DJHazey

Poland has been a bit shit for a hot minute now, but still Albania getting a 2-0 home result is as good as their 1-1 away to Czech Republic. Nice to see them lead the group. Poland currently in 4th place. For today's matches, Austria and Ukraine has a chance to get away results and really put non-playoff qualification as a question mark for Sweden and Italy.

The African Cup of Nations 2023 edition (to be played January 2024) has the following qualified nations: Ivory Coast (host) Nigeria Guinea-Bissau Burkina Faso Cape Verde Islands Egypt Guinea Ghana Angola Algeria Tanzania Mali Gambia Zambia Congo DR Mauritania Tunisia Equatorial Guinea South Africa Morocco Senegal Mozambique Biggest surprise qualifiers: Tanzania, Gambia, Mozambique Biggest Surprise non-qualifiers: Gabon, Uganda, Benin This is 22 of the 24 nations in the tournament, the final two will be determined by the Cameroon-Burundi match today. If Cameroon wins, then it's Cameroon and Namibia. If Burundi wins, then it's Burundi and Namibia. If Cameroon and Burundi draw, then it's Namibia and Burundi. (I believe it's this based on goals scored in their matches, but it's very complicated)

A letdown by Kazakhstan. We needed that home W. Hungary giving me life though. They continue to show those Nation League results were no fluke. Maybe their best squad since the 1950s right now.

My 'far too early' Table Projection Brazil Argentina Uruguay Colombia Ecuador Peru Venezuela Chile Paraguay Bolivia

Maybe so, but in recent years it seems like at least a couple of them always seem to get off to a decent start and then fall off or level off.

Fixtures (All kick of times are 15:00 BST unless stated otherwise) Friday 1st September Luton Town 0-2 West Ham United (20:00) Saturday 2nd September Sheffield United 0-3 Everton (12:30) Brentford 1-0 AFC Bournemouth Burnley 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur Chelsea 3-0 Nottingham Forest Manchester City 2-0 Fulham Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Newcastle United (17:30) Sunday 3rd September Crystal Palace 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (14:00) Liverpool 1-0 Aston Villa (14:00) Arsenal 0-3 Manchester United (16:30)

This might be the worst I've ever seen all three promoted teams do to start a season. Still hoping Everton continues to falter though just because it would be crazy to see them relegated.

Might not remember to always do this, but I like predicting scores. Friday 25th August Chelsea 3-0 Luton Town (20:00) Saturday 26th August AFC Bournemouth 0-4 Tottenham Hotspur (12:30) Arsenal 1-2 Fulham Brentford 2-1 Crystal Palace Everton 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers Manchester United 2-0 Nottingham Forest Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 West Ham United (17:30) Sunday 27th August Burnley 0-4 Aston Villa (14:00) Sheffield United 0-3 Manchester City (14:00) Newcastle United 1-2 Liverpool (16:30)

If F1 bans DRS in qualifying like they're discussing, it might make things interesting.

Spain 1:2 Netherlands (extra time winner) Japan 1:1 Sweden (Japan in PK's) Australia 2:3 France England 2:0 Colombia

USA deserved to go out, since they could never finish their attacks. The roster needs a major upgrade of youth (and seasoning from the youth on this roster) for the next one and we'll come back strong. Rooting for Netherlands or Australia to do it at home.

Screwed up the time-slot of having USA play at 5am local time and Netherlands at 3am local time. Would've had more eyeballs watching from both countries if it was switched. (10pm EST and 10am in Netherlands)

Let's not forget the Faroese team still alive.

Got to love the geographical parody in the women's game.

Also, looks like England gets the "easiest" route to the semifinals, Nigeria, then either Jamaica or Colombia. Certainly, they'd pick that path over many others.

Morocco women mirroring the Morocco men with surprise World Cup runs.

Well done to South Africa. Great showing by Africa with South Africa and Nigeria advancing, plus Morocco getting a minor upset over Korea as well as Zambia (the lowest ranked country going into the tournament) at least going home with a big win. And that being said, Morocco can still advance tonight.

MESS. Better start upping your finishing quality USA, or there is no way we're beating Sweden!

Jamaica leads Panama 1-0. Their first lead in a World Cup match and would go in over Brazil as it stands. If the score again, they lead the group. How about the Reggae Girlz.

Keep dreaming, after a disappointing display against Netherlands where they literally had shooting practice in the second half and the Dutch goalie faced a firing squad of American attackers with none going in, you better believe we're talking at least 3-0 USA.

Indonesia being in the first round is hilarious, they're better right now than almost half of the nations already in the second round (more than half if we take the top two from each group out) - a geographical rivalry with Brunei awaits. Man, those matches are going to be like 12-0. Also, they could've auto-advanced some of the top countries sitting in the second round because those groups are kind of pointless exercises of the top 1/2 nations plastering the bottom ones. I'd be surprised if there are any shocking third-round qualifiers. But alas, it would end turning into the CONCACAF last qualifying when people were critical about the top teams being in the last qualifying round automatically. However, get ready to see some astronomical scorelines, folks.

Caicedo also being a cancer survivor, diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 15.

It was a bit soft, but she did push her to be fair.

Please Uzbekistan, this is your chance!

I think Venezuela and Bolivia are the only two nations you'd probably say have realistically no chance, any of the other 8 could directly qualify, go to playoffs, or go out altogether (well minus Brazil or Argentina for that last part)