DJHazey

Yes until Curaçao proves it in higher competition, it has to be called Jamaica's Group B to lose, so I'd agree Costa Rica/Jamaica/Panama. Honduras and Curaçao for the intercontinental playoffs.

Costa Rica/Honduras in the same group is great too, those matches will be absolute knockdown, drag-out fights. Panama should cruise though their group. TnT will also be a challenge for Curaçao/Jamaica.

Reading that CONCACAF stays being iconic because they saw the 5-1 Curaçao over Haiti result and decided to use 'projected' July 9th FIFA Rankings instead so that Curaçao could switch pots with Haiti. This is great because it prioritizes current strength of the teams based on recent real results. As I stated before, of these 12 teams in the round I would argue Curaçao is the 3rd or 4th best nation, right there with Jamaica (Panama and Costa Rica being #1 and #2) so this will be the perfect test between the Caribbean nations.

Got to love FIFA ranking sometimes, Curacao dismantles Haiti 5-1 and has been better in recent years than them and El Salvador/Honduras for that matter; yet are in a lower pot.

That is devastating for Palestine. :( Who has Jordan as the only Arab nation to advance from this round? If that was a bet, someone won a pot.

And I thought us Americans were running bad (3-1 and 4-0 losses at home to Turkey and Switzerland) -- yeah at least you aren't quite in the pit we are lol.

I wondered what happened in that ghastly 1-0 match vs. Andorra. Imagine the press if that had been San Marino, though Andorra isn't much better.

Uzbekistan finishing things off in style, crushing Qatar 3-0 at home which was likely coronation/celebration as much as it was a football match. If they hadn't fumbled a potential win in the final minutes in Doha, they might have won the group entirely. (As long as Iran gets the expected win over North Korea today, they'll be second, not that 1st/2nd place matters in the long run)

I'd be for it too, but consider their remaining schedule: at Uruguay at Argentina hosting Colombia. They'll be fortunate to get 3-4 points from that. Likely as low as 1 point total.

The scoreline more than anything, but Croatia beating anyone is far from a surprise in itself.

Paraguay is always that one South American country that is going to steal some surprising points, especially on away games where they're unfavored going in. However, they're usually inconsistent in the matches they should do better in, but this time they're putting it all together more. Also, Paraguay and Ecuador have the toughest venues to play at for a visiting team. La Paz and Quito, which their elevation make it a brutal match if you're not used to that environment. Few places in the world have the home field advantage they do.

I think the problem is only having, what it is three Premier League teams? and a few MLS teams, otherwise only the hardcore football fans over here are going to know any of the other teams other than the other major Champions League level squads. Nobody knows any of the african/asian/south american teams, so it's hard to get excited about. It's not like the World Cup where this country will get national support because of the how many cultures are blended amongst our population, so a Japanese-American for example will get excited about going to the Japan match, etc.

I'm happy for Bolivia, who has at least been competitive this go around. They haven't been in the same class as the other nine CONMEBOL nations in several years now.

That Norway-Italy result was certainly eye-opening.

Yep, unfortunately they haven't played exciting football in years. It's getting to the point where I will be actively rooting for the country to hoist the next trophy after how many years it's been for them now. I t feels like a lifetime ago in 2002.

I know, Uzbekistan just missing the World Cup was becoming a meme. I bet Tashkent was rocking last night.

Congrats, that's a huge step forward for your country, beating the likes Bahrain and China would've been a dream in the past. I knew they had something to bring to the table from the first round when I said even having Indonesia in it was a joke since they were going to demolish everyone else in that round. And Uzbekistan have done it! After several close-calls, international playoff losses and being literally the team from Asia that would've been next if the region had even one more spot, the 0-0 draw at UAE clinches their qualification in their first World Cup!

Australia gets the late goal from Aziz Behich at the 90th minute in Perth and are basically 100% qualified for the World Cup now. They'd have to lose 10-0 to Saudi Arabia on the final match day.

Today's results will have huge ramifications for Asia qualifying as everyone is playing their second-to-last match this round. Australia and Japan are 0-0 right now the rest start in a little over three hours or later.

June 4th Results: Bermuda 5-0 Cayman Islands Grenada 6-0 Bahamas Barbados 1-1 Aruba Montserrat 1-0 Belize Dominica 3-0 British Virgin Islands St. Vincant and the Grenadines 6-0 Anguilla

I'd love to see Road America. It was always one of my favorites on Forza, which doesn't mean anything of course, but I've always felt like it was under-utilized great track. NASCAR went there one year and then left, which was so disappointing.

I would've been closer had Forest won at home on the final day!

I am a casual F1 fan, so the points brought up by seasoned fans are apt for sure. I also am not saying overtaking should be easy, but at least have the ability to challenge for a spot in a corner. There is no corner at Monaco where you can even challenge the car in front you. That is not entertaining at all. I don't think it would ever be taken out because of the prestige of the event and for reference I hate that Miami is a similarly dull track that was only created to mirror the same prestige event of Monaco-American style. Even as an American I find that to be a joke. I think Austin and surprisingly Vegas should be the only U.S. venues, I was stunned at how well Vegas turned out to be.

This race will always be a car parade until they do something to really shake things up.

Matches in June (with current group rank): Group A June 5th (3) UAE vs. (2) Uzbekistan (4) Qatar vs. (1) Iran (6) North Korea vs. (5) Kyrgyzstan June 10th (2) Uzbekistan vs. (4) Qatar (5) Kyrgyzstan vs. (3) UAE (1) Iran vs. (6) North Korea Group B June 5th (4) Oman vs. (2) Jordan (3) Iraq vs. (1) South Korea (6) Kuwait vs. (5) Palestine June 10th (1) South Korea vs. (6) Kuwait (2) Jordan vs. (3) Iraq (5) Palestine vs. (4) Oman Group C June 5th (2) Australia vs. (1) Japan (4) Indonesia vs. (6) China (5) Bahrain vs. (3) Saudi Arabia June 10th (1) Japan vs. (4) Indonesia (6) China vs. (5) Bahrain (3) Saudi Arabia vs. (2) Australia