Official World Cup 2014 Qualifying Thread (Blame It On RIO)

[d_phaneuf]

England would have been in the top 8 if they beat Ukraine too

weird system

[Bagor]

The difference between England and Switzerland is that England played five friendlies last year and Switzerland played three.

e.g. If England had never played the Sweden and ROI friendlies they'd now be seeded sixth.

Suggestion #1. Take the friendlies out of the occasion.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...raw-friendlies

[GirlySports]

I think uefa has to make a preliminary round and not hurt their ranking by pounding san marino which gets them only 375 points max

south american sides play 16 quality matches and just by beating each other they can move up

or fifa should do a tennis system where only xxxx number of best results count and some 0 pointers can be thrown out

[Fusebox]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I think uefa has to make a preliminary round and not hurt their ranking by pounding san marino which gets them only 375 points max

south american sides play 16 quality matches and just by beating each other they can move up

or fifa should do a tennis system where only xxxx number of best results count and some 0 pointers can be thrown out

Great idea, but it will never happen, and here's why. Every time a fake country like San Marino, Andorra, or the Faroe Islands play away to a team like England, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc, you get 50,000+ paying customers out to watch them. What is right for the game and what is good financially for FIFA, UEFA, and the individual member nations is quite different.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I think uefa has to make a preliminary round and not hurt their ranking by pounding san marino which gets them only 375 points max

south american sides play 16 quality matches and just by beating each other they can move up

On the flip side, you have to take into consideration that S.American teams do not have to qualify for the Copa America therefore they have 2 years of friendlies after the WC whilst Euro teams have two years of qualifiers.

[Bagor]

Sad state of affairs when that Hodgson joke is making the news that it is.

A complete non event being blown out of proportion.

Case in point this absolute piece of garbage by the beeb's sports editor.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24570301

[The Swedish Flame]

####.

[SuperMatt18]

Portugal vs. Sweden
Ukraine vs. France
Greece vs. Romania
Iceland vs. Croatia

Games will be played November 15th and 19th.

[Lego Man]

Portugal
France
Romania
Croatia

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by The Swedish Flame

####.

You can win. Sweden can score goals, Portugal cannot.

Find a cold place to play the 2nd leg. My choice would be Gavle!

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

You can win. Sweden can score goals, Portugal cannot.

Find a cold place to play the 2nd leg. My choice would be Gavle!

Qualifying

Portugal 20GF
Sweden 19GF

I'm extremely nervous from a Portugal standpoint but not because Portugal can't score.

[d_phaneuf]

so unfair, can't believe one of Zlatan or CR7 won't be there

France drawing Ukraine, not a shocker, Platini knows how this works

Portugal
France
Romania
Iceland

[Jets4Life]

If Iceland qualifies for the World Cup, I will be so happy that I will dance down 17 Ave SW in my boxer shorts, regardless of the weather!

[GirlySports]

I think iceland has a good chance. Croatia were pretty weak.. could barely handle scotland and just fired their coach

[d_phaneuf]

Talent wise they are probably the 2nd best team of the 8, but they are just such a mess the last few months I think Iceland have a good shot

[SuperMatt18]

Shame that we may not to see Ibra at the World Cup.



Did that on the weekend.

[Bagor]

Martin O’Neill is poised to become the new Republic of Ireland manager following a series of productive meetings with the Football Association of Ireland – and Roy Keane could join him as his assistant.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...coach-duo.html


Wonder how that conversation went down with the FAI? Don't know about this. O'Neill's strength is in man management and building players up whilst Keane is like the sort of fella that would undo a lot of this.

One thing is assured though, the logistics will be better handled and they will be prepared.

[GirlySports]

All European Refs for the playoffs

Jordan-Uruguay
Nov 13 Amman: Svein Oddvar Moen (NOR)
Nov 20 Montevideo: Jonas Eriksson (SWE)

Mexico-New Zealand
Nov 13 Mexico City: Viktor Kassai (HUN)
Nov 20 Wellington: Felix Brych (GER)

Ukraine-France
Nov 15 Kiev: Cüneyt Çakır (TUR)
Nov 19 Paris: Damir Skomina (SVN)

Portugal-Sweden
Nov 15 Lisbon: Nicola Rizzoli (ITA)
Nov 19 Solna: Howard Webb (ENG)

Greece-Romania
Nov 15 Piraeus: Pedro Proença (POR)
Nov 19 Bucharest: Milorad Mažić (SRB)

Iceland-Croatia
Nov 15 Reykjavík: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP)
Nov 19 Zagreb: Björn Kuipers (NED)

[cam_wmh]

Picks:

Uruguay
Mexico
France
Portugal (everyone loses)
Greece
Croatia

[Lego Man]

My picks:

Uruguay
Mexico
France
Sweden
Romania
Croatia