Originally posted by Duncan Gardner
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Originally posted by Duncan Gardner View PostYou got two mismatches (one of which was least an entertaining goalfest), two second legs going to the wire. Which based on your recent posts you weren't expecting.
OTOH if O'Neill (NI) gets the Scotland job based on that near-miss performance, after bus parking in the away leg, the Scottish FA deserve all the shit that is likely to ensue.
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Originally posted by Sam View PostDelighted for Peru. First time in my lifetime - and more to the point, in the lifetimes of any of their players - that the best shirt in international football will be at a World Cup.
(Should the USA ever make it back to the World Cup, I wish they'd go back to the red sash on a white shirt with blue shorts and socks. A classic look.)
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- Oct 2011
- 26998
- Cambridgeshire
- Ipswich (convert)
- Those chocolate-coated ring-shaped ones you get at Christmas
Originally posted by Renart View PostIndeed. I rooted for Peru over New Zealand out of Pan-American solidarity, but they've got one of the best uniforms in international football.
(Should the USA ever make it back to the World Cup, I wish they'd go back to the red sash on a white shirt with blue shorts and socks. A classic look.)
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- Oct 2011
- 26998
- Cambridgeshire
- Ipswich (convert)
- Those chocolate-coated ring-shaped ones you get at Christmas
Originally posted by Sam View PostDelighted for Peru. First time in my lifetime - and more to the point, in the lifetimes of any of their players - that the best shirt in international football will be at a World Cup
Wonder if they'll be in the same group as Poland again, as in 1982?
Edit - even the bus is getting in on the red-sash-on-white action!
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- Mar 2008
- 20822
- Black Country Green Belt
- Crusaders FC, Norn Iron, not forgetting Serendib
- Blueberry vodka Jaffa cake on marzipan base
Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View PostFair point. N Ireland were better than I'd expected. I thought they'd be more likely than ROI to ship five
OTOH if O'Neill (NI) gets the Scotland job based on that near-miss performance, after bus parking in the away leg, the Scottish FA deserve all the shit that is likely to ensue
His managerial career thus far has been six years in a part-time job and two previous gigs in part-time football. His stock's high at present but he likely needs to decide between
a) an(other international job which probably reduces the chance of a decent club role significantly, or
b) club football- which in the SPL or basically anywhere in England means the sack within six months if he doesn't start well.
He lived in America when younger (playing for Portland Timbers) and might well return there, not just for the international team. The recent drink-drive thing might be a factor- an incentive to leave Scotland, but possible difficulty in working elsewhere.
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Originally posted by Kevin S View PostI rate the Where's Waldo/Wally kit - it's a unique look in international football.
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- Oct 2011
- 26998
- Cambridgeshire
- Ipswich (convert)
- Those chocolate-coated ring-shaped ones you get at Christmas
Doncaster also have a similar kit but usually with white, red or black shorts. The only club I can find with red and white hooped shirts, and blue shorts, is Granada (relegated from La Liga last season) - though theirs is a more middling shade of blue (think Atléti with the stripes rotated).
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Originally posted by antoine polus View PostYes, one of the greatest kits ever - from the same country that gave us one of the worst kits ever (USA94)
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I'd be fine with the sash or the hoops, I just wish we didn't change our first kit so often. But since Nike probably has more say in that matter than the USSF or fans, my wishes are undoubtedly in vain.
Thankfully, Germany and Argentina seem to have returned to black shorts this World Cup, though.
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Originally posted by Renart View PostIndeed. I rooted for Peru over New Zealand out of Pan-American solidarity, but they've got one of the best uniforms in international football.
(Should the USA ever make it back to the World Cup, I wish they'd go back to the red sash on a white shirt with blue shorts and socks. A classic look.)Last edited by Diable Rouge; 16-11-2017, 20:53.
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Originally posted by Renart View PostYes, I like that one, too, and would also welcome its return. I'm told Hamilton Academical in Scotland have a similar shirt, but I think you're right that it's unique internationally. (Paraguay have vertical red and white stripes with blue shorts, but that's the closest I can think of.)
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Originally posted by Lang Spoon View PostFuck will now be 24+ for Scotland. Must be better odds I will die before they qualify again than me seeing the useless fannies fuck it up in a World Cup 1st round again. Bah. Scotland, officially almost as shit as NZ.
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Originally posted by Kevin S View PostThose 2017 results in full:
POLAND 4-2 MONTENEGRO
ARMENIA 1-6 POLAND
POLAND 3-0 KAZAKHSTAN
DENMARK 4-0 POLAND (err, ok then, sixth best team in the world...)
POLAND 3-1 ROMANIA
MONTENEGRO 1-2 POLAND
Friendlies are worth fewer points than qualifiers (more so if you choose to play difficult teams and so lose them), and your FIFA ranking is calculated from an average of your total points divided by your games across a given period. So playing more friendlies at key moments can screw you up, while Poland have gamed the system to gain a high ranking and a World Cup seeding. I've read about it in relation to why Italy ended up in a qualifying group with Spain, and as an issue for the Netherlands.
Good article on the issue from the Times (reg required) here or just Google Eduard Ranghiuc.
Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View PostWhy don't NZ join the Asian federation for 2022? I understand they get an automatic place in the 48 crash from 2026 but they will be woefully under-prepared.
Not sure how World Cup qualifying would work - whether they would qualify any team directly (again, I think WCSA would want a guarantee of at least one) and then have a merged process, or whether they'd be entirely separate. Ideally, I'd like a situation where as few teams from WCSA qualify as possible, as they tend to stink the World Cup out, although on the other hand I'd like it to tempt some old Soviet teams like Kazakhstan (as a minimum) back from UEFA with the carrot of better qualification chances (unlikely, but then this all is).
Anyway, I'd also like to see fewer teams qualify directly from all the confederations, with some sort of pre-tournament before a 32-team cup - largely so more African teams can qualify and a few of the drossier teams elsewhere could get bumped, but also so qualifying in Europe could contain groups with bigger names playing each other more frequently. That would probably see two rounds of qualifying in Europe, which I wouldn't mind although I know others don't favour it (it leads me onto another thing I'd like to see - FIFA-organised tournaments for countries with small populations).
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Fewer automatic CONMEBOL spots would help the drawn-out process down here as well, in my opinion. People always say CONMEBOL is the hardest of all the qualification groups, but overlook the fact that in fact for Argentina and Brazil it's ludicrously easy - those two nations have no excuse at all for not finishing in the top half of a ten-team table (not withstanding the fact that Argentina almost did this time round; the fact they massively fucked up almost two thirds of the campaign and still finished third just strengthens my argument, surely). Something like, say, three automatic spots for CONMEBOL and then two places in a worldwide final group of some sort against sides who've just missed out on the reduced quota from elsewhere would be ace. Play it in one country (not the World Cup host nation) around Africa Cup of Nations time, say, but in a World Cup year, and clubs who have players called up for it just have to suck it up. It could be, I don't, sixteen teams, straight knockout, with the last four going to the World Cup, or something like that. Or four groups of four with the top side in each group going to the Finals.
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