September 3, 20213 yr A bit pointless if they just play in the same way but don’t call them selves Russia!
September 3, 20213 yr Author Spain suffered their first World Cup qualifying defeat since 1993 as Sweden came from behind to end La Roja's 66-game run.
September 5, 20213 yr Matchday 5 Qualification: 10 group winners Belgium Denmark England France Germany Italy Russia* Serbia Spain Turkey Play-Offs: 10 group runners up + 2 Nations League winners. Austria Armenia Croatia Czech Republic Finland Israel Netherlands Poland Portugal Sweden Switzerland Wales *Russia are actually banned from the 2022 World Cup but can play under a neutral name. Half way through qualification and it’s starting to take shape with only three 100% records remain: Denmark, England & Sweden.
September 6, 20213 yr Bizarre @1434598104196657157 Read a lot of different stuff about this. Lots of folk saying Brazilian authorities knew about this but waited for the game to start to make it much more of a scene and to embarrass Argentina and pass the buck onto them. Also means they can claim that since the match started and Argentina broke protocol Brazil will get default 3 points in the bag. Remember there's still a lot of lingering ill-feeling from the Copa America finale this year. On the other hand some reports are saying the Argentinian squad locked themselves in the dressing room before the game to avoid the pre-match checks and assumed once the game KO'd the authorities couldn't/wouldn't intervene, well lol if that was the case. The fact the players who should have been quarantining had been in the country for 3 days already is a bit suspicious though. Are there like zero checks at the airport on this stuff in Brazil?
September 6, 20213 yr First thing I felt was why did they wait until they were on the pitch before doing this??
September 8, 20213 yr Author Southgate might not think subs are needed but on 90 minutes put on a few fresh legs just to waste time and slow the game down. Every manager does that.
September 8, 20213 yr Matchday 6 Qualification: 10 group winners Belgium Croatia Denmark England France Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Play-Offs: 10 group runners up + 2 Nations League winners. Albania Austria Armenia Czech Republic Norway Russia* Scotland Serbia Sweden Switzerland Ukraine Wales *Russia are actually banned from the 2022 World Cup but can play under a neutral name. Denmark are the only team that keep their 100% record. Although, all the pot 1 teams now top the group (boo)! Azerbaijan & San Marino officially become the first two European counties who can no longer qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
September 8, 20213 yr I find it bizarre that he didn't sub anybody. Totally - those dropped points are entirely on Southgate. Was clear England were flagging and with 4 minutes of injury time it's common practice to use subs to stop the momentum of the other team. Honestly, just do not get that at all.You're 1-0 up in a massive qualifier which the home team need to salvage something from the game.. what did he think was going to happen?! I do like Southgate a lot but his blindness in-game tactics are puzzling at time.
September 9, 20213 yr They will qualify anyway like! We should still (and can afford to drop points somewhere too) but we had an excellent opportunity to win the group. Think Southgate has said he didn't make any substitutions because the team were in control. I'd call that pure naivety.
September 9, 20213 yr With Andorra and San Marino to come, I don't think there should be any concerns. I'm sure he wouldn't repeat the trick in a World Cup KO round.
September 9, 20213 yr And how the F did England manage to get both Andorra and San Marino in the same group 🙄, are they not both pot 4 teams?? It’s guaranteed 12 points like for all the rest!
September 9, 20213 yr That actually makes it a little bit more difficult to qualify in theory given as you said the 4 other teams get a pretty much guaranteed 12 points. In other groups with a lot of mediocre teams taking points off each other the likes of France, Belgium & Denmark can (and will) win at a canter. That's not me saying England don't have an easy group btw, but Hungary are in 4th place despite having 10 points. That's enough to be second in nearly half of them!
September 9, 20213 yr And how the F did England manage to get both Andorra and San Marino in the same group 🙄, are they not both pot 4 teams?? It’s guaranteed 12 points like for all the rest! Yeah as Dobbo says the groups with more teams in them are harder to qualify from and way more close than the groups with 5 teams in them, which in most cases has a runaway current front runner by 4-5 points at least.
September 9, 20213 yr Germany haven’t really had too much of a challenge so far but everything under Flick looking good sonder. A much more flowing and enjoyable watch to their style of Play. Also using players who don’t play for Bayern or the Prem which is what we should have done in the Euros and it’s starting to pay off. Good time to mess around with the teams at the moment ahead of the WC but I wouldn’t rule out a much better run than in the Euros for DE
September 9, 20213 yr Yeah as Dobbo says the groups with more teams in them are harder to qualify from and way more close than the groups with 5 teams in them, which in most cases has a runaway current front runner by 4-5 points at least. My main point was how are Andorra and Sam Marino in the same group??
September 9, 20213 yr My main point was how are Andorra and Sam Marino in the same group?? Andorra we’re the lowest ranked team in pot 5 and San Marino were in pot 6. Pot 6 consisted of Malta, Moldova, Lichtenstein, Gibraltar & San Marino. Andorra were 25 places ahead of Malta in the World Rankings (151 vs 176) at the time of the draw.
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