Russia 2018

[rowan]

Spain are through, the US are back on track and SA look to be out after the latest round of results...

Correction: Read that wrong. SA actually won (v Burkina Faso).

Update: & Nigeria are officially through. About time the Super Eagles produced the goods at the tournament proper, too, after exploding onto the scene in the US almost quarter of a century ago. Africa is the only confederation never to have had a team in the semis (aside from Oceania, of course), though Ghana were cruelly robbed by Suarez's blatant cheating in 2010.

[WaspInWales]

Not looking very good for the Dutch at the moment.

[rowan]

Qualified teams:

Russia
Brazil
Iran
Japan
Mexico
Belgium
Korea Republic
Saudi Arabia
Germany
England
Spain
Nigeria
Costa Rica

[Discreet Hooker]

No argy~bargy then ! Must rate as a national disaster .

[rowan]

Egypt confirmed after a 2-1 win over Congo. They last played in 1990 and performed admirably in holding Holland and Ireland to draws and narrowly losing to subsequent semi-finalists England. Many predicted at the time they would soon return and do ever better, but that did not transpire, despite the Pharaohs' domination of the African Cup, and it's taken them 28 years to qualify again. Hopefully it'll have been worth the wait...

[WaspInWales]

Take a bow Iceland. Tough group and they came out on top!

[WaspInWales]

Republic of Ireland through to the play offs after beating Wales 1-0 in Cardiff.

Wales miss out.

[rowan]

That's a shame. If there was one team from the isles I'd have like to have seen qualify, it was Wales. Only previous appearance was in the 50s, I believe. Wow, that was also the last time they beat the All Blacks!

Australia at home in the second leg of their play-off with Syria tomorrow (morning, European time). First leg ended 1-1 in Malaysia. Can the Qasioun Eagles produce a miracle in Sydney? Well, you know what happened 20 years ago . . .

[WaspInWales]

Aye, shame for Wales. One of the standout teams from the Euros and good to watch when they're playing well.

A couple of draws didn't help them, most notably Georgia at home. That said, was a fairly tough group even if there was quite a spread in the rankings. It was reasonable to suggest any of 4 teams (Wales, Serbia, Ireland and Austria) could've topped it and that left 3 teams fighting for one spot.

[rowan]

Half of 32 is 16, I believe, and 16 teams are now confirmed, including the hosts. Both Irelands, Denmark, Italy and Croatia are confirmed for the European playoffs, while Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Senegal appear poised to join Nigeria & Egypt from Africa. Australia have the inside running with home advantage against Syria, the US should pick up the 3rd North American spot, and Argentina need a few things to go their way to get an inter-continental playoff versus NZ, which they ought to win with ease.

Which countries have qualified?

Almost half of the 32 teams that will contest next summer's World Cup final – 14 – have now secured their qualification spots.

Russia - The hosts qualified when they won the chance to host the competition back in Dec 2010.
Brazil - CONMEBOL round robin winners, qualified way back on March 28, 2017
Iran - AFC third round group A winners
Japan - AFC third round group B winners
South Korea - runners up to Iran in Group A
Saudi Arabia - runners up in Group B
Mexico - North and central America and Caribbean round 5 winners
Belgium - Uefa group H winners (first European team) who qualified on Sept 3
Germany - Sealed their place as Group C winners after beating Northern Ireland 3-1 in Belfast
England - Gareth Southgate's side beat Slovenia at Wembley to secure their spot in Russia as winners of Group F
Poland - Poland became to fourth European team to qualify having dropped points in just two games in Group E
Costa Rica - Reached their fourth World Cup finals with a game remaining from their CONCACAF qualification group
Nigeria - Became the first side from Africa to reach Russia and have now missed just one tournament – Germany 2006 – since first qualifying 1994
Egypt - Mohamed Salah scored twice to send the north Africans into their first finals since 1990
Iceland - Have qualified for their first ever World Cup, pipping Croatia to a guaranteed place in Russia
Serbia - Winners of Group B

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/0/w ... -actually/

[WaspInWales]

Besides wanting to see England go as far as possible, which obviously will not happen as they play like a shower of shit who have never showered together before, I'd love to see Iceland do well.

I always like watching Germany. They get all the stereotypical comments such as being 'efficient' but they're a bloody good team and a joy to watch.

It'll be interesting to see how Belgium fare too. Bags of talent for a relatively small nation. Quality all over the pitch. They've managed to climb the rankings in recent years and hold their place without winning anything, so can they go one better this time? Their WC and Euros record isn't anything to shout about; 4th place in Mexico '86 their best result at the world cup. Quarter finals in Brazil. Failed to qualify in 2006 and 2010 and the rest group stage or round 1 exits. Euros record not much better. Runners up in '72 but failed to qualify 9 times between '64 and 2012. Quarter finalists in the most recent competition where they were knocked out by Wales. Like I said, bags of talent throughout the squad...they have to be up there this time?!?

[rowan]

It's always a thrill to see Brazil at their best, but it's been a steady downhill spiral since their players began to move abroad - the class of 2002 notwithstanding, of course. When it comes to football I'm definitely an African man at heart and have waited more than quarter of a century to see a team from that continent reach the semis since Cameroon got so close in 1990. Ghana were robbed in 2010, of course, and so disgusted was I by that result I deliberately missed the final and went hiking instead. Didn't watch the last one either, though I watched some of the group games while on holiday in Zanzibar and the African teams again seemed to have regressed. But something tells me they've got a genuine shot next year. Nigeria were outstanding in qualifying, and have loads of finals experience now, of course, while Egypt could well cause an upset or two as well. Anyway, anything can happen in the 21st century, but I just hope for the tournament's sake it's not going to be another European-dominated affair. Or I'll be skipping the final for the 3rd World Cup in a row.

[rowan]

Just got underway in Sydney...

Update: Syria took an early lead but Aussie have equalised.

HT 1-1. That was also the first leg score, of course, so if it stayed like this it would go to penalties.

Socceroos totally dominant but still it remains tied up with half an our to play . . .

No change with 10 to go. I just discovered the winner of this still has to play North America's 4th team (Honduras?) to get to Russia

Australia still missing their opportunities and it goes to injury time. 4 mins.

Extra time to be played. I thought they went directly to penalties at this stage...

More of the same. Aussies dominating but failing to capitalise. 1-1 at the break in OT.

Aussies with a late goal for a deserved victory! 2-1
Oh, there's still time left. 8 minutes, in fact (spot the rugby fan trying to follow a football game)

Nervous finish, as a goal to Syria would put them through on away goals, exactly as Iran went through at Aussie's expense 2 decades ago. & they just hit the woodwork!

But the result is official now. Aussies through to the playoff!

[rowan]

So iceland easily surpass Trinidad & Tobago (1.3 million) as the small nation ever to qualify for the World Cup. Their population, 350, 000, is about the same as Christchurch, Canberra or Cardiff, just to put that in perspective, or Belize, the Bahamas or the Maldives. Incredible achievement

Meanwhile, France have become qualifier number 17.

[rowan]

Messi hat-trick in Quito sends the Argies through, Peru to face Kiwis, Chile miss out. Wow, what a dramatic finish to SAmerican qualifying

Uruguay & Colombia also through.

[rowan]

& the US missed out 2-1 loss to Trinny means America misses the big show for the first time since the 80s, I believe

Anyone else suspect they just didn't want to be there - you know, Russia

Panama are through and Honduras will face the Aussies.

Trivia: The US are the only CONCACAF team to reach the semis, having done so at the inaugural tournament in Uruguay in 1930, finishing 3rd.

[rowan]

23 teams through with Panama joining Iceland as debutantes

From Wiki:

Russia Host 2 December 2010 11th1 2014 2 Fourth place (1966)2
Brazil CONMEBOL Round Robin winners 28 March 2017 21st 2014 21 Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)
Iran AFC Third Round Group A winners 12 June 2017 5th 2014 2 Group stage (1978, 1998, 2006, 2014)
Japan AFC Third Round Group B winners 31 August 2017 6th 2014 6 Round of 16 (2002, 2010)
Mexico CONCACAF Fifth Round winners 1 September 2017 16th 2014 7 Quarter-finals (1970, 1986)
Belgium UEFA Group H winners 3 September 2017 13th 2014 2 Fourth place (1986)
South Korea AFC Third Round Group A runners-up 5 September 2017 10th 2014 9 Fourth place (2002)
Saudi Arabia AFC Third Round Group B runners-up 5 September 2017 5th 2006 1 Round of 16 (1994)
Germany UEFA Group C winners 5 October 2017 19th3 2014 17 Winners (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014)
England UEFA Group F winners 5 October 2017 15th 2014 6 Winners (1966)
Spain UEFA Group G winners 6 October 2017 15th 2014 11 Winners (2010)
Nigeria CAF Third Round Group B winners 7 October 2017 6th 2014 3 Round of 16 (1994, 1998, 2014)
Costa Rica CONCACAF Fifth Round runners-up 7 October 2017 5th 2014 2 Quarter-finals (2014)
Poland UEFA Group E winners 8 October 2017 8th 2006 1 Third place (1974, 1982)
Egypt CAF Third Round Group E winners 8 October 2017 3rd 1990 1 First round (1934, 1990)
Iceland UEFA Group I winners 9 October 2017 1st – 1 –
Serbia UEFA Group D winners 9 October 2017 12th4 2010 1 Fourth place (1930, 1962)5
Portugal UEFA Group B winners 10 October 2017 7th 2014 5 Third place (1966)
France UEFA Group A winners 10 October 2017 15th 2014 6 Winners (1998)
Uruguay CONMEBOL Round Robin runners-up 10 October 2017 13th 2014 3 Winners (1930, 1950)
Argentina CONMEBOL Round Robin third place 10 October 2017 17th 2014 12 Winners (1978, 1986)
Colombia CONMEBOL Round Robin fourth place 10 October 2017 6th 2014 2 Quarter-finals (2014)
Panama CONCACAF Fifth Round third place 10 October 2017 1st – 1

[rowan]

So who's likely to fill out the remaining 9 places?

Europe will produce 4 further teams, with Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Croatia, Greece, Switzerland and the 2 Irelands to be draw into the playoffs.

Tunisia and Senegal lead their African groups and should come through, but there is going to be an almighty clash when Ivory Coast host Morocco on November 6 needing a win to qualify. A draw or a win would be enough for the visitors.

& of course we have the two inter-continental playoffs- Australia v Hondura looks 50/50, while Peru v NZ will likely see the SAmericans through for the first time since 82 !!

[rowan]

I suppose the biggest surprise so far has been the failure of 3-time losing finalist Holland to qualify. Is that another first since the 80s?

[Galfon]

They failed to make the 82 and 86 finals - pretty shocking after being the best footballing team in the 74 and 78 tournaments.Mixed bag since, with some great individual players.

[rowan]

Well, England failed to make 74 and 78 after winning it in 66. It was a smaller tournament in those days, of course, and qualifying berths were more difficult to come by. Another remarkable thing about England is their only other World Cup semis appearance was in 1990, when they finished 4th, and they've never even made a European Cup final. Meanwhile, for my money the best teams not to win a World Cup were Hungary of the 50s, Holland of the 70s and Brazil of the 80s.

[rowan]

European playoffs draw is out:

NIreland v Swiss
Croatia v Greece
Denmark v Ireland
Sweden v Italy

I'll take Swiss, Croatia, Denmark & Italy

[WaspInWales]

European playoffs draw is out:

NIreland v Swiss
Croatia v Greece
Denmark v Ireland
Sweden v Italy

I'll take Swiss, Croatia, Denmark & Italy

I think Ireland will give the Danes a couple of good matches, but yes, agree with your other favourites. It would be amazing to see Northern Ireland qualify. They have some outstanding support and they're a decent enough team too. I'd definitely back them over one leg, but two legs may be a leg too far.

[rowan]

European playoffs draw is out:

NIreland v Swiss
Croatia v Greece
Denmark v Ireland
Sweden v Italy

I'll take Swiss, Croatia, Denmark & Italy

I think Ireland will give the Danes a couple of good matches, but yes, agree with your other favourites. It would be amazing to see Northern Ireland qualify. They have some outstanding support and they're a decent enough team too. I'd definitely back them over one leg, but two legs may be a leg too far.

Yes, Denmark v Ireland was the toughest one to pick. Could go either way.

[rowan]

Italy will probably scrape by Sweden on penalties and then end up in the final of the World Cup ...