America losing again; 1-0 away to Honduras. Potentially they'll be out of the qualification spots entirely by the morning; Panama play Trinidad later.
Burkina Faso grab a late equaliser against Senegal to stay top of their group (ahead of the Cape Verde Islands). Gabon won away to the Ivory Coast and are only two points behind.
Argentina are out of it entirely at present - but their match hasn't started yet. Win it and they go second. Mad tight in that group.
And America equalise with 5 minutes to go. Arse.
They'd still drop to fourth if Panama win, but they've the easiest run-in.
Argentina 1-1 Venezuela. Wow.
So Argentina still in the play-off spots (as are the US, after Panama won 3-0). Chile - one of the best teams to watch last time - are currently going out altogether.
Still though - 5th there is as good as through as New Zealand await in the P/O which you would think would be little more than a formality.
Panama beat T&T 3-0 so USA are 4th and host the Panamanians in Orlando in October. Everything to play for. The Americans are on a really poor run of form - it wouldn't surprise me at this stage if they ended up in the play-off. T&T are no pushovers at home either.
Ivory Coast losing was a big shock but Morocco not taking advantage was a bigger shock - after beating Mali 6-0 on Friday night, could only manage a 0-0 draw in Bamako ( tough place to go I'd imagine )
Tunisia , Nigeria, Ivory, Coast and Egypt would be my predictions for CAF - and I think Senegal will squeak through in Group D.
Double comfort for the arctic island teams who continue to pull off good results. First off were the Faroes, whose supporters "Skansen" (the fortress) should be in the contention for supporters of the year. This time the Faroes' home ground was rocking to the viking beat of the Skansen as they cheered their team from the kick off to the end and took the 3 points from Andorra in a refreshingly competitive game where both teams went for it 110%.
In Iceland it was Ukraine now managed by Shevchenko, as respectful, knowledgeable, courteous and a well spoken manager that you could ever expect to find, but even he was tested by the legality of Iceland's first.
https://youtu.be/thE6PDVkHv0?t=4
the ref was Willie Collum, Willie had a good view of the incident, deemed the attacking midfielder had the right to challenge for the loose ball.
Even though i think the ball was loose, I don't think many refs would have judged it in the same way as Willie.
Thinking about it, it is it not time to make wearing protective head gear, mandatory for goalies.?
Potential USA-Syria play-off for a place in the finals...
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Senegal v South Africa from last November is to be replayed after the referee who took charge was banned for life. Gave a match-winning penalty to Senegal for a handball which struck the guy's leg.
South Africa had won 2-1, which is their only win so far, and Senegal's only defeat. If Senegal now win, it knocks Burkina Faso and the Cape Verdes off the top of the group.
The penalty was given to South Africa with the score at 0-0...Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Mon the Town!
Well it won them the game in that it separated the teams at the end.
But yeah, didn't phrase it properly alright.
Last round of games so. Germany and England qualified last night.
Another draw for Argentina though - 0-0 at home to Peru - and they're now in sixth, not even in the play-offs, with one game to go.
They will reach the play-offs at least if they beat Ecuador away on Wednesday. Another draw, and they're left hoping Paraguay don't beat Venezuela at home (unlikely) and that Colombia win away to Peru; otherwise they're out.
Chile in third are only one point ahead of Argentina in sixth, and they play Brazil away.
Fifth in that group will play New Zealand, who drew against the Solomon Islands in their second leg to win 8-3 overall.
Syria v Australia is 1-1 after the game in Indonesia; winners play fourth in the Hex, which is the US at the moment.
An interesting few days ahead.
US out of jail it seems, provided they don't balls it up against bottom Trinidad and Tobago.
Australia/Syria level at 2-2 at end of 90 in the second leg this morning. Been reading varied opinions praising the Syrian team as a bastion of inter-faith cooperation and others claiming the team is a cynical propaganda tool of Assad. Winner will likely play Panama in another two-legged play-off next month.
Edit: Aussies win 2-1, Cahill with his second in 110th minute. His 51st goal for his country apparently.
Last edited by NeverFeltBetter; 10/10/2017 at 11:43 AM.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
They've just gone and done that. Panama's last-minute winner against Costa Rica sees the Panamanians qualify for the World Cup, sparking wild scenes of celebration. The US are out of qualification now altogether with Honduras taking the intercontinental play-off spot (so will play Australia). That's a shock.
Meanwhile, in CONMEBOL, Argentina managed to pull through in the end, Peru have taken the play-off spot (and will play New Zealand to qualify), whilst Chile have missed out altogether.
Edit: The US will be livid as Panama's first "goal" was nowhere near over the line, yet the ref awarded it. Panama's second - a half-volley rifled into the roof of the net from about 11 yards out - was definitely the sort of goal to befit the occasion of qualifying for a World Cup finals for the first time.
Last edited by DannyInvincible; 11/10/2017 at 4:37 AM.
Looks like Panama could have had a legitimate call for a penalty instead of that "goal" which was an outrageous decision alright.
Was quite shocked by the CONCACAF results this morning alright. A lot of wailing and nashing of teeth from Americans, this really is a calamity for a country that always seems to have someone ready to say their on the verge of becoming a major footballing power. I saw someone else make the point that it's also just a disaster from the simple reality that the World Cup is a huge marketing factor for the US mens team and MLS, in engaging casual fans by the thousands and hopefully getting a few of them to stick around after. Now they don't have that. But still, that federation should be a foregone conclusion for a team with the resources/population of America.
Some crazy decisions in that Panama game all the same. And poor Chile, to be the one of five to miss out!
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Wasn't surprised by Chile, as thought they looked like a very disjointed team in the Confed cup. also Australia looked diabolical in that competition, Id fancy Honduras to give them a good game there, albeit both are pretty pants.............a few craps teams have qualified already, imagine whats its going to be like with the expanded competition........
As for Panama, had them a year before the last world cup at 80/1 (with PP, had to phone for that bet) to get to the last eight, do a Costa Rica in effect, but they let me down with a last minute goal to not qualify. This time it was their turn for a last minute goal, but i dont think they have considerably improved just that others have got worse. Knowing my luck though at the moment, they might do well!(hardly though!)
Edit: by the way this looks interesting, not sure how factual it is.but Spain not to be seeded top, and England as always, but if that is the seeding, teams in pots 3 and 4 have little or no chance of progressing
http://www.footballseeding.com/inter...orld-cup-2018/
Last edited by bennocelt; 11/10/2017 at 10:19 AM.
Interesting to read that if Chile had lost the appeal against Bolivia they would have qualified as Peru would also have lost points.
Madness!
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
I hadn't even been aware of that, so I Googled for further info and came across this article on it: https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/new...vable-reasons/
It explains the undesirable unintended consequence of Chile's self-destructive appeal, but also mentions the following:
Funnily, there's also footage in an embedded video of the Colombian and Peruvian players during last night's match clearly encouraging one another (with their mouths concealed behind their hands) to settle for a draw, as they knew that result would guarantee they would progress to the World Cup and intercontinental play-off respectively at Chile's expense.
You can hardly blame them; both Peru and Colombia managed to get themselves into a position - on merit, over the course of the previous 17 games - where they could both settle for a draw to get where they wanted, so you can hardly hold it against them for protecting the precious advantage for which they'd already worked so hard. They'd already done the necessary work; Chile hadn't. It's Chile's fault ultimately that they allowed their fate to fall out of their own hands, so I have little sympathy for them on that front.
Apparently Bruce Arena was giving out before the Trinidad match, about perceptions of the "Hex", suggesting he'd like to see some "hotshot" European teams give it a try.
I wouldn't mind to be honest Bruce.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Just like us v Holland in 1990. And then it all changed...
How great it would be to be in CONCACAF for a qualifying campaign. UEFA defo get screwed but what can ya do.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
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