Hopefully its Scotland v Wales in the Play-Offs so we get another Home Nation at the World Cup with us for once.
It's a twelve team play-off round for three places with a semi-final round so not the case I'm afraid. Maybe if they both get easy semi-final opponents and can meet in the final game. :-)
Final group games in UEFA next month... didn't mean the below to turn into a full preview but there you go.
Group A: Luxembourg, Ireland and Azerbaijan are eliminated. Serbia top the group with 17 points, Portugal in second with 16. Portugal have a game in hand and also host Serbia in the final group game so will be considered favourites with Serbia likely to drop into play-offs. -prediction: 1. Portugal, 2. Serbia
Group B: both Georgia and Kosovo are eliminated. Sweden have 15 points, Spain have 13 and Greece have 9. Spain must play both Greece and Sweden. Sweden's penultimate game is in Georgia while Greece host Kosovo in the final round. Spain host Sweden in the final round of fixtures and Sweden will fancy their chances of grabbing a draw and pushing Spain into the play-off round. -prediction: 1. Spain, 2. Sweden
Group C: Bulgaria, Northern Ireland and Lithuania are eliminated. Both Italy and Switzerland have 14 points. Italy host Switzerland in the next round of fixtures and will consider themselves favourites to win the group due to that. In the last round of fixtures, Italy travel to Northern Ireland while Switzerland host Bulgaria. A Swiss upset in Italy would likely land the Italians in the play-off round. -prediction: 1. Italy, 2. Switzerland
Group Only Kazahkstan eliminated. France have a three point lead at the top of the group with matches against Finland and Kazahkstan to come so will be confident of winning the group. Three horse race for the play-off place between Ukraine, Finland and Bosnia. Ukraine have 9 points, Finland have 8 and Bosnia have 7. Bosnia have home games against both and can claim the play-off place with two wins. Ukraine have only one game left (in Bosnia) and Finland's other game is at home against France. -prediction: 1. France, 2. Bosnia
Group E: Both Estonia and Belarus are eliminated. Belgium are five points clear with two games to play and will win the group. Wales and Czech Republic are competing for the direct play-off place from qualifying but whichever team is unsuccessful likely gets in through the Nations League back door. Bit of a dead rubber group already. -prediction: 1. Belgium, 2. Czech Republic (Wales qualify through Nations League)
Group F: Denmark are qualified as group winners. Faroe Islands and Moldova are eliminated. Austria are also eliminated from direct qualification to the play-offs but will likely make it via the Nations League back door. Scotland (17pts) and Israel (13pts) compete for the play-off place. Three points from two games for Scotland against Moldova and Denmark would be enough. If not, Israel can leapfrog them with positive results against the Faroes and Austria. -prediction: 1. Denmark, 2. Scotland (Austria qualify through Nations League)
Group G: Latvia and Gibraltar are eliminated. Montenegro will likely be eliminated with a six point gap to the play-offs with games against Netherlands and Turkey to come. Netherlands (19pts), Norway (17pts) and Turkey (15pts) are in the race for top two. Netherlands host Norway, Norway host Latvia and Turkey host Gibraltar alongside the two matches that involve Montenegro. -prediction: 1. Netherlands, 2. Turkey
Group H: Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia are eliminated. Russia (19pts) and Croatia (17pts) are jockeying for top two positioning. Russia host Cyprus and Croatia travel to Malta, before Croatia host Russia in a likely must win game to qualify automatically. -prediction: 1. Russia, 2. Croatia
Group I: Andorra and San Marino are eliminated. Hungary are also all but eliminated with six points to make up on Poland with Poland still to play against Andorra. England will expect to win this group with matches against Albania and San Marino. With Poland still to play Andorra, Albania will need to hope that Hungary can spoil the Polish party while they upset England. -prediction: 1. England, 2. Poland
Group J: Germany have qualified as group winners while Liechtenstein are eliminated. Romania (13pts), North Macedonia (12pts), Armenia (12pts) and Iceland (8pts) are in a four horse race for the play-off place. Iceland travel to Romania and North Macedonia, Armenia host Germany and North Macedonia. Romania will also travel to Liechtenstein and alongside the extra point, likely is what gives them the edge in this race. -prediction: 1. Germany, 2. Romania
My group winners: Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Russia, England, Germany
My play-off teams: Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Scotland, Turkey, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Wales, Austria
Tonight was my first time seeing England live in a stadium. Such a shame that not even a minute had gone by before I had to witness Hungry fans attack police and stewards.
Shocking atmosphere, but I didn't expect much.
Did have an enjoyable experience overall though. First time I've seen Premier League quality since I saw Southampton play in the Europa League when I went to uni there.
Edit: nothing against the bloke, but Loic Nego got a good booing from me
Conor Gallagher played for the Engand U21s as they beat the Czechs 3-1
Max Aarons was RB. With the glut of brilliant RBs we have, I'm surprised he's the best U21 we've got. Ben Johnson has never been called up by England at any level
Pepe is a liability for Portugal. Misses their big game against Serbia now.
I'm no fan of Pepe and given he is notorious for his play-acting antics some may say it is poetic justice, however that was absolutely embarrising by Robinson of the ROI. He went down as if he had been punched in the face, simulation like that should be an automatic ban once it is reviewed.
Pepe is a liability for Portugal. Misses their big game against Serbia now.
I'm no fan of Pepe and given he is notorious for his play-acting antics some may say it is poetic justice, however that was absolutely embarrising by Robinson of the ROI. He went down as if he had been punched in the face, simulation like that should be an automatic ban once it is reviewed.
Pepe is a liability for Portugal. Misses their big game against Serbia now.
I'm no fan of Pepe and given he is notorious for his play-acting antics some may say it is poetic justice, however that was absolutely embarrising by Robinson of the ROI. He went down as if he had been punched in the face, simulation like that should be an automatic ban once it is reviewed.
Tbf I posted after the real time, but yeah I agree. Ridiculous Pepe would have his arms up like that on a booking tho, especially with his reputation. Ireland just don’t have anything going forward, Portugal would see this out with 8 men I think.
Pepe is a liability for Portugal. Misses their big game against Serbia now.
I'm no fan of Pepe and given he is notorious for his play-acting antics some may say it is poetic justice, however that was absolutely embarrising by Robinson of the ROI. He went down as if he had been punched in the face, simulation like that should be an automatic ban once it is reviewed.
Tbf I posted after the real time, but yeah I agree. Ridiculous Pepe would have his arms up like that on a booking tho, especially with his reputation. Ireland just don’t have anything going forward, Portugal would see this out with 8 men I think.
It definitely looked that way in real time and I have full sympathy with the referee.
However it is blatant cheating by Robinson and it should be called out as such, honestly antics like that are an embarrassment and pundits, interviewers etc should show him a video of it and ask him why on earth he went down like he'd been punched in the face when there was barely any contact whatsoever.
If you ignore the fact it is Pepe (as I said he is a master at these kind of antics so I have little sympathy) a massive player for his country now misses out on a huge world cup qualification game because a player decided to con the referee. If I was Pepe I would be absolutely seething with Robinson and be making sure he knew so after the game.
Hady Ghandour didnt play but Lebanon threw away their game in true Charlton style
They were 1-0 up until the 91st min but lost 2-1 at home to Iran
That Asia qualifying is atrocious. The lack of goals is crazy. Japan have a GD of 4:3 after 5 games.
Asian football is not helped by their leagues having a limit on foreign players, UAE, Qatar, China, Saudi for example. But of course no clubs want to waste a spot on a defender so they sign attacking midfielders and strikers, which of course means not many local players play in those roles. I'm convinced this has a knock on effect at National level.
But even the big sides struggle and the football is generally safety first. I've no idea how South Korea with Son and Hwang up front have drawn 0-0 with Iraq and only beaten UAE and Lebanon 1-0.
Conor Gallagher played for the Engand U21s as they beat the Czechs 3-1
Max Aarons was RB. With the glut of brilliant RBs we have, I'm surprised he's the best U21 we've got. Ben Johnson has never been called up by England at any level
Aarons has been a talent for a while with several of the top clubs looking at him, personally not a fan of Ben Johnson, hes played ok recently but don't think he should start for West Ham. Average in my opinion and be surprised if he gets near England with the current amount of RB's we have miles better, suppose he is still young so never say never
Avoid defeat tonight and we are as good a Group winners with a formality against San Marino awaiting on Monday. Of course we will be hoping to do more than just avoid defeat. Albania really need to win as Poland are their targets and anything less and they need Poland to slip up against Andorra tonight! That should help England in theory!
I'm going to watch Canada vs. Costa Rica tonight. Row 69 in a roofless stadium on a night it's forecast to be -2°C by full time. Not sure who's idea it was to schedule two November fixtures in N.America's most northerly major City , but I doubt the Costa Ricans or Mexicans (Tuesday's opponents) will fancy it. Maybe even worse than Stoke on a Tuesday.
I'll let you all know how Liam Millar's end product is coming along.
Comments
Qatar (hosts)
Germany
Denmark
Group A: Luxembourg, Ireland and Azerbaijan are eliminated. Serbia top the group with 17 points, Portugal in second with 16. Portugal have a game in hand and also host Serbia in the final group game so will be considered favourites with Serbia likely to drop into play-offs.
-prediction: 1. Portugal, 2. Serbia
Group B: both Georgia and Kosovo are eliminated. Sweden have 15 points, Spain have 13 and Greece have 9. Spain must play both Greece and Sweden. Sweden's penultimate game is in Georgia while Greece host Kosovo in the final round. Spain host Sweden in the final round of fixtures and Sweden will fancy their chances of grabbing a draw and pushing Spain into the play-off round.
-prediction: 1. Spain, 2. Sweden
Group C: Bulgaria, Northern Ireland and Lithuania are eliminated. Both Italy and Switzerland have 14 points. Italy host Switzerland in the next round of fixtures and will consider themselves favourites to win the group due to that. In the last round of fixtures, Italy travel to Northern Ireland while Switzerland host Bulgaria. A Swiss upset in Italy would likely land the Italians in the play-off round.
-prediction: 1. Italy, 2. Switzerland
Group
-prediction: 1. France, 2. Bosnia
Group E: Both Estonia and Belarus are eliminated. Belgium are five points clear with two games to play and will win the group. Wales and Czech Republic are competing for the direct play-off place from qualifying but whichever team is unsuccessful likely gets in through the Nations League back door. Bit of a dead rubber group already.
-prediction: 1. Belgium, 2. Czech Republic (Wales qualify through Nations League)
Group F: Denmark are qualified as group winners. Faroe Islands and Moldova are eliminated. Austria are also eliminated from direct qualification to the play-offs but will likely make it via the Nations League back door. Scotland (17pts) and Israel (13pts) compete for the play-off place. Three points from two games for Scotland against Moldova and Denmark would be enough. If not, Israel can leapfrog them with positive results against the Faroes and Austria.
-prediction: 1. Denmark, 2. Scotland (Austria qualify through Nations League)
Group G: Latvia and Gibraltar are eliminated. Montenegro will likely be eliminated with a six point gap to the play-offs with games against Netherlands and Turkey to come. Netherlands (19pts), Norway (17pts) and Turkey (15pts) are in the race for top two. Netherlands host Norway, Norway host Latvia and Turkey host Gibraltar alongside the two matches that involve Montenegro.
-prediction: 1. Netherlands, 2. Turkey
Group H: Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia are eliminated. Russia (19pts) and Croatia (17pts) are jockeying for top two positioning. Russia host Cyprus and Croatia travel to Malta, before Croatia host Russia in a likely must win game to qualify automatically.
-prediction: 1. Russia, 2. Croatia
Group I: Andorra and San Marino are eliminated. Hungary are also all but eliminated with six points to make up on Poland with Poland still to play against Andorra. England will expect to win this group with matches against Albania and San Marino. With Poland still to play Andorra, Albania will need to hope that Hungary can spoil the Polish party while they upset England.
-prediction: 1. England, 2. Poland
Group J: Germany have qualified as group winners while Liechtenstein are eliminated. Romania (13pts), North Macedonia (12pts), Armenia (12pts) and Iceland (8pts) are in a four horse race for the play-off place. Iceland travel to Romania and North Macedonia, Armenia host Germany and North Macedonia. Romania will also travel to Liechtenstein and alongside the extra point, likely is what gives them the edge in this race.
-prediction: 1. Germany, 2. Romania
My group winners: Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Russia, England, Germany
My play-off teams: Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Scotland, Turkey, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Wales, Austria
Shocking atmosphere, but I didn't expect much.
Did have an enjoyable experience overall though. First time I've seen Premier League quality since I saw Southampton play in the Europa League when I went to uni there.
Edit: nothing against the bloke, but Loic Nego got a good booing from me
Watching Portugal v Ireland. Real lack of quality.
That is unless Greece can find an equaliser in the final 20 minutes against Spain...
Max Aarons was RB. With the glut of brilliant RBs we have, I'm surprised he's the best U21 we've got. Ben Johnson has never been called up by England at any level
HA HA HA
They were 1-0 up until the 91st min but lost 2-1 at home to Iran
القيام بلعبة الجولفHowever it is blatant cheating by Robinson and it should be called out as such, honestly antics like that are an embarrassment and pundits, interviewers etc should show him a video of it and ask him why on earth he went down like he'd been punched in the face when there was barely any contact whatsoever.
If you ignore the fact it is Pepe (as I said he is a master at these kind of antics so I have little sympathy) a massive player for his country now misses out on a huge world cup qualification game because a player decided to con the referee. If I was Pepe I would be absolutely seething with Robinson and be making sure he knew so after the game.
But even the big sides struggle and the football is generally safety first. I've no idea how South Korea with Son and Hwang up front have drawn 0-0 with Iraq and only beaten UAE and Lebanon 1-0.
I'll let you all know how Liam Millar's end product is coming along.