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Post by suedehead on Nov 14, 2017 12:15:50 GMT 1
You can make a case for Italy being unlucky to be in the same group as Spain, meaning one of them could only qualify through the play-offs. OTOH, that only happened because they fell sufficiently far down the rankings for it to be possible. A failure to score in 180 minutes against Sweden also dampens any sympathy I might have had for them.
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Post by Panda on Nov 15, 2017 0:04:16 GMT 1
European playoff, 2nd leg: | | | agg: 1-5 |
qualify for the World Cup |
Martin O'Neill's "hoof it long and hope for the best" philosophy came unstuck in spectacular fashion as Denmark crushed the Republic to reach the finals for the 5th time. Ireland got a perfect start but it was all downhill after that as the Danes equalised through a fortunate own goal then took full command with Christian Eriksen scoring a hat-trick. This is only the second time both Sweden and Denmark have qualified for the same World Cup.
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Post by Panda on Nov 15, 2017 0:14:56 GMT 1
European playoff winners and how they fared in the finals:
1986 Belgium (beat Netherlands) Semi-finals
Scotland (beat Australia) 1st round
1998 Italy (beat Russia) Quarter-finals
Croatia (beat Ukraine) Semi-finals
Belgium (beat Ireland) 1st round
Yugoslavia (beat Hungary) 2nd round
2002 Belgium (beat Czech Republic) 2nd round
Germany (beat Ukraine) Runners-up
Turkey (beat Austria) Semi-finals
Slovenia (beat Romania) 1st round
Ireland (beat Iran) 2nd round
2006 Spain (beat Slovakia) 2nd round
Switzerland (beat Turkey) 2nd round
Czech Republic (beat Norway) 1st round
2010 France (beat Ireland) 1st round
Portugal (beat Bosnia) 2nd round
Greece (beat Ukraine) 1st round
Slovenia (beat Russia) 1st round
2014 Greece (beat Romania) 2nd round
Croatia (beat Iceland) 1st round
Portugal (beat Sweden) 1st round
France (beat Ukraine) Quarter-finals
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Post by Panda on Nov 15, 2017 0:31:00 GMT 1
With just 2 places remaining, the seedings are almost set:
POT 1 Russia Germany Brazil Portugal Argentina Belgium Poland France
POT 2 Spain Switzerland England Colombia Mexico Uruguay Croatia Peru or Denmark
POT 3 Iceland Costa Rica Sweden Tunisia Egypt Senegal Iran Denmark or Serbia
POT 4 Nigeria Japan Morocco Panama South Korea Saudi Arabia Serbia or New Zealand Australia or Honduras
If Peru beat New Zealand, they will be in pot 2, Denmark in pot 3 and Serbia in pot 4. If New Zealand beat Peru, they will be in pot 4, Serbia in pot 3 and Denmark in pot 2.
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Post by suedehead on Nov 15, 2017 0:43:08 GMT 1
European playoff winners and how they fared in the finals: 2002Germany (beat Ukraine) Runners-up That, of course, was the year Germany finished second to England following the 5-1 England win in Munich. Germany's reward for scraping through was a p*ss-easy draw that was effectively a bye to the semi-final.
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Post by Panda on Nov 15, 2017 0:51:21 GMT 1
European playoff winners and how they fared in the finals: 2002Germany (beat Ukraine) Runners-up That, of course, was the year Germany finished second to England following the 5-1 England win in Munich. Germany's reward for scraping through was a p*ss-easy draw that was effectively a bye to the semi-final. And they still played awful. Possibly the worst team to reach a World Cup final along with Argentina in 1990. Group stage: Saudi Arabia (won 8-0) Ireland (drew 1-1) Cameroon (won 2-0) 2nd round: Paraguay (won 1-0, 88th minute winner) Quarter-finals: USA (won 1-0 after Scottish ref Hugh Dallas missed a blatant German handball in the 2nd half) Semi-finals: South Korea (won 1-0)
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Post by suedehead on Nov 15, 2017 1:06:08 GMT 1
Yes, it was a spectacularly poor German team. They were bad in the Euros two years earlier, and were no better in the 2002 World Cup. It's fair to say they've improved since then.
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Post by Panda on Nov 15, 2017 1:34:12 GMT 1
They were bad in the Euros two years earlier And two years later, when they drew 0-0 with Latvia and went out in the group stage.
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Post by Panda on Nov 15, 2017 2:09:29 GMT 1
Highest ranked teams who failed to qualify for the World Cup: (based on rankings when draw for the finals was made)
1994 6. Denmark 8. England 15. France 18. Uruguay 19. RCS
1998 4. Czech Republic 13. Russia 15. Sweden 20. Zambia 25. Bolivia
2002 5. Colombia 8. Netherlands 12. Yugoslavia 13. Czech Republic 15. Romania
2006 11. Turkey 13. Denmark 17. Greece 18. Uruguay 22. Cameroon
2010 10. Croatia 13. Russia 23. Czech Republic 24. Ukraine 25. Israel
2014 18. Ukraine 25. Denmark 27. Sweden 28. Czech Republic 29. Slovenia
2018 (October ranking) 9. Chile (10. Peru) 14. Wales 15. Italy 20. Netherlands 23. Northern Ireland
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Post by Panda on Nov 15, 2017 2:54:31 GMT 1
Lowest ranked team to qualify:
1994 59. Bolivia (when finals draw was made)
1998 106. Iran (when qualifying draw was made) 71. Nigeria (when finals draw was made)
2002 83. Senegal (qualifying) 67. Senegal (finals)
2006 76. Togo (qualifying) 62. Angola (finals)
2010 117. North Korea (qualifying) 86. South Africa (finals) 84. North Korea (finals)
2014 67. Ecuador (qualifying) 59. Australia (finals)
2018 136. New Zealand (qualifying - if they qualify) 92. Saudi Arabia (qualifying - if New Zealand don't qualify) 122. New Zealand (finals - if they qualify) 69. Honduras (finals - if they qualify and New Zealand don't) 65. Russia (finals - if neither New Zealand nor Honduras qualify) 63. Saudi Arabia (finals - if New Zealand and Honduras don't qualify and not including Russia)
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Post by Shireblogger on Nov 15, 2017 11:07:52 GMT 1
Highest ranked teams who failed to qualify for the World Cup: (based on rankings when draw for the finals was made) Czech Republic crop up quite frequently on that list. Is the person who devised the ranking system Czech ?
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Post by Earl Purple on Nov 15, 2017 16:27:42 GMT 1
European playoff winners and how they fared in the finals: 2002Germany (beat Ukraine) Runners-up That, of course, was the year Germany finished second to England following the 5-1 England win in Munich. Germany's reward for scraping through was a p*ss-easy draw that was effectively a bye to the semi-final. That world cup was really Brazil vs the rest of the world, and England were among those knocked out by an invincible Brazil team. Germany were just lucky to be in their half of the draw. Some dodgy refereeing helped South Korea to the semi-final. The 1982 world cup had France finish a poor 2nd to England in the group and be rewarded with a much easier 2nd-phase group and thus reach the semi-final while England went out. England's failure to qualify in 1978 happened in a group where we won every game except one and finished below Italy on goal-difference after they also did the same. We both beat each other 2-0 at home so it was simply a matter of who could give the minnows of the group a bigger thrashing. But then they won the head-to-head in 1997 (a win and a draw against us) but drew 2 of the games against the minnows whereas we won them all.
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Post by Earl Purple on Nov 15, 2017 16:28:49 GMT 1
Highest ranked teams who failed to qualify for the World Cup: (based on rankings when draw for the finals was made) Czech Republic crop up quite frequently on that list. Is the person who devised the ranking system Czech ? They blow hot and cold. Had good tournaments in Euro 1996 and Euro 2004.
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Post by Earl Purple on Nov 15, 2017 16:30:47 GMT 1
This is only the second time both Sweden and Denmark have qualified for the same World Cup. The first must have been 2002 as England played against both of them, drawing with Sweden to finish only 2nd in the group but beating Denmark 3-0 in the first round of the knockout. Senegal also played against both of them, drawing with Denmark in finishing 2nd in the group then beating Sweden with a golden goal.
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Post by Panda on Nov 16, 2017 1:17:03 GMT 1
Czech Republic crop up quite frequently on that list. Is the person who devised the ranking system Czech ? They blow hot and cold. Had good tournaments in Euro 1996 and Euro 2004. Indeed. They've reached every European Championship since separation, making the knockout stages in 1996 (runners-up), 2004 (semi-finals) and 2012 (quarter-finals) but 2006 is the only World Cup they've reached during that time. Their poor performance at Euro 2016 and in qualifying for this World Cup has seen their ranking drop to 46.
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Post by Panda on Nov 16, 2017 1:21:41 GMT 1
Intercontinental playoff, 2nd leg: | | | agg: 3-1 |
qualify for the World Cup |
Mile Jedinak scored a hat-trick (which included two penalties) as Australia reached their 4th World Cup in a row. Their win makes them only the second current continental champions to qualify for 2018, following Portugal. New Zealand will make it three if they beat Peru.
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Post by o on Nov 16, 2017 11:32:37 GMT 1
So looking at that, we could seriously have a group consisting of Poland, Peru, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and two would go through?
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Post by lewis17 on Nov 16, 2017 12:57:20 GMT 1
So looking at that, we could seriously have a group consisting of Poland, Peru, Iran and Saudi Arabia, and two would go through? I think I'm right in saying Iran and Saudi Arabia can't be drawn in the same group, as no two countries from the same federation can be in the same group (excluding UEFA, of course, as with so many qualifiers there will be two European countries in some groups).
Peru are the final qualifiers, having beaten New Zealand 2-0 on aggregate.
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Post by Shireblogger on Nov 16, 2017 13:16:56 GMT 1
I think I'm right in saying Iran and Saudi Arabia can't be drawn in the same group, as no two countries from the same federation can be in the same group (excluding UEFA, of course, as with so many qualifiers there will be two European countries in some groups). If that is correct, then I think I'm right in saying England have a 40% chance of being in the same group as either Brazil or Argentina.
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Post by lewis17 on Nov 16, 2017 13:23:08 GMT 1
Pot 1 has six European teams and two South American teams ~ England could draw any one of them.
I would like: Poland, England, Iran & Panama.
We'll probably get something like: Brazil or Argentina, England, Denmark or Sweden, Nigeria.
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