The road to the World Cup Brazil 2014

And congratulations to Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and Colombia who have now qualified for Brasil 2014. :cheers:
Indeed, especially for Belgium, absent for a number of years. I have a feeling a certain country is in for an unpleasant surprise in the upcoming play-off, after years of constant qualifying. :whistle:

Speaking of final play-offs, the African one is under way:

Ivory Coast 3:1 Senegal
Burkina Faso 3:2 Algeria

Sort of looking good there for Drogba-land. The remaining first-leg matches will be played today.
 
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Indeed, especially for Belgium, absent for a number of years. I have a feeling a certain country is in for an unpleasant surprise in the upcoming play-off, after years of constant qualifying. :whistle:

I'm almost expecting Portugal will not qualify. They need to start learning to take things seriously for once. The team did things which are totally unacceptable, and shouldn't be going to play-offs at all. Losing to teams such as Russia is acceptable in certain conditions, but constantly losing points drawing against such weak teams as Israel (ranked 69), Northern Ireland (86) and flipping Luxenbourg (126), is just shameful.
Now, depending on the results, they could face France, Spain, England, Sweden...

It's always like this while qualifying, by the skin of their teeth.
 
I'm almost expecting Portugal will not qualify. They need to start learning to take things seriously for once. The team did things which are totally unacceptable, and shouldn't be going to play-offs at all. Losing to teams such as Russia is acceptable in certain conditions, but constantly losing points drawing against such weak teams as Israel (ranked 69), Northern Ireland (86) and flipping Luxenbourg (126), is just shameful.
Now, depending on the results, they could face France, Spain, England, Sweden...

It's always like this while qualifying, by the skin of their teeth.

Oh, I just checked the euro zone Qualiis, or tried to anyway.
It certainly is complicated. :?

There are November Playoffs in Euroland for non-Group winners qualification.
Hopefully, it will become clear, after tommorrow's games have been played.

I think we're getting ourselves a new coach as the one we have has turned out to be a bit shit.

You have already qualified, so he can't be that bad. Who is he or what has he done?

:smile:
 
Yep but Portugal is going straight for a play-off against some other 2nd placed team. Of course our beloved star Ronaldo came out to say he didn't wanna go against France cos "results could be influenced" cos Platini is French.
 
I'm still not over the fact that the damn Italians managed to pull back to 2-2... Lucky bastards, with a goal from a deflection a minute into overtime. Such a damn shame, a great performance from Denmark though.

Our chance for reaching the play-offs is very much only mathematical.
 
You have already qualified, so he can't be that bad. Who is he or what has he done?

:smile:

I havent been following it that closely but I think in the last two games, we've conceded 12 goals. Ok, so they were against Brazil and France, but even so it's pretty dismal. I think the FFA have decided they want a coach who can better represent the team's long term interests.

Think I heard they want Guus Hiddink back and even Sir Alex Ferguson's name has been mentioned, although that's some pretty ambitious wishful thinking! :p
 
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^
Guus would be good. :cool:

and, well done to England and the other qualifiers for getting to Brasil.
Good result and performance, defence a bit sleepy at times. Rooney got the the first goal and the MotM award which was about right. He looked pleased to be playing there this time.

UEFA European Playoffs teams:

The following teams will take part in the second round:

Portugal
Greece
Croatia
Ukraine
France
Sweden
Romania
Iceland

Ah shit, that looks really tough for anybody. :unsure:

But I guess it is better to be IN the playoffs during November, than just be watching at home on TV.

:smile:

(BTW, how did France get such a low FIFA world ranking at 25?)
 
France haven't been doing that well for some time. They've got going with their goalscoring in the last now three games, scoring 4, 6 and 3 goals. But before that they went 5 games without scoring any at all.

With the players at their disposal they should have been doing better, but they seem to be correcting it as of late :)


And with Denmark, tonight it obviously looked easy as shit, now that it really didn't matter. 6-0 win against Malta, securing the second place in the group, but not a place in the play-offs... Lots of promise for the future though, at least we've got that to stick to.. :p
 
France has lately been a team of very highly skilled individual players who just don't give a shit about playing as a team. Also, their team was troubled by fights and racism.

@mpicco: 21st of October
 
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Results from October 15

Africa

Ghana 6:1 Egypt

Europe

Portugal 3:0 Luxembourg
Cyprus 0:0 Albania
Republic of Ireland 3:1 Kazakhstan
Faroe Islands 0:3 Austria
Scotland 2:0 Croatia
Hungary 2:0 Andorra
Switzerland 1:0 Slovenia
Norway 1:1 Iceland
Israel 1:1 Northern Ireland
Lithuania 0:1 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece 2:0 Liechtenstein
England 2:0 Poland
Denmark 6:0 Malta
Serbia 5:1 FYR Macedonia
Italy 2:2 Armenia
Sweden 3:5 Germany
Belgium 1:1 Wales
Turkey 0:2 Netherlands
Romania 2:0 Estonia
San Marino 0:8 Ukraine
Montenegro 2:5 Moldova
Spain 2:0 Georgia
France 3:0 Finland
Latvia 2:2 Slovakia
Bulgaria 0:1 Czech Republic
Azerbaijan 1:1 Russia

North, Central America and Caribbean

Jamaica 2:2 Honduras
Panama 2:3 USA
Costa Rica 2:1 Mexico

South America

Uruguay 3:2 Argentina
Peru 1:1 Bolivia
Paraguay 1:2 Colombia
Chile 2:1 Ecuador

- - - Updated - - -

With only final play-offs remaining, it's time for a round-up:

Africa (5 spots)

Halfway through the play-off round, the Ivory Coast, and especially Ghana, look set to reach Brazil. The other three finalists are still anyone's bet.

Asia (4.5 spots)

Australia, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic. Jordan in intercontinental play-off.

1st Leg: 13/14 November 2013
Jordan ? Uruguay

2nd Leg: 20 November 2013
Uruguay - Jordan

Europe (13 spots)

Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland.

Teams in the play-off (the matches will likely be played between 15 and 19 November 2013):
Portugal
Greece
Croatia
Ukraine

France
Sweden
Romania
Iceland

North, Central America and Caribbean (3.5 spots)

After a dramatic final matchday, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the USA have qualified, while Mexico have to face New Zealand in an intercontinental play-off.

1st Leg: 13/14 November 2013
Mexico - New Zealand

2nd Leg: 20 November 2013
New Zealand ? Mexico

South America (4.5 spots)

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador. Uruguay reached the elimination round against Jordan.

1st Leg: 13/14 November 2013
Jordan ? Uruguay

2nd Leg: 20 November 2013
Uruguay - Jordan
 
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Ah shit, that looks really tough for anybody. :unsure:
Oh stop being so polite, drawing Iceland would not be tough at all. :p Amazing to see them get this far.

I suppose a tie between Portugal and France would suit any of the teams already there, since it would ensure one good team would be out of the running. Of course, they could both be eliminated by Sweden and Romania. :p

Re France's ranking, well, they did very poorly in 2010's and 2012's big tournaments, so that helps explain it. Presumably, they could climb back up during qualifying, but by now, it's a mountain to climb.
 
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France haven't been doing that well for some time. They've got going with their goalscoring in the last now three games, scoring 4, 6 and 3 goals. But before that they went 5 games without scoring any at all.

With the players at their disposal they should have been doing better, but they seem to be correcting it as of late :)


Re France's ranking, well, they did very poorly in 2010's and 2012's big tournaments, so that helps explain it. Presumably, they could climb back up during qualifying, but by now, it's a mountain to climb.

France has lately been a team of very highly skilled individual players who just don't give a shit about playing as a team. Also, their team was troubled by fights and racism.

Ah, thanks all!

You reminded me of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the very big, public row that (some) the France squad had with the coaching staff on the training ground.

Identity passes being thrown away, much gesturing and whatnot.
It all looked very unpleasant and unsettling. :rolleyes:


Oh stop being so polite, drawing Iceland would not be tough at all. :p Amazing to see them get this far.

I suppose a tie between Portugal and France would suit any of the teams already there, since it would ensure one good team would be out of the running. Of course, they could both be eliminated by Sweden and Romania. :p

True, I didn't want to single out Iceland as the team least likely to progress to Brasil. :lol: (But you never know with football, wierd results can and do happen.)

I think that Portugal will go through, but the others I don't know.
(I don't want Greece to qualify, because I haven't forgiven them for winning the 2004 Euro by being really boring & lucky. :rolleyes:)
 
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(I don't want Greece to qualify, because I haven't forgiven them for winning the 2004 Euro by being really boring & lucky. :rolleyes:)

Tough luck. :lol:

Greece-Romania

We were going to be cannon fodder for any team we'd fall against anyway, so Greece will most likely qualify against us. We only got to the play-offs thanks to the Netherlands, we don't have a team that's worthy of being in Brazil.
 
Tough luck. :lol:



We were going to be cannon fodder for any team we'd fall against anyway, so Greece will most likely qualify against us. We only got to the play-offs thanks to the Netherlands, we don't have a team that's worthy of being in Brazil.

Ah, come on. Give them a chance, please!

Go Romania. :p
 
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