World Cup 2018

[G-Dragon]

Salah truly is an Egyptian God!

 

[G-Dragon]

Scenes in Cairo

 

[Cornish Piskie]

Can I point out the obvious issue with that "clever" joke?

Yeah, I saw it too. Where are England going to get one point from..?


(and yes, I picked up on the fact that ESC is represented by United Kingdom not England, but hey.... a bit of licence never hurt, eh? <wink>)

 

[Super_horns]

Afrer all that hype its Ireland who make it to the play-offs.

They did a job on Wales.

 

[Benji]

I hereby declare my boycot of Russia 2018. It is a symbol of FIFA's corruption and I cannot abide it.

 

[Dirk]

I hereby declare my boycot of Russia 2018. It is a symbol of FIFA's corruption and I cannot abide it.

I wished I could say the same. Can't stand Russia (ups, is this even allowed to say here?).

btw: I am really sorry that Wales didn't make it at least in the playoffs. Watched yesterday's match (a dodgy Kodi-stream with many lags). Very painful to watch. But kudos to Ireland, this was a d# battle after they scored with their only chance in the 2nd half.

 

[Stevencc]

"Genetically we are behind," Strachan said. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain."

"We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do."

 

[Skinner]

"Genetically we are behind," Strachan said. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain."

"We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do."

Lucky the forum was down yesterday as if it was up and running everyone would have crashed the server by tagging St. Just

 

[shane]

The injury to Allen was the turning point last night. After that, Wales weren't half the side they were in the opening 20 mins when I thought they were going to win the game easily.

It was another awesome win for us last night under O Neil. We're hard to watch at the best of times and we threw away points earlier in the campaign but we somehow turn it on when we have to and grind results out. Wales have better players than us and its a testament to O Neil that we're still able to get results like this despite our main attributes being that we're big and awkward. We're basically a footballing Tyson Fury.

(That comparison is purely to annoy Abertawe )

 

[Abertawe]

Yeah if I supported a team who won because they made snidey cheating fouls I wouldn't be celebrating. Big & awkward? More like fucking shit.

 

[AnkleBiter]

So for the play offs it's

Portugal/Switzerland
Croatia
Sweden
Italy

Vs

Northern Ireland
Greece
Denmark
Republic of Ireland

Hmm, hard to see any of the unseeded teams going through, as much as I'd love all the Irish there. Denmark maybe? They beat Poland 4-0 not long ago so might fancy Sweden/Croatia.

 

[Stagat]

Lucky the forum was down yesterday as if it was up and running everyone would have crashed the server by tagging St. Just

That West African dude will be back soon telling us the Slavs are genetically superior.

 

[JaredSUFC]

Football is evil. Once Allen went off that was our WC chance gone. It was bad enough without Bale, but losing our best player from the qualifiers was a step too far. Our other big problem reared it's ugly head, in that we don't have much of a killer instinct. 5 draws from winnable games showed that. This doesn't feel like the end of an era like 93 and 03. I really hope Chris Coleman stays in charge, the job he's done has been amazing and if he stays we have something to build on for Euro 2020

 

[shane]

Yeah if I supported a team who won because they made snidey cheating fouls I wouldn't be celebrating. Big & awkward? More like fucking shit.

Thats a shame.

 

[Super_horns]

Northern Ireland might well be seeded as it stands based on the FIFA rankings.

 

[Renegade]

Yeah if I supported a team who won because they made snidey cheating fouls I wouldn't be celebrating. Big & awkward? More like fucking shit.

Wales were no threat last night, the only moment of skill in the game was the goal. O'Neill did what O'Neill always does, set up defensively and put the onus on the other side to break Ireland down, Wales didn't ever look like doing it. Neither side is very good, I think we'll go out in the playoff round, as Wales probably would have too. Still, a very enjoyable night after that disgusting tackle took out our only top class player in March.

 

[St. Juste]

The revelation that Slovenia's population is less than half of Scotland's will just add insult to injury.

Well, we did take 4 points off 6 against them, the same as England who have 26 times as many people.

Scotland can be proud, Kazakhstan a much larger country only mustered 3 points.

Northern Ireland 1-0 down in Norway, comedy own goal so they'll be thankful they've already got the job done.

The campaign had ups and downs, and we finished where we were seeded in the end I think. Not great, but not disastrous. A nation of our size will always struggle to qualify for the World Cup from an incredibly competitive European section. It will happen occassioanlly but certainly not the norm.

Credit to Iceland for bucking the trend and becoming the smallest ever nation to qualify, for those who don't believe population is a factor at all, Andorra and San Marino will be next.

"Genetically we are behind," Strachan said. "In the last campaign we were the second smallest, apart from Spain."

"We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things, maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do."

That's nonsense, obviously. However, it's long been a myth in Scottish football that we focus on large physical players in youth development which has never been the case. Every player who has ever been released by any Scottish club cries about how they were "too small".

We should focus on developing good players, not tall players.

It was actually a very poor performance in Slovenia and we were lucky to draw. Nevertheless, the standard Scottish response to missing out to the playoffs on goal difference?

Sack the manager, retire most of the players and rip up our entire footballing structure and start again. For the next two campaigns only play players under 25.

Astonishing.

We will regularly qualify for a 24 team Euros and every 20 years or so might make a World Cup. That's our level, and will continue to be so unless we get very lucky with a generation of players, or massively increase our immigration.

Delighted Wales are out, hope Ireland follow them soon. Don't mind Northern Ireland.

 

[Abertawe]

Wales were no threat last night, the only moment of skill in the game was the goal. O'Neill did what O'Neill always does, set up defensively and put the onus on the other side to break Ireland down, Wales didn't ever look like doing it. Neither side is very good, I think we'll go out in the playoff round, as Wales probably would have too. Still, a very enjoyable night after that disgusting tackle took out our only top class player in March.

No Ireland just hacked and hit it long. Had we had protection from the referee we'd have pissed it, albeit we were crap up top. As for Taylor that wasn't dirty, he's just crap and can't tackle, I've been watching his crapness for years.

 

[G.B]

The revelation that Slovenia's population is less than half of Scotland's will just add insult to injury.

From the group of UEFA nations to have previously qualified for a tournament, only Israel are going through a longer qualifying drought than the embarrassing Scotland. Footballing powerhouses such as Slovenia, Latvia, Bosnia, ROI, N. Ireland, Wales, Croatia, Albania and Iceland are all far more successful than Scotland despite having a lower population

 

[Laker]

So for the play offs it's

Portugal/Switzerland
Croatia
Sweden
Italy

Vs

Northern Ireland
Greece
Denmark
Republic of Ireland

Hmm, hard to see any of the unseeded teams going through, as much as I'd love all the Irish there. Denmark maybe? They beat Poland 4-0 not long ago so might fancy Sweden/Croatia.

I'm not sure your seeds are right - it's done on October's FIFA world rankings apparently. I was looking at it last night and had Northern Ireland down as 4th out of 8. They could play the Republic of Ireland (7th) which should be a laugh.

Obviously depends on tonight's matches of course.

 

[St. Juste]

From the group of UEFA nations to have previously qualified for a tournament, only Israel are going through a longer qualifying drought than the embarrassing Scotland. Footballing powerhouses such as Slovenia, Latvia, Bosnia, ROI, N. Ireland, Wales, Croatia, Albania and Iceland are all far more successful than Scotland despite having a lower population

And similarly, plenty of larger nations have a worse qualifying record than ourselves.

Of course anomalies can take place within certain periods of time, look over 50, 100 years how are the comparisons with these nations shaping up?

Our head to head record with the likes of Ireland and Wales is ridiculously one sided. We took 4 points off ROI in our last qualifying campaign, and finished ahead of Wales the last time we were in a group with them in 2013.

 

[Renegade]

From the group of UEFA nations to have previously qualified for a tournament, only Israel are going through a longer qualifying drought than the embarrassing Scotland. Footballing powerhouses such as Slovenia, Latvia, Bosnia, ROI, N. Ireland, Wales, Croatia, Albania and Iceland are all far more successful than Scotland despite having a lower population

Don't forget the Republic of Ireland that regularly qualifies for World Cups (or gets knocked out in the playoffs).

Edit: ah, you did include them.

 

[Abertawe]

It's easy to mock Strachan but he's got a point. Take us for instance, we're screaming out for a winger with West Indian heritage, we've just got no zip. England really should be doing better. They've got genes from all over the world and still don't look like doing anything. It's no coincidence Brazil are the most successful team ever when it's the most diverse country in the world.

 

[St. Juste]

Don't forget the Republic of Ireland that regularly qualifies for World Cups (or gets knocked out in the playoffs).

True, if they keep it up for a few decades they might come close to matching our record.

It certainly helps they have all of Northern Ireland and a swathe of Scotland to choose from.

Shame they lost and drew to Scotland in the last campaign, given how far ahead they supposedly are.

It's easy to mock Strachan but he's got a point. Take us for instance, we're screaming out for a winger with West Indian heritage, we've just got no zip. England really should be doing better. They've got genes from all over the world and still don't look like doing anything. It's no coincidence Brazil are the most successful team ever when it's the most diverse country in the world.

There is certainly something in this argument, Scotland is a dangerously homogenous society that have long been starved of immigration.

This is why the UK constituent countries (and even regions) need differing immigration policies - London and South East have benefited enormously from immigration whilst the rest of the country lags badly behind.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

It's easy to mock Strachan but he's got a point. Take us for instance, we're screaming out for a winger with West Indian heritage, we've just got no zip. England really should be doing better. They've got genes from all over the world and still don't look like doing anything. It's no coincidence Brazil are the most successful team ever when it's the most diverse country in the world.

I reckon having a population of 200m+ and being football crazy probably has more to do with it.

 

[Abertawe]

I reckon having a population of 200m+ and being football crazy probably has more to do with it.

I reckon you believe in the theories of Alfred Rosenberg and such is the reason you disagree.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

I reckon you believe in the theories of Alfred Rosenberg and such is the reason you disagree.

No way. He sounds too Jewish.

 

[epic73]

Shame they lost and drew to Scotland in the last campaign, given how far ahead they supposedly are.

Also beat and drew Germany in Euro qualifying...

 

[Nilsson]

England fans for one. Or at least the cretinous media side of them. My Twitter timeline was certainly full of England fans laughing about the Bake situation

Wow, don't we look silly. Maybe your twitter timeline is more savvy than we thought. Losing a must-win home game against a side with a 34-year-old Championship player leading their line is a damning indictment of a Bale-less Wales.

 

[Dirk]

Today I am watching Netherlands vs Sweden. It's shown live on German Free TV (yeah, we always show Netherlands matches when they are on the brink to be excluded from a tournament. Unless they'll win with 7 (or so) goals this will be fun to watch for me )