Day -276 WorldCup2018
What's going on with World Cup qualifying, I hear you ask. Oh, hold on. What? Before I get to that you want to know about Aston Villa and their unstoppable march to promotion to the Premier League? Well, in their first match of the season they brought on their journeyman, club-less (until Villa signed him in desperation) veteran defender Chris Samba as a late substitute....and played him as a centre forward. So back to the World Cup.....
Come October we'll be down to the nitty gritty of qualifying. Those final two matches for each team are almost as exciting as the World Cup itself. Teams and supporters will be watching other teams' results. There will be last minute standings-changing goals. One minute one team will be in, the next some previously unknown, 80th minute substitute from Croatia will become an instant hero and that other team will be out. (reference: Heidi Klum. Project Runway is on in the background)
Apart from the hosts, Russia, seven teams have qualified: Brazil, Iran, Belgium, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan. Others are very close, or close to being very close.
New Zealand were the winners of Oceania qualifying and now await confirmation that they will play Argentina (my long ago prediction), the 5th placed South American team for a spot in Russia.
Australia and Syria will play a two-legged playoff in October to determine who plays the fourth best CONCACAF team in the inter-continental play-off.
In CONCACAF, Costa Rica are pretty much in. The battle for the third automatic spot is tight between Panama, USA and Honduras. Panama are 1 point ahead of USA and Honduras who are level.
Brazil are probably having a great old time looking down the table at all the teams fighting for the 3 remaining spots, plus the playoff place. Second placed Uruguay have one more point than Colombia in third, who have two more points than both Peru and Argentina, who have one more point than sixth placed Chile. And Paraguay are only three points behind Argentina and Ecuador are only one point further back. With only two matches left for each team, it may almost be safe to discount Paraguay and Ecuador. But Ecuador do play Argentina in their last match and this after Argentina will have played Peru in a massive encounter five days earlier. There's going to be some high emotions across South America on October 5th and 10th.
Europe needs it's own post. Briefly, Germany, Spain and England need miracles not to qualify. Northern Ireland are probably in the playoffs. Switzerland look like they are going to keep European Champions Portugal in the playoffs. Serbia are enjoying themselves having Wales and the Republic of Ireland chasing them. France should have been up there with Germany, Spain and England but after their draw against Luxembourg they look to be calling, unwittingly, on the spirit of David Ginola. Poland, Montenegro and Denmark have made Group E very exciting. And Group I, with Croatia, Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine really does need it's own post to try figuring out all the possible permutations. All four have an equal chance of finishing first or fourth.
What's going on with World Cup qualifying, I hear you ask. Oh, hold on. What? Before I get to that you want to know about Aston Villa and their unstoppable march to promotion to the Premier League? Well, in their first match of the season they brought on their journeyman, club-less (until Villa signed him in desperation) veteran defender Chris Samba as a late substitute....and played him as a centre forward. So back to the World Cup.....
Come October we'll be down to the nitty gritty of qualifying. Those final two matches for each team are almost as exciting as the World Cup itself. Teams and supporters will be watching other teams' results. There will be last minute standings-changing goals. One minute one team will be in, the next some previously unknown, 80th minute substitute from Croatia will become an instant hero and that other team will be out. (reference: Heidi Klum. Project Runway is on in the background)
Apart from the hosts, Russia, seven teams have qualified: Brazil, Iran, Belgium, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Japan. Others are very close, or close to being very close.
New Zealand were the winners of Oceania qualifying and now await confirmation that they will play Argentina (my long ago prediction), the 5th placed South American team for a spot in Russia.
Australia and Syria will play a two-legged playoff in October to determine who plays the fourth best CONCACAF team in the inter-continental play-off.
In CONCACAF, Costa Rica are pretty much in. The battle for the third automatic spot is tight between Panama, USA and Honduras. Panama are 1 point ahead of USA and Honduras who are level.
Brazil are probably having a great old time looking down the table at all the teams fighting for the 3 remaining spots, plus the playoff place. Second placed Uruguay have one more point than Colombia in third, who have two more points than both Peru and Argentina, who have one more point than sixth placed Chile. And Paraguay are only three points behind Argentina and Ecuador are only one point further back. With only two matches left for each team, it may almost be safe to discount Paraguay and Ecuador. But Ecuador do play Argentina in their last match and this after Argentina will have played Peru in a massive encounter five days earlier. There's going to be some high emotions across South America on October 5th and 10th.
Europe needs it's own post. Briefly, Germany, Spain and England need miracles not to qualify. Northern Ireland are probably in the playoffs. Switzerland look like they are going to keep European Champions Portugal in the playoffs. Serbia are enjoying themselves having Wales and the Republic of Ireland chasing them. France should have been up there with Germany, Spain and England but after their draw against Luxembourg they look to be calling, unwittingly, on the spirit of David Ginola. Poland, Montenegro and Denmark have made Group E very exciting. And Group I, with Croatia, Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine really does need it's own post to try figuring out all the possible permutations. All four have an equal chance of finishing first or fourth.
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