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Post by Panda on Sept 11, 2013 16:41:29 GMT 1
Moldova at home. Montenegro beat them 1-0 away. Eek, so if they get a draw with us, they should then get 3 points in their last game, it really is too close to call in our group! Yes but if that happens, we'll still finish ahead of them if we beat Poland. For me, the key game is Ukraine-Poland. If Ukraine don't win that, it improves England's position a hell of a lot. If England beat Montenegro and Ukraine draw with Poland, England would just need a draw against Poland to qualify. If England beat Montenegro and Poland beat Ukraine, only a heavy defeat at home to Poland would stop England qualifying. If England draw with Montenegro and Ukraine beat Poland, we would have to beat Poland to be sure of 2nd. If England draw with Montenegro and Ukraine fail to beat Poland, we would qualify if we beat Poland. If England lose to Montenegro, we're in trouble, as we'd be relying on other results to go our way.
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Post by Panda on Sept 11, 2013 17:01:15 GMT 1
If qualifying ended today, these would be the 32 teams taking part in the 2014 World Cup: HOSTS BrazilEUROPE Belgium Italy Germany Netherlands Switzerland Russia Bosnia-Herzegovina England Spain PLAYOFFS Portugal Croatia Greece Sweden SOUTH AMERICA Argentina Colombia Chile Ecuador CONCACAF USA Costa Rica Honduras AFRICA Ivory Coast Ghana Algeria Nigeria Cape Verde ASIA Iran South Korea Japan AustraliaINTERCONTINENTAL PLAYOFFS Uruguay Panama PLAYOFF LOSING TEAMS Ukraine France Hungary Iceland Burkina Faso Cameroon Egypt Senegal Ethiopia Jordan New Zealand
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Post by Shireblogger on Sept 11, 2013 17:30:02 GMT 1
I'd love to see Cape Verde and Bosnia qualify.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Sept 11, 2013 18:18:26 GMT 1
I'd love to see Iceland qualify
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Post by Shireblogger on Sept 11, 2013 20:59:25 GMT 1
I'd love to see Iceland qualify Me too. I don't think it is very likely though, despite their strong performance so far.
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Post by Panda on Sept 12, 2013 17:06:39 GMT 1
I've updated the projected qualifiers list to reflect the fact Sweden have moved above France in the new world rankings and as it stands, would be seeded for the playoffs.
The 5 African teams remain the same and will be the seeds in Monday's draw for the final round.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 12, 2013 20:18:14 GMT 1
I'd love to see Cape Verde and Bosnia qualify. Cape Verde are out, their win over Tunisia reversed because one of their players was under a suspension. The African qualifying has become a joke. I make it seven matches that have been overturned into a default 3-0 because of chicanery.
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Post by Panda on Sept 12, 2013 23:57:48 GMT 1
Absolutely ridiculous. I don't necessarily blame FIFA, as long as rules are being implemented properly and they're not just making things up (how often do you see a player receive a 4-match ban at international level?). But it is very worrying how many teams can't find someone with enough nous to ensure everything is adhered to properly.
It makes you wonder how many times teams have got away with fielding suspended or ineligible players in the past...
Tunisia will take Cape Verde's place as one of the five seeded teams. With Cape Verde gone, I'll be rooting for Ethiopia and Burkina Faso now.
There have now been 12 matches (8 in Africa, 2 in CONCACAF, 2 in Asia) in this World Cup where results have been adjusted and one team awarded a 3-0 win, though for three of those games, the team that was awarded the 3-0 win won the original match anyway.
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Post by Panda on Sept 13, 2013 0:20:16 GMT 1
The story seems to be Cape Verde had a player sent off in an earlier match that was later annulled and wrongly assumed the suspension would no longer apply after the annullment. Tunisia suspected something might be amiss and got a speedy protest in.
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Post by Panda on Sept 13, 2013 0:24:17 GMT 1
It seems there was also an appeal from Congo over a possible ineligible fielded by Niger in their drawn qualifier last week. A win for Congo would've seen them finish top instead of Burkina Faso.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 13, 2013 8:36:14 GMT 1
Absolutely ridiculous. I don't necessarily blame FIFA, as long as rules are being implemented properly and they're not just making things up (how often do you see a player receive a 4-match ban at international level?). But it is very worrying how many teams can't find someone with enough nous to ensure everything is adhered to properly. It might be even worse. Imagine Team A is desperate to qualify and Team B is desperate for money. Team B agrees to throw the game to Team A, but thinks it cannot do so on the pitch, as it would be obvious, or players will not go along with it. So Team B just fields an ineligible player, the game is played as per, and afterwards Team A gets the 3-0 win. And there is going to be a scenario at some point in which Team A needs to beat Team B 4-0 to go through, Team B has an injury crisis...
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Post by suedehead on Sept 14, 2013 20:04:42 GMT 1
Absolutely ridiculous. I don't necessarily blame FIFA, as long as rules are being implemented properly and they're not just making things up (how often do you see a player receive a 4-match ban at international level?). But it is very worrying how many teams can't find someone with enough nous to ensure everything is adhered to properly. It might be even worse. Imagine Team A is desperate to qualify and Team B is desperate for money. Team B agrees to throw the game to Team A, but thinks it cannot do so on the pitch, as it would be obvious, or players will not go along with it. So Team B just fields an ineligible player, the game is played as per, and afterwards Team A gets the 3-0 win. And there is going to be a scenario at some point in which Team A needs to beat Team B 4-0 to go through, Team B has an injury crisis... Presumably though, if team A did win 4-0 and team B fielded an ineligible player, the result would stand. That said, there is clearly potential for a team to field an ineligible player deliberately.
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Post by Panda on Sept 16, 2013 11:50:58 GMT 1
African 3rd round draw: First legs: 11-15 October Second legs: 15-19 November
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Post by Robin on Sept 16, 2013 14:22:52 GMT 1
So what happens after the African 3rd round qualifiers. Do the winning teams qualify for Brazil?
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Post by Panda on Sept 16, 2013 14:45:10 GMT 1
Yep. 5 winners, 5 places.
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Post by Panda on Sept 16, 2013 14:49:04 GMT 1
And that draw means it could be the same 5 qualifiers as the last World Cup.
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Post by Panda on Oct 11, 2013 16:29:33 GMT 1
Teams that can qualify for the World Cup tonight:
Belgium Germany Switzerland Russia Colombia Chile Honduras
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Post by Robbie on Oct 11, 2013 20:50:17 GMT 1
Hmmm... this is not going as well as I hoped.
Half time:
England 0 Montenegro 0
and, unfortunately
Ukraine 1 Poland 0
with only 2 minutes to go.
It means we NEED to win tonight otherwise the match against Poland will be a must win game.
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Robbie
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Post by Robbie on Oct 11, 2013 20:57:16 GMT 1
Final score:
Ukraine 1 Poland 0
England need to score!
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Post by Robbie on Oct 11, 2013 21:04:08 GMT 1
Yee-hah!
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