The one you've all been waiting for...not.
Anyhow, it's this coming Monday at 5pm on Sky Sports I believe.
Would any of the England away regulars have a preference for any teams in the draw? Decent away days?
There is a chance England could be drawn in a group with Wales as well as either Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland which could be fun. Would probably like to avoid Poland from pot 2 and Norway from pot 3, but then again would be good to has some competitiveness to it.
What a rise it's been for Luxembourg too, up into pot 4 now after some good results in the nations league. You'd like to think they wouldn't cause us too many problems...
Pot 1: Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands
Pot 2: Switzerland, Wales, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania
Pot 3: Russia, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, Norway, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greece, Finland
Pot 4: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Israel, Belarus, Georgia, Luxembourg
Pot 5: Armenia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra
Pot 6: Malta, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, San Marino
Comments
It also means that some sides who performed well at the UNL and then fail to qualify through their group for Qatar, will be given a lifeline to qualify for the world cup through the play offs. I think Wales would fit into that category.
There are probably a few other permutations that I don't know about but i think thats the crux of it.
Wales, Scotland, Albania, Andorra and San Marino would be a piss easy group.
22 people voted on the outcome of this decision. Of those 22, 15 are now either banned from FIFA for life, suspended, imprisoned or fighting extradition to the USA to face federal charges. Only, one still actually works for FIFA.
England
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Slovenia
Lithuania
San Marino
I really couldn't think of a more boring group.
If you come second, you’ll join the nine other runners up and the two best Nations League teams group winners (who didn’t already finish first or second in a qualifying group) to form a 12 team playoff round. The teams will be drawn into three groups of four and a semi final / final bracket will be used to determine the remaining three qualifiers.
Should it come to it, England are ranked 9th in the Nations League behind France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
Either way, makes it very simple for us. If we win our group we qualify. If we come second we go into a playoff with a semi final and a final.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have been to 25 of the possible 45 Countries.
However on the off-chance the wife is feeling extremely generous, or more likely in my imagination, my ideal group as a travelling fan would be:
England
Romania / Serbia (though I’d probably bottle it)
Hungary / Greece
Israel (huge regret not going in 2007) / Georgia
Armenia / Cyprus
Malta / Liechtenstein
Or
Boring group:
Ukraine (been 3 times)
Russia (after WC)
Bulgaria (again...)
Montenegro (again...)
San Marino (again...)
I guess the first set of fixtures will be a write off for fans regardless.
Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania
Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia
Of course its not the only issue... Gibraltar and Spain can never be put into the same Group of course
What would happen if the two teams reached a World Cup Final though, now that would be interesting