Quick round-up of some of today's qualifying action.
Brazil won again, 3-0 against Paraguay. It's not mathematical yet but they are very close to qualifying. Lionel Messi was banned by Fifa for four matches today for insulting an assistant referee after their last match. Today Argentina lost 2-0 to Bolivia. Oh Argentina! What a mess. The non-qualification possibility is back on. Chile and Colombia both won and Argentina are back in fifth place again.
Iran are very close to qualifying after beating China 1-0 today. All the big teams won: Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and Australia. Uzbekistan also won and combined with Syria losing to South Korea, Syria's chances are very slim now.
New Zealand beat Fiji and are now guaranteed a play-off spot against the team that wins the other three team group. The winner of that match will play the 5th placed South American team for a place in Russia. New Zealand vs Argentina? Could 5th place in South America not be that bad after all or could it set the scene for the most embarrassing Argentinian football moment ever?
Right now, as I write, in the 72nd minute it's 1-1 in the grudge match between Panama and the USA. I should wait until the end to see if there's a repeat of the last minute drama from 2013. Mexico won again today and are looking like a pretty sure bet to qualify. Costa Rica are three points behind and the other 4 teams are currently three and four points behind Costa Rica. That will change with a win for either Panama or the USA.
Amongst all the friendlies played today, news from two of them caught my attention. The video assistant referee system was used twice in the France-Spain match with both reviewed decisions, for offside, going against France. It's still in its trial phase but I say bring it on. Why not take advantage of available technology? The status of Dutch football is looking pretty grim right now. Holland played, and lost, against Italy. After sacking their coach, Danny Blind, the Dutch interim coach for this match was Fred Grim. Really.
(86 minutes: Panama-USA still 1-1. The action might be about to start. Clint Dempsey scored the American goal. After being sidelined last season with a heart condition he came back and scored a hat-trick in the Americans' 6-0 win on the weekend. Not bad for a guy with a dodgy heart)
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