Official 20/21 Various National Soccer Team News Thread

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Locke

What happened to Iceland? Trailing to North Macedonia at the moment and well down in the table for qualification.

A country that small it's not surprising that they are only good for one generation.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Locke

That is one Russian who is going to find his home burnt to the ground when he gets back.

And its not going to be subtle. Putin is going to be sitting on the charred remains of his front lawn in a throne-style chair smoking a cigar next to an empty gas can.

With him in it

[GirlySports]

Portugal have choked and Serbia qualify.


Portugal only needed a draw in Lisbon, score in the 2nd minute but then blow it on a 90th minute winner by Tadic.

[GirlySports]

Looks like Italy are headed to the playoffs as they now need two goals in the final 10 minutes, and that's if Switzerland don't score more.

[CroFlames]

Italy missed 2018, then wins 2020.

Wouldn’t it be something if they missed again lol.

The playoffs are always tough matches.

[GirlySports]

Interesting playoff format this year.

The second round (play-offs) will be contested by the ten group runners-up and the best two Nations League group winners, based on the Nations League overall ranking, who finished outside the top two of their qualifying group. They will be separated into three play-off paths, with each path featuring two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final. The semi-finals will be hosted by the six best-ranked runners-up of the qualifying group stage, while the host of the final will be determined by a draw The semi-finals will be played on 24–25 March, and the finals on 28–29 March 2022. The winners of each path will qualify for the World Cup.

Seeded teams are: Portugal, Scotland, Russia, Italy, Sweden and Poland
Unseeded teams are: Wales, North Macedonia, Turkey, Finland, Austria, Czech Rep.

Although if Poland and Wales both win tomorrow, they could bump Sweden.

[The Familia]

Ugh ####ing Italy. How they didn't run away with this group is beyond me. Now they have made it very difficult on themselves. It would be an absolute embarrassment to miss two consecutive world cups, especially since they won the Euro in between these two tournaments.

Even though they brought this upon themselves, it does show how lame world cup qualifying really is. First, it only makes sense that if you win your continental tournament you should automatically make the world cup. There is no reason why the European, African, N. American, S. American, and Asian champion shouldn't automatically be given a spot in the world cup. They have proven their worth in my opinion and are 5 of the best teams in the world. I also have issues with the number of teams each confederation sends. Every tournament numerous powerhouse countries from all over the world miss the tournament because they either got lumped into a random qualifying group of death or they fell victim to FIFA's lame ass quota of ensuring they have at least 10 useless teams at every tournament.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Ugh ####ing Italy. How they didn't run away with this group is beyond me. Now they have made it very difficult on themselves. It would be an absolute embarrassment to miss two consecutive world cups, especially since they won the Euro in between these two tournaments.

Even though they brought this upon themselves, it does show how lame world cup qualifying really is. First, it only makes sense that if you win your continental tournament you should automatically make the world cup. There is no reason why the European, African, N. American, S. American, and Asian champion shouldn't automatically be given a spot in the world cup. They have proven their worth in my opinion and are 5 of the best teams in the world. I also have issues with the number of teams each confederation sends. Every tournament numerous powerhouse countries from all over the world miss the tournament because they either got lumped into a random qualifying group of death or they fell victim to FIFA's lame ass quota of ensuring they have at least 10 useless teams at every tournament.

They are different federations. Awarding automatic berths for continental championships would cause more corruption. Sure let the Americans qualify through the Gold Cup which that host every single time! The defending World Cup champions don't even get a berth.

[d_phaneuf]

Kane now passes Linekar and 5 behind rooney, hes only 28, hes gonna absolutely smash the record. Has at least another 4 year cycle as England striker. Hes scored 40 in the last 4 years

[Locke]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Ugh ####ing Italy. How they didn't run away with this group is beyond me. Now they have made it very difficult on themselves. It would be an absolute embarrassment to miss two consecutive world cups, especially since they won the Euro in between these two tournaments.

Even though they brought this upon themselves, it does show how lame world cup qualifying really is. First, it only makes sense that if you win your continental tournament you should automatically make the world cup. There is no reason why the European, African, N. American, S. American, and Asian champion shouldn't automatically be given a spot in the world cup. They have proven their worth in my opinion and are 5 of the best teams in the world. I also have issues with the number of teams each confederation sends. Every tournament numerous powerhouse countries from all over the world miss the tournament because they either got lumped into a random qualifying group of death or they fell victim to FIFA's lame ass quota of ensuring they have at least 10 useless teams at every tournament.

Realistically World Cup Qualification is a breeze for most major teams.

The Italians have no one to blame but themselves. Same with the Dutch, they're in tough too.

The Italians have played poorly.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Locke

Realistically World Cup Qualification is a breeze for most major teams.

The Italians have no one to blame but themselves. Same with the Dutch, they're in tough too.

The Italians have played poorly.

That's true. For example, since they missed in 1994, I don't think England has even had to go through a playoff. Won the group every time.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Ugh ####ing Italy. How they didn't run away with this group is beyond me. Now they have made it very difficult on themselves. It would be an absolute embarrassment to miss two consecutive world cups, especially since they won the Euro in between these two tournaments.

Even though they brought this upon themselves, it does show how lame world cup qualifying really is. First, it only makes sense that if you win your continental tournament you should automatically make the world cup. There is no reason why the European, African, N. American, S. American, and Asian champion shouldn't automatically be given a spot in the world cup. They have proven their worth in my opinion and are 5 of the best teams in the world. I also have issues with the number of teams each confederation sends. Every tournament numerous powerhouse countries from all over the world miss the tournament because they either got lumped into a random qualifying group of death or they fell victim to FIFA's lame ass quota of ensuring they have at least 10 useless teams at every tournament.

Don't be sour grapes bro. You just came off a Euro victory. Every country has missed a WC except for Germany and Brazil, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Italy has 4 titles.

The bolded is just laughable. The champion of the Americas, Africa or Asia are certainly not one of the top 5 teams in the world.

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Ugh ####ing Italy. How they didn't run away with this group is beyond me. Now they have made it very difficult on themselves. It would be an absolute embarrassment to miss two consecutive world cups, especially since they won the Euro in between these two tournaments.

Even though they brought this upon themselves, it does show how lame world cup qualifying really is. First, it only makes sense that if you win your continental tournament you should automatically make the world cup. There is no reason why the European, African, N. American, S. American, and Asian champion shouldn't automatically be given a spot in the world cup. They have proven their worth in my opinion and are 5 of the best teams in the world. I also have issues with the number of teams each confederation sends. Every tournament numerous powerhouse countries from all over the world miss the tournament because they either got lumped into a random qualifying group of death or they fell victim to FIFA's lame ass quota of ensuring they have at least 10 useless teams at every tournament.

Random? Arbitrary? Lumped?
Ranked 4th globally, they were the top seed of really, an easily winnable pool.
Swiss, Angry Irish, Bulgaria & Lithuania.

Really, those should all be wins, not their perpetual, lethargic ties. The Italians did this to themselves.

Read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Rankings

And for an even drier, technical read:
https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles...7_DOWNLOAD.pdf

[Senator Clay Davis]

Looks like Turkey and Ukraine for the last two playoff spots, Dutch flirted with disaster but finally scored with five minutes left.

[SuperMatt18]

It is Italy's own fault but let's not act like the Swiss are some type of pushovers.

They beat France and only lost to Spain on penalties at the Euro's this year. 2 draws against Germany in their nations league group. England needed penalties to beat them in the 2019 nations league finals. 2 draws and a loss against Italy.

Switzerland is ranked 10th in the FIFA rankings among UEFA teams, and 14th overall, considering there were 10 groups that actually made them the hardest opponent any of the "top teams" were in a group with.

The draws against Ireland and Bulgaria are what killed Italy but Switzerland was the toughest "2nd team" of any of the groups and in the end neither team lost a game.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Looks like Turkey and Ukraine for the last two playoff spots, Dutch flirted with disaster but finally scored with five minutes left.

Feel bad for Finland

Qualified: Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, Germany

Playoffs:
Seeded: (will host a semifinal): Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Wales
Unseeded: Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, Czech Rep.

*Russia and Ukraine cannot draw each other.

All eyes will be on if Portugal and Italy are drawn in the same path.

Meanwhile in Africa, the following 10 nations have made the final round. They will be drawn into five home-and-away ties for a trip to Qatar. There were no upsets, all 10 seeded teams won their group.

Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, DR Congo.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The goal is great, #21 botching the celebration is even better

https://twitter.com/user/status/1460736337099644931

[The Familia]

So how are these playoffs going to run? Is a seeded team paired up against an unseeded team with the 6 winners advancing? Then the 6 remaining teams are paired up and the three winners make the world cup? Win two and you are in?

[Senator Clay Davis]

It's three pods of four teams. Winners of the first set of matches play in the pod final for the qualification spot.

[HHW]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Looks like Turkey and Ukraine for the last two playoff spots, Dutch flirted with disaster but finally scored with five minutes left.

NED would have still finished 1st if they had tied, so it was a bit squeeky bum time today but never out of control.