2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification

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Liquid
Very dedicated and passionate.
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👍

My father told me years ago one of his mates sold virtually everything he had to get to the 78 World Cup in Argentina.
He still says it was worth every pound to see Archie Gemmill's goal.

Don't know if there is any truth to it but apparently it took some of the travelling Scots months to get the money together to get back home. :lol:
 
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Liquid
. Very dedicated and passionate.
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It's what we do up here. :D :lol:

Not playing Griff from the start sealed the defeat, really. You've got the best striker in the country sitting on the bench in a must-win game against a team with 0 points (at that point).

Sure, he's still recovering from an injury and has been ousted by an insane talent (Dembele) at club level - but he's still more lethal than that donkey Fletcher.
 
Strachan has been given a stay of execution for the England game.

Dang, and there I was thinking I had a 100% success rate in seeing managers get sacked after playing Slovakia!
 
Liquid
Strachan has been given a stay of execution for the England game.

Dang, and there I was thinking I had a 100% success rate in seeing managers get sacked after playing Slovakia!
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If England weren't also in such dire straights I think he would be gone. This group is just a bit of a crapshoot right now and if it stays this way anyone could qualify. :lol:
 
I've had a good WCQ so far.
Well, in terms of going to see games if not results!

September: Slovakia 0-1 England
October: Austria 2-2 Wales, Slovakia 3-0 Scotland

Just booked my ticket for next month's Austria vs Ireland game too. :D
 
England squad for Scotland and Spain

Hart, Forster, Heaton, Bertrand, Clyne, Cahill, Jagielka, Keane, Rose, Stones, Walker, Dier, Drinkwater, Henderson, Wilshire, Lallana, Lingard, Rooney, Sterling, Townsend, Walcott, Kane, Rashford, Sturridge, Vardy.

Harry Kane and Jack Wilshire return with Barkley, Ox-Chamberlain and Antonio missing out, Walcott could pull out as his wife is to give birth at any time, it has been reported that if they beat Scotland then Southgate will be offered the job permanently.

Not much news on the Wales front, Coleman named largely the squad he has picked before but Ben Davies has withdrawn and replaced by Adam Mathews.
 
I can see Scotland getting thumped on Friday. That being said, the return of Scott Brown could be useful in midfield. Missing Tierney could prove too costly though.
 
Aaron Ramsey and Jonny Williams back for Wales.
James Collins and Ben Davies out injured for Wales.

What he giveth with one hand...
 
Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford and West Ham full back Aaron Cresswell called up to England squad after Forster withdrew and they need cover at left back as Bertrand has got a knock, Drinkwater has also withdrawn.
 
US vs. Mexico tomorrow in Columbus, Ohio. We need to win this one to set the tone in our group stage of the Hex.
 
Big game tonight between England and Scotland, Rooney set to start behind Sturridge, Scotland will have 14,000 fans at Wembley, Northern Ireland v Azerbaijan tonight also, Azerbaijan have made a surprise start and set second in the group on seven points...

FIFA have also put a poppy ban on Wales for their game v Serbia tomorrow, unlike England and Scotland Wales will not defy the ban and will wear black armbands instead as they fear a points deduction if they do, there will be a minute's silence beforehand and a crowd mosaic too.

France v Sweden will also have a minute's silence before kick-off to commemorate the first anniversary of the Paris terror attacks.
 
Between the England kit, the Scotland kit, the referee's shirt and the pitch, I feel like I'm watching live-action Teletext.
 
I know we're the away team, but I fail to understand why we can't wear blue as long as there's no clash. I blame our troubles on pink.
 
England 3-0 Scotland, wasn't brilliant to watch, thought Scotland were in the game up to the second goal but after that they were really poor and made England look really good, goals from Sturridge, Lallana and Cahill.

Norther Ireland beat Azerbaijan 4-0 👍
 
MUSC4EVER
England 3-0 Scotland, wasn't brilliant to watch, thought Scotland were in the game up to the second goal but after that they were really poor and made England look really good, goals from Sturridge, Lallana and Cahill.

Norther Ireland beat Azerbaijan 4-0 👍
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Outside Europe...

Mexico beat the USA 2-1 with a last minute goal, in the USA, in the first games of the final group stage. Top three qualify, the USA are 4th and next up will play the group leaders Costa Rica (though you have to fancy that the USA will finish at least 3rd - the other teams are Trinidad & Tobago, Panama and Honduras...).

Venezuela finally managed a win in the 11th game of the CONMEBOL round robin, somehow beating second-worst team Bolivia 5-0... That's also their first clean sheet. Argentina are now out of the qualifying places in 6th after losing 3-0 to Brazil!

OFC is back underway after a long spell without any games. The 6 remaining teams are now in two groups, with the group winners playing off for the right to be knocked out by a South American team. New Zealand has, no surprises, started with a 2-0 win over New Caledonia and don't look like they're going to do anything other than qualify for that.

The Asian group didn't play yesterday, and the next round of Asian games isn't until Tuesday. African teams will play in dribs and drabs over the next few days, with only Tunisia and Libya in action yesterday.
 
Brazil beat Argentina 3-0 and Argentina are really struggling right now, top four from South America qualify with fifth place getting a play off match, Brazil top and look comfortable, Argentina are seventh!
 
MUSC4EVER
Missed that bit, damn my speed reading!
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One curio that I missed was that two matches were awarded by FIFA on 1st November. Bolivia played the ineligible player Nelson Cabrera (formerly an international player for Paraguay) in games against Chile and Peru. The 0-0 draw with Chile was awarded 3-0 to Chile, and Peru were awarded a 3-0 win after they lost the match 2-0.

I guess Bolivia gave up at that point, because Venezuela beat them 5-0 - Venezuela's first win and first clean sheet in CONMEBOL qualification...
 
Wales's turn tonight, something of a must win match at home to Serbia too after we dropped points at home to Georgia last time out, it was already a tough game to begin with, definitely the biggest game since we played Portugal in the Euros.
 
Wales 1-1 Serbia it finished, Bale with the first in the first half but then Mitrovic equalised in the 87th minute :indiff:

Ireland had a very good win in Austria meaning they top the group by two points and play Wales next who have drawn the last three qualifiers
 
Israel took the win 3-0 over Albania..... might be irrelevant though.
 
Tough loss for the USA letting up a late header when a draw looked likely. Mexico were the better team in the 1st half but we should have converted at least one more in the 2nd half.

I heard on the radio later that night that it was the USA's first home loss in World Cup qualifiers in 15 years.
 
MUSC4EVER
England 3-0 Scotland, wasn't brilliant to watch, thought Scotland were in the game up to the second goal but after that they were really poor and made England look really good, goals from Sturridge, Lallana and Cahill.
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Yeh, the second English goal was a killer - Scotland had the bit between their teeth at 1-0 and had two attacks that looked dangerous - unfortunately the second attack paved the way for England to go on the break and score, effectively killing the game.

I watched the game in a Glasgow bar with an English friend of mine (among others) - he was one of only two or three people to celebrate the goal, and otherwise you could hear a pin drop. I overheard a couple of guys chatting when I went to the toilet and one of them said 'Did ye hear those Rangers bastards celebrating when England scored?'... I chuckled at that, but on further reflection I think it's pretty sad since it is almost certainly not a joke. It actually doesn't occur to some people in Glasgow that there might be some English people in the bar and that, shock horror, they support England.
 
Not looking good for Wales. We cannot afford another non-win. :indiff:

I went to Vienna to watch Austria 0-1 Ireland. Missed the 48th minute goal because I was still in the half-time queue for the toilet. :indiff:
 
Just found out that Belgium beat Estonia 8-1! holy cow! great start by Martinez and Henry so far....

That's it for the qualifiers for this year, they will return in late March, a number of friendlies tomorrow, two standouts of which are Italy v Germany and England v Spain, others include France v Ivory Coast and N.Ireland v Croatia.
 
Man I feel sorry for teams trying to qualify through Europe. Meanwhile in Asia, Australia has the likes of Thailand to destroy.

edit: I don't know how we managed to Tie 2-2 but that was pathetic, Ref was extremely poor for us outside of the box but our only goals came from penaltys, the quality difference was massive but our forwards were having a terrible time with offside calls every single time they broke free.
 
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