2018 World Cup Qualifiers

[Slogger]

5 hours ago, DFF said:

I've just been reading up on the latest standings... what the hell happened in the Thailand v Australia game? No offence to the former, but outside of that game, they'd lost all their other matches, scoring 1 goal and conceding 10. Yet they draw 2-2 with the undefeated Australians!

Ever since we've been in the AFC and not having to beat Uruguay to make the cup every cycle we've gone a bit soft in the easy games. 

Not like how it used to be with us hanging a Cricket score on American Samoa and the like. 

[DFF]

With more World Cup quallies coming up in March, I think it's time for another round-up:

AFC

Spoiler

Currently onto their 3rd and final round. Two groups of six playing each other home-and-away. Top two from each group qualifies directly. The third places play-off to see who makes the intercontinental playoffs.

As it stands, all teams have played 5 games each so far.

Group A

Only 2 pts separates Iran (11), South Korea (10) and Uzbekistan (9). Syria and Qatar look like they are battling for fourth spot, with China in 6th.

Next fixtures:
China vs. South Korea
Syria vs. Uzbekistan
Qatar vs. Iran

Group B

Fantastically close group, with 1pt separating the top four: Saudi Arabia (10), Japan (10), Australia (9), UAE (9). Iraq are six points back in 5th and are likely eliminated, along with Thailand (1 pt).

Next fixtures:
Iraq vs. Australia
Thailand vs. Saudi Arabia
UAE vs. Japan

 

CAF

Spoiler

CAF teams don't actually play again until August, but it's worth a look.

CAF are into their 3rd and final round also. This system is simple, five groups of four, with the winners of each group progressing to the finals.

CAF teams are a third of the way through their games, having played two games each.

 

Group A

Early indications are it'll be a straight fight between DR Congo and Tunisia. Both have 6pts, whereas the others have zero.

Fix:
Guinea vs. Libya
Tunisia vs. DR Congo

Group B

Nigeria have started strongly with two wins, and hold a commanding four point lead on second placed Cameroon.

Fix:
Nigeria vs. Cameroon
Zambia vs. Algeria

Group C

One of the closer groups, due to a few draws so far. Ivory Coast lead with 4pts, ahead of both Morocco and Gabon on two a piece.

Fix:
Gabon vs. Ivory Coast
Morocco vs. Mali

Group D

An even closer group. Burkina Faso and South Africa both have 4pts, and Senegal are right behind them on 3pts.

Fix:
Senegal vs. Burkina Faso
Cape Verde vs. South Africa

Group E

Egypt lead with 6pts, and Uganda are their nearest rivals on 4pts. Ghana only have 1pt, but can get back in the mix if they win their next one and the top two draw.

Fix:
Ghana vs. Congo
Uganda vs. Egypt

 

CONCACAF

Spoiler

Onto their 5th and final round, the Hexagonal - top three qualify directly, and fourth makes the intercontinental playoff.

It's still early days there as they've only played two out of ten games.

Costa Rica lead with 6pts, Mexico and Panama have 4 each, Honduras have 3pts and Trinidad/Tobago and USA both have zero. It's probably worth noting that the USA's defeats were to two of the traditionally more favoured sides (Costa Rica, Mexico).

Fix:

Trinidad/Tobago vs. Panama
Mexico vs. Costa Rica
USA vs. Honduras

CONMEBOL

Spoiler

As always, they just have their 10 team league. Top four go through automatically, and 5th makes the intercontinental playoff.

They've actually played 12 of their 18 fixtures already.

Brazil (27), Uruguay (20), Ecuador (20), and Chile (20) make up the top four. Argentina (19) are 5th and Colombia (18) are 6th. Paraguay (15) and Peru (14) are still in with a shout, albeit probably slim due to the level of competition. Bolivia (7) and Venezuela (5) round things out.

Fix:

Colombia vs. Bolivia
Paraguay vs. Ecuador
Uruguay vs. Brazil
Argentina vs. Chile
Venezuela vs. Peru

OFC

Spoiler

OFC are in their penultimate round - two groups of three. The winners face each other to determine the winner of the OFC competition. That team enters the intercontinental playoffs.

Group A

New Zealand have the early advantage, gaining 4pts from their fixtures with New Caledonia. Fiji are yet to play.

Fix:
Fiji vs. New Zealand

Group B

Tahiti and Solomon Islands split a game each. While both fixtures ended 1-0, Tahiti's win was change to 3-0 after the Solomon Islands fielded an ineligible player. Papua New Guinea have yet to play.

Fix:
Papua New Guinea vs. Tahiti

UEFA

Spoiler

9 groups of 6. Winners qualify directly. 8 best second placed sides meet in play offs to determine the final 4 spots. Everyone has played 4/10 games so far.

Group A

France (10), Netherlands (7), Sweden (7), Bulgaria (6), Belarus (2), Luxembourg (1)

Fix:
Sweden vs Belarus
Bulgaria vs. Netherlands
Luxembourg vs. France

Group B

Switzerland (12), Portugal (9), Hungary (7), Faroe Islands (4), Latvia (3), Andorra (0)

Fix:
Andorra vs. Faroe Islands
Switzerland vs. Latvia
Portugal vs. Hungary

Group C

Germany (12), Northern Ireland (7), Azerbaijan (7), Czech Republic (5), Norway (3), San Marino (0)

Fix:
Azerbaijan vs. Germany
San Marino vs. Czech Republic
Northern Ireland vs. Norway

Group D

Republic of Ireland (10), Serbia (8), Wales (6), Austria (4), Georgia (2), Moldova (1)

Fix:
Georgia vs. Serbia
Austria vs. Moldova
Republic of Ireland vs. Wales

Group E

Poland (10), Montenegro (7), Denmark (6), Romania (5), Armenia (3), Kazakhstan (2)

Fix:
Armenia vs. Kazakhstan
Montenegro vs. Poland
Romania vs. Denmark

Group F

England (10), Slovenia (8), Slovakia (6), Lithuania (5), Scotland (4), Malta (0)

Fix:
England vs. Lithuania
Malta vs. Slovakia
Scotland vs. Slovenia

Group G

Spain (10), Italy (10), Israel (9), Albania (6), Macedonia (0), Liechtenstein (0)

Fix:
Italy vs. Albania
Liechtenstein vs. Macedonia
Spain vs. Israel

Group H

Belgium (12), Greece (10), Bosnia and Herzegovina (7), Cyprus (3), Estonia (3), Gibraltar (0)

Fix:
Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Gibraltar
Cyprus vs. Estonia
Belgium vs. Greece

Group I

Croatia (10), Ukraine (8), Iceland (7), Turkey (5), Finland (1), Kosovo (1)

Fix:
Turkey vs. Finland
Croatia vs. Ukraine
Kosovo vs. Iceland

 

[MDK]

Ireland vs Wales is on that weird BBC channel where they all talk funny.

[Lineker]

Alba?

[MDK]

7 minutes ago, Lineker said:

Alba?

Alba is Jockland, S4C is for the sheep botherers. 

[Lineker]

Ah - that's not solely a BBC channel!

[FestiveJack]

I thought S4C was a Channel 4 one...

[Cymbols]

It's at least a bit BBC, but there's also ads. 

[Lineker]

From its inception S4C was part publicly-financed: funding came both from its advertising revenue and a fixed annual grant from the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), receiving £90m of funding in 2011.[34] Additionally, some Welsh-language programming (including Newyddion and Pobol y Cwm) was produced by BBC Wales as part of the BBC's public service remit, and provided to S4C free of charge.

From 2013, responsibility for funding S4C began to transfer to the BBC, with the DCMS reducing its funding by 94% by 2015.[35] The BBC will provide around £76m of funding to S4C by this date, resulting in a cut of around 25% to S4C's annual budget.[36]

S4C is controlled by the S4C Authority (Awdurdod S4C), an independent body unconnected to Ofcom, the regulator of other UK television channels such as ITV and Channel 4.

[Gorka]

Yawn.

It must be so disheartening for Bale to get his head up, look for a pass to the wing and see Neil Taylor. 

[Cymbols]

Turns out you don't get ads if you watch on iplayer, just this:

[TCO]

We don't look like scoring at all really, so I'd love a draw at this point. It'd be a good result in normal circumstances but with missing half out tema, it'd be a fantastic result.

[MDK]

28 minutes ago, Cymbols said:

Turns out you don't get ads if you watch on iplayer, just this:

Yup, that is what I was getting. But I don't speak that silly language and cant get RTE2 so I'm streaming a US version of it. 

[Cymbols]

You aren't missing out. It's not the most dynamic commentary coverage. 

[Gorka]

Neil Taylor, get the fuck off the pitch. Useless.

[Cymbols]

He's not useless at all. But damn, not good. They're not showing a replay which suggests bad news for Coleman. 

[TCO]

Fuck Neil Taylor, seriously. I saw it first time, his leg was dangling.

[Cymbols]

1 minute ago, TCO said:

Fuck Neil Taylor, seriously. I saw it first time, his leg was dangling.

Come on, it's not like he's set out to do that. It's a contact sport, it's horrible, but it happens. 

[TCO]

He went in high and dangerously and snapped a man's leg. 

Fuck him.

[MDK]

14 minutes ago, Cymbols said:

He's not useless at all. But damn, not good. They're not showing a replay which suggests bad news for Coleman. 

Unfortunately I managed to find a gif of it. It did not look good. His leg whipped around in a way that it shouldn't have.