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World Cup 2026 - USA/Canada/Mexico

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  • Something I missed yesterday was that San Marino and Moldova were knocked out. They were both on the list of potential Nations League qualifiers for the playoffs, but lower down it than Northern Ireland. The four slots will go to Sweden, Romania, Northern Ireland and the loser of the Wales/N Macedonia game (the winner gets second in the group and a higher seeding than the NL qualifiers).
  • guinnessaddick
    guinnessaddick Posts: 28,899
     🇮🇪 Ireland will secure Pot 2 and host Pot 3 nation in the Semifinals of the UEFA Play-offs if both of these occur:

    1⃣ 🇧🇦 Bosnia do NOT win vs 🇦🇹 Austria

    2⃣ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales do NOT win vs🇲🇰 North Macedonia
  • CAFCTrev
    CAFCTrev Posts: 6,038
    edited November 16
    Maximum points and no goals conceded is pretty impressive qualifying 
    Which is why I dont get all this hullabaloo over Ireland (both of them), Scotland & Wales. They are all celebrating like they've won the bloody thing but all they've done is get into the play offs. 

    I'll raise a toast if any of them actually quality for the WC.
    Not sure if you’re too young to remember (or too old!), but England have wildly celebrated World Cup qualifying milestones in the past. Qualifying for the 1998 World Cup was a massive deal. There were plenty of tears, hugs and celebrations at the final whistle against Italy in ’97 when qualification was secured. And Beckham’s free kick against Greece in 2001 — the one that got us the point we needed for the 2002 World Cup — sparked huge celebrations as well.
  • golfaddick
    golfaddick Posts: 33,912
    CAFCTrev said:
    Maximum points and no goals conceded is pretty impressive qualifying 
    Which is why I dont get all this hullabaloo over Ireland (both of them), Scotland & Wales. They are all celebrating like they've won the bloody thing but all they've done is get into the play offs. 

    I'll raise a toast if any of them actually quality for the WC.
    Not sure if you’re too young to remember (or too old!), but England have wildly celebrated World Cup qualifying milestones in the past. Qualifying for the 1998 World Cup was a massive deal. There were plenty of tears, hugs and celebrations at the final whistle against Italy in ’97 when qualification was secured. And Beckham’s free kick against Greece in 2001 — the one that got us the point we needed for the 2002 World Cup — sparked huge celebrations as well.
    Precisely......celebrating reaching the WC. As I said.....I'll toast our nearest neighbours once they get there.. 

    And PS.
    They all hate England. They certainly wouldn't be going overboard if the situations were reversed.
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    16th Nov 
    - Portugal will qualify if they beat Armenia (2pm KO)
    - Norway will qualify if they win, draw or lose by no more than eight against Italy (7.45pm KO)
    - Nigeria v DR Congo to determine who qualifies for inter-continental playoffs (7pm KO)
    Other matches to keep an eye on & will determine UEFA playoffs:

    - Hungary v Ireland (2pm KO) - Ireland must win, otherwise Hungary qualify for playoffs
    - Ukraine v Iceland (5pm KO) - Ukraine must win, otherwise Iceland qualify for playoffs
    - Portugal qualify as the 31st team
    - Norway qualify as the 32nd team

    - DR Congo qualify to the inter-continental playoff after beating Nigeria on penalties
    - Ireland qualify for the UEFA playoffs
    - Ukraine qualify for the UEFA playoffs

    16 places remaining: 11 from UEFA (7 group winners and four playoff winners), 3 from CONCACAF and 2 from inter-continental playoffs
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    17th Nov
    - Netherlands will qualify if they win or draw against Lithuania
    - Germany will qualify if they win or draw against Slovakia (Slovakia qualify if they win)
    More straightforward for tomorrow.

    - Netherlands only need a point against Lithuania to qualify - this would also move Poland into the UEFA playoffs regardless of their result against Malta.

    - Germany also only need a point at home to Slovakia to qualify - however, if there was to be another Slovakia upset over the Germans then Slovakia would qualify in their place. Most likely though that Slovakia move into the UEFA playoffs.
  • Fair play to Congo. Knocked out Cameroon and then Nigeria in the play offs who were both favourites to beat them. 
  • Maximum points and no goals conceded is pretty impressive qualifying 
    Which is why I dont get all this hullabaloo over Ireland (both of them), Scotland & Wales. They are all celebrating like they've won the bloody thing but all they've done is get into the play offs. 

    I'll raise a toast if any of them actually quality for the WC.
    Well for a start they are much smaller nations who are not 'expected' to qualify. So if they do it's an achievement.

    And in the case of Ireland they were dead and buried, but have beaten both Portugal and Hungary (in the last minute) to get into the playoffs. Of course they're going to celebrate. It's like criticising Charlton for celebrating winning our play off semi final v Wycombe when "all they've done" is get into the play off final.
  • iaitch
    iaitch Posts: 10,293
    edited November 17
    Why do we celebrate when a goalie makes a brilliant save or a forward scores a goal?

    Surely just doing their job!!!!!!

    Or do we just get caught up with the emotion of the event.
  • ValleyGary
    ValleyGary Posts: 38,071
    Golfie in miserable old man chatting shit shocker 

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  • CAFCTrev
    CAFCTrev Posts: 6,038
    CAFCTrev said:
    Maximum points and no goals conceded is pretty impressive qualifying 
    Which is why I dont get all this hullabaloo over Ireland (both of them), Scotland & Wales. They are all celebrating like they've won the bloody thing but all they've done is get into the play offs. 

    I'll raise a toast if any of them actually quality for the WC.
    Not sure if you’re too young to remember (or too old!), but England have wildly celebrated World Cup qualifying milestones in the past. Qualifying for the 1998 World Cup was a massive deal. There were plenty of tears, hugs and celebrations at the final whistle against Italy in ’97 when qualification was secured. And Beckham’s free kick against Greece in 2001 — the one that got us the point we needed for the 2002 World Cup — sparked huge celebrations as well.
    Precisely......celebrating reaching the WC. As I said.....I'll toast our nearest neighbours once they get there.. 

    And PS.
    They all hate England. They certainly wouldn't be going overboard if the situations were reversed.

    If we’re drawing the line at the final act of qualifying, then we also need to acknowledge that we’ve massively celebrated key wins along the way before the last game — Croatia away in 2008 being a perfect example.

    The point is: it’s entirely reasonable to get excited when you hit an important qualifying milestone. That goes double for teams who don’t reach major finals very often.

  • Addick Addict
    Addick Addict Posts: 40,019
    edited November 17
    Haaland just scored his 15th and 16th goals of qualifying which equals the all time record.
    Norway now beating Italy 3-1 in Milan after being 1-0 down.
    He’s also scored in 11 games in a row, which equals another record
    Haaland has scored 32 of 60 goals his team have scored and has found the net in 18/20 games for club and country this season. He's not as complete a footballer as Kane (25 of 60 goals his team have scored and in 14/18 games) as the latter has the better all round game and is more of an influence on the team. 

    What Haaland has is another level  altogether of pace and physicality which makes it virtually impossible to stop without fouling him. Give him any space in the box or, equally as bad, operate a high line and allow him a run and he is unstoppable. He is the Jonah Lomu of football and like the former NZ winger, the only real way of doing so is to prevent the ball from getting to him in the first place. 


  • TelMc32
    TelMc32 Posts: 9,092
    CAFCTrev said:
    Maximum points and no goals conceded is pretty impressive qualifying 
    Which is why I dont get all this hullabaloo over Ireland (both of them), Scotland & Wales. They are all celebrating like they've won the bloody thing but all they've done is get into the play offs. 

    I'll raise a toast if any of them actually quality for the WC.
    Not sure if you’re too young to remember (or too old!), but England have wildly celebrated World Cup qualifying milestones in the past. Qualifying for the 1998 World Cup was a massive deal. There were plenty of tears, hugs and celebrations at the final whistle against Italy in ’97 when qualification was secured. And Beckham’s free kick against Greece in 2001 — the one that got us the point we needed for the 2002 World Cup — sparked huge celebrations as well.
    Precisely......celebrating reaching the WC. As I said.....I'll toast our nearest neighbours once they get there.. 

    And PS.
    They all hate England. They certainly wouldn't be going overboard if the situations were reversed.
    I’m assuming you didn’t celebrate Gillesphey’s 92nd minute equaliser against Orient last season then Golfie.  And you didn’t then go absolutely bananas, with limbs everywhere, when Kayne knocked in the winner in the 97th minute.  I mean, it was only one game wasn’t it!!  🤦🏻‍♂️

    We don’t hate you, but you’re bloody difficult to love!! 🤷🏻‍♂️😉
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 26,960
    gutted they made the play offs to be honest
    Same goes for Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland


  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    Kick off in Leipzig.

    To qualify:
    - Slovakia must win
    - Germay must not lose
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    1-0 Germans

    Also 1-0 Dutchies

    Both pretty much wrapped their qualification now and means Slovakia and Poland likely heading to playoffs
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    2-0 Germany
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    3-0
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    4-0…

    Don’t think the upset is happening anymore unfortunately 
  • EugenesAxe
    EugenesAxe Posts: 3,419
    Haaland just scored his 15th and 16th goals of qualifying which equals the all time record.
    Norway now beating Italy 3-1 in Milan after being 1-0 down.
    He’s also scored in 11 games in a row, which equals another record
    Haaland has scored 32 of 60 goals his team have scored and has found the net in 18/20 games for club and country this season. He's not as complete a footballer as Kane (25 of 60 goals his team have scored and in 14/18 games) as the latter has the better all round game and is more of an influence on the team. 

    What Haaland has is another level  altogether of pace and physicality which makes it virtually impossible to stop without fouling him. Give him any space in the box or, equally as bad, operate a high line and allow him a run and he is unstoppable. He is the Jonah Lomu of football and like the former NZ winger, the only real way of doing so is to prevent the ball from getting to him in the first place. 


    Jake Paul could 

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  • Now 17 countries qualified as Morocco won their African qualifying group on Friday with 2 of their 8 games still to play.
    Up to 18 qualifiers today after Tunisia also win their group with 2 games in hand, although in their case they've played 8 of 10. No real shocks about the first two qualifiers from Africa, but with 9 to qualify this time there are some relatively unfamiliar names among the countries still in contention.
    Egypt won their group yesterday, during the second-last round of games in Africa, making it 19 qualifiers to date.
    Algeria made it 20 countries qualified today, guaranteeing topping their group with a game still to play.
    Ghana sealed qualification yesterday - 21 teams now settled. Cape Verde need a win today against the last-placed team in their group to qualify for their first ever World Cup.
    Congratulations to Cape Verde who have qualified for the first time ever, the 22nd country to make it to this tournament. They are the second smallest country by population ever to have qualified, only Iceland is smaller. The BBC tell me the team's nickname is "The Blue Sharks".
    23: South Africa
    24: Qatar
    25: England
    26: Saudi Arabia

    2 more from Africa to be settled tonight.

    England not only qualifying without conceding a goal and with 2 games still to play, they are the only UEFA country to qualify this early. Due to Portugal conceding a stoppage-time equaliser that prevented them also qualifying 2 games early. No laughing at the back, now...
    27: Ivory Coast
    28: Senegal

    A bad night for those of us who were hoping for some more debutants. Gabon did qualify for the African playoffs, along with Dem. Congo, Nigeria and Cameroon. Only one country gets to go to the final playoffs, so that's a long shot.
    France winning their group last night means they're the 29th country to qualify.

    The remaining 10 direct qualifiers from Europe and 3 from North America will be confirmed during the rest of this international break, leaving only the 6 playoff slots to be sorted out. The playoffs will be 16 European countries competing for 4 places and 6 from the rest of the world chasing 2 slots. The current round of matches will also finalise who qualifies for those playoffs. Scotland and Wales are both guaranteed to be in the playoffs if they don't manage to win their groups (which Scotland might, but Wales would need a miracle). Northern Ireland also have a very good chance of a playoff slot. So it's been a pretty good qualification process for the 4 UK teams.

    The African playoffs to determine who goes to the intercontinental playoffs (and will be a huge favourite to qualify) was narrowed down to Nigeria v DR Congo. Another of the possible first-time qualifiers, Gabon, were knocked out last night. Serious chance of Ademola Lookman getting to the World Cup despite Nigeria having under-performed so far.
    Croatia's win over the Faroes means they are the 30th country to qualify and Czechia are guaranteed second in the group and a place in the playoffs. Which takes Czechia out of contention for the 4 slots in the playoffs reserved for the best Nations League performances among countries that don't finish top 2. Northern Ireland had been fifth on that list and are bumped up to fourth, so they are now guaranteed a playoff despite losing tonight.
    Qualifiers will come thick and fast over the next couple of days with the remaining European groups, plus the Asian playoff on Tuesday and the last round of North America games in the early hours of Wednesday. For today:
    31 Portugal
    32 Norway

    DR Congo will need to wait to see if they are seeded in the intercontinental playoff.
    33 Germany
    34 Netherlands

    5 more UEFA qualifiers tomorrow, 3 North Americans Wednesday morning and then the two sets of playoffs next year which sort out the final 6 places. The draw for the playoffs is at noon on Thursday, the rankings I think come out some time on Wednesday, after the last of the CONCACAF qualifiers. 
  • guinnessaddick
    guinnessaddick Posts: 28,899
    TelMc32 said:
    CAFCTrev said:
    Maximum points and no goals conceded is pretty impressive qualifying 
    Which is why I dont get all this hullabaloo over Ireland (both of them), Scotland & Wales. They are all celebrating like they've won the bloody thing but all they've done is get into the play offs. 

    I'll raise a toast if any of them actually quality for the WC.
    Not sure if you’re too young to remember (or too old!), but England have wildly celebrated World Cup qualifying milestones in the past. Qualifying for the 1998 World Cup was a massive deal. There were plenty of tears, hugs and celebrations at the final whistle against Italy in ’97 when qualification was secured. And Beckham’s free kick against Greece in 2001 — the one that got us the point we needed for the 2002 World Cup — sparked huge celebrations as well.
    Precisely......celebrating reaching the WC. As I said.....I'll toast our nearest neighbours once they get there.. 

    And PS.
    They all hate England. They certainly wouldn't be going overboard if the situations were reversed.
    I’m assuming you didn’t celebrate Gillesphey’s 92nd minute equaliser against Orient last season then Golfie.  And you didn’t then go absolutely bananas, with limbs everywhere, when Kayne knocked in the winner in the 97th minute.  I mean, it was only one game wasn’t it!!  🤦🏻‍♂️

    We don’t hate you, but you’re bloody difficult to love!! 🤷🏻‍♂️😉
    It’s the World Cup, unless you win it, there’s misery coming at you somewhere down the line. Enjoy the moments when you can.
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    15th Nov:
    - Belgium will qualify if they win in Kazahkstan (2pm UK KO)
    - Spain, Austria and Switzerland can also qualify if multiple results go their way
    Belgium draw 1-1 and will have to wait until the 18th when they play Liechtenstein at home.

    - Spain can qualify today if they get a better result against Georgia than Turkey do against Bulgaria.
    - Austria can qualify today if they beat Cyprus while Bosnia fail to beat Romania.
    - Switzerland can qualify today if they get a better result against Sweden than Kosovo do against Slovenia.
    None of Spain, Austria or Switzerland qualified tonight. They all won but so did the nations chasing them (Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo respectively). The fun part is that they all play each other instead of other minnows separately.

    Means on the 18th:
    - Spain can qualify win, draw or lose by 6 or less against Turkey otherwise Turkey qualifies. Most likely outcome: Spain qualify (99+%), Turkey playoffs.

    - Switzerland can qualify win, draw or lose by 5 or less against Kosovo otherwise Kosovo qualifies. Most likely outcome: Switzerland qualify (99+%), Kosovo playoffs.

    - Austria can qualify win or draw against Bosnia but if Bosnia win, they will qualify instead. Most likely outcome: Austria qualify (88%), Bosnia playoffs.

    - Denmark can qualify win or draw against Scotland but if Scotland win, they will qualify instead. Most likely outcome: Denmark qualify (73%), Scotland playoffs.

    - Belgium can qualify with a win or draw over Liechtenstein but if they lost, it opens the door to the winner of North Macedonia or Wales.
    - Wales must win to make it into the UEFA playoffs. North Macedonia must not lose. Most likely outcome: Belgium qualify (99+%), Wales playoffs (56%).

    And later in the night:

    - Suriname (v Guatemala) can qualify if they match Panama’s result (v El Salvador), otherwise Panama qualify. Most likely outcome: too close to call, Panama 51%, Suriname 49%.

    - Jamaica must win to qualify. Curacao must not lose to qualify. Most likely outcome: too close to call. Jamaica 51%, Curacao 49%.

    - Honduras (v Costa Rica) can qualify if they win or draw and match Haiti’s result (v Nicaragua). If Costa Rica (v Honduras) win, they must hope that Haiti fail to win in order to qualify. Most likely outcome: Haiti qualify (64%). Honduras 22%, Costa Rica 14%.

    - Only the two best of the three group runners-up will move on to the inter-continental playoffs. It’s most likely to come to from the first two groups (so Panama/Suriname plus Jamaica/Curacao).
  • Now 17 countries qualified as Morocco won their African qualifying group on Friday with 2 of their 8 games still to play.
    Up to 18 qualifiers today after Tunisia also win their group with 2 games in hand, although in their case they've played 8 of 10. No real shocks about the first two qualifiers from Africa, but with 9 to qualify this time there are some relatively unfamiliar names among the countries still in contention.
    Egypt won their group yesterday, during the second-last round of games in Africa, making it 19 qualifiers to date.
    Algeria made it 20 countries qualified today, guaranteeing topping their group with a game still to play.
    Ghana sealed qualification yesterday - 21 teams now settled. Cape Verde need a win today against the last-placed team in their group to qualify for their first ever World Cup.
    Congratulations to Cape Verde who have qualified for the first time ever, the 22nd country to make it to this tournament. They are the second smallest country by population ever to have qualified, only Iceland is smaller. The BBC tell me the team's nickname is "The Blue Sharks".
    23: South Africa
    24: Qatar
    25: England
    26: Saudi Arabia

    2 more from Africa to be settled tonight.

    England not only qualifying without conceding a goal and with 2 games still to play, they are the only UEFA country to qualify this early. Due to Portugal conceding a stoppage-time equaliser that prevented them also qualifying 2 games early. No laughing at the back, now...
    27: Ivory Coast
    28: Senegal

    A bad night for those of us who were hoping for some more debutants. Gabon did qualify for the African playoffs, along with Dem. Congo, Nigeria and Cameroon. Only one country gets to go to the final playoffs, so that's a long shot.
    France winning their group last night means they're the 29th country to qualify.

    The remaining 10 direct qualifiers from Europe and 3 from North America will be confirmed during the rest of this international break, leaving only the 6 playoff slots to be sorted out. The playoffs will be 16 European countries competing for 4 places and 6 from the rest of the world chasing 2 slots. The current round of matches will also finalise who qualifies for those playoffs. Scotland and Wales are both guaranteed to be in the playoffs if they don't manage to win their groups (which Scotland might, but Wales would need a miracle). Northern Ireland also have a very good chance of a playoff slot. So it's been a pretty good qualification process for the 4 UK teams.

    The African playoffs to determine who goes to the intercontinental playoffs (and will be a huge favourite to qualify) was narrowed down to Nigeria v DR Congo. Another of the possible first-time qualifiers, Gabon, were knocked out last night. Serious chance of Ademola Lookman getting to the World Cup despite Nigeria having under-performed so far.
    Croatia's win over the Faroes means they are the 30th country to qualify and Czechia are guaranteed second in the group and a place in the playoffs. Which takes Czechia out of contention for the 4 slots in the playoffs reserved for the best Nations League performances among countries that don't finish top 2. Northern Ireland had been fifth on that list and are bumped up to fourth, so they are now guaranteed a playoff despite losing tonight.
    Qualifiers will come thick and fast over the next couple of days with the remaining European groups, plus the Asian playoff on Tuesday and the last round of North America games in the early hours of Wednesday. For today:
    31 Portugal
    32 Norway

    DR Congo will need to wait to see if they are seeded in the intercontinental playoff.
    33 Germany
    34 Netherlands

    5 more UEFA qualifiers tomorrow, 3 North Americans Wednesday morning and then the two sets of playoffs next year which sort out the final 6 places. The draw for the playoffs is at noon on Thursday, the rankings I think come out some time on Wednesday, after the last of the CONCACAF qualifiers. 
    There are inter-confederation play offs for 6 teams in March (i think being played in Mexico) to sort out 2 places as well.

    New Caledonia
    Congo
    Bolivia
    Winner of Iraq/UAE tonight.
    2 CONCACAF runners up.

    Congo and Bolivia i would imagine will be favourites.
  • Bedsaddick
    Bedsaddick Posts: 24,857
    England under World Cup game just kicking off on ITV4 . Warning the commentator is fucking annoying 
  • Bedsaddick
    Bedsaddick Posts: 24,857
    Austria looking really good
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    Iraq 0-0 UAE at half time
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    0-1 UAE (1-2 on agg)
  • ValleyGary
    ValleyGary Posts: 38,071
    1-1
  • Callumcafc
    Callumcafc Posts: 63,984
    edited November 18
    .