FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifying

[Keystone Phil]

Oh my God. What a goal by Mexico.

[Keystone Phil]

Guus Hiddink in talks to coach Australia again. Hope Italy can meet them again and win again.

[Hnv1]

Andros Townsend with a brilliant debut for England. I've been following him for years at spurs (I'm an ardent tottenhamboy) so I'm unsurprised but well done to the lad.
But what do other football (the real one) supporters here think of Jack Wilshere remark about how only "real" English players should play for England?

[minionofmidas]

Fun fact: Sweden are the only team to be currently qualified for the European playoffs. Everybody else can still move on to first or down to third or become the worst second placed team (most of them only if a miracle happens: because Armenia lost one of their games to Malta, if they move on to second place a number of teams suddenly get to sweat again. Would take an Armenian win against Italy, a Czech-Bulgarian draw [or narrow Czech win in case Armenia trounces Italy] and a Danish draw or defeat against Malta though. Related fun fact: The Czech Republic can still finish in second place... but it cannot qualify anymore. If they take second they will, mathematically, certainly, be the weakest second.)

[Gustaf]

Fun fact: Sweden are the only team to be currently qualified for the European playoffs. Everybody else can still move on to first or down to third or become the worst second placed team (most of them only if a miracle happens: because Armenia lost one of their games to Malta, if they move on to second place a number of teams suddenly get to sweat again. Would take an Armenian win against Italy, a Czech-Bulgarian draw [or narrow Czech win in case Armenia trounces Italy] and a Danish draw or defeat against Malta though. Related fun fact: The Czech Republic can still finish in second place... but it cannot qualify anymore. If they take second they will, mathematically, certainly, be the weakest second.)

Yeah, for the longest time I thought the Wikipedia page had messed something up, before it dawned on me that Armenia had a loss against Malta.

But since that scenario isn't playing out, most of the runner-ups are actually set.

England may still miss a direct spot, as may Bosnia. And the battle for second place behind Switzerland is pretty alive as well. I think that's it for the Euro qualifiers though?

Seems Sweden still wants a point off of Germany, because then we have a shot at seeding for the playoffs. Seeding might actually make a big difference this time. Getting say Iceland or Ukraine is vastly preferable to Portugal or Croatia.

[minionofmidas]

Turkey vs Romania for second behind the Dutch. Also can't rule out them both losing and thus Bulgaria slipping into the playoffs after all.

[Gustaf]

Turkey vs Romania for second behind the Dutch. Also can't rule out them both losing and thus Bulgaria slipping into the playoffs after all.

Ah, right forgot that group. I think a Romania which is this close will flatten Estonia though.

[Lief 🗽]

Andros Townsend with a brilliant debut for England. I've been following him for years at spurs (I'm an ardent tottenhamboy) so I'm unsurprised but well done to the lad.
But what do other football (the real one) supporters here think of Jack Wilshere remark about how only "real" English players should play for England?

Pretty gross. If he weren't an Arsenal player, I'd have a very low opinion of him.

[Keystone Phil]

Well, was he referring to players that debate which country to play for amongst their options and ultimately decide on England? I'll be honest: I loathe the whole idea of thinking about which nation to represent. You should have the feeling in your heart very early on and if the country you want to represent won't call you up, well, then there still isn't reason for debate. Then you go with your second option if we're being realistic. Going to your second choice after stating another first preference would be awkward and invite criticism about one's patriotism, too, but sitting around and deliberating between nations that want you irritates me more. It isn't about national pride then. It's about "Which side has a better chance at winning? Which side will kiss my ass more?" Yeah, every player wants their team to win. Every player wants to personally benefit but this isn't club ball so get over yourself.

However, I have a feeling Lief and others will say his complaints about "fake" England players were racially/ethnically motivated...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Terry Butcher (member of Ingerland national team 1980-90) was born in Singapore. Owen Hargreaves (member of the Ingerland national team 2001-08) was born in Calgary, played in the Wales (not Ingerland) under 19's team, and was based for most of his career in Germany. There's also the odd case of Michael Owen, who was actually born in England... but only because Chester is the local maternity hospital to his native Flintshire (Wales), where he lives to this day. There have been other cases over the years. But who cares if they're obviously white?

Of course the whole debate that this nasty subdebate has spun off from is based on a complete misunderstanding of why the England cricket team is now very good (as opposed to the 1990s when it was a joke). There's this idea that England turned the corner by poaching players from overseas (Kevin Pietersen, who hails from Pietermaritzburg, being the particularly obvious case). But players born outside Britain have always featured in England cricket teams, particular as batsmen: Douglas Jardine was born in Bombay, Ted Dexter was born in Milan, Tony Greig was born in Queenstown, and Allan Lamb was born in Langebaanweg (both in South Africa). And this was as true of the period of awfulness (Lamb included, but also, say, Graeme Hick of Salisbury, Rhodesia) as any other. What turned the England cricket team around was a transformation of coaching practices at both an elite and grassroots level, an understanding that the latter needed to be taken extremely seriously (and never reduced to a platitude) and the prioritisation of the national side ahead of the County teams. It is, for example, no longer the case that the first shot learned by a would-be batsman is the forward defensive.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

By which I mean, above all else, England are a good side now because they play good cricket. Ingerland, however, do not play good football.

[GMantis]

Turkey vs Romania for second behind the Dutch. Also can't rule out them both losing and thus Bulgaria slipping into the playoffs after all.

No, that also requires Hungary failing to defeat Andorra. The realistic (here meaning not infinitesimally unlikely) scenario Bulgaria reaching the playoffs is Bulgaria defeating the Czechs by three goals, a draw between Slovenia and Switzerland and Norway defeating Iceland.

Andros Townsend with a brilliant debut for England. I've been following him for years at spurs (I'm an ardent tottenhamboy) so I'm unsurprised but well done to the lad.
But what do other football (the real one) supporters here think of Jack Wilshere remark about how only "real" English players should play for England?

Mostly approve. They're called national teams for a reason.

Terry Butcher (member of Ingerland national team 1980-90) was born in Singapore. Owen Hargreaves (member of the Ingerland national team 2001-08) was born in Calgary, played in the Wales (not Ingerland) under 19's team, and was based for most of his career in Germany. There's also the odd case of Michael Owen, who was actually born in England... but only because Chester is the local maternity hospital to his native Flintshire (Wales), where he lives to this day. There have been other cases over the years. But who cares if they're obviously white?

The first case is completely irrelevant: being born abroad doesn't make you less of a citizen. The second is also irrelevant, as this is case of double citizenship. You have a point with the third case, but then again when national teams are based on subnational units, such peculiarities shouldn't be surprising.

[Tender Branson]

Austria will play against the US at home on November 19 in a friendly match.

So far, Austria has only played 2 times against the US: In 1990, they won against them in the World Cup in Italy, while in 1998 they lost.

[Goodwin]

Interesting news about the final draw in December.

The seeded teams (Pot 1) will include Brazil (Hosts) and the seven top-ranked teams. The remaining pots will be based on geographic and sports criteria. The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of October 2013 (released on 17 Oct) will be used instead of the November ranking as this would give the teams involved in the upcoming play-off games an unfair advantage.

So the potential seeded teams will be:

Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Italy, Colombia, Switzerland and one of Belgium/Croatia/Uruguay/Netherlands* (*depends on outcome of final qualifiers/play offs)     

This means that England will more than likely miss out on seeding along with the USA. France and Portugal (if qualified) will not feature in top seeds as well. 

More information: http://www.football-rankings.info/2013/09/fifa-ranking-october-2013-probable_20.html

Whatever happens, there will definitely be a lot of 'Group of Deaths' this time

[Keystone Phil]

Last day (until the playoffs). The England-Poland clash is the obvious headliner. The Netherlands vs. Turkey should be good, too. Other matches might be good but don't have two quality teams with super stars. That said, the results of games between second place contenders or teams barely on top of their group and lower ranking teams should still bring plenty of drama (Lithuania vs. Bosnia and Azerbaijan vs. Russia).

Tonight will bring the real big deal matches: Uruguay vs. Argentina, Chile vs. Ecuador, Costa Rica vs. Mexico and Panama vs. the U.S.

[GMantis]

Regarding play-offs, the African ones already started. Nothing really surprising so far except perhaps Ghana crushing Egypt 6-1, though the Egyptians have a good excuse for that, all things considered.

[Keystone Phil]

Portugal up 2-0 but Russia is winning away. Second half just starting in both.

Good news for Greece: they're ahead and Bosnia are tied in Lithuania.

[Lief 🗽]

Wow, Ghana crushed Egypt. Pretty disappointing.

[Keystone Phil]

Wow, Ghana crushed Egypt. Pretty disappointing.

Awwww poor Michael Bradley! Leaves one joke team for another.

[GMantis]

Wow, Ghana crushed Egypt. Pretty disappointing.

Awwww poor Michael Bradley! Leaves one joke team for another.

I wouldn't call a team that reached the round of 16 of the world cup a joke team. And I probably like them less than you.

[Lief 🗽]

Ghana in 2010: Quarterfinals
USA in 2010: Round of 16
Italy in 2010: 4th in their group, worse than New Zealand

I think we all know who the real joke team is.

[Keystone Phil]

Bosnia score in the 68th. That's rough on the Greeks since it was looking like Lithuania would hold their own today.

Ghana in 2010: Quarterfinals
USA in 2010: Round of 16
Italy in 2010: 4th in their group, worse than New Zealand

I think we all know who the real joke team is.

Italy have qualified for almost every World Cup. The U.S.? Not so much. Also...

4 stars > 0 stars

[Lief 🗽]

Yeah Italy won a couple of world cups back when they still played with balls made out of pig bladders. Big deal.

[Keystone Phil]

Oh and I got it mixed up: it's Bob Bradley, not Michael Bradley. Can't keep the losers straight in my mind!

And we still have two titles since the pig bladder ball days.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Looks like the Republic of Cristiano Ronaldo will have to qualify through the playoffs. Congrats seatown.