Day -247 WorldCup2018
What a day. What a night! So many opening lines in my head. All the opening lines can tell the story of the day.
Tim Cahill has done it again: 37 years old and still rescuing Australia.
The unlikely, in many way unwelcome , Syria dream is over. But there is
still sympathy for the players, the ones on the pitch, who came so
close, to whom at the time, as they pushed Australia so close, politics
cannot be attributed.
Three screens. That's how I was following
all the action across South, Central and North America today. This is
why I love the World Cup: excitement all round, changes possible every
minute.
Messi. He did it. And because he came determined to play Argentina are in the World Cup.
Chile, gone. USA, out.
Peru in the play-off against New Zealand. Both teams are probably optimistic of their chances.
Colombia sneaked in. Uruguay made it comfortably.
Honduras play Australia in the other play-off. Again, both teams are
probably happy. It was so close to it being USA vs Australia. That would
have been huge.
France didn't mess up against Belarus. They're in.
Greece didn't slip up against Gibraltar. They are in the playoffs. Slovakia are out.
The Netherlands beat Sweden but were five goals short of the miracle
they needed. Sweden may have let them score twice on purpose just to
show the Dutch they weren't worried. Sweden are in the playoffs.
Switzerland, oh dear. Play nine, win nine. Lose number 10, the last one.
And now it's the playoffs for the Swiss. It's pretty hard when match
number 10 is away to Portugal, the team who had won 8 out of 9, the one
defeat being the opening match against Switzerland.
Portugal looked like unlikely Euro winners in 2016. But they now look like a pretty good team, beyond Ronaldo.
Finally, the big event today is Panama. This rivals Iceland from
yesterday for the best feel good story of this World Cup qualifying.
Four years ago, I remember the heartache clearly. Needing a win against
the USA, Panama were winning 2-1 and the 90 minutes were up. The
Americans had already qualified and didn't need a result. But,
unbelievably, almost cruelly, they scored two injury time goals to knock
Panama out. That night I was waiting to meet people who were flying
through Panama and who's flights were severely delayed. Not a good night
to be in Panama, I thought.
Today would have probably been the
best night in the history of the country to be in Panama City. With two
minutes to go, Honduras were beating Mexico and in the automatic
qualification spot; the Americans were having a terrible time in
Trinidad and despite losing 2-1 to T&T were still in the playoff
spot. And then it all changed. Cue the madness in Panama. Roman Torres
scored to put Panama up 2-1 against Costa Rica.
Incredible
scenes. They love their fireworks in Panama. My American broadcast
showed the contrasting scenes in split screens. The USA battled T&T
time wasting in a desperate attempt to find a late saving equaliser,
while the Panamanian celebrations had already started.
There was
one last hope for the Americans. Split screen number three showed
Mexico had a free-kick just outside the Honduran penalty area. If Mexico
scored, to make it 3-3, USA-Australia would be back on. He shoots. No.
Terrible. Ball hits the wall. It's cleared. Ref whistles. USA definitely
out.
What. A. Night.
Panama may be my second team next summer. After all Algeria won't be there.
Roman Torres. He's a defender.
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