frag
Member
*Paranoid Android*
I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head.
Posts: 25,112
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Post by frag on Oct 16, 2017 17:26:08 GMT 1
Now that the rankings have been published, we know a lot more about the potential pots for the world cup draw. Here, teams in bold have qualified; others may still qualify via play-offs (or African groups).
Pot 1 Russia Germany Brazil Portugal Argentina Belgium Poland France
Pot 2 Spain Peru Switzerland England Colombia Italy Mexico Uruguay
Pot 2 or 3 Croatia Denmark Iceland Costa Rica N. Ireland
Pot 3 Sweden Ireland Tunisia Iran Egypt Senegal
Pot 3 or 4 DR Congo Serbia Nigeria Australia Japan
Pot 4 Greece Morocco Panama South Korea Burkina Faso Ivory Coast Saudi Arabia Cape Verde Honduras South Africa New Zealand
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Post by Panda on Oct 17, 2017 14:35:49 GMT 1
European playoff draw: (team listed first at home in 1st leg)
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Post by Panda on Nov 10, 2017 0:05:16 GMT 1
European playoffs, 1st leg: Northern Ireland are up against it after losing 1-0 at Windsor Park. The only goal came from a harshly-awarded penalty for the Swiss. Croatia are on the verge of their 5th World Cup appearance with a comprehensive win over Greece. Greece must score at least three goals in the second leg - something they've only done four times in the last five years, and two of those occasions were against Gibraltar...
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Post by Panda on Nov 11, 2017 23:13:38 GMT 1
European playoffs, 1st leg: You have go back to 1958 for the last World Cup not to feature Italy but that is a realistic possibility after the Azzurri lost in Sweden. Ireland will be reasonably happy to come away from Denmark with a goalless draw ahead of Tuesday's second leg in Dublin.
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Post by Panda on Nov 11, 2017 23:17:53 GMT 1
Intercontinental playoffs, 1st leg: No goals in the two intercontinental playoffs. Australia should be very happy to have earned a draw in Honduras, especially as they had to leave the injured Tim Cahill on the bench. New Zealand might be less happy at the prospect of having to get something in Peru in order to take the 32nd and final qualifying spot.
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Post by Panda on Nov 12, 2017 0:06:58 GMT 1
African 3rd round, Group A: qualify for the World Cup |
Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts | Q | | 6 | +7 | 14 | 2 | | 6 | +7 | 13 | 3 | | 6 | -6 | 4 | 4 | | 6 | -8 | 3 |
Tunisia get the point they needed to reach their first World Cup since 2006. They beat Mexico in their first ever finals match in 1978 but have failed to win any of the 11 they've played since.
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Post by Panda on Nov 12, 2017 0:16:39 GMT 1
African 3rd round, Group B: Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts | Q | | 6 | +8 | 14 | 2 | | 6 | +1 | 8 | 3 | | 6 | -2 | 7 | 4 | | 6 | -7 | 2 |
In a group containing three of the five African teams that qualified in 2014, Nigeria come out on top. Algeria finish winless after taking eventual winners Germany to extra time in the last 16 of the 2014 World Cup. Cameroon miss out on the finals for only the third time since their debut in 1982, less than a year after becoming African champions.
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Post by Panda on Nov 12, 2017 0:34:02 GMT 1
African 3rd round, Group C: qualify for the World Cup |
Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts | Q | | 6 | +11 | 12 | 2 | | 6 | +2 | 8 | 3 | | 6 | -5 | 6 | 4 | | 6 | -8 | 4 |
Morocco end a 20-year wait to return to the World Cup after winning the head-to-head decider against the Ivory Coast. They finish top of the group without conceding a goal. The Ivorians miss out after qualifying for the last three World Cups.
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Post by Panda on Nov 12, 2017 0:41:12 GMT 1
African 3rd round, Group D: qualify for the World Cup |
Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts | Q | | 5 | +6 | 11 | 2 | | 5 | 0 | 6 | 3 | | 5 | -4 | 6 | 4 | | 5 | -2 | 4 |
In a game replayed after the referee corruption controversy, Senegal pick up the 3 points they needed to qualify with a game to spare. In they only previous finals appearance in 2002, they beat World Champions France in the opening game and went on to reach the quarter-finals.
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Post by Panda on Nov 12, 2017 23:04:39 GMT 1
African 3rd round, Group E: Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts | Q | | 6 | +4 | 13 | 2 | | 6 | +1 | 9 | 3 | | 6 | +2 | 7 | 4 | | 6 | -7 | 2 |
Little to play for as Group E comes to an end, though Uganda manage to hold on to 2nd ahead of 2010 quarter-finalists Ghana.
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Post by Panda on Nov 12, 2017 23:11:16 GMT 1
European playoffs, 2nd leg: qualify for the World Cup | qualify for the World Cup |
Northern Ireland gave it everything in Basel and had a header cleared off the line in the dying minutes but Switzerland hold on to reach their 4th successive finals and 11th in total. They haven't reached the quarter-finals since they hosted the tournament in 1954. Greece had a mountain to climb against Croatia and failed to reduce the arrears at all as the visitors coast into the finals.
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Post by Panda on Nov 13, 2017 23:01:00 GMT 1
European playoff, 2nd leg: | | | agg: 0-1 |
qualify for the World Cup |
Italy have failed to qualify for the World Cup. Let that sink in for a second. They are words most people won't have heard in their lifetime. But there it is - the 4-time World Champions will not be in Russia next year. They will be the only former World Cup winners not at the tournament as their inconsistency from one tournament to the next reaches a new low. Euro 80: 4th place 1982 WC: Winners Euro 84: did not qualify 1986 WC: Last 16 Euro 88: Semi-finals 1990 WC: Semi-finals Euro 92: did not qualify 1994 WC: Runners-up Euro 96: 1st round 1998 WC: Quarter-finals Euro 2000: Runners-up 2002 WC: Last 16 Euro 2004: 1st round 2006 WC: Winners Euro 2008: Quarter-finals 2010 WC: 1st round Euro 2012: Runners-up 2014 WC: 1st round Euro 2016: Quarter-finals 2018 WC: did not qualify Italian heartbreak is Swedish joy as the Swedes reach the World Cup for the first time since 2006.
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Post by suedehead on Nov 13, 2017 23:14:03 GMT 1
Well, there's a challenge for journalists. How to report on Italy's failure without resorting to cliches. Obviously, any journalist using the phrase "It won't feel like a World Cup without Italy" will have failed miserably.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 13, 2017 23:34:20 GMT 1
If there was ever an injustice in football it is the legendary Gigi Buffon ending his Italy career like this.
Most depressingly this will doubtless mean the glory hunting Zlatan Ibrahimovic coming out of retirement and making himself available in the summer.
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Post by suedehead on Nov 13, 2017 23:44:46 GMT 1
If there was ever an injustice in football it is the legendary Gigi Buffon ending his Italy career like this. Bobby Moore only played one more game for England after the infamous draw against Poland that meant missing the 1974 World Cup. That match was a friendly against Italy.
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Post by raliverpool on Nov 13, 2017 23:53:45 GMT 1
If there was ever an injustice in football it is the legendary Gigi Buffon ending his Italy career like this. Bobby Moore only played one more game for England after the infamous draw against Poland that meant missing the 1974 World Cup. That match was a friendly against Italy. And England are playing Italy on March 23rd 2018 at Wembley Stadium in a friendly. It is somewhat telling that: World Cup Russia 2018 Group X: Chile Italy United States Netherlands could be arguably stronger than any of the groups actually drawn at the beginning of December.
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Post by smokeyb on Nov 14, 2017 0:04:29 GMT 1
Is it just me or are there no great Italian players anymore? Apart from Buffon, I couldn't name any of the current side.
The previous generation had great Italian players, but they have failed to replace all the recent retirements.
Looks like they need to start from scratch.
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Post by paulgilb on Nov 14, 2017 0:21:06 GMT 1
This means that in the last 10 years both Irish teams have missed out on a World Cup thanks to a controversial goal scored by a (partly) French-speaking country.
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Post by Shireblogger on Nov 14, 2017 10:03:17 GMT 1
It is somewhat telling that: World Cup Russia 2018 Group X: Chile Italy United States Netherlands could be arguably stronger than any of the groups actually drawn at the beginning of December. I have to disagree with this. All four of those teams failed to qualify after playing at least 12 qualifying games. It wasn't like they were eliminated after playing a single match at a neutral ground. The only teams Italy beat in qualifying were Israel, Albania and Leichtenstein. Netherlands lost to Bulgaria, Sweden and France. Chile lost as many qualifying matches as they won, and finished below Peru in the group. And the USA finished below all of Costa Rica, Panama and Honduras, and also managed to lose to Guatemala. I'd agree, the best teams ever put out by Chile, Italy, USA and Netherlands would make for a pretty appetising group. But their current squads are ropey, and they all deserved to fail to qualify.
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Post by Shireblogger on Nov 14, 2017 10:07:50 GMT 1
^^^ You'd have a stronger case if you'd argued for the inclusion of DR Congo, Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda. They all played 8 qualifying matches, lost just one of them, and aren't going to Russia. Each of those nations would be capable of progressing through the Group round in the World Cup Finals.
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