DJHazey

Friday 1st May Leeds United 4-2 Burnley (20:00) Saturday 2nd May Brentford 3-3 West Ham United Newcastle United 2-4 Brighton & Hove Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Sunderland Arsenal 3-1 Fulham (17:30) Sunday 3rd May AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Crystal Palace (14:00) Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool (15:30) Aston Villa 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (19:00) Monday 4th May Chelsea 0-2 Nottingham Forest Everton 1-2 Manchester City (20:00)

I definitely would not put Uzbekistan this low. The only reason you could is because they've never been here when other nations I'd rank lower have. Granted I think they don't have much of a chance against Portugal or Colombia, who I have both in my Top 10, but they will be more than competitive against Congo DR. You never know, that match could get you a good enough for third place R32 spot. I'll do my ranking along with you: 48) Curacao 47) Qatar 46) New Zealand 45) Haiti

One thing to point out is these conditions will be far hotter and more humid than many Asian and European nations are used to, so the edge goes to CONCACAF, South America, and Central Africa when it comes to that. We (the Americas) are used to this climate and it will be a big factor that cannot be overlooked.

I think that England blowout over Panama was more about how good England was than how bad Panama was, though to be fair Panama come to this World Cup decidedly stronger. They are no worse now than Costa Rica has ever been at a World Cup and look what Costa Rica did in 2014. Iraq is doomed only by the group of death they've been put into, I'd rank them well above the bottom tier, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and especially Qatar from Asia. Jordan barely, because I think they might surprise someone, probably with a couple nice goals. Iraq will likely end with 0 points, but I wouldn't be surprised if they hang with Norway for an hour before Haaland strikes and Norway comes away with 2-0 result or something. They might get discouraged and have some bad results against France and Senegal after that, but I think they are going to be one of those pains that build a wall try to play for 0-0. For me, the bottom three are Curacao, Qatar, and New Zealand, but I think Ghana isn't far behind that and Bosnia is in my opinion the weakest European side here but that's up for debate where to actually rank them. Haiti is someone around here too, but might grab a point from Scotland, we'll see. I don't think they will be an absolute walk over. Alot of this going off past results though and how I think they will translate, but when the lights get too big for some of these nations, it might explode in their face or they might prove a point. It's always hard to read. I'm just going strictly off paper here. This will be fun to follow along to insert my opinion against this ranking which is a fair ranking; nothing at all against what you've come up with and appreciate it.

In my opinion, Qatar are worse than Iraq. I think Iraq might grind out a point or two, I don't expect anything from the 2022 hosts.

Friday 24th April Sunderland 2-1 Nottingham Forest (20:00) Saturday 25th April Fulham 1-3 Aston Villa (12;30) Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace West Ham United 2-2 Everton Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle United (17:30) Monday 27th April Manchester United 2-0 Brentford (20:00)

Saturday 18th April Brentford 2-1 Fulham (12;30) Leeds United 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Newcastle United 2-2 AFC Bournemouth Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Brighton & Hove Albion (17:30) Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United (20:00) Sunday 19th April Aston Villa 1-1 Sunderland (14:00) Everton 2-2 Liverpool (14:00) Nottingham Forest 3-2 Burnley (14:00) Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal (16:30) Monday 20th April Crystal Palace 1-1 West Ham United (20:00) Tuesday 21st April Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Chelsea (20:00) Wednesday 22nd April AFC Bournemouth 3-1 Leeds United (20:00) Burnley 0-2 Manchester City (20:00)

I was debating only having the first three for Tier 1, which is probably more accurate. So I see the argument for Portugal going down a tier, but as much as I and obviously most of this forum will be pulling for England I don't see them in the same class as that top three either. Not this time around. That being said, they are certainly capable of any result, including winning it. The other one was the Panama, Tunisia, Sweden, Scotland area, maybe bumping one of those two European countries up a tier, but I honestly just imagine group stage only for them. If I had bias in, considering my Mom's heritage, I would have Scotland higher.

Now that we know that 48 nations represented in the World Cup, here is how I would currently rank them: TIER 1 - FAVORITES SPAIN ARGENTINA FRANCE PORTUGAL TIER 2 - WILL BE STRONG ENGLAND COLOMBIA GERMANY MOROCCO NETHERLANDS JAPAN SENEGAL TIER 3 - COULD GO EITHER WAY CROATIA BRAZIL NORWAY BELGIUM SWITZERLAND TURKEY MEXICO TIER 4 - MAYBE A DARKHORSE ALGERIA AUSTRIA ECUADOR CANADA URUGUAY AUSTRALIA UNITED STATES IVORY COAST TIER 5 - MILD EXPECTATIONS EGYPT SOUTH KOREA CONGO DR IRAN UZBEKISTAN PARAGUAY CZECHIA SOUTH AFRICA TIER 6 - LONG SHOTS PANAMA TUNISIA SWEDEN SCOTLAND JORDAN CAPE VERDE GHANA BOSNIA TIER 7 - THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA HAITI NEW ZEALAND QATAR CURACAO

In 2024, FIFA started a new design for the March window friendlies to give smaller countries especially the chance to play international foes they normally wouldn't and/or more challenging opponents. The picks groups of nations from different continental regions to meet at one hosting country and do little round robin sessions or tournaments in March. They try to group nations up by having similar standing in the World Rankings, though sometimes a minnow faces a decent squad. This year they ran the following mini "tournaments" Australia Series - Sydney & Melbourne 3/27 (Sydney) | China 2-0 Curaçao 3/27 (Sydney) | Australia 1-0 Cameroon 3/31 (Melbourne) | Cameroon 2-0 China 3/31 (Melbourne) | Australia 5-1 Curaçao Australia is considered the champion by winning the round robin group. Those results don't bode well for World Cup debutants Curaçao Azerbaijan Series - Sumgait 3/27 Semifinal | Azerbaijan 6-1 St. Lucia 3/30 Final | Azerbaijan 1-1 Sierra Leone | 9-8 Azerbaijan on PKs Indonesia Series - Jakarta 3/27 Semifinal | Bulgaria 10-2 Soloman Islands 3/27 Semifinal | Indonesia 4-0 St. Kitts and Nevis 3/30 Third Place | St. Kitts and Nevis 4-2 Soloman Islands 3/30 Final | Bulgaria 1-0 Indonesia Kazakhstan Series - Astana 3/25 | Kazakhstan 2-0 Namibia 3/28 | Namibia 0-0 Comoros | 5-4 Namibia on PKs 3/31 | Kazakhstan 1-0 Comoros Kazakhstan is considered the champion by winning the round robin group. New Zealand Series - Auckland 3/27 | Chile 4-2 Cape Verde Islands 3/27 | Finland 2-0 Australia 3/30 | Cape Verde Islands 1-1 Finland | 4-2 Cape Verde on PKs 3/30 | New Zealand 4-1 Chile Finland is considered the champion by winning the round robin group as they considered the Cape Verde/Finland match to be a draw as far as points are concerned. Puerto Rico Series - Bayamon 3/25 Semifinal | U.S. Virgin Islands 5-2 American Samoa 3/25 Semifinal | Puerto Rico 4-0 Guam 3/28 Third Place | Guam 6-0 American Samoa 3/28 Final | Puerto Rico 2-0 U.S. Virgin Islands Rwanda A Series - Kigali 3/27 Semifinal | Estonia 1-1 Kenya | 5-4 Estonia on PKs 3/27 Semifinal | Rwanda 4-0 Grenada 3/30 Third Place | Kenya 3-0 Grenada 3/30 Final | Rwanda 2-0 Estonia Rwanda Series B - Kigali 3/26 Semifinal | Aruba 4-1 Macau 3/26 Semifinal | Liechtenstein 1-0 Tanzania 3/29 Third Place | Tanzania 6-0 Macau 3/29 Final | Aruba 4-1 Liechtenstein Great result for Aruba, one of the Caribbean minnows, Liechtenstein's semifinal victory has to be one their best results in their history. Uzbekistan Series - Tashkent 3/27 | Venezuela 4-1 Trinidad and Tobago 3/27 | Uzbekistan 3-1 Gabon 3/30 | Gabon 2-2 Trinidad and Tobago | 3-2 Gabon on PKs 3/30 | Uzbekistan 0-0 Venezuela | 5-4 Uzbekistan on PKs They set this up as a group, even though it ended being like semifinals and a final. Either way, Uzbekistan is the champion.

Italy 🤡 Three straight World Cups they'll be missing, 4-1 Bosnia!

One more and they got it.

Czech Republic take their penalty shootout over Denmark 3-1. Bosnia out to a 1-0 lead over Italy in theirs.

All of those results were absolutely brutal. Sorry to the Brits and Irish. Also devastated for Albania after getting the lead. Kosovo the underdogs now.

I am trying to remember why they left the field in the first place. Oh yeah Senegal protested their disallowed goal and Morocco's subsequent awarded penalty later. That felt a bit like home-cooking in the referee department so I can understand why Senegal was so upset at the time. Emotions in the moment were running high. Imagine if it had been the other way around, the home crowd+team reactions would have been even worse.

Friday 20th March AFC Bournemouth 0-2 Manchester United (20:00) Saturday 21st March Brighton & Hove Albion 1-2 Liverpool (12:30) Fulham 2-0 Burnley Everton 1-1 Chelsea (17:30) Leeds United 1-1 Brentford (20:00) Sunday 22nd March Newcastle United 2-0 Sunderland (12:00) Aston Villa 2-3 West Ham United (14:15) Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Nottingham Forest (14:15) Friday 10th April West Ham United 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (20:00) Saturday 11th April Arsenal 2-0 AFC Bournemouth (12:30) Brentford 1-1 Everton Burnley 4-2 Brighton & Hove Albion Crystal Palace 2-3 Newcastle United Nottingham Forest 1-2 Aston Villa Liverpool 3-1 Fulham (17:30) Sunday 12th April Sunderland 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur (14:00) Chelsea 2-3 Manchester City (16:30) Monday 13th April Manchester United 1-0 Leeds United (20:00)

Saturday 14th March Burnley 0-1 AFC Bournemouth Sunderland 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Arsenal 2-0 Everton (17:30) Chelsea 1-1 Newcastle United (17:30) West Ham United 2-4 Manchester City (20:00) Sunday 15th March Crystal Palace 2-0 Leeds United (14:00) Manchester United 2-2 Aston Villa (14:00) Nottingham Forest 2-1 Fulham (14:00) Liverpool 3-1 Tottenham Hotspur (16:30) Monday 16th March Brentford 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers (20:00) Gotta have some wild predictions in order to try to make up some ground.

I'd like to see Wales, Albania, Kosovo, and Ireland win these, but think it will be Wales, Poland, Turkey, and Denmark.

At the end of the month, the final European spots in the World Cup will be decided. A reminder of the path layout: Path A Mar 26 SF | Bergamo, Italy | Italy vs. Northern Ireland Mar 26 SF | Cardiff, Wales | Wales vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina Mar 31 FINAL | Final venue at either Cardiff, Wales or Zenica, Bosnia. Winner of this path is placed into Group B at the World Cup, to play Canada, Qatar, and Switzerland. Path B Mar 26 SF | Valencia, Spain | Ukraine vs. Sweden Mar 26 SF | Warsaw, Poland | Poland vs. Albania Mar 31 FINAL | Final venue at either Valencia, Spain (if Ukraine wins) or Solna, Sweden. Winner of this path is placed into Group F at the World Cup, to play Netherlands, Japan, and Tunisia. Path C Mar 26 SF | Istanbul, Turkey | Turkey vs. Romania Mar 26 SF | Bratislava, Slovakia | Slovakia vs. Kosovo Mar 31 FINAL | Final venue at either Bratislava, Slovakia or Pristina, Kosovo. Winner of this path is placed into Group D at the World Cup, to play the United States, Paraguay, and Australia. Path D Mar 26 SF | Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark vs. North Macedonia Mar 26 SF | Prague, Czech Republic | Czech Republic vs. Republic of Ireland Mar 31 FINAL | Final venue at either Prague, Czech Republic or Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Winner of this path is placed into Group A at the World Cup, to play Mexico, South Africa, and South Korea. Who do you want to win these matchups? Who do you think will win them? Will Italy fail again?

It's embarrassing to be an American with you know who running the show, but it's even made worse with how he is handling the World Cup and I fear for Los Angeles 2028 as well. I won't be surprised if Iran stays home. If I was them, I certainly would.

Tuesday 3rd March AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Brentford (19:30) Everton 1-0 Burnley (19:30) Leeds United 1-0 Sunderland (19:30) Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Liverpool (20:15) Wednesday 4th March Aston Villa 2-2 Chelsea (19:30) Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Arsenal (19:30) Fulham 2-2 West Ham United (19:30) Manchester City 4-1 Nottingham Forest (19:30) Newcastle United 0-4 Manchester United (20:15) Thursday 5th March Tottenham 2-1 Crystal Palace (20:00)

Friday 27th February Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Aston Villa (20:00) Saturday 28th February AFC Bournemouth 3-0 Sunderland (12:30) Burnley 3-2 Brentford Liverpool 3-1 West Ham United Newcastle United 2-0 Everton Leeds United 2-3 Manchester City (17:30) Sunday 1st March Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Nottingham Forest (14:00) Fulham 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (14:00) Manchester United 3-0 Crystal Palace (14:00) Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea (16:30)

The U.S. women's curling team giving up three in the 10th end to be forced into an extra end and then making that shot to seal the deal for medal rounds. Sorry to the Great Britain team! I know they were heart-broken.

Saturday 21st February Aston Villa 1-1 Leeds United Brentford 4-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Chelsea 4-1 Burnley West Ham United 1-1 AFC Bournemouth (17:30) Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle United (20:00) Sunday 22nd February Crystal Palace 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers (14:00) Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool (14:00) Sunderland 2-3 Fulham (14:00) Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Arsenal (16:30) Monday 23rd February Everton 2-1 Manchester United (20:00)

Tuesday 10th February Chelsea 3-0 Leeds United (19:30) Everton 4-1 AFC Bournemouth (19:30) Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Newcastle United (19:30) West Ham United 0-1 Manchester United (20:15) Wednesday 11th February Aston Villa 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (19:30) Crystal Palace 2-1 Burnley (19:30) Manchester City 2-1 Fulham (19:30) Nottingham Forest 3-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (19:30) Sunderland 2-3 Liverpool (20:15) Thursday 12th February Brentford 1-2 Arsenal (20:00) Wednesday 18th February Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-4 Arsenal (20:00)