World Cup Playoffs

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Meanwhile, Eamon Dunphy reconsiders a possibly ill-advised foray into bi-sexuality:

Haha, I don't think eamo's enthusiasms are much of a secret at this point.

[Satchmo Distel]

You 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.

Fair point. N Ireland were better than I'd expected. I thought they'd be more likely than ROI to ship five. Greece and Honduras were not at the races. NZ were doomed as soon as it was decided they'd play off v a CONMEBOL side.

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.

[Renart]

Delighted 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.

Indeed. 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.)

[Kevin S]

Indeed. 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.)

I rate the Where's Waldo/Wally kit - it's a unique look in international football.

[Kevin S]

Delighted 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

Me too, come to think of it.

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!

[Duncan Gardner]

Fair point. N Ireland were better than I'd expected. I thought they'd be more likely than ROI to ship five

NI have conceded more than two only once in 28 competitive games since 2013. We last shipped five in a competitive game in 1979; the South now seem to do it in each World Cup qualifying series

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

Er, it was the home leg where we were over-defensive. If O'Neill gets the Scotland job it'll be on the strength of the 27 of 28 games as above, not the one this week that you seem to have forgotten. He would also have a lot more players to work with, the Celtic ones at least with plenty of Champions League experience.

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.

[Renart]

I rate the Where's Waldo/Wally kit - it's a unique look in international football.

Yes, 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.)

[Kevin S]

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).

[anton pulisov]

I rate the Where's Waldo/Wally kit - it's a unique look in international football.

Yes, one of the greatest kits ever - from the same country that gave us one of the worst kits ever (USA94)

[Jah Womble]

Wonder if they'll be in the same group as Poland again, as in 1982?

...and indeed 1978 (Rd 2), for those of us of a particular vintage.

[Renart]

Yes, one of the greatest kits ever - from the same country that gave us one of the worst kits ever (USA94)

The faux-denim one? I have come to be semi-fond of that one purely out of kitsch nostalgia, but I was mortified when I first saw it. "First World Cup qualification in my life and this is what they're wearing???" The players apparently hated those shirts, too.

[3 Colours Red]

Mark me down as another who favours the hoops for the USA - I do like it when a national kit more closely reflects the flag.

[Renart]

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.

[Diable Rouge]

Indeed. 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.)

Debutant nations seem to occur more regularly than long-term absentees - longest gap between tournaments in recent years was Norway at USA '94 (56 years), followed by Egypt at Italia '90 (same), and Bolivia also in America (44 years). France saw a comparatively meagre 20 year drought end for both Iran and Tunisia, with only NZ (28 years in SA 2010) and Australia (32 years in '06) notable post-millennium until Peru's return.

[Lang Spoon]

Fuck 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.

[Wouter D]

Thankfully, Germany and Argentina seem to have returned to black shorts this World Cup, though.

Oh. Thank. Fuck.

This all-light or all-dark color nonsense has screwed up far too many tournament kits already.

[anton pulisov]

Anybody worried that this is going to turn into Italia 90: check out the German home kit.

[Seven Saxon Kings]

Yes, 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.)

And Kingstonian, we aren't dead yet.

[Kevin S]

There's a collection of photos of US kits over time here.

I rather like the 1984 one with the diagonal red and blue pinstripes.

[Satchmo Distel]

Fuck 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.

Likelihood of eventual expansion to 64 team finals is their best chance.

[Patrick Thistle]

Likelihood of eventual expansion to 64 team finals is their best chance.

If we're doing that let's scrap qualifications and have everyone there. A real world cup!

[JM Footzee]

Those 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

These are all qualifiers, prior to their games in the recent international window they hadn't played a friendly since November 2016 (a 1-1 draw with Slovenia). That was their only friendly between this November and the 2016 Euros. England played three in that period - a 2-2 draw with Spain in November 2016 (h), a 1-0 loss to Germany in March and a 3-2 loss to France in June (both a).

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.

Why 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.

I maintain that the OFC and AFC should be rebalanced, with the West, Central and South Asian Football Federations forming one new confederation ("WCSA", 25 teams) and the East Asian and ASEAN Federations and the OFC forming another ("Pacific Football Federation/PFC", 33 teams if you only count the full members of the OFC). They could have a variety of tournaments for them - smaller federation ones, confederation ones, I think one big tournament for both would probably be called for given the big footballing nations lie largely in the PFC and the WCSA wouldn't want to be left behind economically.

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).

[Sam]

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.

[anton pulisov]

So, has O'Neill been sacked yet?

I am not watching the next qualifiers if he is still in charge.

[Satchmo Distel]

My guess is he'll stay for the UEFA Nations League thing - a back door to the Euros. The main qualifiers don't start until March 2019 so he could fuck off between those two phases.