FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifying

[Keystone Phil]

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

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

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

But they're not recognized by FIFA or UEFA.

[Keystone Phil]

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.

[minionofmidas]

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.

[Tender Branson]

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 ...

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

[Хahar 🤔]

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

Also this snow storm match is awesome.

Hockey.

[argentarius]

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 ...

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

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.

[Keystone Phil]

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.

[Knives]

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

Also this snow storm match is awesome.

Hockey.

lol.

[Tender Branson]

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 ...

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

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.

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

[morgieb]

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

Also this snow storm match is awesome.

Never been to AFL?

This.

You're talking to an American.

AWTA though.

[Platypus]

Australia escapes with a draw in Sydney vs Oman.

Quality

[Goodwin]

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.

 

[Tender Branson]

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 ...

[Keystone Phil]

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.

[Keystone Phil]

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

[Keystone Phil]

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

Japan ended up losing 2-1.

[Keystone Phil]

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!

[Tender Branson]

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.

[Lief 🗽]

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

[danny]

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

[danny]

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

[Keystone Phil]

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.

[Lief 🗽]

suck it mexico

[Tender Branson]

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.

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 ...

My prediction for this is a 2:2 draw.

[bore]

There's always euro 2016.