Long March on Moscow - WC Qualifiers, Europe

[anton pulisov]

Hold on, since when in the fuck do FIFA punish stuff that is not in the referee's report?

[Kevin S]

Luxembourg are beating Bulgaria.

[Kevin S]

Netherlands get the breakthrough with a Robben penalty. Six to go.

[Kevin S]

Still Portugal 0-0 Switzerland.

[Antepli Ejderha]

That's the softest penalty I've seen in a long time.

[Wouter D]

That's the softest penalty I've seen in a long time.

Give the ref a break! He somehow needs to engineer seven goals, and it's quite clear that they won't come from the Dutch footballers.

[Kevin S]

What a tackle/poke from Larsson that was.

[Satchmo Distel]

Greece making hard work of getting the three points against Gibraltar

[Sean of the Shed]

Greece making hard work of getting the three points against Gibraltar

If there is any team the seeded play-off teams will want to be drawn against...

[Kevin S]

Woof!

[Antepli Ejderha]

Give the ref a break! He somehow needs to engineer seven goals, and it's quite clear that they won't come from the Dutch footballers.

Well that was much better.

[Sean of the Shed]

What a hit by Robben.

[ChrisJ]

As for "hating Ireland" - the only team I activley dislike are Scotland.

Well, as a Shrewsbury follower, I'm a bit disappointed we've dropped off your radar.

Not being bothered about England now, I understand. The only people liable to hate the England team would be anyone forced to watch them.

As I write, Robben's just scored a beauty. Shame. I had hopes of Sweden scoring early and the game descending into a kung-fu fest.

2-0. Surely not...?

[Kevin S]

A Swiss own goal puts Portugal in front.

[Wouter D]

I'm not happy with this. If this ends 3-0, then all the Dutch pundits and media will fall over themselves pointing out how close we came to qualifying for the playoffs, and hadn't the Swedes won with this fluke 8-0 versus Luxemburg blah blah blah. Conveniently forgetting that we wouldn't be in this pickle if we hadn't along the way lost to fucking Bulgaria, and if this goal difference is such a decider here then maybe you want to do some damage control against the French instead of losing 4-0.

Instead, nothing will change about the way Dutch people think about football, and we won't qualify for EURO 2020 either.

[Satchmo Distel]

All the seeds should be very confident of beating any non-seed. Denmark v Sweden might be the exception, being a Scandinavian derby.

[Satchmo Distel]

A Swiss own goal puts Portugal in front.

Portugal go top of the group and are old hands at holding a 1-0.

[blameless]

I guess we can add play acting to the list of horrible things in football that virtuous Wales would never dream of partaking in.

Indeed. This for example was that unscrupulous bastard Shaun Maloney using his Jedi telekinesis to push Gareth Bale over, and not at all Bale kicking his own leg and diving for a penalty:

[Jorge Porbillas]

Well, as a Shrewsbury follower, I'm a bit disappointed we've dropped off your radar.

If we were anywhere near likely to play you anytime soon, I'm sure my dislike of the Slops would resurface! Chester are just beyond disliking anymore, they are a parody of a club.

[Diable Rouge]

Thankfully, looks like Portugal won't be in the playoffs, for now at least.

[Kevin S]

I don't think Holland will get seven here, you know.

[anton pulisov]

Ryan Babel is playing. Things must be worse than I thought for the Dutch.

[Lang Spoon]

If he hadn’t gone to Benitez fun free Liverpool while a nipper, maybe a player would have emerged there. But Drenthe got to play for Madrid and was absolute gash. That generation of Dutch starlets, Babel and Drenthe probably did the best. Jesus.

[Satchmo Distel]

Netherlands since 1978 have had the widest fluctuations in form of any national team ever. From world top 4 to outside the top 30 in 3 Years? Probably a worse slide than 1978-82 and the first decade of this century.

[Ray de Galles]

Indeed. This for example was that unscrupulous bastard Shaun Maloney using his Jedi telekinesis to push Gareth Bale over, and not at all Bale kicking his own leg and diving for a penalty:

a) Maloney himself admitted it was a penalty and not a dive ;

Bale didn't dive, there was contact' - Maloney defends Welshman and takes responsibility for penalty

b) AP was indulging in strawman bullshit anyway. I’ve explained what the booing was about for the incident in question and Ireland’s playacting was a minor, if persistent, part of their shithousery and is far from unique to them.