2018 FIFA World Cup - Russia

[BlackSnake1435]

Hi guy. First than all I would like to tell you that just as many other users here I do not have english as my motherlanguage, nevertheless I would like to start this now considering that just withing the next two months we will be knowing the names of the 32 qualified football teams for this tournament which will be distributed as follows:

 

13 European teams plus Russia (automatically qualified for being the host nation)

4,5 Southamerican teams (One of them will be in the plays-off against Oceania)

3,5 teams from the Carribean and North-, Centeramerica (One of them will be in the plays-off against Asia)

4,5 asian teams (One of them will be in the play-off with concacaf (caribean, north, centeramerica)

5 african teams.

0,5 teams from Oceania (The only team in this confederation will play the pays-off against one southamerican team)

 

There are 8 national teams qualified by now:

 

Russia (Host-Nation)

Belgium

Brazil

Japan

Iran

Saudi Arabia

South Korea

Mexico

 

I think in October we'll know the name of 8 more european teams. As it is for Germany, they are already qualified, considering that North Ireland would have to score at least 20 goals in order to head their gruop and that only if Germany losses the two remaining matches; Spain and France will be quaifying very soon too I guess. We will probably not see the Netherlands in Russia 2018 :(. In South-america things look hard for all national teams except Brazil, at this moment only Bolivia and Venezuela are eliminated and the other 7 national teams can still qualify.

Do you have any more pronostics?

Edited September 12, 2017 by BlackSnake1435

[Satoshi Ookami]

16 minutes ago, BlackSnake1435 said:

Do you have any more pronostics?

I think Argentina is going to screw things up and lose to New Zeland in the play-offs.

[AzureBlazikun]

Rooting for USA!!!! but we not might make it ?

[FarSideOfSaturn]

Hoping Scotland will make it but it'll be tough. We got off to a bad start in qualifying but we've since recovered. We need two wins from our last two games against Slovakia this Thursday and Slovenia next Sunday. On current form we're capable of beating Slovakia at home, it's more mentality than ability than lets Scotland down. We tend to play negatively despite our best players being wingers and strikers but we seem to getting over that on recent evidence. We just destroyed Lithuania away which historically is the kind of opponent we'd settle for a draw against playing away from home. 

 

It was nice to see them play more offensively and make use of the talent we have in attack, maybe it's because our backs were to the wall and needed to come out swinging, or maybe our coach has finally realized our strength is in attack. Whatever the reason for the change in our style it's come at the right time so we're in with a chance. 

 

It's been twenty years since Scotland last played in a major tournament and we badly need it. The thing is they've always been good enough to get there but it's obvious they didn't believe in themselves and that's been the biggest change in the last few months. Our domestic game is an absolute shitshow right now too, there's infighting at the FA, between clubs, our young players are struggling to get game time, not having a reserve league makes it harder for them to come up against seasoned pros and get used to the professional game. It's a mess. My worry is where the next generation is coming from, the problems in Scottish football will take a generation to reverse at least assuming that happens ASAP. The younger talented guys current squad has maybe three campaigns before they start retiring from international football so if we don't make the next couple of World Cups, it's not impossible that France 98 would be the last time I see Scotland on that stage. 

 

I'll finish in a typical Scottish football fans elegant style. GIT TORN INTAE THEY FUCKIN BASSIRTS SCOTLAND! ALBA GU BRAAAAAAAAAAATH  

[GoldenShaka]

It would be amazing if my country Ecuador defeat Argentina in the last qualifier match, but knowing how important for the FIFA is to have Argentina for marketing purposes, I doubt it.

[rayo1160016]

Panamá looks strong on concacaf im pretty sure they going to be on a World cup for first time

[Banana_Sausage47]

I really hope my country Northern Ireland make it through. It was cool seeing them play in the Euros and would be even better at the WC. Also, I really want Syria to get in as that country needs something positive like this.

[Kapika96]

heh, a bit early but I'm looking forward to it anyways!

 

Would like to see Messi lift the cup ideally. Although really, I'd be happy with almost anyone except Germany

[Nagflar]

21 hours ago, GoldenShaka said:

It would be amazing if my country Ecuador defeat Argentina in the last qualifier match, but knowing how important for the FIFA is to have Argentina for marketing purposes, I doubt it.

Have some faith, Argentina is shit and football can be unpredictable (specially South America's). I, too, think Argentina will get a helping hand (if not several) from the refs, but there's always the chance they'll show us all just how bad they are. If not, we'll just have to deal with laughing at them fail miserably at the world cup for the sixth time in a row.

[AtroxBR]

21 hours ago, GoldenShaka said:

It would be amazing if my country Ecuador defeat Argentina in the last qualifier match, but knowing how important for the FIFA is to have Argentina for marketing purposes, I doubt it.

 

Having to defeat both Chile and Argentina to qualify is probably the worst situation for you guys. 

 

But who knows, anything can happen.

[GoldenShaka]

Tell me about it, specially now that we have a new coach and he asked for basically a whole new group, cool to have youngsters but very little time to them to work as a group.

But let's believe in miracles.

[Lucas]

It's highly likely that The Netherlands won't qualify this year and that's a shame but really, with the weak team they have at the moment, even if they did qualify, they wouldn't be able to perform even close to as good as they did during the last two World Cups .

[GoldenShaka]

29 minutes ago, Nagflar said:

Have some faith, Argentina is shit and football can be unpredictable (specially South America's). I, too, think Argentina will get a helping hand (if not several) from the refs, but there's always the chance they'll show us all just how bad they are. If not, we'll just have to deal with laughing at them fail miserably at the world cup for the sixth time in a row.

Well, that's very accurate, football is very unpredictable in South America lol.  Let's cross fingers

[spatial-acrobat4]

Hoping England can actually do something next year (if they even qualify that is). But I can already predict the outcome. We'll qualify "comfortably", finish 2nd in the group and get knocked out by Germany somewhere down the line.

[Nagflar]

On 10/1/2017 at 7:21 PM, BrandonSmithy_ said:

Hoping England can actually do something next year (if they even qualify that is). But I can already predict the outcome. We'll qualify "comfortably", finish 2nd in the group and get knocked out by Germany somewhere down the line.

England's pretty much through, they just need to win the next game - or at best tie and then win. If Slovakia doesn't win their next game, England's pretty much through.

[BlackSnake1435]

England and Germany are now in the list of qualified football teams.

 

My football team Colombia was just few minutes away of qualifying for the World Cup but shortly before the final whistle we lost that chance, i still can explain what just happened but now we have to defeat Peru if we actually want to qualify directly, I hate this thing of being patien but unfortunately there is nothing we can do.

[GoldenShaka]

Wow, what a qualifiers week in SouthAmerica.

Peru got a golden point. Colombia had everything to get three points and now Paraguay has the chance to get in even avoiding Play-off against New Zealand.

What a way to finish the qualifier matches next Tuesday

[Nagflar]

Let's all cross our fingers for an Argentina humiliation.

[spatial-acrobat4]

Well England have qualified, but it was one of the worst matches I've ever seen. No energy, no desire whatsoever. Could've lost it if Hart hadn't of made a key save. Need to improve a lot if we hope to make it any further than the group stages next year.

I also feel kinda bad for Messi, won pretty much everything except an international tournament. Looking forward to the next few games.

[FarSideOfSaturn]

Scotland made us suffer on Thursday night. After four world class saves and two shots off the bar we finally scored in the 88th minute for a 1 - 0 win over Slovakia to go second in our group. A win in our final match against Slovenia tomorrow guarantees us a playoff spot, or a draw will do if Slovakia fail to beat Malta. Should be a tough match, Slovenia haven't conceded a single goal at home during the entire campaign and they can still grab second place if they win and Slovakia somehow lose. 

 

It's pretty precarious but it's the best position Scotland could've hoped for after the start we had and England being in the group. In that it's in our own hands and we're not relying on anyone else to do us a favour. That said, Scotland have a history of getting into good positions and blowing it, not just in the last match but the final minutes of a campaign. I'll either be back here tomorrow night delighted or devastated, there's no inbetween with Scotland  

[FarSideOfSaturn]

Scotland are out and kept us hanging on until the very end as usual. Went 1 - 0 up away to Slovenia, a poor second half saw us 2 - 1 down, then equalised with three minutes to go and wasted two great chances in injury time. That puts Slovakia into the play off spot above Scotland on goal difference after a 3 - 0 win against Malta and England go through as group winners. 

 

Disappointed. Slovenia away is a tough match but for a team coming into it with three straight wins and no goals conceded they didn't fight anywhere near hard enough until the last few minutes. We were lucky to come away with a 2 - 2 draw, we were terrible. After the start we had to the campaign (awful) and tonight's performance we didn't deserve to go through to a play off. Results like tonight coupled with the performance show why Scottish players rarely make it to the top of the professional game, the majority of them can't handle big games and being in an environment where success is expected. 

 

So yet again I'll look in on another World Cup with interest with no one to support  Congratulations to everyone who won their group or made the playoffs and good luck 

[Satoshi Ookami]

22 minutes ago, FarSideOfSaturn said:

 That puts Slovakia into the play off spot above Scotland on goal difference after a 3 - 0 win against Malta and England go through as group winners. 

Not yet actually... Britain group was so equal Slovakia may not have enough points and become the odd one out who doesn't end up in the play-offs.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Satoshi Ookami

[FarSideOfSaturn]

54 minutes ago, Satoshi Ookami said:

Not yet actually... Britain group was so equal Slovakia may not have enough points and become the odd one out who doesn't end up in the play-offs.

 

Completely forgot about that! Let's see if I can figure this out. 

 

So results against the team bottom of the group don't count right? That puts Slovakia in 7th place out of 9 in the play off table with 12 points, one ahead of Wales and Croatia with a +1 goal difference over both teams who are both playing the third placed team in their groups next, Ireland and Ukraine respectively. And both of them can still get themselves into the play off spot with a victory. 

 

Basically, start praying for a draw all round Slovaks  Imagine going through all of that, coming second in your group, then waiting to see if results elsewhere go your way, then hoping for a not too terrible draw in the play off before you qualify. I think I'm glad Scotland are out, I've been through enough stress  

Edited October 8, 2017 by FarSideOfSaturn

[GoldenShaka]

So how many spots are pending?

In south america this tuesday everything will be solved.

[BlackSnake1435]

58 minutes ago, GoldenShaka said:

So how many spots are pending?

In south america this tuesday everything will be solved.

It will be solved who will qualify directly to the word cup and who will have to fight in the Play-off against New Zealand for a place in the tournament.

 

These are the qualified teams so far:

 

Europe: Russia (Host nation), Germany, Belgium, Spain, Poland, England

 

South America: Brazil

 

Caribbean, North- and centeramerica: Mexico, Costa Rica

 

Africa: Nigeria, Egypt

 

Asia: Japan, South Korea, Iran ,Saudi Arabia.

 

It is already decided that New Zealand is going to the play-off against the fifth on the list in South America. On the other side Australia and Syria are fighting for the chance of being part of the play-off against Concacaf which could be against USA or Panama.