Hooray for the return of qualifying! There are matches in Asia, Europe and South America over this Fifa mandated long, very long, weekend of international football. I call it a weekend because it includes Saturday and Sunday but try asking your boss for a long weekend that includes Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday.
(This is about the last thing I do every night and how I have the time and energy to discuss, with myself, what constitutes a weekend is really beyond me).
A stand out match in Asia is Saudi Arabia-Australia, both winners of the first two matches in this third round of qualifying. According to The Age newspaper, "A heaving crowd, steamy conditions and a determined opponent await the Socceroos in Saudi Arabia." And: "neither the weather nor the abuse from the stands will deter anyone in the team". Australians seem to have an issue with loud, obnoxious crowds and extreme temperatures. Clearly, their footballers have never played football in.....Australia.
One bit of news that needs not be in the news this end-of-week, beginning-of-next week round of qualifiers is where Syria will play their home matches. They play two matches away before hoping that Malaysia don't change their minds about hosting them on November 15th.
The huge, yes, massive, clash in Europe is between Italy and Spain. It is incredible to think that come November 2017 one of these teams will be in the play-offs to reach Russia. That is unless Albania or Macedonia slip in there ahead of one of them. It makes you wonder about the seeding when you see Italy and Spain in the same group and others have the likes of Belgium, Greece and Bosnia battling for first place, or Denmark, Poland, Montenegro and Romania, or Wales, Austria and Ireland in a couple of other groups.
Of course, as I will harp on about for the next three days, the only match that really matters for me is Malta playing England on Saturday at 12 noon (for me, 5pm in England, 6pm in Malta). Any fan always prays for an upset, as unlikely as it may seem. At the very least, as England deal with their wasted t-shirts and Mr. Too Nice new (temporary) manager, all I hope for is that this time the ball crosses the England goal line, and I don't just mean between the posts. It will be a huge improvement from Malta's last visit to Wembley in 1971.
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