2018 World Cup

[pineapple stu]

This started during the week, which kind of took me by surprise.

Zimbabwe have been kicked out for outstanding debts to a former coach; they'll probably have that cleared by the time of their draw though. Myanmar have to play all their home matches outside of the country because of crowd trouble in the last World Cup.

Six pre-qualifying matches in Asia were on during the week. Bhutan entered for the first time and won in Sri Lanka, which I think is up there with the Faroes coming along and winning their first competitive tie too. They've also got a super jersey -

http://footballfashion.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bhutan-2015-2016-football-kit-6.jpg?02382d

Other results were -

India 2-0 Nepal; India got a bye through this round last time out - don't know if the growing interest in the game there is going to have any effect in this campaign
Yemen 3-1 Pakistan
Timor-Leste 4-1 Mongolia
Cambodia 3-0 Macau
Taiwan 0-1 Brunei

Return games are on Tuesday, while CONCACAF starts next week.

[pineapple stu]

Second legs on at the moment. Bhutan win again! Last-minute winner against Sri Lanka to win 2-1; 3-1 on aggregate. So there'll likely be a new worst team in the world when the rankings are updated.

Pakistan v Yemen postponed after a suicide bomb in Lahore - the match venue - yesterday.

India and Timor-Leste also through. Cambodia now 4-0 up on aggregate, but Taiwan have levelled and it's 1-1 on aggregate with 45 minutes to go in Brunei.

[pineapple stu]

Just to complete Asia, Taiwan won 2-1 on aggregate and Brunei are out; Cambodia also through 4-1 on aggregate.

CONCACAF has also started. Barbados 0-1 Virgin Islands. Nicaragua are maybe a bit unlucky to be in the first round; they beat Anguilla 5-0. St Kitts and Nevis were 1-1 against the Turks & Caicos after 25 minutes when they had a player sent off - they went on to win 6-2. Doesn't really say much for T&C! You can watch the entire second half on YouTube, with the first goal on 22:30.

KmiCFjsUaXA

Bahamas v Bermuda tonight, followed by the return legs starting on Thursday.

[OwlsFan]

Dare I risk life and limb by suggesting this thread should go in this forum http://foot.ie/forums/35-World-Cup

Yours etc

The Forum Police

[davidatrb]

Ireland's "qualification" for the WC2018 in a way has started too. If we win our next three home games then Pot 2 is a real possibility for when the draw comes around in July. This would really help our qualification.

[pineapple stu]

Happy to move as per OwlsFans' suggestion! Will let the mods arrange if required.

Curacao beat Montserrat 2-1 in the last of the first round first legs in CONCACAF - Curacao are managed by Patrick Kluivert for this campaign.

St Kitts strangely won 6-2 against T&C Islands again - so 12-4 on aggregate.

I think it's June before the next matches are played - CONCACAF round 2. El Salvador and Canada will be the first former finalists to start their campaign.

[pineapple stu]

The next round is starting in CONCACAF and Asia now.

Bhutan have lost their 100% World Cup record after a 7-0 defeat in Hong Kong.

Guam have also lost their 100% World Cup record - played 2, lost 2, scored 0, conceded 35; neither result is actually their record defeat - in beating Turkmenistan 1-0.

Indonesia have been expelled for government interference, and their group now only has four teams.

Kuwait are the first team who've previously qualified to play in this campaign; they're 0-0 against Lebanon at the moment.

Canada get their campaign underway tonight; they'll be the second country who've previously qualified to do so. They're in Dominica.

Oman came closest to qualifying last time out of the teams who've played so far; had they drawn instead of lost in Jordan in their last game, they'd have gone into a play-off with Uruguay. They're 2-1 up in India at the moment. Bit of a kick in the teeth for the I-League. Iran should win that group; Guam and Turkmenistan should be nowhere, and India and Oman should be challenging for the second qualifying spot (for the next round)

[BonnieShels]

Happy to move as per OwlsFans' suggestion! Will let the mods arrange if required.

Curacao beat Montserrat 2-1 in the last of the first round first legs in CONCACAF - Curacao are managed by Patrick Kluivert for this campaign.

St Kitts strangely won 6-2 against T&C Islands again - so 12-4 on aggregate.

I think it's June before the next matches are played - CONCACAF round 2. El Salvador and Canada will be the first former finalists to start their campaign.

My Curacao team in FM were savage. It's great being able to tie down Dutch nationals so early. Got a job with Croatia after leading them to a 5-1-2 record.

[pineapple stu]

Guam have just beaten India this morning! 2-1, with India scoring in injury time.

That's an incredible result.

They still have to face the team who beat them 35-0 on aggregate the last time they played (Iran). Next up is a home game against Oman (third home game in a row)

Edit - I see actually Guam are ranked ahead of India. Still, a country of 150k beating one of 1.2bn is always impressive.

[SwanVsDalton]

Former St Pats main man Ryan Guy in that Guam team too. That's enough for me to fully sign up to the Matao cause. Up Guam!

[pineapple stu]

Didn't spot that. They've gone and "signed" a couple of ex-US internationals as well.

Few other results today. Bhutan hammered again; 6-0 by China. Uzbekistan - who were two goals away from qualifying last time out - were 4-0 down in North Korea within 40 minutes, and ended up losing 4-2. The goal updates came in spurts on livescore on that one; I can only imagine it might be difficult getting updates from home North Korea games!

Palestine hammered Malaysia 6-0, Australia scraped by Krygyzstan 2-1, the UAE beat East Timor with an 80th minute goal, Japan drew 0-0 with Singapore and Turkmenistan recovered from losing to Guam to draw with Iran. Might be a surprise or two in that section.

[BonnieShels]

Draw for other qualifiers is tomorrow. Starting at 1600.

[pineapple stu]

Oceania started up this morning.

The Cook Islands won their first ever qualifying game, 3-0 against Tonga. Game was played in Tonga as well, on the wonderfully-named Loto-Tonga Soka Centre (Field 1)

I presume "soka" is pidgin for "soccer".

Somoa beat American Samoa 3-2; only the winners from that group of four progress to the next round.

Matches in the North/Central American and Asian qualifying this week.

[pineapple stu]

UAE 6-0 up against Malaysia after half an hour!

Looks like South Korea's 8-0 win over Laos today (the biggest in the tournament so far) is under threat.

Edit - 7-0 now; 40 minutes gone. Malaysia subbed their keeper at 4-0; the new guy conceded within a minute.

[pineapple stu]

UAE 10-0 Malaysia in the end.

Immediately bettered by Qatar's 15-0 win over Bhutan.

[pineapple stu]

Saudi Arabia's turn to go mad now; 5-0 up on East Timor after half an hour.

[pineapple stu]

Fair few mismatches yesterday in the end...

Australia 5-0 Bangladesh
Iran 6-0 Guam
Saudi Arabia 7-0 Timor Leste
South Korea 8-0 Laos
Kuwait 9-0 Myanmar
UAE 10-0 Malaysia
Qatar 15-0 Bhutan

Puts our game against Gibraltar into perspective - maybe they're not too bad after all!

Samoa snuck through by one goal in Oceania after the top three teams all ended on six points

CONCACAF section today

[pineapple stu]

Malaysia reacted to that 10-0 defeat by sacking their manager, taking the lead against Saudi Arabia - but when 2-1 down with three minutes to go, fans came good on their threat to riot due to their poor form, and the game was abandoned.

I presume Saudi Arabia will be awarded a 3-0 win, and Malaysia can expect at best a home game ban I would have thought.

Tim Cahill - who I thought had retired after the last World Cup - scored two for Australia in Tajikistan. Guam held Oman at home and are still joint top of their group - though third in goal difference. Hong Kong nearly rescued a draw against Qatar but are still doing quite well given they didn't even make this stage last time.

Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Myanmar all playing their home games in other countries. The Maldives and Kuwait have also switched one match each to another country. There's two more rounds of games next month.

Patrick Kluivert is out of the World Cup after Curacao lost 2-0 on aggregate to El Salvador. Next round - including Mexico and the US - starts in November.

[pineapple stu]

South Sudan's first ever World Cup match was rained off after 10 minutes today.

Score was 1-1 at the time, and the game will resume tomorrow.

[pineapple stu]

Lots of games across the world in the past week.

In Asia, Saudi Arabia racked up the fourth double-digit score of the group stages when beating East Timor 10-0 away; four goals in the last five minutes plus a red card for East Timor, so fair to say the hosts tired...

Jordan, who played Uruguay in a play-off last time, lost away to Kyrgyzstan, allowing Australia to take over at the top of their group; Tim Cahill scored a hat-trick against Bangladesh. Both should still go through though.

Hong Kong drew 0-0 against China for the second time, and China are in danger of going out despite only conceding one goal in six games. They'll probably need to beat Qatar at home - who've the group won - and hope Hong Kong don't get a result there the previous week and hope that's enough for a best runner-up spot. Bhutan got a respectable 3-0 defeat against Qatar at home, having lost 15-0 away. Their away record is 0-34 (with one game to come), and their home record is 3-14. Presumably they have an altitude advantage.

Kuwait were suspended from FIFA last month, so their game against Myanmar was postponed.

Overall, China the only big team in real danger at the moment. Thailand maybe the big surprise; they should go through to the last 12. Eight group winners and four best runners-up all progress.

In Africa, 2006 qualifiers Angola and Togo are already gone, as are Ethiopia, who made the final play-offs last time. Some near things for other big names in the two-leg play-offs to qualify for the groups. Chad beat Egypt at home, but lost 4-0 away. Swaziland and the Comoros drew 0-0 with Nigeria and Ghana, but both lost 2-0 away. Tanzania and Madagascar drew 2-2 at home with Algeria and Senegal, but lost heavily away. Morocco scraped past Equatorial Guinea 2-1 on aggregate. 20 teams left; five groups of four to be drawn shortly, with the winners each going to Russia.

In North America, the US haven't had the best of starts. Went 1-0 down to St Vincent before coming back to win 6-1, and then drew 0-0 with Trinidad. Canada beat Honduras, who made the last two World Cups. Panama - who came within minutes of reaching a play-off with New Zealand last time at Mexico's expense - lost at home to Costa Rica, but then beat Jamaica away, so looks like they should still make the Hex.

In South America, Argentina have scored twice in four games and are currently not even in a play-off spot, though they did draw with Brazil at least. Ecuador are clear at the top, Brazil are mopping up at home but lost in Chile, who are only in the play-off spot despite their great World Cup and Copa America performances lately. Venezuela, the only team never to have qualified, have regressed on recent campaigns and have lost all four games so far. Long way to go obviously.

No more games until March in all regions I think.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Seems like Klinsmann might not make it to the Hex, even if the US do.

[pineapple stu]

Back up and running today - full set of fixtures in Asia and South America.

Australia v Tajikistan the only match underway; 6-0 with 15 minutes to go.

Japan v Afghanistan about to kick off.

[pineapple stu]

Not sure what's so unbelievable about that; the last World Cup surely showed Brazil are a relatively ordinary team now.

In Asia, Thailand have made the final stage for only the second time -the other time was 2002, when Japan and South Korea had already qualified.

China likely to be knocked out even if they beat group winners Qatar on Tuesday - they're currently sixth of eight group runners-up, with only four going through.

In North America, the US are struggling again - a draw away to Trinidad and a loss in Guatemala. They're currently missing out on the Hex with three games to go - though with the two main ones at home (and St Vincent away), they should still scrape through. But if they don't beat Guatemala on Tuesday, they're in trouble.

[pineapple stu]

So China did beat Qatar, and it looks like they might sneak through at North Korea's expense, who conceded twice in the last five minutes to lose in the Phillippines.

Jordan, who made the play-offs against Uruguay last time, are out after a hammering in Australia.

Meanwhile, Bhutan have just ten minutes to hang on for a famous win away to the Maldives; currently 2-1 up.

Edit - as I type, the Maldives equalise...

[bennocelt]

So China did beat Qatar, and it looks like they might sneak through at North Korea's expense, who conceded twice in the last five minutes to lose in the Phillippines.

Meanwhile, Bhutan have just ten minutes to hang on for a famous win away to the Maldives; currently 2-1 up.

Edit - as I type, the Maldives equalise...

Yeah, was very close to putting a bit of money on NK to sneak an away win there, knowing that they needed it, phew!
Fifa are hardly going to let Kuwait play their two games in hand? Id imagine having China in it is a bonus for them

[pineapple stu]

Undecided on Kuwait as yet - but either way, they can't qualify.

If they win both their games, they'd be on 16 points. Take off the points gained against Laos - results against the bottom teams are discarded as one group has one team less - and they drop to 10 points. Cut-off is 11 points.

So the last 12 are -

Saudi Arabia
UAE
Australia
Qatar
China
Iran
Japan
Syria
Thailand
Iraq
South Korea
Uzbekistan

Bit harsh on Jordan, who lost home and away to Australia, surely the best team in the continent, and dropped just two other points - but out they go.

[pineapple stu]

3-2 to the Maldives against Bhutan now...

Last minute.

Maldives managed by ex Wolves player Ricki Herbert, who coincidentally featured in the most recent issue of When Saturday Comes.

[pineapple stu]

4-2 Maldives.

Bhutan end an 8-match group with 52 goals against.

[BonnieShels]

I had Qatar and NK in an acculturator. Shot to pieces so it was.

[pineapple stu]

Didn't think that many people would be betting on NK. And they wonder who bets on the LoI!

Anyways, the US won 4-0 overnight, which was rather disappointing. They should go through now, unless Trinidad lose to Guatemala but beat the US and edge them on goal difference, and goal difference is a thing, and everyone beats St Vincent.

Mexico are already through by contrast - 4 games, 4 wins, 10 scored, 0 against.

Brazil came back from 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go away to Paraguay to take a draw - but they're out of the qualifying places entirely at the moment, though they've only lost one game. Going to be a very tight group - the last World Cup showed there's some very good teams in South America, and it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see Brazil miss out (though I think they'll scrape through as they've done before)

[Real ale Madrid]

I had Qatar and NK in an acculturator. .

What the hell is that?

[pineapple stu]

What happens to you if you defect to North Korea?

[geysir]

What happens to you if you defect to North Korea?
You become very very famous.

[pineapple stu]

Second Round has kicked off in Oceania - will be all over in a week.

New Zealand beat Fiji 3-1, which look sto be their toughest game.

PNG 1-0 up on New Caledonia at the moment, with Tahiti v Samoa on in an hour.

Top two from each group go through to the knock-out semi-finals, with the eventual winner then playing fifth in South America.

[cornflakes]

Second Round has kicked off in Oceania - will be all over in a week.

New Zealand beat Fiji 3-1, which look sto be their toughest game.

PNG 1-0 up on New Caledonia at the moment, with Tahiti v Samoa on in an hour.

Top two from each group go through to the knock-out semi-finals, with the eventual winner then playing fifth in South America.

The qualifying for the world cup will continue into next year.

This is the nation's cup which doubles as WC qualifying round two. Top three in each group advance to the next round. Where there will be two round robin groups of 3. Group winners play off then to get hammered in South America

[pineapple stu]

Yeah; I meant this round will be over next week. Then further rounds later.

[BonnieShels]

What the hell is that?

It's where you bet on how much culture Paddy Power will give you.

I have no money. Only poetry.

[pineapple stu]

Something I completely missed - Gibraltar and Kosovo have been added to the 2018 World Cup qualification. There were two 5-team groups, so Gibraltar have been added to Group H (Belgium, Bosnia, Greece, Estonia and Cyprus), while Kosovo have been added to Group I (Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey and Finland). Gibraltar's first World Cup match will be home to Greece, while Kosovo's first competitive match will be away to Finland.

[BonnieShels]

Kosovo v Croatia will be tasty in an anti-Serb kinda way.

[TheBoss]

Be interesting to see whether those of Kosovan extraction that currently play for Switzerland for example decide to play for Kosovo (if allowed). I see that a few minor players have already switched, most notably Samir Ujkani & Albert Bunjaku. They would be a decent team if all players that could play for them decide to do so.

[pineapple stu]

I presume you can change country if it's to a new one that's only just joined FIFA?

[DeLorean]

Yeah think I read recently than Januzaj might yet declare for them too.

[BonnieShels]

Yeah you can switch.

I remember this first cropping up as a kid when the USSR disintegrated and the likes of Kanchelskis was eligible for Ukraine. And obviously happened with all the Balkan countries

[pineapple stu]

Slight difference there is that the countries they used to play for no longer existed.

Not the case with a Swiss international now wanting to play for Kosovo.

But would assume common sense will prevail.

[BonnieShels]

Slight difference there is that the countries they used to play for no longer existed.


Not the case with a Swiss international now wanting to play for Kosovo.

But would assume common sense will prevail.


With the USSR, Russia were considered the successor nation. So technically still existed.

I the case of the Yugoslav breakup, Yugoslavia continued to exist despite Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia's secessions'. But the likes of Zvonimir Boban were able to play with their "new" countries despite having played for Yugoslavia previously.

[pineapple stu]

UEFA qualifiers start tonight so - Groups C, E and F.

In CONCACAF, Mexico are through to the Hex with a 100% record. The US are through as well, unless they lose, Guatemala win and there's a 12 goal swing on the final day. But they're still shaky.

Panama are in the Hex as well - they'll be the only one of the six not to have previously qualified. The final round of this stage is on Wednesday, and the Hex starts in November.

The final round in Asia has started too - Thailand, Qatar, Syria and Uzbekistan have never qualified, but only Uzbekistan won on the first day. Round 2 is on Tuesday.

In South America, Argentina have Messi back from retirement, and he scored the only goal in the top-of-the-table clash against Uruguay. Brazil left it a bit late to win in Ecuador, but got three in the last 20 minutes (and two in the last three minutes) to keep in touch; they're in the play-off spot at the moment. But there's just two points between Argentina on top and Paraguay outside the play-offs; Chile are a further two points back. Round 8 is on Wednesday.

[geysir]

Going by the media talk over the past few months, a haunted England are keen to exorcise that ghost with a win in Slovakia. Whilst I'd wish Big Sam well, the attractions of schadenfreude at England's expense surpasses that considerably. So far, after 40 minutes the game has all the intensity of a pre season friendly.

[pineapple stu]

A 95th minute winner again ten men.

Some things never change...

They'll qualify with ease and do nothing in the finals I'd sya.

[OwlsFan]

http://foot.ie/forums/35-World-Cup Is there not a dedicated Forum for a thread such as this?

Yours in pedantry.

[pineapple stu]

http://foot.ie/forums/35-World-Cup Is there not a dedicated Forum for a thread such as this?

Yours in pedantry.


Dare I risk life and limb by suggesting this thread should go in this forum http://foot.ie/forums/35-World-Cup

Yours etc

The Forum Police
Hmmm...

I think the World Cup forum should be killed off tbh; the current (proposed) re-org to "Club football" and "International football" is the way to go.