What a fantastic few days of football. Last minute winners, teams going from seemingly comfortable qualification to "are we going to make it?" in a heartbeat, favourites on the brink of elimination. Have I not said already how I think the final round, or two rounds, of qualifiers are as exciting as the World Cup itself?
Today's result of the day has to be Iceland's 3-0 win in Turkey. Iceland were pretty good in not only qualifying for Euro 2016 but also for making it to the quarterfinals. So this may not seem like an extraordinary result for one of the top eight teams in Europe. But put your hand up if you thought Iceland would not be able to pull it off again. Exactly. They haven't been exactly brilliant and it looked like they would struggle to even make second place in their group and the playoffs. Today's result was even bigger when coupled with Croatia's draw with Finland. Iceland are now top, two points ahead of Croatia and Ukraine.
These are Monday's matches, the final day of qualifying:
Ukraine vs Croatia
Iceland vs Kosovo
Again, Iceland have 19 points, Ukraine and Croatia are on 17. Kosovo have 1 point. Who are the favourites to qualify now?
If you watch the highlights of Iceland's win I wonder if you'll agree with me about the comedic and shambolic Turkish defending. For the third goal it looks like the whole of the Turkish team decided to have a team meeting in their penalty area while Iceland took a corner. "Please, please..Don't disturb us. Yes, yes. Go ahead, Score a goal. Oh no. Try again. There you go. Have fun in Russia!"
Tomorrow is another big day. I need 10 TV screens. There are a whole bunch of permutation-challenging matches in Africa. In Europe, while Ronaldo and Portugal. are pummelling Andorra they will be hoping that Hungary do them a favour against leaders Switzerland. The incredible run of the Swiss has been largely ignored. Their record in qualifying: played 8, won 8. Portugal? Played 8. Won 7, lost 1. On Tuesday: Portugal vs Switzerland. Tasty.
Elsewhere tomorrow, Sweden are at home to Luxembourg, the Netherlands are in Belarus. If the Dutch don't match the Swedes' result they are out.
Right now the USA are 2-0 up against Panama in a crucial match for third place, the final qualifying spot in CONCACAF. The Americans, a point behind Panama before today, need the win. Fourth place means a playoff against Australia or Syria to qualify.
Finally, back to yesterday. Argentina are on the brink. After their 0-0 against Peru they will now probably need a win in Ecuador. If Colombia and Peru draw their final match and Argentina don't win they are out. It is a very real possibility that they won't be in Russia. However, I will still stick with my prediction from around a year ago that they will finish fifth and play New Zealand in the Intercontinental playoff.
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