The late rounds of FIFA WC qualification matches will take place this week.

South America:
Brazil and Argentina have qualified already but the field is wide open for the remaining slots with Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Bolivia all in with a shot with only two matches left to play. Fifth placed team plays off against fifth placed Asian team.

Oceania:
Normally there are home and away round robins but due to Covid stuff the qualifiers are all being held in Qatar. Covid breakouts in the Vanuatu and Cook Islands squads have ended their qualification efforts. Winner plays off against the fourth placed North American side.

Africa:
CAF switched to a really dumb system this time ‘round which ends in ten teams meeting in five sudden death h&a playoffs. Egypt’s been one of the best sides for the last twenty years but always manage to mess up WCQual … kind of hoping they get through this time.

North America:
Canada has already qualified and this will be their first appearance in 36 years so yay them. Almost certain USA and Mexico will be the other two direct qualifiers. Fourth place team (probably Panama or Costa Rica) will play off against the OFC side (probably NZ).

UEFA:
Germany, England, Croatia, Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain, Serbia have qualified. The remaining three teams will be selected by playoffs from twelve teams: Poland, Sweden, Czech Rep, Italy, North Macedonia, Portugal, Turkey, Austria, Wales, Ukraine, Scotland remain in the hunt. Poland has been deemed winner in its playoff vs Russia by walkover.

Asia:
Iran and South Korea have qualified in their group. Third place there will be either Lebanon or UAE.
Three teams remain in active contention in the other group: Australia, Saudi and Japan. Two of them will qualify directly, one of them will be the third place team.
The two third place teams will play off, and the winner will then play off against the fifth placed South American team.
Australia is not well placed to qualify, will basically need to win both remaining matches AND hope that our goal difference is better than Japan’s. Otherwise it’s the long way. May even end up playing off against Uruguay again for old time’s sake.

>>Wales, Ukraine, Scotland remain in the hunt

Well while I love to see Scotland make it I wouldn’t begrudge Ukraine.

It’s kind of anomalous that Monaco isn’t a UEFA member. They do have a football side but they can’t compete in UEFA or FIFA competitions. Consider that San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra were all competing to qualify for the World Cup, as were non-nations such as Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands.

dv said:

It’s kind of anomalous that Monaco isn’t a UEFA member. They do have a football side but they can’t compete in UEFA or FIFA competitions. Consider that San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra were all competing to qualify for the World Cup, as were non-nations such as Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands.

Yes, was talking about that very thing with the blokes down the pub a few weeks ago. There was some talk of going off the beer in support of Monaco’s endeavours to join the big boys, but let’s be frank, that was just Dazza shooting his mouth off and there was never much support for the idea.

dv said:

It’s kind of anomalous that Monaco isn’t a UEFA member. They do have a football side but they can’t compete in UEFA or FIFA competitions. Consider that San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra were all competing to qualify for the World Cup, as were non-nations such as Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands.

They could all play off in a pre-quali type of fomat. The winner gets to play off in the minor rounds and get eliminated.

party_pants said:

dv said:

It’s kind of anomalous that Monaco isn’t a UEFA member. They do have a football side but they can’t compete in UEFA or FIFA competitions. Consider that San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra were all competing to qualify for the World Cup, as were non-nations such as Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands.

They could all play off in a pre-quali type of fomat. The winner gets to play off in the minor rounds and get eliminated.

That’s a bit harsh.

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

dv said:

It’s kind of anomalous that Monaco isn’t a UEFA member. They do have a football side but they can’t compete in UEFA or FIFA competitions. Consider that San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra were all competing to qualify for the World Cup, as were non-nations such as Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands.

They could all play off in a pre-quali type of fomat. The winner gets to play off in the minor rounds and get eliminated.

That’s a bit harsh.

Look, I’m a cynical optimist.

That is the best I can do.

party_pants said:

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

They could all play off in a pre-quali type of fomat. The winner gets to play off in the minor rounds and get eliminated.

That’s a bit harsh.

Look, I’m a cynical optimist.

That is the best I can do.

I suppose it does give a lot more players opportunity to represent their country, or minor principality.

party_pants said:

dv said:

It’s kind of anomalous that Monaco isn’t a UEFA member. They do have a football side but they can’t compete in UEFA or FIFA competitions. Consider that San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra were all competing to qualify for the World Cup, as were non-nations such as Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands.

They could all play off in a pre-quali type of fomat. The winner gets to play off in the minor rounds and get eliminated.

Surpringly, they aren’t completely outclassed. They typically mount a competent defence at least so the totals don’t look like cricket scores and occasionally get a draw or a win against a proper country.

Not that it matters but it’s just an interesting little oddity. I think the only other skerrick of Europe without FIFA membership is the Vatican City.

dv said:

Not that it matters but it’s just an interesting little oddity. I think the only other skerrick of Europe without FIFA membership is the Vatican City.

Monsignors running around in robes…not a good look.

Well that was bad.

So… Japan qualifies, congratulations to them. Australia will have to try to qualify the long way: playoff against the 3rd team from the other group, and if they win that, playoff against the 5th team in South America.

dv said:

Well that was bad.

So… Japan qualifies, congratulations to them. Australia will have to try to qualify the long way: playoff against the 3rd team from the other group, and if they win that, playoff against the 5th team in South America.

Forgot that there was a thread on this.

A good result for the AFL + NRL this evening.

dv said:

Well that was bad.

So… Japan qualifies, congratulations to them. Australia will have to try to qualify the long way: playoff against the 3rd team from the other group, and if they win that, playoff against the 5th team in South America.

Ah well. The so-called golden generation of Australian players have long since retired or moved on, and the current crop are just not as good. Can’t expect a team that just scrapes in the hard way to do anything in the tournament proper beyond the group stage.

Remember when we bid for the 2022 WC Finals, and people were saying that this would lead to soccer displacing cricket, RU and AFL as the dominant sport in Australia? Me too. But we’ll have to wait for another generation before that happens.

party_pants said:

dv said:

Well that was bad.

So… Japan qualifies, congratulations to them. Australia will have to try to qualify the long way: playoff against the 3rd team from the other group, and if they win that, playoff against the 5th team in South America.

Ah well. The so-called golden generation of Australian players have long since retired or moved on, and the current crop are just not as good. Can’t expect a team that just scrapes in the hard way to do anything in the tournament proper beyond the group stage.

Remember when we bid for the 2022 WC Finals, and people were saying that this would lead to soccer displacing cricket, RU and AFL as the dominant sport in Australia? Me too. But we’ll have to wait for another generation before that happens.

ROFL. I had a 5 cent bet with my old man, back in about 1970. He thought soccer would become the dominant sport in Australia. Even as an 8 year old I thought that was complete bullshit. He died about 5 years ago and never paid up.

Holy shit, Macedonia knocked out Italy.

dv said:

Holy shit, Macedonia knocked out Italy.

Yes that was yesterday.

Surprising but then Italy didn’t qualify last time, either.

Bubblecar said:

dv said:

Holy shit, Macedonia knocked out Italy.

Yes that was yesterday.

Surprising but then Italy didn’t qualify last time, either.

And they’re European champions…

dv said:

Holy shit, Macedonia knocked out Italy.

North Macedonia :)

sibeen said:

dv said:

Holy shit, Macedonia knocked out Italy.

North Macedonia :)

I stand corrected

dv said:

Holy shit, Macedonia knocked out Italy.

Yeo saw that but it got little attention here in Aus.
I remember when Iceland knocked England out of the European Cup I think a few years ago.

So yeah Portugal and North Macedonia playoff for a place, as will Sweden and Poland. Wales is through to the final playoff but we don’t know whom they will meet as the Scotland/Ukraine match has been delayed.

Uruguay and Ecuador have also qualified so the range of teams that Australia may ultimately face is down to Colombia, Peru or Chile.

Not sure what the deal is with Italy though. It’s a funny game, I suppose.

Prior to their playoff they had a 37 match unbeaten streak. They were playing against an unfavoured team at home. Prior to this match, North Macedonia were the 54th ranked team in the world by the ELO rankings and Italy were the 7th. They are the current European champions. Italy has consistently been a top 16 team for the last 14 years so you’d expect they’d have reached the final 16 at the WC consistently. Instead they dropped out in the group stage in 2010 and 2014, and didn’t qualify in 2018 and 2022.

Speaking of the Solomons, they will play off against New Zealand in Doha on Wednesday for a chance to qualify for the WC, having beaten PNG 3-2 yesterday.

dv said:

Speaking of the Solomons, they will play off against New Zealand in Doha on Wednesday for a chance to qualify for the WC, having beaten PNG 3-2 yesterday.

They also have a new kit sponsor, UCAN Sports Co. of Guangzhou China, so that’s nice.

The AFL + NRL will be happy this morning.

So we can say now that the team Australia will first play off against will be UAE, in a single match in Doha on 7 June, with the winner going on to play the 5th placed South American team.

The African teams that qualified are Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Cameroon. The Egyptian heartbreak continues, beaten by Senegal on penalties.

Poland beat Sweden, and Portugal beat North Macedonia, to qualify.

dv said:

So we can say now that the team Australia will first play off against will be UAE, in a single match in Doha on 7 June, with the winner going on to play the 5th placed South American team.

The African teams that qualified are Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Cameroon. The Egyptian heartbreak continues, beaten by Senegal on penalties.

Poland beat Sweden, and Portugal beat North Macedonia, to qualify.

And, if Australia gets past UAE, the South American team they’ll play off against is Peru.

This will again be determined by a single match in Qatar, unlike previous dealies decided by home and away legs.

In the delayed leg of European qualification one of the following three teams will qualify: Scotland, Wales, Ukraine.
Wales hasn’t qualified since 1958, and it’s been a while between drinks for Scotland as well, and obv Ukraine could use some good news, so any of these would be a smile.

Unsurprisingly, NZ beat Solomons in the OFC final and will play off against the 4th placed North American side.

The draw happened last night. Three of the slots are placeholders depending on final qualifiers.

i.e.

The intercontinental 1 is Australia, UAE or Peru.
Intercontinental 2 is NZ or Costa Rica.

Final Euro qualifier will be Ukraine, Scotland or Wales.

Group A is the weakest, with Netherlands the strongest team (ELO 10th) and Qatar the weakest (ELO 52nd). Probably the easiest shot for the second round ever.

Group B has England (ELO and then two teams ranked in the low 20s, and if Wales qualifies, another team ranked 19th, so nice three way contest for 2nd. Ukraine is ranked 24th, Scotland 35th., Scotland 35th.

Group C is a fairly standard balanced group with a normal duccessive gap between teams (Argentina >Mexico>Poland>Saudi). Same can more or less be said for Group F (Belgium>Croatia>Canada>Morocco).

Group D has France (ELO 3), Denmark (ELO 11), Tunisia (ELO 60). If Australia (ELO 46) or UAE (ELO 77) qualify then only a major upset would prevent two European teams going forward from this group. If Peru (ELO 15) qualifies then you’ve got a nice three cornered Pitney.

Group E: Spain (ELO 5) and Germany (ELO 9) are short odds faves to progress to Round 2. Japan (ELO 29) and C.R. (ELO 33), let alone NZ (ELO 67) have low probabilities of getting over them.

Group G: Brazil (ELO 1) is obv favoured to progress, with two teams in contention for the second spot (Switzerland ELO 13, Serbia ELO 18) with Cameroon (ELO 56) back a bit.

Group H: Portgual (ELO 8), Uruguay (ELO 12), Korea (ELO 26), Ghana (ELO 72) is another group where a major upset would be needed to stop the top two teams progressing.

The situation with Qatar’s group is similar to what happened when South Africa hosted: the host is the weakest team in the comp but is treated as top tier for the purposes of seeding, leading to one very weak group. Still, shit happens: South Africa beat France in their group and draw 1-1 with Mexico, so perhaps the home crowd effect makes it a reasonable practice.

*correction: one of the weakest, not the weakest

Trouble is, WC matches in the final rounds are usually boring because they’re all playing so defensively.

dv said:

The draw happened last night. Three of the slots are placeholders depending on final qualifiers.

i.e.

The intercontinental 1 is Australia, UAE or Peru.
Intercontinental 2 is NZ or Costa Rica.

Final Euro qualifier will be Ukraine, Scotland or Wales.

Group A is the weakest, with Netherlands the strongest team (ELO 10th) and Qatar the weakest (ELO 52nd). Probably the easiest shot for the second round ever.

Group B has England (ELO and then two teams ranked in the low 20s, and if Wales qualifies, another team ranked 19th, so nice three way contest for 2nd. Ukraine is ranked 24th, Scotland 35th., Scotland 35th.

Group C is a fairly standard balanced group with a normal duccessive gap between teams (Argentina >Mexico>Poland>Saudi). Same can more or less be said for Group F (Belgium>Croatia>Canada>Morocco).

Group D has France (ELO 3), Denmark (ELO 11), Tunisia (ELO 60). If Australia (ELO 46) or UAE (ELO 77) qualify then only a major upset would prevent two European teams going forward from this group. If Peru (ELO 15) qualifies then you’ve got a nice three cornered Pitney.

Group E: Spain (ELO 5) and Germany (ELO 9) are short odds faves to progress to Round 2. Japan (ELO 29) and C.R. (ELO 33), let alone NZ (ELO 67) have low probabilities of getting over them.

Group G: Brazil (ELO 1) is obv favoured to progress, with two teams in contention for the second spot (Switzerland ELO 13, Serbia ELO 18) with Cameroon (ELO 56) back a bit.

Group H: Portgual (ELO 8), Uruguay (ELO 12), Korea (ELO 26), Ghana (ELO 72) is another group where a major upset would be needed to stop the top two teams progressing.

The situation with Qatar’s group is similar to what happened when South Africa hosted: the host is the weakest team in the comp but is treated as top tier for the purposes of seeding, leading to one very weak group. Still, shit happens: South Africa beat France in their group and draw 1-1 with Mexico, so perhaps the home crowd effect makes it a reasonable practice.

Once we get past UAE and Peru we’ll be in the Group with Germany and Spain both fading football countries, it should be a doddle up ro there.
The semis could be tougher but the bid bronzed aussie spirit should prevail.
I’m looking forwaed ro the final.

Bubblecar said:

Trouble is, WC matches in the final rounds are usually boring because they’re all playing so defensively.

Aye there is usually at least one team that fancies itself in the pen shootout

Only a short 4 years ago Russia hosted the games and seemed like a relatively peaceful and open place.

party_pants said:

Only a short 4 years ago Russia hosted the games and seemed like a relatively peaceful and open place.

Yeah, you invade one country, just one obscure fucking country and the do gooders go absolutely bananas

party_pants said:

Only a short 4 years ago Russia hosted the games and seemed like a relatively peaceful and open place.

Did it?

Peak Warming Man said:

party_pants said:

Only a short 4 years ago Russia hosted the games and seemed like a relatively peaceful and open place.

Yeah, you invade one country, just one obscure fucking country and the do gooders go absolutely bananas

Ukraine is not exactly obscure. It is almost as big as Texas.

party_pants said:

Peak Warming Man said:

party_pants said:

Only a short 4 years ago Russia hosted the games and seemed like a relatively peaceful and open place.

Yeah, you invade one country, just one obscure fucking country and the do gooders go absolutely bananas

Ukraine is not exactly obscure. It is almost as big as Texas.

One thing that always makes me smile and shake my head is how open, glib and unashamed news presenters are about how Americans know nothing about geography outside the 50 states. “Before a month ago most Americans would not have been able to find Ukraine on the map but now…”, or “Until now, Americans had never heard of Belarus, yet it…”. I mean aren’t you horrified? Are you appalled? Bemused, maddened, struck, gobsmacked? The people who select the government that runs the largest military, the major partner in a globe spanning network of alliances that holds world peace in its mitts, know shit all about the world?

dv said:

party_pants said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Yeah, you invade one country, just one obscure fucking country and the do gooders go absolutely bananas

Ukraine is not exactly obscure. It is almost as big as Texas.

One thing that always makes me smile and shake my head is how open, glib and unashamed news presenters are about how Americans know nothing about geography outside the 50 states. “Before a month ago most Americans would not have been able to find Ukraine on the map but now…”, or “Until now, Americans had never heard of Belarus, yet it…”. I mean aren’t you horrified? Are you appalled? Bemused, maddened, struck, gobsmacked? The people who select the government that runs the largest military, the major partner in a globe spanning network of alliances that holds world peace in its mitts, know shit all about the world?

I remember a while ago, a long time ago the music used to make me smile and you know I thought it could also make the people dance and make them happy for a while.

Peak Warming Man said:

dv said:

party_pants said:

Ukraine is not exactly obscure. It is almost as big as Texas.

One thing that always makes me smile and shake my head is how open, glib and unashamed news presenters are about how Americans know nothing about geography outside the 50 states. “Before a month ago most Americans would not have been able to find Ukraine on the map but now…”, or “Until now, Americans had never heard of Belarus, yet it…”. I mean aren’t you horrified? Are you appalled? Bemused, maddened, struck, gobsmacked? The people who select the government that runs the largest military, the major partner in a globe spanning network of alliances that holds world peace in its mitts, know shit all about the world?

I remember a while ago, a long time ago the music used to make me smile and you know I thought it could also make the people dance and make them happy for a while.

Was that when you drove the chevvy to the levee but the levee was dry?

My my, miss a merkin pie

Australia play off against UAE tomorrow morning, starts 2am Perth time.

On paper it should not be hard as Australia is ranked way above them. But Australia’s had a pretty shaky year.

2-1 and through to face Peru, who will almost certainly win…

dv said:

2-1 and through to face Peru, who will almost certainly win…

And then Arnold will be sacked, not like a city but yeah.

Peak Warming Man said:

dv said:

2-1 and through to face Peru, who will almost certainly win…

And then Arnold will be sacked, not like a city but yeah.

Heh

Peak Warming Man said:

dv said:

2-1 and through to face Peru, who will almost certainly win…

And then Arnold will be sacked, not like a city but yeah.

Holy shit…

I was not expecting Aust to win this and certainly not expecting them to win a shootout. Ha.

dv said:

Holy shit…

I was not expecting Aust to win this and certainly not expecting them to win a shootout. Ha.

Yeah, all you Socceroo doubters must be feeling a little foolish now :)

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Holy shit…

I was not expecting Aust to win this and certainly not expecting them to win a shootout. Ha.

Yeah, all you Socceroo doubters must be feeling a little foolish now :)

Luckily I’m way to egotistical for that to ever happen

For those that haven’t seen the penalty shootout – HERE it is

I’d also like to add that while this is great for Australian football, it is also bad in a lot of ways as it means we’ll not get any substantive change within our national football federation, just four more years of the same-old-same-old. Football Australia is a stagnant organisation that has, IMO, squandered the incredible success of both the national men’s, and (even more so) the national woman’s, teams. We lack innovation, are failing the grassroots and we have a user-pays system that locks out access to individuals without the means and also provides no clear pathway for young and talented footballers into professional employment opportunities or into representative teams. I’m also not a fan of Graeme Arnold’s tactics (which is more my own cross to bear).

diddly-squat said:

For those that haven’t seen the penalty shootout – HERE it is

I’d also like to add that while this is great for Australian football, it is also bad in a lot of ways as it means we’ll not get any substantive change within our national football federation, just four more years of the same-old-same-old. Football Australia is a stagnant organisation that has, IMO, squandered the incredible success of both the national men’s, and (even more so) the national woman’s, teams. We lack innovation, are failing the grassroots and we have a user-pays system that locks out access to individuals without the means and also provides no clear pathway for young and talented footballers into professional employment opportunities or into representative teams. I’m also not a fan of Graeme Arnold’s tactics (which is more my own cross to bear).

Well I don’t know WTF you were at 6:55 this morning when I posted this..

HIPSTER WIGGLE SAVES A GOAL!!!!

AUSTRALIA T0 WC!!

-

Yeah Arnold is no Guus Hiddink but at least we’re thru…

Ian said:

diddly-squat said:

For those that haven’t seen the penalty shootout – HERE it is

I’d also like to add that while this is great for Australian football, it is also bad in a lot of ways as it means we’ll not get any substantive change within our national football federation, just four more years of the same-old-same-old. Football Australia is a stagnant organisation that has, IMO, squandered the incredible success of both the national men’s, and (even more so) the national woman’s, teams. We lack innovation, are failing the grassroots and we have a user-pays system that locks out access to individuals without the means and also provides no clear pathway for young and talented footballers into professional employment opportunities or into representative teams. I’m also not a fan of Graeme Arnold’s tactics (which is more my own cross to bear).

Well I don’t know WTF you were at 6:55 this morning when I posted this..

HIPSTER WIGGLE SAVES A GOAL!!!!

AUSTRALIA T0 WC!!

-

Yeah Arnold is no Guus Hiddink but at least we’re thru…

I wasn’t a fan of Guus Hiddink either..

The best national men’s team coach we’ve had in the last 20 years was Ange.. at least he had a clear vision of what he wanted us to become… he just got no support from the national federation

Only one qual match remains, NZ v Costa Rica this evening.

Wales won their playoff v Ukraine. This will be Wales’s first appearance since 1958.

diddly-squat said:

Ian said:

diddly-squat said:

For those that haven’t seen the penalty shootout – HERE it is

I’d also like to add that while this is great for Australian football, it is also bad in a lot of ways as it means we’ll not get any substantive change within our national football federation, just four more years of the same-old-same-old. Football Australia is a stagnant organisation that has, IMO, squandered the incredible success of both the national men’s, and (even more so) the national woman’s, teams. We lack innovation, are failing the grassroots and we have a user-pays system that locks out access to individuals without the means and also provides no clear pathway for young and talented footballers into professional employment opportunities or into representative teams. I’m also not a fan of Graeme Arnold’s tactics (which is more my own cross to bear).

Well I don’t know WTF you were at 6:55 this morning when I posted this..

HIPSTER WIGGLE SAVES A GOAL!!!!

AUSTRALIA T0 WC!!

-

Yeah Arnold is no Guus Hiddink but at least we’re thru…

I wasn’t a fan of Guus Hiddink either..

The best national men’s team coach we’ve had in the last 20 years was Ange.. at least he had a clear vision of what he wanted us to become… he just got no support from the national federation

Of course Ange, Ange, Ange.. Posta..

smacks self in head multiple times with an AL RIHLA’ 2022

Not running at optimal.. happens when you’re up at 4 like someone with a bit of passion for the game.

Costa Rica beats NZ 1 0 and becomes the final nation to qualify