DJHazey

10 ...Ready For It? 09 End Game 10 I Did Something Bad 10 Don't Blame Me 11 Delicate 09 Look What You Made Me Do 07 So It Goes 09 Gorgeous 08 Getaway Car 08 King Of My Heart 07 Dancing With Our Hands Tied 07 Dress 03 This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things 09 Call It What You Want 05 New Year's Day

Groups F and G are the closest to a "group of death". I cannot believe Argentina and Nigeria were grouped together again, what are the odds? They need to ban it from happening next time.

I will be following it at work (It'll be at 10am for me). Excited to see which top team gets Spain in their group, it would be amazing to see Germany or Brazil be in the same group with them. Also most interested in what Iceland gets for a draw.

If I were a betting right now, I'd say it's Brazil vs. Spain in the final.

I don't think you can really get a full 'group of death' this time around since they've sorted the pots completely by FIFA rankings. Morocco and Japan are the two that have the best chance of being a surprise. Look out for them, Iran, Egypt, Costa Rica, and Iceland as darkhorses.

We know one thing for sure and that's Argentina will be in the same group as Nigeria. Also, it'll be interesting to see if any double Africa or Asia groups are formed, or will they re-draw if this occurs? EDIT -- Nevermind, I've just read that they will limit the groups to one per confederation and two for UEFA.

I'd have no issue running the prediction game.

Okay, I'd totally take part in the prediction one.

Yeah but it'd be more fair if let's say you had everyone predict all the games and gets points on how many they get correct as far as picking a draw or who wins.

Yes, for the final tournament in 2018. If I remember how that sweepstakes went, that seems a bit unfair, especially if someone ends up with Germany and someone else gets Saudi Arabia.

We should do little contest for fun if we can 8 people to participate, or 16, but nothing inbetween. If we had 8 people, then I would randomly give everyone four teams after the groups have been drawn -- I would draw one team from each of the pots above and be sure to not draw two teams from the same group. Everytime one of your teams gets points, you get the points too. Simple as that.

Also here's how the pots will look on December 1st when they draw the groups for the tournament: Pot 1: Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Portugal, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia (automatically in Group A) Pot 2: Spain, England, Croatia, Colombia, Mexico, Switzerland, Peru*, Uruguay Pot 3: Iran, Egypt, Senegal, Denmark*, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Iceland Pot 4: Japan, Morocco, Australia, Serbia*, Nigeria, Panama, South Korea, Saudi Arabia * - If New Zealand pull off the upset tonight in Lima, then they would be in Pot 4, Serbia would move to 3, and Denmark would move to 2. Spain has the potential to be drawn into a group with Brazil, Germany, Portugal, France, or Argentina. Madness.

The United States are in the early stages of forming a mini-tournament among all the major countries that missed the World Cup. They plan to invite Netherlands, Italy, Ghana, and Chile maybe Ivory Coast as well to a small tournament in 2018. It may just be a string of friendlies against all those teams or an unofficial tournament, which is yet to be determined.

Would love to see Italy miss the World Cup as a selfish U.S. fan I can then say there were many teams that normally qualify that also missed: United States, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Ghana, hopefully Italy.

The only thing I don't see is Greece taking out Croatia, otherwise the other three matchups could either way.

Europe Playoffs: Northern Ireland vs. Switzerland -- 11/9 Belfast 11/12 Basel Croatia vs. Greece -- 11/9 Zagreb 11/12 Piraeus Denmark vs. Ireland -- 11/11 Copenhagen 11/14 Dublin Sweden vs. Italy -- 11/10 Solna 11/13 Italy (Venue TBD) My current rankings are Croatia (11), Italy (15), Switzerland (17), Sweden (21), Denmark (27), Northern Ireland (28), Ireland (37), Greece (55) So based on this, I'll say Sweden has the best chance for an upset but I'm picking Northern Ireland, Croatia, Denmark, and Sweden based on the play I've seen recently.

It's about time. If it were me, I'd do this for 2022, when there will still be 14 qualifiers from the region. I would have seven groups of five in the final round. Each groups plays 8 matches (the other four teams home and away). The top two from each group qualify for the World Cup. So that final round would have 35 teams, but 21 of them would automatically receive a bye to this round and the other 14 would come from the preliminary round. That round would have the bottom 33 in Europe in five groups of five and two groups of four. The top two teams from each group would go the final round. So to recap: 54 split into 21 seeded teams and 33 non-seeded. 33 non-seeded play a preliminary round to come up with 14. Those 14 gets added to the 21 seeded nations and those groups decide the final 14 for the World Cup.

Embarrassing for the United States. It does however prove at the same time how difficult CONCACAF qualifying is despite people thinking it's a cakewalk. The "Hex" is extremely difficult and unpredictable. Just look at the U.S. being eliminated this time around and Mexico being on the brink of elimination last time. American coach Bruce Arena put it best when he said "I'd love to see some of those hot-shot European teams try to qualify having to play at some of the venues we deal with." He's probably right considering the big European squads play the Liechtensteins and Moldovas of the world. UEFA needs to amend their qualifying and have at least two round, so that some of the lower teams get eliminated early on which prevents pointless 8-0 blowouts from occurring and allows the developing nations to play other nations on their level and be competitive.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Uganda qualifying is still a long shot as their remaining matches are at Egypt, home vs. Ghana, and away to Congo. I'm betting Egypt will throttle them in Alexandria. Right now if you had me choose the five African teams that will qualify based on the current standings and remaining matches, they would be: Congo DR, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Egypt As far teams that can clinch this week (mathematically but some are long shots): Africa: Nigeria, Ivory Coast Asia: South Korea, Uzbekistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Australia, UAE CONCACAF: Mexico, Costa Rica South America: Colombia, Uruguay, Chile Europe: Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Belgium

A bit of a shocker as Uganda downs Egypt 1-0 in Kampala today which means Egypt no longer has an easy road and if Ghana gets their footing, well we've all seen this scenario play out before... Uzbekistan's loss to China was a heartbreaker but they can still qualify by beating South Korea at home in the final match and hope Iran takes care of Syria (who are now tied for 3rd place in the group and ahead of Uzbekistan on goal diff.)

It's perfectly feasible to see a 1-0 Saudi win against Japan and if that's the case Australia would need to win 3-0 vs. Thailand. They are two goals behind right now. Saudi Arabia is lucky to be home and will want that home crowd rockin' against a Japanese squad that won't be playing for anything.