I think the Aussies would have preferred playing the US to avoid playing at high noon with urine bags flung at them.
Playing in Honduras is going to be horrible. Hopefully the Aussies can somehow escape with a draw. Former Socceroos and Canada coach Holger Osieck just had this to say:
Quote:
At times it’s hell, you cannot imagine what happens there.
I would like to see some of the European teams play there under these conditions.
They set you up in the jungle, and then 2,000 metres high, air conditioning that doesn’t work in the hotel, you cannot close the windows, you have the mosquitoes everywhere, the food.
You have noise outside the hotel, people they stay the entire night on the streets, the drumming and trumpeting whatever, then in the games (with) reckless tackles, it’s not easy.
If the top teams in Europe go there they would struggle, so that is very often underrated and I think the same goes here (in Asia).
I'm glad they avoided the US since I think the Americans would have flipped a switch and crushed them. My preference was Panama. A lower ranked team that would have offered a less hostile playing environment compared to Honduras.
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Brazil have looked absolutely sublime, running through the toughest qualifying group in the world since Tite took over. 30 goals scored and only 3 conceded since he's been the coach, beyond dominant against a Chile side that were desperate. The front line of Neymar-Jesus-Coutinho is the best attacking front 3 in international football imo, not only are they all individually world class talents but their chemistry is something that Brazil has not had in their forwards since Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo. Should be fun next summer. Hoping for redemption
USA don't deserve to be in the World Cup, Panama no goal or not, it's absolutely ridiculous that a country the size of the U.S can't beat Trinidad when there World Cup hopes are on the line. One of the craziest sequence of events I've seen in football, crazy fluky goals and all the results went against the Americans. Crazy
Playing in Honduras is going to be horrible. Hopefully the Aussies can somehow escape with a draw. Former Socceroos and Canada coach Holger Osieck just had this to say:
I'm glad they avoided the US since I think the Americans would have flipped a switch and crushed them. My preference was Panama. A lower ranked team that would have offered a less hostile playing environment compared to Honduras.
Honduras is hell, the fans are going to be right on top of the pitch and the Aussie players will be dealing with Honduras fans intimidating them the moment they step off the bus. It truly is a hell hole and the Aussies are gonna have to be ready for a gruling experience the moment they land. I doubt most of them have experienced playing in an environment like Honduras, it's ####ing awful.
I’m in Chile right now. Was partying in Santiago last night during the game and after. For a football mad country you would almost not know that they lost. The “Chile” chant as well as the guitar and trumpets were still going at 4am.
Either that or they know a lot better way of drowning their sorrows *caugh*Vancouver*caugh*
So I see UEFA Nations League is trending, begging the obvious question of what the hell is the UEFA Nations League. As it turns out, it's basically the Emirates Cup/ICC for UEFA friendlies, but it allows for the Faroe Islands to qualify into Euro from it. Sounds....idiotic.
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End of the line for the US. I don't believe that will qualify for 2022 either. Blow it up and concentrate for the home World Cup in 2026. Both U17 and U20 doing well.
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Didn't realize Egypt hasn't qualified since 1990. Cool stuff seeing fresh teams qualify.
Made me curious to see other World Cup qualification droughts:
Egypt 27 years
Nigeria 12 years
Iceland 88 years
Poland 12 years
Serbia 8 years
Panama 88 years
Peru (potential) 36 years
New Zealand (potential) 8 years
Egypt's performance in the 1990 World Cup was why FIFA outlawed the backpass shortly thereafter. They were in a group with England, Holland, and Ireland, and did their best to destroy the sport as best they could.
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Germany bests Spain's 10-0-0 record in qualifying by beating them on goal difference, and thereby making history. +39 goal difference is just insane.
I'm not even sure they are firing on all cylinders yet either.
What's that old saying? Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win
Its not even that the Germans arent firing on all cylinders yet its that they dont even know what their starting XI looks like yet.
Its not like they just rounded up all the usual suspects for each game, its crazy how many different players were selected and given a shot.
They really are interesting to watch, the fact that the Germans approached WC Qualifiers as an inconvenient formality is one thing, but that they waltzed through it without even breaking a sweat while breaking records at the same time is another.
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So if every other result still happened the same, Chile’s Appeal of their game against Bolivia, earned them two more points in the standings, but cost them a spot in the playoff.
Chile would have 2 fewer points, Peru would have three fewer points, but that would have placed Chile in the playoff spot.
The crazier thing is that Peru's goal was scored on an indirect free kick. It wouldn't have counted except Ospina touched it on the way by.
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Didn't realize Egypt hasn't qualified since 1990. Cool stuff seeing fresh teams qualify.
Made me curious to see other World Cup qualification droughts:
Egypt 27 years
Nigeria 12 years
Iceland 88 years
Poland 12 years
Serbia 8 years
Panama 88 years
Peru (potential) 36 years
New Zealand (potential) 8 years
This one is incorrect, Nigeria were there in 2010.
I usually get behind New Zealand in international sport, especially in cricket and rugby, but in football my jealousy as a Canadian supporter gets in the way. I think New Zealand and Canada are relatively equal in terms of talent with Canada maybe having an edge in depth, but New Zealand's top players are really good. But imagine if Canada had the luxury of qualifying through Cupcake conference where they only have to beat the likes of Fiji and the Solomon Islands before a two game playoff every single time. I don't think they stand much of a chance against Peru this time around though, but the players should put in a solid effort.
This one is incorrect, Nigeria were there in 2010.
I usually get behind New Zealand in international sport, especially in cricket and rugby, but in football my jealousy as a Canadian supporter gets in the way. I think New Zealand and Canada are relatively equal in terms of talent with Canada maybe having an edge in depth, but New Zealand's top players are really good. But imagine if Canada had the luxury of qualifying through Cupcake conference where they only have to beat the likes of Fiji and the Solomon Islands before a two game playoff every single time. I don't think they stand much of a chance against Peru this time around though, but the players should put in a solid effort.
It's not just at senior level. Oceania gets 0.5 of a spot in the World Cup but it gets TWO spots in U20 and U17. Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea qualified this year. NZ gets to automatically go to these events every two years while Canada maybe lucky to get there once a decade. Over time all this international experience makes them better.
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I expect the US to be better and qualify in 2022, of course there's an overreaction the day after they miss out by most of the media down there
The gap is just too big between them and Mexico and the rest of CONCACAF for them to mess up like this consistently
But they have a few young players in Europe who are getting playing time at a decent level, and then you supplement those few players with an MLS based squad if needed
The problem they had this time, outside of some insane bad luck, was too much reliance on pulisic. Who isn't good enough yet
Every time he does anything the us media and fans go nuts, compare him to English or French or German or Spanish etc players of the same skill level and they are with the u21s still.
ESPN had a story in the summer on how he should avoid going to Liverpool or arsenal and wait for Madrid or Barcelona...
I expect the US to be better and qualify in 2022, of course there's an overreaction the day after they miss out by most of the media down there
The gap is just too big between them and Mexico and the rest of CONCACAF for them to mess up like this consistently
But they have a few young players in Europe who are getting playing time at a decent level, and then you supplement those few players with an MLS based squad if needed
The problem they had this time, outside of some insane bad luck, was too much reliance on pulisic. Who isn't good enough yet
Every time he does anything the us media and fans go nuts, compare him to English or French or German or Spanish etc players of the same skill level and they are with the u21s still.
ESPN had a story in the summer on how he should avoid going to Liverpool or arsenal and wait for Madrid or Barcelona...
Every country has players like that. Who was that Norwegian kid that was 14 or something and a bunch of clubs wanted him and he ended up signing with Real Madrid and hasnt played a game yet?
Dortmund is perfect for Pulisic, they're a high-level club so he isnt playing with a bunch of scrubs so he can learn and improve, hes got a good coach, but he gets minutes.
The problem is that the USA treated him like their 'Messi' well that just isnt going to happen.
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