Give it a rest. It's not that it's your money Bayern would have wasted if they had bought him (apart from your 50€ membership fee (or whatever price it is) ) Woltemade was shit in both matches, yes and was rightly replaced in the 2nd half. But I hope he'll find his form in Newcastle. So far he's not played there yet, so way too soon to call him a wasted money transfer *********** Anyway, at least a win after 3 consecutive losses. Unfortunately Slovakia got also a win in Luxembourg with a 90th min. goal. Overall the win was deserved (apart from the goal the NI's haven't had a clear chance for a goal) but it was still not convincing apart of the first 10 mins and the last 25, when Amiri and Beier came on the field. Northern Ireland is 71st in the Fifa rankings, so nothing to brag about this win. The commentator said that only 7 men played in a top tier league, the rest in 2nd, 3rd and even 4th tier. For that they've done it very well.
I don't know what your problem is here ? I was just answering the guy's point. I personally don't rate Woltemade, just my opinion, I think of German strikers from the past, Tante Käthe, Klinsmann, Klose, Allofs, Fischer, Müller, Rummenigge, Walter Mitty couldn't kiss their boots.
Another spot clinched in the African qualifiers. Tunisia just about manage to get their 3 points to clinch qualification with a stoppage time winner against a very good Equatorial Guinea side and become the 18th team to book a space in the 2026 World Cup. Equatorial Guinea will have to hope they can pip 2nd place Namibia to a play-off spot after the remaining games. Spoiler: Teams Qualified Canada (Hosts, CONCACAF) - 1 of 3 Mexico (Hosts CONCACAF) - 2 of 3 United States (Hosts CONCACAF) - 3 of 3 Japan (AFC) - 1 of 8 New Zealand (OFC) - 1 of 1 Iran (AFC) - 2 of 8 Argentina (CONMEBOL) - 1 of 6 Uzbekistan (AFC) - 3 of 8 South Korea (AFC) - 4 of 8 Jordan (AFC) - 5 of 8 Australia (AFC) - 6 of 8 Brazil (CONMEBOL) - 2 of 6 Ecuador (CONMEBOL) - 3 of 6 Uruguay (CONMEBOL) - 4 of 6 Columbia (CONMEBOL) - 5 of 6 Paraguay (CONMEBOL) - 6 of 6 Morocco (CAF) - 1 of 9 Tunisia (CAF) - 2 of 9
Italy 1-0 down away to Israel, still plenty of time in the game to go, but you'd think if they lose this then their chances of qualifiying from their group would be over. They still should get a play-off, but there's a real chance that they go three consecutive World Cup's without qualifiying which is mental.
Is there a playoff for third place in World Cup qualifying? Thought it was only the second placed teams who get into the playoffs. Unless the rules have changed with the expanded World Cup? I can't keep up with it all?
So second place get into the play-offs, along with the top four ranked Nations League groups winners who haven't finished in the top two of their groups. Looking into it a little bit more, Italy are actually ranked 6th, and probably unlikely to get a play-off. As it stands the four sides would be Germany, Romania, Wales and Moldova. San Marino are the next side that would get a play-off, but if Germany and Wales finish in the top two of their groups then Italy could sneak in there.
I’ve just read that the 12 second place teams, plus the 4 highest ranked from the earlier Nations League who finished 3rd or worse here, go into a playoff. 16 then whittled to four in do-or-die matches. (Added to the 12 group winners make the 16 WC Euro-entrants.) Italy is 5th in that Nations League ranking. They’re sure to be in that group of 16 since Portugal and Spain, ahead of them, surely win their groups. Well, Italy got that own goal back, but they could use a win to retain hope of winning the group. They’ll finish on 16th November at home, against group leader Erling U-Know-Who. UPDATE: Italy as 5th in Nations League is wrong, sorry. They could really use a win here.
These are the rankings to decide the final four play-off spots, teams in yellow are already top two as it stands, teams in blue would be the final four play-off qualifiers and teams in white would be missing out altogether.
That's interesting. I thought the Nations League only contributed towards qualifying for the Euros which is a UEFA event, with World Cup qualification solely based on the qualification groups. Obviously that's changed. Definitely time for teams to start taking the Nations League a bit more seriously because it can really screw you over if you have a poor qualification campaign and don't have a strong Nations League to back you up.
I get they did it to make the Nations League matches count for something for all teams in all leagues but it doesn't really seem at all fair for San Marino (50th) to be ahead of Italy (5th) in the qualification queue just because they won their group in the inferior D League whereas Italy were in the top league and came 2nd in their group. Obviously not going to complain too much though as it means England are pretty much guaranteed a play-off spot if we (somehow) don't qualify directly but it seems to be over inflating the importance of winning a group in the Nation's League.
Can’t a man go to the loo for a 30-second piss around here without missing two goals scored in neutral Hungary?!
It was the same for the 2022 world cup, but it was for two qualifying places rather than four. It's probably more significant this time with their being more teams in the world cup. For the World Cup qualifiers so far qualifiers for the play-offs have been for group winners, where as for Euro qualifiers it's been beneficial to be further up the leagues (and any sides in A effectively automatically getting in the play-offs). Wales have played it perfectly so far, winning their groups in League B for World Cup qualifying years, and getting relegated from League A in Euro qualifying years.
Yes, it does seem odd, and particularly odd now that there's four spots through the Nations League. If Moldova and San Marino end up in there it's going to be very odd, and may raise questions about whether there needs to be changes in future competitions. If it was a Euros qualification Italy would be guaranteed to be in the play-offs, which seems a fairer way of doing it - although that system also guarantees a Pot 4 team qualifies.
Sweden 2-0 down at Kosovo is not looking very good. They're going to have to do the double over Switzerland if they want to qualify straight to the World Cup.
2-3 up now. They need to hold on. Good 4 point start for Scotland away from home. Probably need to score more goals though to get top spot I feel with Denmark still the likely favourites?
