Talk Elections

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Yeah, I'm creating this thread now. There's never an off season. ;)  Plus, qualifying has been under way in all areas except Europe anyway.


Use this thread to discuss the qualifying process for all confederations (though the superior confederation - UEFA - ought to dominate conversation).

I think you'll find that the AFC is the superior confederation.At least since Australia joined it.

No but srly, the AFC looks like it'll be sending all three of the top 3 - Japan, Australia, Sth Korea. Even fourth and fifth look like they're not going to offer big shocks.

(to be honest, only Japan looks comfortably qualified so far, with South Korea probable. Australia's not doing as well as we should be, but has no real cause for concern in at least making the top three in the group, and is, independently, clearly one of the five best sides in the AFC)

( Then again anything can happen in such a low-scoring sport)

I hope this is America's year. It's time we dominated soccer like we dominate basketball, baseball, American football, and golf. ;)

Ok.

Don't worry Duke, it's gonna be. Of course haters like Phil won't like it, but no one ever said that loving America was easy.

Well Ireland don't look like getting through... Sweden and Germany. Yikes. We could finish 4th in our pool. I guess I'll be cheering on New Zealand again. Who'll we be up against in that playoff thing? Costa Rica? Canada? Jamaica?

The chest beaters are still steaming over not being allowed to compete in the Euros! How dare those Europeans!

The USA beat Italy 1-0 a few months ago, so they would have easily made it into the Euro final at least. Obviously.

Canada hasn't choked... yet.

We have a good group (that is, fairly weak) with Honduras, Cuba and Panama. We drew Honduras 0-0 last month which isn't that bad, since they're a better team (and it was in Toronto). However, we did play better than them.

Spain will win this thing, again. I'll be in Brazil rooting from.the,.

Americans can only dominate American sports. :P

Don't get carried away...

Spanish fans have become the most unbearable. Yeah, they have a great team. Yeah, they're history makers. But the cockiness makes you almost forget that they had a long history of being the biggest joke underachievers.

You're going to be that arrogant two years before the tournament, Julio? Ok. Just remember that when you guys fall, it's going to be hard.

Belgium ought to stand a reasonable chance at qualifying. Croatia and Serbia aren't the most daunting of Poule A or Poule B teams to have to deal with. (And just look at how strong we are on paper: Kompany, Van Buyten, Fellaini, Lukaku, Hazard,... Why don't we ever play well as a team?)

Belgium certainly has a shot at advancing to the play off. Croatia starts out as a slight favorite to win the group but this is still one of the most wide open - if not the most - of the groups. Even Scotland could advance to the playoff.

I'm just trolling a bit, Phil. I'm just doing what you did when Santorum, and then Sarkozy, where running :P. The difference is that I'm not serious.
Oh, and about being underachievers... IMHO, what matters is the present, not the past.

Present not the past, eh? Spare us the Euro 2008 talk then. ;)

The draw for the qualifying groups came at an unfortunate time for us - 3 months later and our FIFA ranking would have been good enough to make us a second seed. Oh well.

I see we have Germany at home in October. Mmm.
March next year look like the point at which we see how serious we are, Sweden away followed by Austria at home 4 days later.


Malawi got off to a dissapointing start in their qualifying, but Nigeria are not going strongly, so all hope hasn't been lost just yet.



America dominates golf?



Let's not rule out the new OFC Champions, Tahiti, of claiming the OFC spot just yet.

Upcoming fixtures - should we have another tipping competition? :D

Sept 7
Jamaica vs. United States
Guatemala vs. Antigua & Barbuda
Costa Rica vs. Mexico
El Salvador vs. Guyana
Cuba vs. Honduras
Canada vs. Panama
Colombia vs. Uruguay
Ecuador vs. Bolivia
Argentina vs. Paraguay
Peru vs. Venezuela
New Caledonia vs. New Zealand
Solomon Islands vs. Tahiti
Croatia vs. Macedonia
Wales vs. Belgium
Bulgaria vs. Italy
Malta vs. Armenia
Kazakhstan vs. Ireland
Germany vs. Faroe Islands
Andorra vs. Hungary
Estonia vs. Romania
Netherlands vs. Hungary
Albania vs. Cyprus
Iceland vs. Norway
Slovenia vs. Switzerland
Azerbaijan vs. Israel
Luxembourg vs. Portugal
Russia vs. Northern Ireland
Latvia vs. Greece
Liechtenstein vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina
Lithuania vs. Slovakia
Moldova vs. England
Montenegro vs. Poland
Georgia vs. Belarus
Finland vs. France

Sept 8
Scotland vs. Serbia
Denmark vs. Czech Republic

Sept 11
Uzbekistan vs. South Korea
Lebanon vs. Iran
Jordan vs. Australia
Japan vs. Iraq
Antigua & Barbuda vs. Guatemala
United States vs. Jamaica
Guyana vs. El Salvador
Mexico vs. Costa Rica
Panama vs. Canada
Honduras vs. Cuba
Chile vs. Colombia
Peru vs. Argentina
Uruguay vs. Ecuador
Paraguay vs. Venezuela
New Zealand vs. Solomon Islands
Tahiti vs. New Caledonia
Belgium vs. Croatia
Scotland vs. Macedonia
Serbia vs. Wales
Bulgaria vs. Armenia
Italy vs. Malta
Austria vs. Germany
Sweden vs. Kazakhstan
Hungary vs. Netherlands
Romania vs. Andorra
Turkey vs. Estonia
Cyprus vs. Iceland
Norway vs. Slovenia
Switzerland vs. Albania
Israel vs. Russia
Northern Ireland vs. Luxembourg
Portugal vs. Azerbaijan
Greece vs. Lithuania
Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. Latvia
Slovakia vs. Liechtenstein
England vs. Ukraine
Poland vs. Moldova
San Marino vs. Montenegro
Georgia vs. Spain
France vs. Belarus

Italy has jumped six spots to sixth place in the (usually silly) FIFA rankings. :)

England is up to fourth.

Looks like Mexico will be able to cruise back to the WC. We also have a weak group with Guyana, El Salvador and Costa Rica. I expect we make 1st place in the hexagonal. My only question is who will be qualifying 3rd with Mexico and the U.S. and if the 4th placer can beat New Zealand.

Italy couldn't :D

Yeah but Italy could beat Australia. Remember that game in 2006?

Why did they pair Oceania v CONCACAF and CONMEBOL v Asia? They should have switched it around so the stronger teams qualify.

I think they rotate every four years. And anyway I'm not really sure that Asia #5 is much better than Concacaf #4.

Sure is an abstract concept. ;) But I would think so. CONCACAF, beyond Mexico and the US, always seem to be total crap. I think the more important thing is that OCF should get CONMEBOL so they don't have a chance. Otherwise I think it's a bit unfair.

I'd be very, very surprised if Scotland came second.

Well for WC2006 there was a CONCACAF-AFC play-off and Trinidad and Tobago qualified ahead of Bahrain.

The Asian federation, beyond South Korea, Japan and (I guess) Australia is also pretty crap though.

We are going to destroy them so badly it's not even funny anymore. 5-1 for Austria.

Interested in another 100€ bet on this matter? ;)

I will also make a bold call here.

Venezuela will qualify for it's first World Cup ever. Heard it here first.

Anyone actually want to do a tipping competition for September?

Would happily compete. Would you like to organize this one?

I'd join it, but it would be very difficult to organise, if we could get the numbers though...
Probably a better competition to do one for (ie not so many teams all at once and in short bursts) would be the champions league, although I'm not sure there would be enough competitors (or a willing organiser).

I'm willing to organize anything, just thought Earl might want to.

I suppose I could.

Capello is the new Russian coach.

So, I'm putting this here instead of the other thread, as requested by Keystone Phil:

This is sort of tangential but I was just reading a great book called soccernomics and it said that despite what the press said, Capello was the only England manager who got England to perform at a level significantly above average. So you can now expect Russia to do very well. You heard it here first ;)

Rejoice! UEFA begins qualifying today! :)

Here's hoping Italy comes away with a nice away win against Bulgaria. I do hope they save some goals for Tuesday though. :D

Nah, Balotelli is injured, you guys will be lucky to get a draw. :P

Germany vs. Faroer Islands should be funny ...

But this is just an appetizer for Tuesday, when we'll crush Germany and they can go home crying.

Ireland squeaks by Kazakhstan 2-1 thanks to a penalty in the 89th and a goal in the 90th.

Shocker! Portugal is down 0-1 after a 13th minute goal by Luxembourg!

And Bulgaria goes up 1-0. :(

Well, I'll take the point. Tuesday better be an epic beating though!

Quite a good result, considering the current condition of the Bulgarian team.

Kazakhstan game was unbelievable. No shots on target until around the 70th minute, and that was a simple catch. the penalty was our first chance. They should've won like 3-1. Jammy jammy Ireland. We'll be murdered by the Germans/Swedes though. That performance was worse than when we nearly drew with San Marino.

Canada 1, Panama 0 :)

Craig Levein is a joke, if losing to Macedonia means he gets fired, it might be worth it.

Next up for us is a not-quite-must-win-but-certainly-best-not-to-lose game away against Iraq :/

Better hope that your team players come home in 1 part ...

Nooooooo

Canada 0, Panama 2

Terrible, but only our first loss in group play. I think that bumps us down to 2nd in the group.

More likely to be killed here after losing to Jordan 2-1.

Only if people knew who the team was.

fair point.

Europe is back to action today. I think Russia vs. Portugal will be the most interesting match.

Canada vs Cuba tonight. We need a win!

Golly...Cuba. That'll be good preparation for the World Cup :)

:D Considering the Canadian men's team, we shouldn't take even Cuba for granted.

Minutes after the Czechs go up 1-0 at home, Malta equalizes! The Czechs might be going back to joke status soon. :)

Almost over, and Russia's 1-0 lead has lived for over 80 minutes.

Opening five minutes and we're looking great. Could have scored three goals by now especially after Pirlo's free kick.

Armenia equalizes. :(

And Bulgaria has taken the lead over Denmark, so if this situation holds, Bulgaria will lead the table :)

We're up 2-1 now so don't get too excited. ;)

The Bulgarian team has been once again screwed by a French referee. Have they still not forgiven us for 1993? >:(

Nice away win though some improvement is needed. Tuesday is big. Glad Bulgaria-Denmark is tied now.  ;)

Well, 1-1 is not too bad considering how we were player down for an hour. And it's nice to see that our players actually seem to want to win ;)

So how many will we get? :)

Rep. of Ireland's result makes me a sad Speedy, but Italy and Iceland have carried the day into satisfaction for me. If only those AS Romans could score like that in Serie A.... >.>

We had to give up that one goal.... ::)

:)

And allow Israel to have the biggest win of the night, which will probably be our biggest achievement this campaign...

So Wales actually won a game. Against Scotland, so not really an achievement of any kind whatsoever, but hey...

Gareth Bale was really stellar. Gives me Champions League hope for Spurs.

hahaha USA beats Antigua by just 2-1

Canada wins 3-0 over Cuba. However, bad result in the other game in our pool as Panama and Honduras draw.

Cuba only had 11 players because the rest defected, lol

Canada still has a shot, but they'll need to get at least a draw in Honduras, which will be difficult. Possible, but difficult.

And in Europe, Germany won 1-6 so that was sweet. I assume Trappatoni will finally get the sack now.

Oh yeah you are right, there were 4 defections, lol. http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/article/1270979--world-cup-soccer-cuba-faces-canada-with-no-subs-in-qualifying

I think we were without our best player (de Guzman) who will miss the next game as well.

No thanks. :P

Bosnia drawing in Greece is also a big result. That should be their toughest match. Should be a nice fight between them, Greece and Slovakia for group winner and runner up.

We're up against Iraq away in a couple of days...

Draw is fine, loss is certainly not the end, but it'd be really nice to get a win.

Buffon picked up a minor muscular problem in training so he may be out for two or three days. He is doubtful for tomorrow but of course he'll be back in time for Napoli vs. Juve. :(

Though if he's out tomorrow, Napoli's De Sanctis will get the start. It would be nice to see him get some time.

Big matches today including France vs. Spain. Buffon officially ruled out for Italy-Denmark clash. :(

I'm genuinely concerned that we won't win in Tórshavn.

I am though quite hopeful that tonight will be our last game under Trapattoni. The last few months have been the worst Irish football of my lifetime.

Match of the day for me: Iceland v. Switzerland. Hoping for a Reykjavik upset and a surprise lift into group play. Obviously, it's hard to look past Spain v. France as the "marquee." Hell of a good day of football.

We're playing Sweden. Doubt we'll manage 6:1 tonight :)

Russia just avoided a major embarrassment at home against Azerbaijan thanks to a penalty kick goal in the final minutes.

Australia come from behind to win 2-1 against Iraq. Nark Bosnich summed up a hopeless game quite well: ''Iraq were very bad and we weren't far off''.

I know it's unrelated but the U-21 Euro playoff round is wrapping up with a flood of goals. Italy is leading Sweden 3-2 in Sweden in the 90th minute and France is down 5-3 in Norway.

We play Kasachstan at home today, after sucking so badly away last week (only a draw).

We're up to second place temporarily in our group :)


Finally a tournament we qualified for (automatically as hosts, but still). I hope we will be able to hold our own.

After 30 minutes, Germany leads Sweden 2:0 and Austria leads Kasachstan by 1:0 ...

Miroslav Klose is now just one goal away from tying Gerd Müller's record for most goals scored for Germany!

God I love this team. They're on fire.

Yeah, I just wish they could finally win a tournament. :(

Denmark scores right before half time, ending my hopes for a De Sanctis clean sheet. :(

Italia -  2
Denmark -  1

Red card for Italy. Ugh. This could get ugly. Thankfully, the Czechs drew with Bulgaria.

2:0 now after 63 minutes.

3:0 now after 70 minutes.

2x Marc Janko and 1x David Alaba so far.

Pretty useless though IMO, because Germany and Sweden will win the group.

f[inks], Canada's already down 1-0

CANADA NOOOOOOOOO

Haha, I'm rooting for Canada, too, but that takes a back seat during UEFA matches.

Sweden might tie with Germany! This is crazy!

4-0 Austria now.

2x Janko, 1x Alaba, 1x Harnik.

For those who care: It's 4-3 for Germany right now with 84 minutes played.

LOL.

German goalkeeper blunders and Swedish striker misses empty goal from 10-15 meters ... :P

HAHA wow.

4-4

I was rooting for that goal just for the amusement.

AHAHHAHAHAHA.

Sweden scores the 4-4 in the 93rd.

Excellent !

That was so stupid it was funny.

Time for Jogi Löw to be sacked.

Drawing a World Cup qualifier at home = automatic sacking, IMO.

Germany is a joke team.

Don't think I've ever seen something like that before.

We were really dominating for 60 minutes, only to f**k up a 4-0 lead?

This is a big f**king deal :)

Germany have never beaten Sweden in Berlin. This was the fifth try. :D

Also, is it just me or is it finally time to lose that Bavarian second-division-skill-level halfback?

France ties it at the very end! Wow. What a day in qualifying.

lol

At least I can take some solace from Olivier Giroud scoring at the last minute to draw with Spain.

It's the second half already, and Northern Ireland are still ahead 1-0 against Portugal :)

A happy win for Republic of Ireland, despite the quality of opponent; everyone finding Faroe's net...even Faroe themselves lol. Northern Ireland flirting with a surprise over Portugal despite being clobbered in possession and shots (though even in SOT)...Shame for Azerbaijan that they couldn't escape with a draw against Russia.

Biggest result of the day? Annoying Spain and its annoying fans forced to accept a draw. And that, my friends, is the finest of all.

Just 20 minutes to go, come on Northern Ireland.

more like PortuLOL amirite

Northern Ireland eke out the draw, which means that Israel will stay in second place until they meet Portugal in March.

Better than losing 8-1, amirite? :P

sorry Canada :(

8 - 1.

THE F[INKS] ???

Not quite our worst loss ever (8-0), but a huge surprise considering we drew Honduras in June.

Good game, gentlemen, good game. :D

Congratulations :)

Final four of the WC14: Sweden, N. Ireland, Australia, and Austria.

No, Germany and Sweden will win the C Group.

Even though we play better than in previous years, we won't be at the 2014 World Cup.

Okay, I'll say it, we haven't been this good since, like, Mexico '84.

I at the very least like your chances of getting out of the group as runners up. Winning it is a strong possibility, too. Congrats.

Friendly action returns tomorrow! Of course, the biggest match is Italy vs. France. We should be able to school the swines (like usual).

U.S. gets the draw against Russia with a last minute goal. Lucky.

The Dutch are going to win tonight.

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Wow Azerbaijan winning in Northern Ireland.

Just catching the Italy-France match.

Before what I just saw I was thinking that, if Italy and France plays like it played in the Euro, I would be glad to see Italy...

SLAP!

...our band of annoying spoiled kids.

But hey apparently France doesn't play so bad, and Valbuena's goal was beautiful enough. Benzema isn't here apparently, might help.

And Italy continues to play well too. El-Shaarawy, Balotelli, is that this so unusual exoticism in Italy's team which is changing their game?? ;D

Gosh, we are even leading now, what the hell is happening...

The Italian defense has been atrocious today. Valbuena danced around them to score a great goal. This will be a very sad loss. :(

ZLATAN JUST SCORED LITERALLY THE BEST GOAL I'VE EVER SEEN OH MY F[INKS]ING GOD

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ZLATAN = GOD.

...even the French commentators spoke about it and lol:

Zlatan Ibrahimovich vs England: 4-2

In fact, when Q$G bought it, they bought a whole team, would explain the price.


Well, it's a luck that France didn't take a goal for 20 mins!

0-0 against the Dutch

:(

Oh well. Our next match (as far as I'm aware) is against my second least favorite team (The Netherlands). Hoping for a much better result though we looked strong today (back line aside).

lol, we drew the Europe champion in qualifications, and now win the the vice-Europe champion.

French kids are discovering football!

Just when I thought I couldn't dislike Alexi Lalas any more, I see he has grown a ridiculous ginger 'stache. Wow.

Congratulations to Sweden!

Oh England. Won't qualify for the World Cup in soccer, looking like a possible third-tier qualifier for the RWC, and destined for more irrelevancy in Netball.

At least you still have Cricket, right?

Take that England. ;)

Funny aside, Norwegian coach commented that the 4-2 goal was, quote, not difficult. Gotta love the Scandinavian rivalries. :P

Related to the World Cup...

Raymond Domenech (Piece of Garbage - France) is releasing his autobiography! Everyone be sure to add this to your Christmas list. The chapters about 2006 and 2010 are sure to be goldmine material. :)

The very opposite of qualifying news since Brazil is already qualified but Big Phil Scolari reportedly returning as Brazil's coach.

Another non-World Cup topic but sort of related: the draw for the 2013 Confederations Cup is tomorrow. Since Brazil is hosting, they are automatically in A1. As the top seed, Spain is automatically in B1. Because teams from the same confederation cannot be in the same group, Italy will be in Group A (spot to be determined) and Uruguay will be in Group B (spot to be determined).

The other qualified teams: Mexico, Japan and Tahiti. The African confederation gets a spot but the team representing the continent won't be decided until early 2013 after the Cup of Nations tournament.

Confederations Cup

Group A

Brazil
Japan
Mexico
Italy


Group B

Spain
Uruguay
Tahiti
African Champion

All my money on Tahiti.

Not really (or at all) world cup related but this seems to be the generic international thread, so:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20631963

Seems like they didn't like any of the bids, although its a shame they didn't choose Scotland.

I was just about to make a separate thread.

I hate this idea. I like having the spotlight on a host(s) and this will be killer on teams. Ugh.

Ugh, I didn't think for a minute they'd actually go through with that. Goodbye, Euro.

What a stupid idea.

I don't think I've seen one person (aside from Platini/UEFA) say this is a good idea.

The only good news is that it is supposedly for the 60th Anniversary and only a one time deal.

Final 2012 FIFA rankings are out. Italy somehow jumped up a spot to finish in fourth, Spain are on top and one of the worst Brazil teams ever fell five places to 18th. :D

Following up...

Euro 2020 will be in thirteen (!) different cities and only one venue per country -http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21203253 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21203253)

I hope future historians will agree not to count the 2020 title.

Qualifying action from that joke confederation tonight. I'm going to watch Mexico's game with my Dad since he loves Jamaica in general and is delusional enough to think they'll get at least at draw at the Azteca. The miracle by the U.S. not too long ago gives the delusionals hope. :P

The real action is in the Friendly matches playing out now. I'm lucky enough to have a Soccer bar a block away from my work that was kind enough to put on Italy vs. The Netherlands on the big screen just for me. :) Huge saves from Buffon so far.

And in other news, Rooney scores for England against Brazil.

How did the USA lose to Honduras? If they don't beat Costa Rica next month, they could be in real trouble going into the Mexico clash.

Honduras is the best team in CONCACAF after Mexico and USA and the United States has historically always had problems in away games in CONCACAF. That said, we also played like sh[inks].

The U.S. not qualifying would be hilariois but that almost can't happen.

By the way, Nigeria won the African Cup of Nations. They'll be Africa's representative in the Confederations Cup.

lol, what?

Wow we've been bad this qualifying phase. At least we haven't played a lot of home games yet....

Haha, how did they get in?

Yeah, I'm wondering the same. Australia is now in the Asian confederation (for a challenge). I figured New Zealand would have a lock on it now. I guess not.

I think we changed confederations because it was easier to play in the World Cup in Asia rather than Oceania.

But yeah I thought with us gone the Kiwis were the top dogs by far.

Easier in Asia than Oceania? Uh...what?

Oceania can't get automatic qualification into the World Cup IIRC, Asia can.

Note that I only said getting in the World Cup. Of course the competition is stronger in Asia.

Oh, right. The playoff. Still, I imagined their chances were better in the playoff against a CONCACAF or CONEMBOL team than in Asia. Apparently not.

This way, Australia actually play regular competitive games against worthy opponents, yet are not outmatched. Sound decision. (Kazakhstan, otoh, found themselves in over their heads after switching to Europe from Asia. But of course, the European club competitions and the money brought in for tv rights for the big sides' away games must have influenced that decision as well.)

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I'm not sure how serious New Zealand took the OFC cup or if they even played their full first squad. Although their semifinal defeat was a major shock, it was good enough to keep their world cup hopes alive - and indeed after four out of six games in that round-robin tournament, they're on track to win Oceania's halfberth for 2014. And if they stumble, it will be to New Caledonia, not Tahiti.
Tahiti did win the Oceanian qualifier for the 2009 U21 World Cup recently. Though they were completely outclassed there, losing 0-8 to both Spain and Venezuela and 0-5 to Nigeria.

It seems all but three Tahitian players play at home; there's one in the fifth French division and one in the Belgian third. And there's a guy currently playing (with a very minor club) in the Greek first division (on loan from a French first divison side) who was born in Tahiti, raised in France, has played for French internationally as a junior, and doesn't play for Tahiti regularly. Marama Vahirua. I assume he'll be in the Confed Cup, though.

Back in action on Friday and next Tuesday. This will mark the half way point in the UEFA qualifying campaign. Israel and Portugal will continue to battle for second place in Group F. The two will face off on Thursday in Israel then both teams are on the road. Israel has the "tougher" opponent (Northern Ireland) but Portugal has to travel all the way to Azerbaijan. All of that traveling might take a toll. Best match will be next week's France vs. Spain showdown. The French are hosting.

Italy vs. Brazil "Friendly" in Geneva on Thursday.  :)

Plane carrying Italian team to Switzerland struck by lightening during flight - http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/off-the-pitch/italy/news/report-italian-team-plane-struck-by-lightning_75234.html (http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/off-the-pitch/italy/news/report-italian-team-plane-struck-by-lightning_75234.html)

Cue to "Is this an omen?"... :(

Austria plays against the Faroer Islands tomorrow.

Should be an easy win, but ... they managed to defeat us already once in the early 90s ... :P

But here's my prediction:

3-0 for us.

Italy come out guns blazing in the second half: two goals within two minutes. All tied up now. :)

Portugal went up in the second minute but conceded three straight goals. They battled back and got the equalizer in the 93rd. Very lucky.

Bulgaria is mauling Malta 6-0 and there is still ten minutes to go. This is typical for any good or excellent team playing a minnow but I'd be shocked if we won even 3-0 against them on Tuesday. :(

Yeah well, Germany went up 2-0 in Kazakhstan early but right now (15 minutes to go) are far closer a 1-2 (not to mention, to deserving it) than a 3-0.

They're up 0-3 now.

Yeah, typical when you write something like that. Happened a minute or less after I posted, actually.

Denmark will get their first win of the campaign as they're up 2-0 in the Czech Republic with little time left. Spain are only up by a goal at home against Finland. France will jump to the top of the group based on goals scored if France can find another goal. That would make the France-Spain match next week even more awesome.

Finland tie it up! Bwahahaha!

Excellent :)

England win 8-0 over San Marino (pub team), our biggest result since beating Turkey 8-0 in 1987. Also, Wales defeat Scotland in Glasgow!

Wow. Wales must have battled back late. Not that it matters since the battle for that group is between Belgium and Croatia. Whoever doesn't top it essentially has a lock on second already.

In other news:

Bosnia took a big step in winning their group. They beat Greece today. Group E got interesting: the Swiss are in first with a game in hand but Iceland - yes, Iceland - moved into second and Albania is up to third. Slovenia (remember them? The supposed promising, young side being talked up a few years ago?) are finished with only three points. Norway still has a chance.

And in Tender news, Austria demolished the poor Faroes. :P

Very interesting U.S.-Costa Rica game right now. Not because of the two joke teams playing but because they're playing in a snow storm!

Match seemed like it was going to be suspended. Idiot commentators are stunned that the match can be paused now then continue at a later date at the exact point in the match (55 minutes in). Play has resumed though.

I don't know what would be more miserable: going to a sporting event in a snowstorm, or going to a soccer game.  Poor fans.

Soccer is probably the most entertaining sport to see live. Certainly better than football or baseball.

Also this snow storm match is awesome.

You have to love this joke American commentator for being so pathetic it is almost cute. Between crying the entire match (or at least the bit I've seen) about the U.S. not getting calls in their favor to the idea that this snow game will go down in American sport folklore, you have to applaud him for an incredible effort.

Yes, that was expected. Maybe not the high result, but we were 1 or 2 classes better in this game.

Austria could have won 10 or 15 to zero, because many good chances were missed in front of the goal, while the Faroe players managed to come in front of the Austrian goal only once or twice in 90 minutes ...

Ireland and Sweden will be much tougher nuts to crack ...

Was it? (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu%C3%9Fballl%C3%A4nderspiel_F%C3%A4r%C3%B6er_%E2%80%93_%C3%96sterreich_1990)

Never been to AFL?

This.

Nobody in the world has. I said in the world. That excludes Victoria.

I don't think the margin was expected. That's my point. ;)

Why does the Faroe Islands even have its own team?  Greenland doesn't, right?  Hawaii, Alaska, Prince Edward Island, etc., don't.

If the Faroes had a really good player would he play for Denmark instead rather than getting stomped every international game he ever played?

I've wondered the same though I've seen it referred to as a country in several places. I've always thought of it as an autonomous region but it seems like it's more than that. They have had a "national" team since 1930 but weren't been recognized by FIFA until 1988 and UEFA until 1990. Still no idea why they're recognized at all.

As for the question about a "really good player" going to Denmark, I guess it depends on his stance on independence: apparently, the Faroese are pretty evenly split on the issue. If it was a player that didn't care or favored staying under the Danish crown, I'd think they'd definitely go play for at least a mediocre team. Then again, regional pride can be a big deal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_national_football_team

And, coincidentally, their first "International" was against...Faroe Islands.  :P

But they're not recognized by FIFA or UEFA.

And in the most predictable news, Costa Rica want the game replayed and the referee suspended for "forcing" them to play. The only problem? The referee clearly wanted to suspend the game early on in the second half (and it actually was halted for a few minutes) but the players on both teams argued with him to play on. Of course, if Costa Rica was able to find a goal or two, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

The Faeroes are a nonsovereign nation like Puerto Rico or Montserrat, and like them have a national team. Although not all do - Man doesn't, for instance.

Tomorrow is Ireland vs. Austria.

The Irish can hope to win this, because in the last 10 years Austria has lost 16 away games, with 13 draws and only 4 wins.

The last "away" win for Austria was 2 years ago against Azerbaijan ... :P

Still, my prediction for this is a 2:2 draw.

Hockey.

Well for us, bizarrely, our away form is better than our home form. We haven't lost an away competitive match in a long time. At home though, we lose badly, like 6-1 to Germany. 1-1 for me. A must win for both teams. Win this and I'll start to feel good especially after drawing with team Zlatan.

Italy faces Malta in an away match tomorrow. Last time they played, we dominated and scored very early but struggled to find a second goal (which eventually came in the 92nd minute). I remember being especially frustrated because I was at the match and wanted to see goals. I should have known better. These are the games we struggle in. It isn't just about the "Italian defensive style" because we have clearly trying to score goals and have been doing so in recent matches. It's all about being frustrated by minnows that put in a lot more heart in order to upset the powerhouse. So we can give our all against the big boys but get lazy, make stupid mistakes and barely win or even drop points against joke teams. While not defensive, that's certainly part of the Italian style.

One of the blogs I visit mentioned how we shouldn't expect a thrashing like the one Bulgaria handed to the Maltese last week. They expect a frustrating match (like every Azzurri match) and I agree. I'm saying 2-1 to us.

lol.

If Ireland sucks at home and Austria when playing abroad, that should be an interesting game ... ;) I hope for some goals.

You're talking to an American.

AWTA though.

Australia escapes with a draw in Sydney vs Oman.

Quality :p

Japan can officially qualify for the World Cup Finals today if they get a point in Amman, Jordan. But at half time they are losing 1-0.

Also New Zealand won the OFC Qualifying Group - taking them to the inter-continental play off against CONCACAF's 4th placed team.

 

Sometimes Marcel Koller (our Swiss coach) makes some strange choices, like today:

Why is he putting in Marc Janko as striker, but leaving Philipp Hosiner, who is the top-goal-scorer of the Austrian League right now and scored 2 goals against the Faroes, out on the bank ?

Better Janko puts a few in, or my criticism is right ...

The Czechs are about to win their second straight as they just went up 2-0 in the 83rd in Armenia. They'll have right points, moving up to third (at least for the time being). Armenia clearly doesn't have the magic they had during the Euro qualifiers.

Portugal is still locked in a scoreless draw right before half time. Panic time for them.

Czech Republic is on fire: back to back 3-0 wins. Glad we don't face them until June.

Scratch that. They lost 0-3 last week to Denmark. Nice way to rebound though. :P

Japan ended up losing 2-1.

Balotelli puts us ahead in the eighth minute thanks to a penalty. Malta gets a penalty kick ten minutes later and luckily Buffon stops it. We really can't hand minnows lifelines like that!

Damn that game is good so far !

Now feat. a snowstorm.

2:1 for Ireland now after 45 minutes.

Austria scored a fast nice goal, then Ireland scored a penalty and then a few minutes before the end of the first half.

lol, Neuer gifts Kazakhstan a comedy goal to keep the second half interesting. 3-1.

Yes!!! Israel ahead 1-0. If only we can learn to keep a lead this time...

2-0 now for Israel, it's over (I hope).

Scotland are the first team officially ousted in UEFA. That has to suck considering that they were credible not too long ago and all of the minnow teams aren't technically eliminated yet.

Tender must be out partying because Austria - yes, Austria! - are in second based on goal difference.  A last minute strike in Dublin tied it up. It won't last long though since Sweden have a game in hand.

England conceded a totally ridiculous pinball-esque goal late and had to settle for a tie. Three of their last four games are at Wembley including another match with Montenegro. That should allow them to leapfrog into first by the end of qualifying.

Finally, France are out of their very briefly held top spot. It was interesting while it lasted.

suck it mexico

()

Ireland likely deserved to win this game actually.

We were pretty good for the first 30 minutes, but after the penalty for Ireland and the 2:1 our team collapsed and the Irish were playing aggressively, almost until the end, when they became too sure of a win and Alaba scored the equalizer.

But this is football.

I'm actually partying more, because my prediction was 2:2 - like the end result ... :)

There's always euro 2016.

The Italian Federation has invited Argentina to play a Friendly in August in honor of Pope Francis! It's expected that both teams would meet with His Holiness at The Vatican some time before the match. :D

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2013/soccer/wires/04/02/2080.ap.soc.italy.argentina.friendly.119/index.html?mobile=no (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2013/soccer/wires/04/02/2080.ap.soc.italy.argentina.friendly.119/index.html?mobile=no)

Italy loses 5-4 on penalty kicks to Russia in the U17 Euro Final. :(

England-Brazil Friendly postponed because the legendary and supposedly renovated Maracana is said to be structurally unsafe. Meanwhile, the Confederations Cup kicks off in a little over two weeks with the Maracana game scheduled to be between Italy and Mexico. It's also to play host to another group game and the Final. That's not to mention the fact that the Workd Cup is a year away and the most famous stadium still isn't ready.

On Sunday, Germany's B or C team plays the US in Washington DC.

Germany's B or C team already won against Ecuador 4-2 a few days ago in Boca Raton.

84th minute...

Italy - 4
San Marino - 0

27 shots by Italy. 17 on goal.

1 shot for San Marino. It was on goal.

Actually, it was an idiot internal political dispute at Rio's state government. The structural and safety report, which is mandatory for any stadium, wasn't sent to the competent authority in time (and it seems this happened intentionally). But it was solved the next day.

I'm more concerned now with authorities using they power to provoke problems for political reasons than with the infrastructure.

Klinsmann's U.S. vs. Klinsmann's old side today. Lief must be torn!

Damn, I almost forgot about this because of the flooding here.

Thx for reminding me ... ;)

Prediction: 4-1 for Germany's B/C-Team

Those playing today:

Deutschland: ter Stegen/Borussia Mönchengladbach (21 years old/2 international games) - Lars Bender/Bayer Leverkusen (24/13), Mertesacker/FC Arsenal (28/89), Höwedes/Schalke 04 (25/13), Jansen/Hamburger SV (27/38) - Reinartz/Bayer Leverkusen (24/2), Sven Bender/Borussia Dortmund (24/3) - Schürrle/Bayer Leverkusen (22/23), Draxler/Schalke 04 (19/5), Podolski/FC Arsenal (27/109) - Klose/Lazio Rom (34/126)

USA: Howard/FC Everton (34 years old/85 international games) - Parkhurst/FC Augsburg (29/15), Cameron/Stoke City (27/14), Gonzales/Los Angeles Galaxy (24/6), Johnson/1899 Hoffenheim (25/11) - Williams/1899 Hoffenheim (24/12), Jones/Schalke 04 (31/31), Bradley/AS Rom (25/75)
- Dempsey/Tottenham Hotspur (30/94), Gomez/Santos Laguna (31/21) - Altidore/AZ Alkmaar (23/55)

Game just started.

ZDF is showing it live in HD.

It's played at the RFK Stadium in Washington DC.

Attendance: ca. 50.000

Wow. Great Altidore goal.

16 minutes in.

And Germany already gets their butts kicked.

2-0 USA

Football is funny sometimes ... ;)

They are playing like Germany's F team now ... Schürrle missing a 100% chance.

Side fact:

The US team has a German/Austrian coaching team: Klinsmann and the guy to his left is Andy Herzog.

Offside goal from Klose.

Does not count.

Podolski now kicks the ball to the moon a few meters ahead of the goal.

Until now, this might be one of the worst games I have seen from Germany in at least the past 5 years, if not 10 years.

Germany pull one back just after the start of the second half. I think the video from President Obama praising the U.S. team just before the second half was a bit of a curse.  ;)

4-1 U.S.  What the hell?

Since I'm a kid, I always support the small guys. It started with Cameroon in 82, and that's the only situation (apart of Afghanistan) I root for the USA.

Australia gets a lucky and unlucky draw in Japan.

Japan has officially qualified. First team to do so (aside from the hosts).

FIFA rankings have The Netherlands up to fifth and Afghanistan up to 141st! They're up 48 places since the last ranking. The top four remain unchanged (Spain, Germany, Argentina, Croatia). England are down two spots to ninth. Italy are still in 8th.






Brazil are ranked 22nd. Their lowest ever.

Croatia in 4th? I feel like they're always ranked too high for some reason. Then again they  did tie Italy and almost knockout Spain in the Euro Cup.

They just have our number for some reason. Don't get me wrong, they're a good side but fourth? No. They must have had some insane Friendly results because they're actually second in their qualifying group (behind Belgium but only because of goal difference) and didn't make it out of the group stage at the Euros. Just goes to show you how silly this ranking system is.

Remember how Armenia was a threat in Euro qualifiers last time? Well, they just lost at home to Malta. This is the first competitive Maltese win in God only knows how long!

Czech Republic vs. Italy is on ESPN! A rare sight!

Already eliminated Scotland shock Croatia. I knew I should have called that one the other day. The blockbuster game: Portugal vs. Russia. Portugal ahead.

And Balotelli is off. ::)

England got a lot of help as Ukraine demolished Montenegro 4-0 in Podgorica. Portugal got the 1-0 win against Russia but the latter have two games in hand. Meanwhile, Tender Branson Land won 2-1 against Sweden. Looks like it will be a fun battle for second in Group C (surprisingly) as even Ireland are in the mix.

Oh...we held on for a 0-0 draw with only ten men. Acceptable but obviously not ideal. Balotelli being an idiot on more than one occasion cost us the win. Luckily, three of our last four games are at home.

Armenia has been sucking lately but they came out guns blazing in Denmark. Goal in the first minute. Now up 2-0 before half. Maybe the death blow got Denmark's qualifying hopes.

In Friendly news, Italy went up 1-0 just twenty seconds in against Haiti! :)

3-0 Armenia. :D

Barring goals in the final minute or so, Armenia pull off a 4-0 win in Copenhagen after losing to Malta at home. :D

What a bizarre result.

There's a very big South American qualifier tonight. If Uruguay loses to Venezuela then they're in very deep trouble.

Uruguay are already in deep trouble. If they lose, it's over and the rest of the campaign only gets harder.

Italy were up 2-0 with five minutes to go, concede a penalty and a 91st minute goal to Haiti. ::)

Uruguay hang on in a very dramatic finish. Lone goal came from Cavani.

Mexico are still tied 0-0 in Mexico City. What a failure.  :D

Australia won 4-0 in Melbourne against Jordan. Now we're at least third in the group.

We host Iraq in Sydney. If we win, we're second in the group and book a ticket to Brazil.

If we draw, and Oman win, we're third.

If we draw and Oman/Jordan draw, we're through in second.

If we draw and Jordan win,  we're through in second.


If we lose to Iraq in Sydney, and Oman win, we're third and play off against third in the other group, which is most likely Uzbekistan but could theoretically be Iran or South Korea.

If we lose and Jordan wins, we're tied for second with Jordan, but we currently have a 14 point adavantage on them in goal difference, so we're almost certainly second.

If we lose and Oman/Jordan draw, we're tied for second with Oman, and have a 6 point GD advantage.

At the very least, though, we can't be knocked out just yet which is a relief.

Mexico's been a disaster in qualifiers so far.

Meanwhile, USA just scored a legitimately pretty team goal.

USA moves to the top of the table!

Meanwhile some joke team gave up a two goal lead to Haiti today. It was pretty funny.

Hey, can't wait to see your teams in the upcoming Confederations Cup! I forget though: are Germang and the U.S. in the same group or different?

The US will be playing in the much more important 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Ah, yes! Against dazzling teams like Antigua? Belize?

Don't forget Cuba!

I think Sweden is pretty fcked. :(

Also sad about Montenegro. I've been rooting for them for a while. Cool to see Belgium and Bosnia doing well though.

It's not that bad, Gustaf. You were obviously always battling for second. You'll get the three points against Kazakhstan, maybe lose to Germany at home (after clawing your way back from 0-4 away, I don't think a draw is out of the question though Germany will be out for revenge) and can obviously beat Austria and Ireland. Both of your competitors have to go to Germany still. At least you have them at home.

South Africa was eliminated from qualification as surprise side Ethiopia came back from 0-1 to win 2-1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgq1g-2cQ54

 yeah, we're in!

So that's Iran, South Korea and Australia that are also in. Uzbekistan get the first Fifth Round spot and await the winner of Jordan-Oman. Jordan need a win and are at home.

Really happy for Iran! South Korea is a fine team as well, so I'm happy they'll be in Brasil. Now let's hope Uzbekistan can navigate it's way through two playoffs.

Team USA surges to the top of the group with a third qualifying win in a row in the past week.

Open question about whether FIFA can block already qualified teams from competition (Iran)

Why would they block Iran from the competition?

Teams have been banned from tournaments before. UEFA banned Yugoslavia from the 1992 Euros. Their qualifying group runners up, Denmark, went in their place and won the tournament. It was one of the greatest upsets in the sport. They were notified they'd be competing just weeks before it began. The Danish players were already on vacation! Anyway, that's a UEFA example but FIFA has done it before. They absolutely won't do it for Iran. Remember, North Korea competed in 2010 and Iran competed in 2006.

On what the hell grounds?

Safety of the Irainian players, as no one really wants them in their country...  And it may go against their sanctions anyways...

Hi there American!

I'm here as a representative of the rest of the world. We make up about 6.8 billion people!

Anyhow, we're just letting you know that we don't all have the same opinions as the average person in the United States. Some of us do share your opinions, and some of us have the direct opposite view!

Now it really isn't so complex, so I'm sure you'll understand that the people of Brazil might have a different view on Iran to the USA.

In fact, their government have A very warm relationship with the people and government of Iran (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil%E2%80%93Iran_relations). Now it's true enough to say that the average Brazilian isn't in love with the Islamic Republic, but there's a long gap between that and being actively hostile to the sportspeople representing a country.

Looking forward to the next time you assume your life is everyone's and your news is all the news, your opinions are everyone's and your country is an accurate representation of global thinking!

Sincerely,

the Rest of the World.

Even if this tournament was being held in the US, this still wouldn't be a problem.

Uzbekistan is assholes. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2i5ShKaASc)

Hugh, come on. I think it's fair to say Iran has been an international pariah over the past few years. And before anyone jumls down my throat, I'm not saying they should be banned. Just don't make this into an American problem.

And the "It's the government, not the people of the country that has been the problem" is almost always the case in these situations, right? I don't think the original questioner was trying to suggest Iran might be banned because of the Iranian masses. It was an innocent question that is now being turned into nationalistic rhetoric so people can rail against the "typical ignorant and arrogant Americans." There was no good reason to respond the way you did.

US wins Gold Cup:

()

As Jürgen Klinsmann watched from a skybox at Soldier Field, his U.S. national soccer team somehow found a way, once, to beat the stubborn Panama defense, and that was enough.

The Americans won the Gold Cup final, 1-0, on Sunday, the first time in six years they have captured this CONCACAF championship. They did this with a so-called “B team,” plus Landon Donovan, that often played like an “A team” throughout the past three weeks. The victory was the Americans’ 11th straight, a record for the U.S side, and the suspended coach was permitted to join his team on the field for the trophy presentation and celebration.

The Panama players had received a pep talk from Mariano Rivera a few days earlier, while they overlapped with the reliever in Texas. But the Americans controlled possession throughout and didn’t permit a single shot on goal. Eventually, in the 68th minute, this dominance translated into a rare, decisive attacking opportunity.

...

Assistant coaches Andreas Herzog and Martin Vasquez took over on the sideline for Klinsmann, who had been suspended after his ejection in the semifinal against Honduras for spiking a ball in protest over a non-call.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/golden-u-s-tops-panama-gold-cup-article-1.1411198

...

:)

Andi Herzog, who coached the US-Team for the win instead of Klinsmann, is an Austrian btw. (yeah, Phil) ... :P

The US team has actually legitimately improved a lot under Klinsi. Obviously we're not going to win the World Cup or anything, but at least they're a fun team to watch now.

Wow! One of the two teams that always wins that tournament finally won again. What a headline!

Some big Friendly matches on Wednesday. The Papal Derby is, of course, the biggest: Italy vs. Argentina in Rome.  ;)

Prandelli said he'd like to personally invite the Pope to come but he might get too emotional. He hopes he will attend. That would be one of the great sights but I read a few weeks ago that the Pope was planning to watch with delegates of each national team at the Vatican. We should remember though that he loves to surprise people.  :D

We are playing the Greeks tomorrow here in Salzburg.

Hopefully serves as a good test, so we can go to Munich in a few weeks and destroy the Germans.

Prediction for tomorrow: 2-1 win for AUT.

Imagine what this conversation was like...

()


In addition to this brief chat, Balotelli was supposedly the only one to have a private audience with the Pope.

Just noticed that I can watch 6 of the friendly games live right now on my TV:

* Austria vs. Greece (in HD)
* Germany vs. Paraguay (in HD)
* Switzerland vs. Brazil (in HD)
* Italy vs. Argentina (RAI)
* Croatia vs. Liechtenstein (HRT2)
* Portugal vs. Netherlands (SBS6)

...

On a side note: Austria really sucks today, down 0-2 against Greece so far.

Paraguay leads Germany 3-2 right now and Switzerland leads Brazil 1-0.

I'm watching the Switzerland vs. Brazil game now, because the Austria vs. Greece game has become unwatchable.

USA COME BACK FROM 2-0 DOWN TO LEAD BOSNIA 3-2 IN SARAJEVO

U-S-A

U-S-A

U-S-A

SUCK IT, REST OF THE WORLD

AND THEY'RE NOT DONE

JOZY ALTIDORE WITH HIS HATTRICK

USA LEADS 4-2

USA lets Bosnia have a conciliation goal, 4-3.

FULL TIME USA WINS

AN HISTORIC 12 GAME WINNING STREAK

I actually live right next door to the Bosnian Embassy... what should I do? ;)

Lots of action right now!

Portugal is about to get some huge help from Northern Ireland. The latter is playing Russia in their previously cancelled World Cup qualifier. They haven't won in awhile but they're set to beat Russia 1-0. Russia still has a game in hand but Portugal get to remain atop their group.

Seems like England-Scotland is a thriller. Italy vs. Argentina is in the 87th minute. Argentina is up 2-1: one goal from Napoli's Higuain and Italy's (wonder) goal from Napoli's Insigne. :D

Well, Germany-Paraguay was, eh, interesting ...

O.k., most major seasons have not yet or only just started, which became especially apparent with players like Khedira, Klose, Özil and Mertesacker (Podolski was a positive surprise in this respect). Germany attacked well, shot three goals and had excellent opportunities for a few more (Reus, Klose and Schürrle all failed miserably).
However, Germany also conceded three goals, all in the first half, and all due to disastrous defending and individual mistakes. During the first half, the central defence was a mess, with Hummels and Mertesacker regularly changing positions, but typically leaving one Paraguayan attacker uncovered. Khedira's slopping passing and unforced ball losses did not really help in this respect. It got better in the second half, after Boateng replaced Mertesacker, and L. Bender added a bit of defensive stability to the midfield.

Nevertheless, you have to wonder what drove German coach Löw to put only one Bayern player (Lahm) into the six playing in front of Neuer. O.k., Badstuber is still recovering from injury, and Schweinsteiger was also injured, but Löw could already have put in Boateng from the start, and not only after half-time. Alternatively, he could have considered a Dortmund set-up with Weidenfeller, Hummels, Schmelzer and Sven Bender/ Gündogan. This Bayern - Dortmund- Arsenal - Real mix did definitely not work!

Right, completely forgot about that game. How'd it end?

3-3

Paraguay was leading 3-2, then Germany scored the 3-3 in the last 15 minutes.

Germany vs. Austria is this Friday (sold out, ca. 70.000 in Munich).

Austria vs. Ireland is next Tuesday (sold out, ca. 53.000 in Vienna).

...

My Predictions:

3-1 Germany/Austria
2-1 Austria/Ireland

Big game for Austria against Ireland. Between Sweden, Ireland and Austria I hope they get the second spot in their group. They have a lot of great young players.

It would be nice to see Austria keep the battle for second interesting but, at the end of the day, we need Zlatan (Sweden) at this World Cup. Also, Ireland proved to be a colossal failure last year so they can sit out international tournaments for another eight to ten years as far as I'm concerned. I don't want to have to hear about how "great" their fans are during every damn game like that's supposed to be some consolation for their team sucking.

Yeah, as long as Ireland isn't there to waste space like they were in 2012 I'll be happy.

Rumors swirling that Prandelli will soon announce his intention to step down after the World Cup. He didn't deny it at a news conference, only saying that he'll make a statement after Italy mathematically qualify for Brazil (which means he's leaving). No surprise at all as he badly misses the day to day coaching life. He's even had big offers while serving as national team coach (Napoli supposedly tried to lure him this Summer).

Mancini is the favorite to succeed him with Milan's Allegri as the second favorite. Dark horses include Juve's Conte, Luciano Spalletti of Zenit, current Russia manager Fabio Capello (!) and current Japan boss Alberto Zaccheroni.

Decisive stage begins today! Some good matches today. We're all obviously hoping for Finland to pull off another miracle draw (dare I say "win?" No, not that crazy) at home this time against Spain!

Serbia vs. Croatia should be...interesting. Germany vs. Austria, Ireland vs. Sweden, Northern Ireland vs. Portugal, even Switzerland vs. Iceland...really important matches.

What happened with supporting "traditional football powers"? ;)

Haha, I knew this would be mentioned! There are always exceptions! I want Spain to really sweat it out (though they'd obviously win in the Playoff round...or would they? Seeing them somehow blow it might be worth straying from my traditional powers worldview).

Oh, good luck today. I'm glad my side has been warned not to take the Bulgarians lightly.  ;)

Thanks and the same to you. By the way, an amusing statistic: both Italy and Bulgaria have conceded only four goals in six games, half of them in the game between. So a game with lots of goals? ;)
Incidentally, today is a national day in Bulgaria, so I hope this inspires our players :)

In the Czech Republic-Armenia match, the Armenians have taken the lead despite the  Czechs having most of the possession. Which is good news for Bulgaria (though it won't be good news if Armenia continues  playing as they do in this match

I don't know what the hell it is with Armenia sucking at home and doing well away. They're up 1-0 in the Czech Republic. Hoping for a draw or an Armenia win for group purposes though a win will worry me a tad. We face them at home in the final game (in Naples). Qualification should be secured by then but you never know...

Russia up 2-0 to Luxembourg. Kazakhstan only up 2-1 at home to the Faroe Islands.

Yeah but you guys are playing them in Armenia. They have sucked at home this campaign!

Tonight, we are all Austrians ... ;)

Even the Germans? ;)

Oh yes. It's time for another Cordoba. I want to see Jerome Boateng cry all night through like Rolf Rüssmann is reported to have done after that and Philipp Lahm best Berti Vogts and not just joke about hacking off that own-goal-scoring leg but actually doing it. ;D

Important fact:

The last time Austria won against Germany, playing in Germany, was 82 years ago - in 1931.

It was a 6-0 then in Berlin.

That was a friendly though. >:D

(Every German involved in that game is dead at least 24 years; researching which made me find out that Weimar era footballing legend "Hanne" Sobek (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanne_Sobek) only barely missed living into my own sports-coverage-following days. Who would'a thought it?)

Ah, The Hitler Derby glory days...

No, that was between 1938-1945.

Hitler didn't take power until 1933, Austria was annexed in 1938.

I wonder how many people who watched this game are still alive today ...

Uh huh. Next you're going to tell me the Germans really weren't the ones that bombed Pearl Harbor...

The Czechs tied it up in the 70th! In stoppage time now. :)

Armenia takes the lead in the 93rd minute!

...and Armenia scores at the very end.

Italy is very lucky to have Buffon...

Yeah, I missed a supposedly brilliant, miraculous save...

Switzerland-Iceland is a goal fest. Northern Ireland just went up 2-1 on Portugal.

Northern Ireland and Estonia are huge FFs right now

Georgia too.

So Spain are up 2-0 in the 88th and France only drew 0-0 so the group is Spain's.

Negredo delivers.

Wow, Iceland just came back from 4-1 down to tie it up.

Switzerland dominated the game until they decided to call it a day after about an hour.

Game over. All three points for Italy. Seven points clear atop.

Congrats to Phil, Italy was certainly the better team tonight. But you have a lot of luck (and Buffon) to thank for this victory ;)

Especially on the last play of the game! You guys came so close. Typical for my side to give me several heart attacks each match.  :P

Portugal get a 4-2 win. Ronaldo with a hat trick in the final 22 minutes!

Big news elsewhere as Greece get the win and some help from Slovakia as they beat Bosnia 1-0. Sweden get a huge victory over Ireland and are now in sole possession of second place (sorry, Tender). Slovenia won and are unbelievably in the hunt for second place in that group despite being second from bottom. Montenegro drew with Poland, helping England. Ukraine thrashed San Marino 9-0.

()

It ended 3-0 for Germany.

Almost all like expected. Germany was playing with their A-Team and was clearly a class or two better.

Now we have to win against Ireland next week, then against Sweden and the Faroers.

All doable, except Sweden.

But I've had big doubts before that we get the 2nd group spot when all is done ... :P

Germany vs. Austria highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6dycSQ8wEs&hd=1

Won by one goal too many, really.

U.S.A lost to Costa Rica 3-1 yesterday... Mexico also lost to Honduras 2-1.

Mexico has since fired coach Jose De La Torre.
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1546652/mexico-part-company-coach-jose-manuel-chepo-de-la-torre?cc=5901 (http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1546652/mexico-part-company-coach-jose-manuel-chepo-de-la-torre?cc=5901)
Mexico faces the U.S in Columbus on Tuesday.

Austria played solidly, but lacks the individual class that some German players possess (e.g. Kroos' wonderful 2:0).
I was a bit disappointed by the number of "frustration fouls" Austrian players committed after the 70th minute (Foul statistics: Austria 20, Germany 8 ).  

Three African teams who have never qualified to the World cup before - Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde - have now a chance to qualify just by winning a play-off. Almost as surprising as the 2006 qualification campaign, and with the strane FIFA ranking to seed Burkina and Cape Verde might actually qualify.

Israel drew Azerbaijan today 1-1 in Ramat-Gan... The draw moves Israel to three points behind Russia for 2nd in Group F (UEFA).

Israel Plays Russia on Tuesday in a critical in-group match in St. Petersburg.

Uzbekistan tied in Jordan, scoring an away goal in the first leg of the AFC fifth round. I'm guessing they're favored to get the playoff spot against CONMEBOL's fifth places side.

Today, we must beat Ireland here at home and hope that the Kazakhs finish off the Swedes (unlikely).

My predictions:

2-1 AUT/IRL
1-3 KAZ/SWE
0-7 FAR/GER

Four European teams can officially book their places in Brazil today: Italy, Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. The Dutch will be the first team to do so, thanks to kickoff times, if they beat Andorra (check) and Turkey draws or wins against Romania (not guaranteed). Germany will win and need Sweden to slip up against Kazakhstan. The Swiss need a win (not an easy task) and a draw between Iceland and Albania.

A lot of people apparently can't do math and say a draw will get Italy automatic qualification. I don't know how so many people can be so wrong:

Italy - 17 points (after a draw, 18 points)
Bulgaria - 10 points (after breezing past Malta, 13 points)

While we're basically assured of qualification, I don't know that a draw even guarantees a playoff spot. Theoretically, either Armenia and Denmark would be able to pass us if they win all of their remaining games (which includes a game against Italy). It would be difficult but we could be beaten on goal difference so nothing is clinched today unless we win.

Sweden up 1-0 in the first minute! Russia and Israel are tied 0-0 at the half.

...Russia up 2-0 by the 52nd though, and now at 3-0. Israel's campaign thus effectively over, Russia and Portugal squabbling for first place.

The Israeli football and basketball teams have been competing this week with who can be more humiliating.

It's not that humiliating to lose to a good team like Russia away. Of course, compared with the 1994 Qualification campaign.

Yes, but it is when you combine this loss with the home draw with Azerbaijan.

Uzbekistan-Jordan has gone to penalties. Can't find a working stream though so I have no idea what else is happening there.

Jordan defeats Uzbekistan 9-8 on penalties.

Armenia continues to be a disaster team at home. Player sent off and Denmark convert the penalty to break the draw late in the match.

Oh, and Colombia and Argentina will get into the WC today if they can each score one goal in their matches, which is fairly probable (though ARG is safer to do so than COL).

Damn, I was hoping for a draw here, as it would make Bulgaria's finishing second far more likely. Then again, Armenia losing players to suspension can't hurt...

KAZ vs. SWE ends 0-1.

That doesn't make it any easier for us ...

Did anybody expect any other outcome (except more goals by Sweden maybe)?

It wasn't dramatic enough that Jordan-Uzbekistan went to penalties; it had to end 9-8! Wow!

You guys don't stand a chance.

8-7 on penalties, plus the 1-1 score from 90 and 120 (and indeed 45) minutes, actually.

And apparently Jordan has a player whose surname is "Abu Hashhash". Smokin'.

Turkey go up away to Romania, and suddenly their qualifying hopes are alive and well.

The Maltese seem to be playing much better than they did at Sofia, even hitting the post at one point. Then again, there isn't snow on the field now...

Now that Italy is more or less guaranteed first place, it's in Bulgaria's interest for them to win their remaining matches. So Forza Azzurri (for the rest of the qualifiers, anyway)!

You jinxed it.

:(

Interestingly, Malta managed more shots on target in the first 50 minutes than Italy in their whole match against Bulgaria. Whether this is due to the shaky Bulgarian defense in this match or Italian inability is another question...

Malta score late! Find one more, please. :)

Belarus go up against France.

This Bulgarian victory was a lot more difficult that expected. Almost like Italy's victory four days ago ;)

That's how you show gratitude?! ;)

The Czechs collapsing nicely! Two Italian goals in three minutes.

Netherlands can book their flight.

I'm certain the Dutch fans are quite happy that they managed to qualify at least one round before Germany ;)

Austria take the lead against Ireland, with just a few minutes left to go. That's curtains for the Irish.

Austria yessss

Thanks to Norway's earlier defeat by Switzerland, the winner of Iceland vs Albania (one of two still ongoing games, current score 2-1) will move into second slot in that group.

Of course, in all likelihood the second placed team in that group will end up eliminated as weakest second placer overall...

We're officially going to Brazil!

()

Congrats, Phil.

Not necessarily. Iceland is currently the third-highest-ranked second place team: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA)#Ranking_of_second-placed_teams

Colombia is now about to join the Dutch and Italians, especially since Forlán is out.

Goddammit.

I love it when Snowstalker talks stupid to us.

The Argies should at least qualify tonight (unless I now have some sort of reverse Midas Touch).

Dos a cero!

That was just embarrassing for Mexico.

USA QUALIFIES FOR THE WORLD CUP

Especially those Dutch fans that still remember 2002 (you may, b.t.w., cross out your last six four words in this context) ;)

Oh, and congratulation, USA!

()

We'll be out in groups though.

Not so sure. You'll have time zone advantage.

Better luck next time, funny guy.

Congratulations USA! See ya in Brazil.

Anyway:

()

What exactly happens if we beat the Faroer Islands and tie Sweden for 18 points and Sweden loses to Germany for 18 points too ?

Does the better goal difference count then, or the direct matchup (where we'd have an advantage since we won at home and tied abroad) ?

Hahaha! In a weird way, I have to agree with them: because of their hatred for the game, I don't personally care to win these people over and become fans. Zero desire. It's another reason I proudly root for Italy.

Congrats to Uruguay! Real excitement!

Trapattoni has quit as Ireland manager.

He was essentially fired.
And rightly so.

His position was very precarious following the embarrassment in Poland.
Thankfully, he accepted his position had become untenable now.


I see Martin O'Neill is the favourite for the post. I just don't know if the FAI can afford him though (or indeed really anyone with reasonable credentials).

The Iberian Anarchist Federation? They're still around?

Does anyone know it ?

FIFA tie breaker is goal difference. UEFA tie breaker is head to head.

Ah, yeah, thx.

I have a feeling now how this goes:

We manage a tie in Sweden, Germany wins against Sweden and then we tie the Faroers, or looooooooose. Game over.

:P

Luxembourg's 3-2 win over Northern Ireland last night was their first home in in a WC qualifier in 41 years. Lol. (They had an away win in the last 2010 qualifiers, as well as a home win in the 2012 Euro qualifiers, though.)

Yeah, I was going to point out the Luxembourg win yesterday but there was just too much going on.

Our minnows are growing up...

Colombia is through in every non-technical way. For them to miss out on qualifying Ecuador and Uruguay must tie and then both win their other games while Colombia loses both AND Ecuador making up 9 and Uruguay 13 goals in goal difference. The latter part is obviously not happening.

Belgium and Germany are other examples of teams that are through in reality. And Spain.

Sweden situation is looking bad. Bloody Irish. We have to beat Austria, since Austria will beat Faroe islands and we will lose against Germany and we're already behind on goal difference. Those sucky games against Kazakhstan and Faroe Islands are coming back to bite us now.

Let's put it like this: If you beat Austria, you deserve 2nd place, if not, then not. Don't blame the Irish.

You can take comfort in the fact that Austria has never won an away-game under coach Marcel Koller so far. Out of 5 away games.

So, everything seems possible.

Germany will be definitely out for revenge for the 4-4 tie against you in Berlin.

But as I've said before, we won't automatically win against the Faroer Islands. If any team can lose against them and fumble the 2nd group spot, it's Austria. We already lost to them in the early 90s ... :P

The ranking in each group is determined as follows:
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings shall be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) greater number of goals scored away from home between the teams concerned (if the tie is only between two teams)

http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/Regulations/01/87/54/21/1875421_DOWNLOAD.pdf

So, it's actually the goal difference and not the direct matchups ?

That means we are still favoured, because or goal difference is by 2 better than Sweden.

And considering that we must tie Sweden and Sweden must lose to Germany, it won't get any better for Sweden either in these scenarios.

We on the other hand can score a few more goals against the Faroers.

Stop Austria. You will never world cup again (Anschluss would be necessary).

Next World Cups should be:

23 from UEFA.
8 from CONMEBOL.
1 from the rest of the world.

No, the only thing that's necessary would be that David Alaba has 4 more good days (against Sweden, Faroers and in the 2 play-off games) ... ;)

But yeah, in reality, I don't really see much chances either.

You're being slightly generous to CONMEBOL but otherwise, yes, perfect.

I am actually fine with four to five African teams - among Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and South Africa (possibly also Egypt & Morocco), there is always one that can make it to the quarterfinals. Asia/Oceania  could go down to 3, seven from the Americas (I leave it to you guys to do the North-South splitting). 17-18 UEFA sounds about right.

If Austria and Switzerland would unite, they could actually come up with a quite competitive team. As far as I am concerned, no Anschluss is needed  (just pass over David Alaba, our right-hand defence is not that great...).

The British might, b.t.w., consider whether one team making it past the last sixteen wouldn't be better then proving to Luxemburg that there are teams they can beat.

Does Liechtenstein merge with us too ?

What's the name for the new country then ?

Alpenstein ?

Alpania ?

Alpinia ?

;)

This is Austria we're talking about. I would not be surprised to find Germany very happy to give you a point on a golden platter. ;)

Greater Liechtenstein?

South Africa?

England has always been a lie.

I'm not sure why anything should be put in terms of deserving anything. And it was also a joke. :P

Confederation spots should definitely be revised.

I think it should be something like

UEFA: 18.5
CONMEBOL: 6.5
CONCACAF: 1.5
CAF: 3
AFC: 2
OFC: 0.5

-------------------

I've done some different calculations over time and they tend to come out to something like this.

Actually, scratch that, I have an almost scientific answer to this!

UEFA: 17.5
CONMEBOL: 7
CONCACAF: 2.5
AFC: 2.5
CAF: 2
OFC: 0.5

This is based on the following idea:

When teams reach the actual Cup they compete to make it out of the groups. Typically this sees a lot of matching sides from different confederations against each other. On average, this should reflect confederation strength. So, you can take the number a confederation puts into the round of 16 (on average) multiply by 2 and get how many spots they should have. That yields the above with one correction - OFC would be at 0, so I gave them the minimum of 0.5 and took away 0.5 from CONCACAF which I felt was most overrepresented under this.

Basically, my idea is that for each team which makes it out of the group a second team deserves to take part. This should generally work fine.

No. What needs to be done is much more intercontinental play-offs. Anyway, I see no evidence that, for example, Senegal or Iran is much worse than Greece or Austria.

So...
Hosts = 1
UEFA = 9 Automatically, 7 play-offs
CONMEBOL = 4 Automatically, 3 play-offs
CONCACAF = 2 Automatically, 3 play-offs
CAF = 3 Automatically, 5 play-offs
AFC = 2 Automatically, 3 play-offs
OFC = 1 play-offs

Though in practice CONEMBOL and CONCACAF should merge as too the AFC and OFC

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification chances (13 September 2013)

http://www.football-rankings.info/2013/09/2014-fifa-world-cup-qualification_13.html


100% - Colombia
99.98% - Spain
99.72% - Switzerland
99.66% - Germany
98.87% - Belgium
98.33% - Chile
92.58% - Uruguay
91.73% - Ecuador
86.94% - Honduras
86.84% - England
85.28% - Russia
82.35% - Bosnia-Herzegovina
80.31% - Portugal
77.73% - Côte d'Ivoire
71.21% - Greece
69.12% - Nigeria
66.02% - Ghana
64.93% - Croatia
55.29% - Ukraine
53.96% - Algeria
53.55% - Egypt
53.42% - Sweden
53.28% - France
46.75% - Tunisia
43.75% - Mexico
38.06% - Burkina Faso
37.65% - Senegal
37.27% - Cameroon
35.48% - New Zealand
33.75% - Panama
19.89% - Ethiopia
16.51% - Jordan
15.55% - Romania
9.24% - Bulgaria
7.97% - Denmark
7.89% - Hungary
6.22% - Montenegro
5.66% - Iceland
4.41% - Turkey
4.17% - Austria
3.8% - Norway
2.53% - Slovenia
0.9% - Poland
0.85% - Venezuela
0.35% - Czech Republic
0.1% - Albania
0.08% - Jamaica
0.05% - Israel
0.02% - Armenia

Most improved since the 6 September simulations:

49.55% - Uruguay
44.79% - Honduras
22.72% - Sweden
22.05% - Burkina Faso
14.22% - Senegal
10.27% - Cameroon
9.66% - Ethiopia
9.27% - Greece
8.33% - Belgium
7.94% - Jordan


Most declined:

-42.58% - Mexico
-21.27% - Venezuela
-19.46% - Peru
-18.46% - Uzbekistan
-15.39% - South Africa
-14.24% - Czech Republic
-12.07% - Uganda
-11.72% - Norway
-10.9% - Libya
-10.71% - Republic of Ireland

That's not necessarily the point. I think the key point is more that  teams like say Croatia and the Czech Republic, if you go back a few years, would have to struggle hard and miss every once in a while to qualify while teams that are no better and probably worse like US or Japan would qualify by default every time. To me that's the main unfairness. Look at the link below (even though the numbers can be argued endlessly of course). Austria is given a 4% chance of qualifying, Iran already did. If they are roughly equal, how is that fair?

I mean, Holland missed the 2002 World Cup. A team that good would never miss in the competition in Asia, Africa or North America.

Because you can usually never count on the Austrian football team to win an important game when it matters ... :P

Thanks, FIFA! (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves?CMP=twt_gu)

Giuseppe Rossi returns to the Azzurri for our next two qualifiers (even though we already qualified)! :D

Tomorrow is the most important game: Sweden vs. Austria

Sweden is of course favoured because they play at home and their home performance is solid, while our away performance sucks.

But we "only" need a tie to have a realistic chance for the playoffs.

My prediction: 3:1 for Sweden, because Austria always sucks when it matters ... :P

Hahaha, the Swedish:

()

"På fredag dör er VM-dröm."

Tomorrow will be fun. A lot of great matches and I get to actually relax during Italy's match since we're already qualified (but I'm obviously still going to follow it). Also, Buffon becomes Italy's most capped player tomorrow! :D

I would have thought you have a brief relaxation every time Italy scores... ;D

Well, historically speaking, that wouldn't mean much "relaxation," would it?

Still more than the Italy-haters would have gotten. :D

You can watch Sweden vs. Austria live here at 8:40 pm

http://megatv.to/atv

Armenia continue their late surge. They're up 1-0 at half time against second place Bulgaria. Armenia has lost every home game this campaign though.

Armenia go up 2-1 in the 87th minute! Surely they'll hang on this time for their first home win...

This will blow the competition for the runner up spot wide open especially if Italy beat Denmark today.

I suppose that Armenia was going to have to win a home game at some point :(

The second place in this group will most likely be useless (unless Denmark defeats Italy).

Oh, that's right. Since the worst second place team doesn't make the playoffs. Yikes.

Anyway, Belgium is about to officially book their place. They're up 2-0 in Croatia.

Not only will they be booking their place in the World Cup with a win here, they'll be securing their place as a first seed for the group stage draw.

Phil, Lief - how do you think SWE vs. AUT will end tonight ?

It's a strange system (to put it mildly) where not qualifying for two or three world cups in a row doesn't worsen a team's chance to get seeded at the world cup.

You didn't ask me, but I predict a 1-1 draw. Then Austria loses to the Faroe Islands and doesn't qualify to the play-offs anyway ;)

I'm neither Phil nor Lief but I expect a tie, 1-1.

I expect that Switzerland will seal the deal today. While it's great to qualify for the World Cup the Swiss group is so weak that this can hardly be considered a huge achievement.

Unfortunately for you, a Sweden win.  :P  I'll say 3-1.

I'm kind of hoping for an Austria win because I want plenty of last day drama but Sweden play Germany next week and that might not end well (especially since Germany will be out for blood after the 4-4 match). And I want Sweden to make it to Brazil so...  :P

BTW, the "Krone" readers (Austria's biggest newspaper, read by about 4/10 Austrians daily) were able to choose the dress of ATV's moderator Elisabeth Auer today:

()

A) a pyjama-style jogging outfit
B) a business-style/red-white-red national colours outfit
C) a Dirndl (a traditional Austro-Bavarian dress) that is now even becoming a global fashion trend

The readers went with with option B), which got 47% - beating the Dirndl which got 43% and the pyjama which got 10%.

http://www.krone.at/Sport/krone.at-User_stecken_ATV-Lady_Auer_in_Fananzug-Sieg_bei_Abstimmung-Story-378362

Joke decision if you ask me, because A) and C) are clearly more sexy ... ;)

But what else expect from Krone readers, who are mostly FPÖ-people and patriots ... :P

So Austria is more conservative than commonly thought? Or maybe those who didn't vote for C were insulted by this rather non-traditional interpretation ;)

http://megatv.to/atv

Elisabeth Auer sticks with the Krone readers choice, but at least she has a black coat on ...

:P

It simply means that Krone readers have no clue about fashion ...

I say the same:

And Belgium becomes the 11th country to qualify to the 2014 World Cup.

Denmark vs. Italy still 0-0

Faroers vs. Kasachstan still 1-1

It starts !

http://megatv.to/atv

National anthems soon.

It seems Zlatan doesn't sing the national anthem either ... Alaba does not sing it either.

1-0 Italia!

Bosnia seems to want to improve upon their last game with Liechstein as they lead by four after only 40 minutes.

That's already a fascinating game ... after just 5 minutes.

About 50-50 so far ...

Austria starts with pressure and had some chances already, the Swedes too.

Slovenia leads Norway 2:0, which is bad news for the teams fighting for second place in group B, unless Iceland defeat Cyprus, where paradoxically it would be good news.

Both Alaba and Ibrahimovic play badly so far, while the rest of the teams does well.

Ibrahimovic, Kacanikclic, Arnautovic, Januzovic, Garics, Dragovic ...

One could think 2 Balkan teams are playing against each other ...

1-0 AUSTRIA by Martin Harnik

Now almost a goal by Sweden a minute later, onto the goalpost ...

Perhaps Ibrahimovic should have chosen to play for Bosnia after all...

Alaba now almost with a goal, Swedish GK saves with his toes.

Garics is Hungarian. Of course, Hungary may well be considered a Balkan country in Austria :)

At least in the past 10 minutes, what's the Swedish phrase for "Austria dominates" ?

Now about 4 goal chances in the past 2 minutes ...

Lewis even considers Austria a Balkan country ... :P

The Swedish probably speculate that Austria implodes in the 2nd half.

And Adenauer considered Germany east of the Rhine to be Asian... :P

The typical historic Austrian strategy after a 1st half lead is: "fall back and defend, because we are sure enough that the others won't score ..."

Which has always led to the situation that the others have won ... :P

Hopefully, they will continue to be aggressive in the 2nd half too and not fall back into this old defensive system.

The 2nd half in the fight for 2nd place starts:

http://megatv.to/atv

England tied 0-0 at half time. Greece up 1-0 at the half. Ukraine about to eliminate Poland.

The Swedes have a player named "Lustig", which means "funny" in German.

Wie lustig!

The Swedish PM Frederik Reinfeldt is watching it live too.

OLLLLLLSSSOOOONNNN scores for Sverige.

1-1

Bad news for Bulgaria in the last few minutes. First the Czech Republic wins over Malta which means Bulgaria can't finish with more than 10 points after results against sixth placed teams are excluded and now Denmark leads against Italy...

It seems the Swedes are back. Also the audience, which was already very quiet a few minutes ago.

<3 u danes

Italy tie is up in the dying minutes!

If it remains 1-1 (which I don't really believe), we have to rely on the "big brother" Germany to eliminate Sweden for us.

Hey, moron, what's the final score?

This is hilariously awesome since the infamous Denmark-Sweden Euro 2004 match ended 2-2, thus eliminating Italy. This time around, 2-2 seriously hurts Denmark. Karma for the biscotti!

You might remind them of Gijon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany_1%E2%80%930_Austria_(1982_FIFA_World_Cup)) :P

Prediction:

Sweden scores the 2-1 in the final minutes.

Hungary is really getting slaughtered here, losing now 1:8. Sad for a team that seemed to have a real chance to qualify.

The question is:

If the 1-1 holds, Germany defeats Sweden and we defeat the Faroers, we would be 2nd of the group based on goal difference.

But would that be enough for the play-offs ?

Because as far as I know not all 2nd placed in every group advance to the play-offs ...

FORGETABOUTIT ...

Sorry Tender. :(

Germany becomes the 13th team to qualify. Hope they're not superstitious...
And my commiserations, Tender. It's really sad to lose in such a way :(

Buy buy Austria, it was nice knowing you.

Not to rub salt into your wounds, but yes, it would have been enough for the play-offs. The second-placed team in Group B would have been the one not to reach the play-offs.

So have the cafeteros just stopped caring?

Portugal just threw away a huge opportunity, allowing Israel to tie it in the 84th minute. Israel have still been eliminated though.

This means Portugal need to beat Luxembourg by a ton of goals (possible) and have Russia lose to Azerbaijan (not likely) to draw level on points but top the group on goal difference. Looks like Portugal is heading to its third straight qualifying playoffs.

Also, Spain (on home turf) only beat Belarus 2-1. Technically, there is still hope for France to top the group: they need to win against Finland and hope Georgia beat Spain.

They are almost certain to qualify even with this loss, though their chances of being seeded at the world cup will be jeopardized.

Yay!

I think Sweden deserved the win in the end but it was a very tense game. Otherwise, mostly disappointing results.

Well obviously they'll qualify (which is perhaps why they're not trying?), but this isn't what one would normally expect the 5th ranked team in the world (compounded by their flimsy win against Ecuador and loss to Uruguay last month).

And my condolences to Tender.

Yeah, all the teams I was rooting for (except Italy and Israel) lost...

Honduras going up means Mexico's chances of qualifying directly are very low.

In CONMEBOL, Uruguay is lucky to not be down 2-0. The linesman wrongly ruled an Ecuador goal offside.

Colombia only down one now!

Another Colombia penalty? No way...

Fantastic comeback.

How's Team USA playing tonight?

No one cares.

Panama equalizes late!

Oh my God. What a goal by Mexico.

Guus Hiddink in talks to coach Australia again. Hope Italy can meet them again and win again.

Andros Townsend with a brilliant debut for England. I've been following him for years at spurs (I'm an ardent tottenhamboy) so I'm unsurprised but well done to the lad.
But what do other football (the real one) supporters here think of Jack Wilshere remark about how only "real" English players should play for England?

Fun fact: Sweden are the only team to be currently qualified for the European playoffs. Everybody else can still move on to first or down to third or become the worst second placed team (most of them only if a miracle happens: because Armenia lost one of their games to Malta, if they move on to second place a number of teams suddenly get to sweat again. Would take an Armenian win against Italy, a Czech-Bulgarian draw [or narrow Czech win in case Armenia trounces Italy] and a Danish draw or defeat against Malta though. Related fun fact: The Czech Republic can still finish in second place... but it cannot qualify anymore. If they take second they will, mathematically, certainly, be the weakest second.)

Yeah, for the longest time I thought the Wikipedia page had messed something up, before it dawned on me that Armenia had a loss against Malta. :P

But since that scenario isn't playing out, most of the runner-ups are actually set.

England may still miss a direct spot, as may Bosnia. And the battle for second place behind Switzerland is pretty alive as well. I think that's it for the Euro qualifiers though?

Seems Sweden still wants a point off of Germany, because then we have a shot at seeding for the playoffs. Seeding might actually make a big difference this time. Getting say Iceland or Ukraine is vastly preferable to Portugal or Croatia.

Turkey vs Romania for second behind the Dutch. Also can't rule out them both losing and thus Bulgaria slipping into the playoffs after all.

Ah, right forgot that group. I think a Romania which is this close will flatten Estonia though.

Pretty gross. If he weren't an Arsenal player, I'd have a very low opinion of him.

Well, was he referring to players that debate which country to play for amongst their options and ultimately decide on England? I'll be honest: I loathe the whole idea of thinking about which nation to represent. You should have the feeling in your heart very early on and if the country you want to represent won't call you up, well, then there still isn't reason for debate. Then you go with your second option if we're being realistic. Going to your second choice after stating another first preference would be awkward and invite criticism about one's patriotism, too, but sitting around and deliberating between nations that want you irritates me more. It isn't about national pride then. It's about "Which side has a better chance at winning? Which side will kiss my ass more?" Yeah, every player wants their team to win. Every player wants to personally benefit but this isn't club ball so get over yourself.

However, I have a feeling Lief and others will say his complaints about "fake" England players were racially/ethnically motivated...

Terry Butcher (member of Ingerland national team 1980-90) was born in Singapore. Owen Hargreaves (member of the Ingerland national team 2001-08) was born in Calgary, played in the Wales (not Ingerland) under 19's team, and was based for most of his career in Germany. There's also the odd case of Michael Owen, who was actually born in England... but only because Chester is the local maternity hospital to his native Flintshire (Wales), where he lives to this day. There have been other cases over the years. But who cares if they're obviously white?

Of course the whole debate that this nasty subdebate has spun off from is based on a complete misunderstanding of why the England cricket team is now very good (as opposed to the 1990s when it was a joke). There's this idea that England turned the corner by poaching players from overseas (Kevin Pietersen, who hails from Pietermaritzburg, being the particularly obvious case). But players born outside Britain have always featured in England cricket teams, particular as batsmen: Douglas Jardine was born in Bombay, Ted Dexter was born in Milan, Tony Greig was born in Queenstown, and Allan Lamb was born in Langebaanweg (both in South Africa). And this was as true of the period of awfulness (Lamb included, but also, say, Graeme Hick of Salisbury, Rhodesia) as any other. What turned the England cricket team around was a transformation of coaching practices at both an elite and grassroots level, an understanding that the latter needed to be taken extremely seriously (and never reduced to a platitude) and the prioritisation of the national side ahead of the County teams. It is, for example, no longer the case that the first shot learned by a would-be batsman is the forward defensive.

By which I mean, above all else, England are a good side now because they play good cricket. Ingerland, however, do not play good football.

No, that also requires Hungary failing to defeat Andorra. The realistic (here meaning not infinitesimally unlikely) scenario Bulgaria reaching the playoffs is Bulgaria defeating the Czechs by three goals, a draw between Slovenia and Switzerland and Norway defeating Iceland.

Mostly approve. They're called national teams for a reason.

The first case is completely irrelevant: being born abroad doesn't make you less of a citizen. The second is also irrelevant, as this is case of double citizenship. You have a point with the third case, but then again when national teams are based on subnational units, such peculiarities shouldn't be surprising.

Austria will play against the US at home on November 19 in a friendly match.

So far, Austria has only played 2 times against the US: In 1990, they won against them in the World Cup in Italy, while in 1998 they lost.

Interesting news about the final draw in December.

The seeded teams (Pot 1) will include Brazil (Hosts) and the seven top-ranked teams. The remaining pots will be based on geographic and sports criteria. The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of October 2013 (released on 17 Oct) will be used instead of the November ranking as this would give the teams involved in the upcoming play-off games an unfair advantage.

So the potential seeded teams will be:

Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Colombia, Switzerland and one of Belgium/Croatia/Uruguay/Netherlands* (*depends on outcome of final qualifiers/play offs)     

This means that England will more than likely miss out on seeding along with the USA. France and Portugal (if qualified) will not feature in top seeds as well. 

More information: http://www.football-rankings.info/2013/09/fifa-ranking-october-2013-probable_20.html

Whatever happens, there will definitely be a lot of 'Group of Deaths' this time :)

Last day (until the playoffs). The England-Poland clash is the obvious headliner. The Netherlands vs. Turkey should be good, too. Other matches might be good but don't have two quality teams with super stars. That said, the results of games between second place contenders or teams barely on top of their group and lower ranking teams should still bring plenty of drama (Lithuania vs. Bosnia and Azerbaijan vs. Russia).

Tonight will bring the real big deal matches: Uruguay vs. Argentina, Chile vs. Ecuador, Costa Rica vs. Mexico and Panama vs. the U.S.

Regarding play-offs, the African ones already started. Nothing really surprising so far except perhaps Ghana crushing Egypt 6-1, though the Egyptians have a good excuse for that, all things considered.

Portugal up 2-0 but Russia is winning away. Second half just starting in both.

Good news for Greece: they're ahead and Bosnia are tied in Lithuania.

Wow, Ghana crushed Egypt. Pretty disappointing. :(

Awwww poor Michael Bradley! Leaves one joke team for another.

I wouldn't call a team that reached the round of 16 of the world cup a joke team. And I probably like them less than you.

Ghana in 2010: Quarterfinals
USA in 2010: Round of 16
Italy in 2010: 4th in their group, worse than New Zealand

I think we all know who the real joke team is.

Bosnia score in the 68th. That's rough on the Greeks since it was looking like Lithuania would hold their own today.


Italy have qualified for almost every World Cup. The U.S.? Not so much. Also...

4 stars > 0 stars

Yeah Italy won a couple of world cups back when they still played with balls made out of pig bladders. Big deal.

Oh and I got it mixed up: it's Bob Bradley, not Michael Bradley. Can't keep the losers straight in my mind!

And we still have two titles since the pig bladder ball days. ;)

Looks like the Republic of Cristiano Ronaldo will have to qualify through the playoffs. Congrats seatown.

Third tournament in a row, no less. I just hope they don't meet France. We need both disgusting teams in the Finals.

Russia concedes late! But a point still gets them through.

Yeah, Italy won two of its titles the last time before the 1990s that the US played at anything above LLDC level. :)

And Russia qualify. Azerbaydjan equalized late but one point was all Russia needed.

As if to make the Portuguese feel even worse for themselves :)

And it's begun! Armenia take lead against Italy.

...Armenia already ahead...

lol macedonia

I love own goals. :P

germany and italy both losing 1-0...

Bosnia and Herzegovina qualifies for the first time.

Making Bosnia the first debutants in this world cup.

Italy-Armenia is very sloppy so far.

Looks like the Turkish dream is over; Netherlands up 2-0.

We're tied! Beautiful assist by Napoli's own Lorenzo Insigne!

Ukraine scores on San Marino, which is one half of the recipe to force England into playoffs (the other half being if they lose/tie the Poles)

NEGREDO

Lol do they want to end up 4-4 again?

Iceland, Romania officially book playoff tickets.

So that means Group B's runner up (looking like Denmark, who are thrashing Malta 6-0) is meaningless, right?

From 0-2 to 3-2 up. Germany stops teasing with the Swedes.

Yeah, I think Denmark as worst second is official as of right now. Someone with all the facts about whichever sixth place might still change in relevant ways at his fingertips feel free to correct me.

Well, Bulgaria's qualification campaign just ended and after nice start, it ended badly yet again. But finally there is hope in some new players and at least the team played hard every game, so there is some very thin silver lining. And anyway, the EURO 2016 qualifiers start in less than a year's time :)

Nice Armenia goal off of an idiotic corner. Means nothing for them though.

Just one more goal for Sweden before I can collect my accolades! (Quoted post was a propos the 2-1).

Phil makes fun of Balotelli coming on.

Balotelli ties the game.

Nope, 5-3.

Damn.

Oh well. I'll take a 5-4 or 5-5! :D

Realistically speaking, England vs Poland is the only interesting game remaining.

It's strange how Ukraine continues piling in useless goals against San Marino...

There's Chile-Ecuador and Argentina-Uruguay, though all four either are already (Argentina) or will be (the rest) going to Brazil.

They're also not on until very late in the night, euro time. I was referring to the games on at current. :)

Oh Scotland. You know when to turn it on when it doesn't matter :)

And that's that, I guess?

So the Italy draw supposedly means Switzerland is definitely seeded and Italy now needs either Colombia or Uruguay to not win tonight. Ugh. Is this true? Lewis?

I suppose I should thank Balotelli for making Bulgaria finish fourth - which is better than my original prediction :)

Only if they use the FIFA rankings for seedings... which they didn't before 2010.

That's what they're using apparently.

We supposedly need Uruguay and Colombia to not win. ::)

This seeding system blows.

They haven't formally announced it yet.

Paraguay and Uruguay both get early goals, so congrats Phil (so far).

Panama will hopefully beat the USA (and CR beat Mexico), just because it would be hilarious to see Mexico get knocked out tonight.

Suarez with one of the worst dives I've seen in a long time then barely converts the penalty.

Uruguay can't win for Italy to be seeded.

Let me tell you, it's a shame my team has something at sake in all of this and I can't really enjoy the match but Uruguay-Argentina is incredible.

Uruguay-Jordan it is.

Italy, The Netherlands and England won't be seeded but Switzerland will. Joke!

By the way, as of now, Mexico just barely qualifies for the playoffs. What a day.

So how should they seed things? Curious as to what you'd propose.

I believe past performances were taken into account before and they're clearly not doing that now if Belgium and Colombia have more points.

The U.S. gave their arch rival a spot in the playoffs. If not for those two late U.S. goals, Mexico wouldn't have qualified.

The seeded teams for the group stage are:

1. Brasil (Host)
2. Spain
3. Germany
4. Argentina
5. Colombia
6. Belgium
7. Uruguay
8. Switzerland

Netherlands, Italy and England just miss out.

Pots should look something like this:

Pot A (Seeded teams)
Brasil
Spain
Germany
Argentina
Colombia
Belgium
Uruguay
Switzerland

Pot B (Asia/North America)
Japan
South Korea
Australia
Iran
USA
Costa Rica
Mexico
Honduras

Pot C (Africa/South America)
Chile
Ecuador
Ivory Coast
Nigeria
Cameroon
Ghana
Algeria

Pot D (Europe)
Italy
Netherlands
Russia
Bosnia
England
Croatia
Portugal
Greece
Sweden

One of the teams in Group D will presumably be put in a special pot to ensure that no group has 3 European teams, like they did in 2006.

So, Germany beat Sweden 5-3 and Austria beat the Faroers by 3-0 yesterday.

Which means we would have gone to the playoffs, if we tied Sweden.

But the loss to Sweden was not really what mattered, it's the 2 ties against Ireland and Kasachstan abroad. If we'd won those (rather easy) games, we would have been in 2nd place too.

Don't let me down, New Zealand.

Wow the seeds are....interesting. I'm probably confusing how good each sides are, but are Belgium and Switzerland really worthy of seeds?

Belgium and Colombia are clearly hot teams that should impress next year but top seed-worthy? No.

Lol FIFA. They really like their rating system do they?

Incidentally, these probably fairer rankings have Belgium and Switzerland nowhere near but Colombia tied with Italy for eightth: http://www.eloratings.net/world.html

Oh, and it appears (again, it's not been formally announced yet) that France will be unseeded for the European playoffs along with Sweden, Romania and Iceland.

I guess I'm hoping for...

France vs. Ukraine
Sweden vs. Croatia
Portugal vs. Iceland
Greece vs. Romania

I think it will be:

France vs. Greece
Sweden vs. Portugal
Croatia vs. Iceland
Romania vs. Ukraine

The seeded teams are: Portugal, Croatia, Greece and Ukraine.

HP. Iceland needs to qualify.

Here's one of the rare instances when I'd be ok with a Cinderella team getting in if it wasn't at the expense of a big team that I'd like to see in the Finals. So if Iceland draw Ukraine, I'm fine with Iceland going through.

I would like to see Croatia, Iceland and Sweden qualify. And then...France I guess. I really don't want Greece or Portugal. Ugh.

I really hope we don't get Croatia. They always cause trouble for us. Portugal wouldn't necessarily be so bad. They're in decline and we typically do well against them. Last WCQ we tied them in both games even as we missed qualification.

Ukraine is responsible for one of the worst games in the history of the World Cup (Ukraine 0-0 Switzerland, 2006), so hopefully they lose to whoever they're drawn against.

True. They're also responsible for Greece making it to last European Championships.

EDIT: last World Cup I mean.

You no say Ukraine weak! >:(

LOL

()

Ugh, Mexico does not remotely deserve to go to Brazil next year. The Kiwis are our only hope.

Ottmar Hitzfeld, coach of the Swiss team, announced that he is not going to renew his contract after the World Cup next year. There are rumours that Marcel Koller, the current coach of Team Austria, might be in contention for the job (sorry, Austria!).

I really doubt they will use the FIFA Rankings for the seedings, they didn't before 2010 so I expect the first pot to look like this:

Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Italy, Netherlands, Uruguay, Germany, Portugal

Koller was an excellent coach, it's the overall team that fumbled it (especially the away games in KAZ and IRL).

But I understand it if he wants to leave after this year, he must be really disappointed.

But hey, what about Jupp Heynckes or Andreas Herzog becoming the next Austrian coaches ?

;)

Why do you keep doing this? They confirmed that they're using the rankings. Italy and The Netherlands are not going to be seeded.

See the avatar; he seems to be in a certain Egyptian river.

Yeah, it's officially confirmed as of today.

Though the Dutch may still get there... if Jordan vanquishes Uruguay somehow. ;D

Came across this (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/sports/bruno-metsu-coach-who-took-senegal-on-world-cup-run-dies-at-59.html?WT.mc_id=AD-D-E-OTB-INTSP-1009&WT.mc_ev=click81809600000&WT.mc_c=__CAMP_UID__&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=13&bicmet=1385787600000)... Rest in Peace Bruno Metsu.

Precedent. They've NEVER seeded anyone before who hadn't qualified for the previous world cup (So the Netherlands in 2006 was not unseeded). But it looks like I was wrong... Going to make for some interesting groups.

The draw was today.

France vs. Ukraine
Sweden vs. Portugal
Croatia vs. Iceland
Romania vs. Greece

Got 2 pairs right.

Prediction for the play-offs:

Portugal vs. Sweden (Go die, Sweden ... :P)
France vs. Ukraine
Greece vs. Romania
Croatia vs. Iceland (lulz prediction)
Uruguay vs. Jordan
Mexico vs. New Zealand

Winnable match-ups for all the good guys (France, Romania, Iceland), and I trust Zlatan to do what needs to be done to Portugal.

Well, I got two of them right. Here's what I'll say...

Portugal vs. Sweden
Ukraine vs. France
Greece vs. Romania
Iceland vs. Croatia

Sorry, Gustaf. I really wanted Sweden there but I'd prefer Portugal and I think they'll squeak by the Swedes.

People are already hyping Iceland's chances against a weakened Croatia. I guess I could see it happening but the latter are clear favorites.

I was hoping for

France vs Portugal, Sweden vs Ukraine (no reason to worry, the better guys - Portugal, Sweden - would win), Croatia vs Iceland, Romania vs Greece (no reason to care, I'm perfectly happy with either qualifying and not saddened with either missing out)

Well, that sort of sucked. Still prefer Portugal to Croatia though. We always do badly against the latter and decently against the former.

I think we have a non-negligible chance, but Portugal are clear favourites. Iceland could shock Croatia, but I wouldn't count on it. France should have no problem with Ukraine and Greece v Romania feels unpredictable. I have a sinking feeling Greece will slip by yet again by some weird chance.

http://soccer.si.com/2013/10/28/world-cup-spots-michel-platini-sepp-blatter-fifa/?sct=hp_wr_a5&eref=sihp (http://soccer.si.com/2013/10/28/world-cup-spots-michel-platini-sepp-blatter-fifa/?sct=hp_wr_a5&eref=sihp)



This is almost as dumb as expanding the NCAA Basketball Tournament to 128 teams, I can't imagine this will go over well here...

One of these days UEFA is going to split from FIFA entirely.

Breaking News: Blatter and Platini are idiots.

And even they agree with you.

That is to say, Blatter agrees with you that Platini is an idiot, and Platini agrees with you that Blatter is an idiot.

Good news:

()

Marcel Koller, the very likeable and good Swiss coach of the Austrian football team, has renewed his contract for another 2 years today.

It was speculated that he might go back to Switzerland after Austria failed to qualify for the WC.

Austria's football association lobbied hard to keep him.

http://kurier.at/sport/fussball/oefb-koller-bleibt-oesterreichs-teamchef/33.336.153

He must be a truly principled man. According to media reports the Swiss Football Association offered him an annual salary that was twice as high as what the Austrians were ready to pay.

If anything, given that utterly mediocre teams from Africa and Asia will get to go to Brazil while several good European and South American teams are forced to stay home, UEFA and CONMEBOL should be the ones to get more slots, not CAF and AFC.

It's the World Cup, not the Europe vs. South America Cup.

Well, as I said previously:

8 CONMEBOL + 23 UEFA + 1 of the rest of the World = WORLD CUP