Belarus's support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine - ordered to play all their home games behind closed doors on neutral territory.
Israel v Italy an absolutely mental game. Kosovo beating Sweden is wild. Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk
Africa’s qualification really heating up. You’ve got Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria all either qualified or pretty much there with 2 games to play. Nigeria currently 6 points behind South Africa. Cameroon a point behind Cape Verde, Senegal a point behind DR Congo, Ivory Coast only one point ahead of Gabon, Ghana are just about to put 3 points between themselves and Madagascar. Ranking of second place teams at the minute would see Gabon and Madagascar in the play offs with Senegal and Cameroon, but Comoros, Uganda, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Libya all hanging in there Next round of Concacaf qualifiers off to a cagey start, other than Jamaica with a big win
Yeah that's absolutely brilliant gameplay from Wales . Was wondering how you always seemed to get into the playoffs despite not always doing well in the qualification groups. I really need to start paying attention to it more. It's a combination of apathy due to England always qualifying easily in recent years, combined with now being over 40 meaning I'm becoming a bit set in my ways and ignorant to change. I'm definitely still stuck in the early 2010s when it comes to international football .
Wouldn’t be good for them! The 4 best ranked 2nd place teams go into a play off, with only one of them going through to the intercontinental play offs I’m sure those two get over the line but looking doubtful for Nigeria
Be a surprise but there was a spell where such teams used to struggle to qualifly. I remember Togo got in once!
2006 - they were eliminated in the group stage after losing all 3 of their group games (to Switzerland (2-0), France (2-0) and South Korea (2-1)). They won't be qualifying for 2026 as they've already been eliminated from qualifying having failed to win any of their 7 games so far (D4. L3). Thankfully African football has come on a long way since then and they've got 9 places as opposed to 5 back then.
Sweden suffering from the Isak debacle, or simply not having the sense to use him more wisely? third in the group, drew in Slovenia where Isak was unused sub and lost in Kosovo with Isak only a sub. Obviously his fitness levels will be questionable, but if not going to use him then why take him?!? I'm sure Liverpool will be glad to have him back without injury but both teams could have benefitted from a little more match time from their qualification point of view both games were away, but only 1 point and the toughest away day to come so Switzerland definitely have a march on them for the automatic spot
Guatemala held Panama to a draw last night and Suriname with a massive 3 points to go top of the group
Egypt struggling against a determined Burkino Faso side 0-0 as we head towards the 70 minute mark - an early injury for Omar Marmoush who had to come off certainly not helping them. Egypt will qualify if they win the match otherwise their waiting until the next window. South Africa are currently 1-1 with Nigeria - South Africa need a win and Benin to fail to beat Lesotho to qualify today otherwise they're waiting until the next window as well.
