November 26, 20213 yr Serves Italy and Portugal right, I guess this is the fun part of World Cup qualification vs Euro qualification as there is much more jeopardy in play.
November 26, 20213 yr Play-off draw Path A: Scotland v Ukraine Wales v Austria Winner of Wales/Austria will be at home for the final. Path B: Russia v Poland Sweden v Czech Republic Winner of Russia/Poland will be at home for the final. Path C: Italy v North Macedonia Portugal v Turkey Winner of Portugal/Turkey will be at home for the final.
November 26, 20213 yr I think it will be Scotland, Sweden & Italy making it through from the play offs. If Portugal don't qualify we'll probably never see Ronaldo in another World Cup.
November 26, 20213 yr Scotland, Sweden and Portugal for me! Really think Ukraine are the best side in that pool but there’s been a lot of managerial upheaval there!
November 26, 20213 yr Going to be a fun set with Italy and Portugal! I will of course be rooting for Turkey and North Macedonia :D Outside of Europe things are looking close - two points between first and fourth in North America and two points between fourth and 8th in South America! Canada at the top of the North American group is nice to see, been a long time since they were in the World Cup.
November 30, 20213 yr Africa - South Africa is officially protesting their match against Ghana for match fixing and Benin is protesting their match against Congo DR for substitution violation. So two spots in the African playoff could be reversed, doubtful, but we'll see. Asia - It's looking more and more likely that Saudi Arabia is going to qualify directly and one of the two heavyweights: Australia or Japan are going to have to do Asia playoffs and then Intercontinental versus South America. In that scenario, it's certainly easy to envision either nation might be out of the World Cup for the first time in a long time.
November 30, 20213 yr These matches in CONCACAF will be must-see TV: 1/30 | Canada vs. United States 2/2 | Mexico vs. Panama 3/24 | Mexico vs. United States 3/27 | United States vs. Panama 3/30 | Panama vs. Canada My Europe Playoff Picks Wales over Austria Scotland over Ukraine Scotland over Wales Poland over Russia Sweden over Czech Republic Sweden over Poland Italy over North Macedonia Portugal over Turkey Portugal over Italy Edited November 30, 20213 yr by DJHazey
November 30, 20213 yr I hope Italy qualify or else we'd have lost to a country which embarrassingly failed to make 2 successive World Cups...
November 30, 20213 yr I just think Ronaldo will come up clutch like he usually does in bigger moments. -- In other news ESPN just published their latest ESPN FC Top 100. A Top 10 for every position. Find it here. Edited November 30, 20213 yr by DJHazey
November 30, 20213 yr Yep wouldn't be surprised. Would also mean he breaks the record for consecutive appearances at a World Cup for an outfield player I think...
November 30, 20213 yr It would certainly be bizarre to not have the reigning European champions in the World Cup...
January 28, 20223 yr African Playoffs are set. Home-and-away ties March 24-26 and March 27-29: Egypt* vs. Senegal* (aka Salah vs. Mane) Cameroon vs. Algeria Ghana vs. Nigeria* Congo DR# vs. Morocco* Mali# vs. Tunisia* * = 2018 WC Participants: Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia # = Congo DR hasn't been to the WC since 1974, Mali has never been to a WC. Edited January 28, 20223 yr by DJHazey
January 28, 20223 yr It'd be nice to see Mali or DR Congo make it in! Ghana vs Nigeria sounds like a match to watch, although it seems as though Ghana aren't the team they were 8 years ago sadly (particularly looking at their result at the Africa Cup of Nations)
February 1, 20223 yr Pulling for: Egypt Algeria Ghana (mostly to avoid another Nigeria/Argentina group *yawn*) Congo DR Mali
February 1, 20223 yr Hopefully Nigeria make it through but it could go either way. It would be good to see Congo and Mali make it also.
February 2, 20223 yr Pulling for: Egypt Algeria Ghana (mostly to avoid another Nigeria/Argentina group *yawn*) Congo DR Mali Oh no this needs to happen, the regularity is too hilarious.
February 2, 20223 yr Iran and South Korea have qualified. I'd expect Japan and Saudi Arabia to join them from Asia and Australia to face UAE in the Asian playoff.
February 2, 20223 yr Asia's qualifiers are looking very similar to the last World Cup! Would be nice to see the UAE qualify just for some difference (although maybe it's better if they didn't if their human rights record is brought up)
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