point. Spain are going to the World Cup and Italy is headed to the playoffs and becomes the team nobody wants to be drawn against.

 

Group H - Belgium (22) - Bosnia (14) - Greece (13) - Cyprus (10)

 

10/7: Belgium at Bosnia

10/7: Greece at Cyprus

10/10: Cyprus at Belgium

 

It would be a huge miracle for Cyprus to make the playoffs, but they could spoil the party for Greece. The most likely scenario is that Bosnia needs to win their match vs. Belgium at home or see the Greeks head to the playoffs.

 

Group I - Croatia (16) - Iceland (16) - Turkey (14) - Ukraine (14)

 

10/6: Iceland at Turkey

10/9: Croatia at Ukraine

 

It really depends on who slips up in their big road game for Iceland and Croatia. If they both lose those games then suddenly Turkey and Ukraine may be playing for a trip to Russia next year.

Edited September 18, 20177 yr by DJHazey

Delle Alli has been banned for one England game by FIFA following that gesture he made during the qualifier against Slovakia.

 

He'll miss Thursday's match against Slovenia.

 

 

Spains fans have booed Gerard Pique at a World Cup training session. He is considering his position playing for Spain!

The pitch invader was the only highlight in another poor performance against Slovenia. Still we're in the World Cup.

 

Germany have also qualified.

 

And Syria keep their chances alive after drawing against Australia.

Argentina will struggle to be there - have to win their last game just to qualify for the playoff!

Argentina will struggle to be there - have to win their last game just to qualify for the playoff!

 

It's a big shock to see Argentina on the brink, but consider they have scored less than a goal a game in qualifying - with players like Messi, Aguero, Higuaín to call upon! Also, while they reached the final in 2014, they were pretty dire to watch. Their knockout games were something like 1-0, 1-0, 0-0.

 

I haven't seen much of South American qualifying, but Peru might be a breath of fresh air in the finals. Certainly never been near a World Cup in my lifetime and the kit is pretty iconic.

Good win for Ireland last night - roll on Monday!!

Spain have qualified for the World Cup after winning their match last night. Iceland are on the verge of qualifying to, I hope they make it so that we can get more of their chants that were heard during Euro 2016.

The Netherlands are effectively out for second consecutive tournament but that was a proper group of death they were in, you'd expect France, Sweden & them to easily be through if they were all in separate groups.