World Cup 2022 qualifiers

[The Lusophone]

On 13/11/2021 at 04:25, Bobfoc said:

They might as well just cancel the qualifiers and just accept that New Zealand were obviously going to come through anyway. It's still nice to cling to the possibility of New Caledonia making it, though.

TBH I'm not sure New Zealand are as guaranteed to qualify as in previous attempts - Solomon Islander Raphael Lea'i might be individually better than any New Zealander player not named Chris Wood and if Chris is missing for significant amounts of time for any reason then I could absolutely see Lea'i dragging the Solomon Islands past New Zealand.

[Bobfoc]

OFC will have an automatic qualifier in 2026. It would be amazing if a nation like the Solomon Islands managed to get through.

[Bobfoc]

Portugal lost to Serbia and will have to come through the playoffs.

[The Lusophone]

The second round of African qualifying is wrapping up this international window and some big names are already out or could go out - in Group A Algeria must avoid defeat against Burkina Faso to advance, lose and their opponents do.

Tunisia could go out in Group B if they don't match Equatorial Guinea's result - a 7 goal swing would see Equatorial Guinea going through even if they do match the result - and Zambia down in third could go through if they beat Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea somehow lose to Mauritania, and again they need a 7 goal swing.

Like Algeria, Nigeria must avoid defeat against Cape Verde to go through at the Cape Verdians expense, and Cameroon host Ivory Coast in Group D with one of Africa's big teams going out depending on this result.

South Africa crashed out yesterday having lost in their final Group G game to Ghana, who go through, joining DR Congo, Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Senegal in the third round.

[Colly]

Zlatan's out of the first leg of Sweden's playoff game after this utter filth. One game ban isn't near enough.

 

[King Ellis]

The cheek of him to not only level the guy but then grab his arm afterwards and start looking at the linesman while he's going down as if to ask for a penalty.

[gunnar hendershow]

His face as he's going down is incredible 🤣

2 hours ago, MadJack said:

The second round of African qualifying is wrapping up this international window and some big names are already out or could go out - in Group A Algeria must avoid defeat against Burkina Faso to advance, lose and their opponents do.

Tunisia could go out in Group B if they don't match Equatorial Guinea's result - a 7 goal swing would see Equatorial Guinea going through even if they do match the result - and Zambia down in third could go through if they beat Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea somehow lose to Mauritania, and again they need a 7 goal swing.

Like Algeria, Nigeria must avoid defeat against Cape Verde to go through at the Cape Verdians expense, and Cameroon host Ivory Coast in Group D with one of Africa's big teams going out depending on this result.

South Africa crashed out yesterday having lost in their final Group G game to Ghana, who go through, joining DR Congo, Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Senegal in the third round.

I was looking at the fixtures for today and tomorrow and there are multiple matches between teams 1-2 in each group, where 3 points would decide who advances. Couldn't script it better. 

[Lineker]

Loving this special edition San Marino kit.

[Bobfoc]

Harry Kane's been filling his boots this week. He's equalled Gary Lineker's international goal haul at 48 and is now only five behind Wayne Rooney's record.

[Chris2K]

I'd really appreciate it if Italy would get over their five month post-Euros hangover and start playing some good football again.

 

What a dreadful performance. The lack of any form of decent striker is making it hard to believe the success of the last two years happened.

[Gorka]

Ffs I don't want Wales to play either Portugal or Italy at any point in the play-offs

[METALMAN]

WAHAY

[Lineker]

 

[The Lusophone]

2 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

Harry Kane's been filling his boots this week. He's equalled Gary Lineker's international goal haul at 48 and is now only five behind Wayne Rooney's record.

I think if he gets the next England hattrick he's equalled Lineker's record of 5 consecutive hattricks for England in a row too.

[The Kraig]

3 hours ago, Lineker said:

Loving this special edition San Marino kit.

Never to be seen again after tonight.

I can't believe how good Scotland have been. A single loss in qualifying in a group with Denmark, Austria and Israel? I'll take that every time. Shame Denmark didn't slip up elsewhere or we'd maybe be in the finals already. Good momentum which we usually lack.

Gonna be interesting who we get in the play-offs if Italy and Portugal are joining us. The play-offs look shit hard to be honest. Russia. Poland. Possibly even The Netherlands, Turkey or Wales? I'd like Macedonia please. Or Finland. But even then, we usually play shit against underdogs and well against the favourites so who knows. Sure to be ultra stressful either way.

Oh yeah, so Spain, Croatia, England, Switzerland and Serbia are now formally qualified. Well done England.

[Cymbols]

Good day at the office. Don’t see us getting through the playoffs, but a home semifinal is excellent. Here’s hoping the draw does us some favours.

[The Kraig]

Netherlands beat Norway to finally secure their place at the finals. Ukraine have also squeezed out Finland from the playoffs.

Scotland and Wales will join Portugal, Italy, Sweden and Russia in the seeded teams for the playoffs, to be paired off with the unseeded teams of Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, Austria, Czech Republic and Macedonia. 3 mini-tournaments will determine the final 3 UEFA entries. Single leg ties with the seeded teams hosting the first games, and a randomly drawn team hosting the deciding final matches.

The initial playoff draw is 26/11, with Russia and Ukraine barred from being drawn in the same bracket.

This might look good, but that's a lot of good teams vying for only 3 spots. I did a little pretend draw and got this:

Spoiler

Portugal vs Poland

Russia vs Austria

Scotland vs Ukraine

Sweden vs Czech Republic

Italy vs North Macedonia

Wales vs Turkey

I'd honestly take that, especially if Scotland get to play the final at home. Oof.

[KJE]

Canada is playing Mexico tonight in a blizzard. 50,000 fans are expected.

This is the first time in forever that Canada has the majority of fans on its side. In the past, even in home games, the joke was you need to score early to take the crowd out of it.

It's a good time for Canadian soccer.

Edited November 16, 2021 by KJE

[Bobfoc]

When they say that it's a randomly selected team hosting the final matches, does that mean all the matches will be played in the same country or each match will have its own home team drawn at random?

[The Lusophone]

4 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

When they say that it's a randomly selected team hosting the final matches, does that mean all the matches will be played in the same country or each match will have its own home team drawn at random?

I hope it's the former and that country is somewhere nice and weird. Tajikistan maybe.