I very often think that I enjoy World Cup qualifying more than the actual finals. This is especially true for the last round of qualifying when there are multiple matches going on with a number of combinations of possible results that will produce qualifying teams and others that narrowly miss out.
Today is by no means the final round anywhere but in CONCACAF the final matches of the fourth round are being played. Six teams move on to the final round. I am watching Canada-El Salvador as I write this. Canada need to win but they also need Mexico to beat Honduras and the combined goal difference has to be plus five in Canada's favour. Sadly, it's not looking too good for my second home country. At 2-0 to Canada with 15 minutes left there was hope that even with the other match still at 0-0, Canada could score a couple more and hope for a late Mexican winner. But El Salvador just scored and now it looks like the inevitable will happen: another disappointing qualifying campaign will end with Canada nowhere near qualifying. Four minutes left that should have been 3-1. Ah well.
No such negative feelings amongst Brazilian fans today. They beat Colombia 2-1 and seemed to have really turned their campaign around since their Olympic team won that emotional and historic gold medal. And they have a new coach.
In other exciting non-final day news Albania and Macedonia came back to play the last 13 minutes of their match, abandoned because of torrential rain yesterday. And the 13 minutes made a difference as Albania scored a winner.
And Syria. Oh Syria. Keeping track of where they are going to play their home matches is as difficult as it probably is for their coach to keep track of his players. Up until last week they were meant to be playing their "home" match against South Korea in Macau. Then, with just a few days to go, the Macau football association announced that a consensus was not reached with the Syrian association. It was not said but it can be assumed that money was the issue. So a new venue was needed. The original hosts, Lebanon, were mentioned but the Koreans were not happy at the prospect of having to find a flight to the Middle East at such late notice. Finally, Malaysia were chosen as the hosts and Syria won their first point in a 0-0 draw. It is unknown if Malaysia will become Syria's permanent home. It will be fun waiting to see where they play next.
Canada's out. Done for another 4 years. A 3-1 win was not enough. It's pretty sad as a fan when that moment hits that you realise your country will definitely not be at the World Cup. I never had that problem with Malta, but I always hope Canada will do it. But just like any good Canadian, or person living in Canada, I will just follow my other team in Russia. Now let's hope they qualify.
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