World Cup 2014 Qualification

Sasquatch76

Anyone see the opening goal from Afghanistan vs Palestine?

Charisteas

Some results from today;

Asia, second leg matches;

Philippines 4 - 0 Sri Lanka (AGG 5-1)
Myanmar 2 - 0 Mongolia (AGG 2-1)
Laos 6 - 2 Cambodia (AET) (AGG 8-6)
Macao 1 - 7 Vietnam (AGG 1-13)
Taiwan 3 - 2 Malaysia (AGG 4-4 Malaysia Away Goal)
Palestine 1 - 1 Afghanistan (AGG 3-1)

Second Round Draw;

1. Thailand Palestine
2. Lebanon Bangladesh
3. China PR Laos
4. Turkmenistan Indonesia
5. Kuwait Philippines
6. Oman Myanmar
7. Saudi Arabia Hong Kong
8. Iran Maldives
9. Syria Tajikistan
10. Qatar Vietnam
11. Iraq Yemen
12. Singapore Malaysia
13. Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan
14. United Arab Emirates India
15. Jordan Nepal

North and Central America, first leg matches;

Turks and Caicos Islands 0-4 Bahamas
US Virgin Islands 2-0 British Virgin Islands

Not sure what's happening with the Belize situation, think they have until 10th July to prove that they have eliminated government interference into their football federation, otherwise Belize are expelled from this qualifying competition.

The Volt

Delighted to see Palestine through

Desire.

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

Anyone see the opening goal from Afghanistan vs Palestine?

The 'keeper looks tiny! :P

Charisteas

Just to keep updated;

Asia Second Qualifying round aggregate results;

Thailand 3–2 Palestine (1–0 2–2)
Lebanon 4–2 Bangladesh (4–0 0–2)
China PR 13–3 Laos (7–2 6–1)
Turkmenistan 4–5 Indonesia (1–1 3–4)
Kuwait 5–1 Philippines (3–0 2–1)
Oman 4–0 Myanmar (2–0 2–0)
Saudi Arabia 8–0 Hong Kong (3–0 5–0)
Iran 5–0 Maldives (4–0 1–0)
Syria 6–1 Tajikistan (2–1 4–0)
Qatar 4–2 Vietnam (3–0 1–2)
Iraq 2–0 Yemen (2–0 0–0)
Singapore 6–4 Malaysia (5–3 1–1)
Uzbekistan 7–0 Kyrgyzstan (4–0 3–0)
United Arab Emirates 5–2 India (3–0 2–2)
Jordan 10–1 Nepal (9–0 1–1)

The big boys enter the next round; Australia, Japan, South Korea etc, draw tomorrow.

---

North American first round aggregate results;

Montserrat 3–8 Belize (2–5 1–3)
Anguilla 0–6 Dominican Republic (0–2 0–4)
U.S. Virgin Islands 4–1 British Virgin Islands (2–0 2–1)
Aruba 6–6 (4–5p) Saint Lucia (4–2 2–4 (aet))
Turks and Caicos Islands 0–10 Bahamas (0–4 0–6)

Second round draw tomorrow, enter the likes of Canada, Trinadad and Tobago, and Panama.

Dolph Starbeam

Qualification Group Draw is starting at 8 tonight.

Mr. Denton

Stupid question here but if the world cup draw is tonight then how are all these ties already being played?

Bodhisopha

Mr. Denton wrote: »

Stupid question here but if the world cup draw is tonight then how are all these ties already being played?

Different regions, dun.

dan1895

They're pre-qualifiers. Similar to what thelikes of Sligo, Shams and Pats are going through at the moment I suppose.

Charisteas

Intercontinental play-offs
Asia – South America
North, Central America and the Caribbean - Oceania

African Zone Draw
Group A: South Africa, Botswana, Central African Republic, Somalia or Ethiopia
Group B: Tunisia, Cape Verde Islands, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea or Madagascar
Group C: Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Gambia, Chad or Tanzania
Group Ghana, Zambia, Sudan, Lesotho or Burundi
Group E: Burkina Faso, Gabon, Niger, Sao Tome e Principe or Congo
Group F: Nigeria, Malawi, Seychelles or Kenya, Djibouti or Namibia
Group G: Egypt, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Comoros or Mozambique
Group H: Algeria, Mali, Benin, Eritrea or Rwanda
Group I: Cameroon, Libya, Guinea-Bissau or Togo, Swaziland or Congo DR
Group J: Senegal, Uganda, Angola, Mauritius or Liberia

Asian Zone Draw
Group A: China, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore
Group B: Korea Republic, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon
Group C: Japan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Korea DPR
Group Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand
Group E: Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia

North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone Draw (Round Two)
Group A: El Salvador, Surinam, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic
Group B: Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda
Group C: Panama, Dominica, Nicaragua, Bahamas
Group Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Puerto Rico, St Lucia
Group E: Grenada, Guatemala, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize
Group F: Haiti, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, US Virgin Islands

North, Central America and the Caribbean Zone Draw (Round Three)
Group A: USA, Jamaica, Winner of R2 Grp E, Winner of R2 Grp F
Group B: Mexico, Costa Rica, Winner of R2 Grp A, Winner of R2 Grp B
Group C: Honduras, Cuba, Winner of R2 Grp D, Winner of R2 Grp C

Oceanian Zone Draw
Group A: Vanuatu, New Caledonia, American Samoa/Cook Islands/Samoa or Tonga, Tahiti
Group B: Fiji, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea



European Zone Draw
Group A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland, Macedonia, Wales
Group B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta.
Group C: Germany, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan.
Group Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra.
Group E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland.
Group F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Lichtenstein
Group H: England, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, San Marino
Group I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland

Dolph Starbeam

Group C: Germany, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan.

Tough group. Really as usual will depend in beating Austria, Faroes and Kazakhstan home and away and come down to how we do against Sweden. I'm not hugely confident but its a long way away yet.

doomed

Could be a lot worse. Pity the top seeds are so strong. Leaves us already hoping for a play off at best. Tell me again why Kazakstan is in Europe

WallyGUFC

Good group for Tunisia there...

ILikeBananas

I see that the Asian Confederation are well into their qualification process now. By the end of today they'll have played the fifth series of games (out of six in total) in the third round!

After that they'll only have one round left which will be two groups of 5. Those will kick off before the European Championship finals have even started. They'll be all done, apart from a single play-off fixture, by June 2013.

Does anyone know why they started so early?

Pisco Sour

Seriously why are Norway top seeds. They haven't qualified for anything in 12 years!! Somebody in FIFA is banging some Norwegian hottie clearly!!

3 teams in our group are in Euro 2012, while 0 teams from the Norway group are. Doesn't seem fair. Very odd they did the draw so early. Had they done it in December like normal, then we'd probably be in pot 2 and have an easier group. We got a bit screwed here to be honest.

cgpg5

04072511 wrote: »

Seriously why are Norway top seeds. They haven't qualified for anything in 12 years!! Somebody in FIFA is banging some Norwegian hottie clearly!!

3 teams in our group are in Euro 2012, while 0 teams from the Norway group are. Doesn't seem fair. Very odd they did the draw so early. Had they done it in December like normal, then we'd probably be in pot 2 and have an easier group. We got a bit screwed here to be honest.

If you think we're bad, imagine how Wales and Armenia feel! It's disgraceful- should definitely be held in December

citytillidie

ILikeBananas wrote: »

I see that the Asian Confederation are well into their qualification process now. By the end of today they'll have played the fifth series of games (out of six in total) in the third round!

After that they'll only have one round left which will be two groups of 5. Those will kick off before the European Championship finals have even started. They'll be all done, apart from a single play-off fixture, by June 2013.

Does anyone know why they started so early?

Just have a look at the process for Asia.

They have a knock out round to weed out weaker nations then 2 group stages.

Their top seeded teams have to play 16 games just to qualify.

losthorizon

ILikeBananas wrote: »

I see that the Asian Confederation are well into their qualification process now. By the end of today they'll have played the fifth series of games (out of six in total) in the third round!

After that they'll only have one round left which will be two groups of 5. Those will kick off before the European Championship finals have even started. They'll be all done, apart from a single play-off fixture, by June 2013.

Does anyone know why they started so early?

Its only a preliminary stage - before the main group stage.

losthorizon

WC Qualification Games Last Night

Chile 2 Paraquay 0
Venezuela 1 Bolivia 0
Ecuador 2 Peru 0
Columbia 1 Argentina 2

There are four automatic spots and one play-off spot with a team from another continent.

Heres the Group:-

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/southamerica/standings/index.html

In Africa Last night Congo, Namibia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Congo DR, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania, Togo, Kenya, Lesotho all progrossed to the group stages. No major teams knocked out.

In Asia

Last night Lebanon beat S. Korea 2-1 and Kuwait beat the UAE 2-1 in Group B (the Top two in Each group qualify for the next round)

In Group C North Korea beat Japan 1-0 and Uzbekistan beat Tajikistan 3-0

In Group D Thailand lost to Australia 0-1 and Saudi Arabia drew 0-0 with Oman

IN Group A Jordan lost 1-3 to Iraq and China beat Singapore 4-0 (It looks like China are gone already)

In Group E
Qatar drew 0-0 with Bahrain and Indonesia lost 1-4 to Iran

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/asia/standings/index.html

I'm not going to give all the results of the CONCACAF region round 2 which finished last night but the biggest shock was that Trinidad was knocked out. The Top country in each of these groups goes on to Round three

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/nccamerica/standings/index.html

Heres action from Panama v Nicaragua GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLIe0hrafys

ILikeBananas

cgpg5 wrote: »

If you think we're bad, imagine how Wales and Armenia feel! It's disgraceful- should definitely be held in December

Just to make a mockery of the fact that Norway were in Pot 1 and Wales in the bottom pot, Wales thumped them 4-1 in a friendly last week.

I know it's just a friendly and all but you couldn't imagine a real bottom seed team like Malta or Andorra beating a real top seed team like Germany or Holland 4-1.

losthorizon wrote: »

WC Qualification Games Last Night


In Group C North Korea beat Japan 1-0 and Uzbekistan beat Tajikistan 3-0

And thus become the new unofficial world champions!

Fr Tod Umptious

ILikeBananas wrote: »

And thus become the new unofficial world champions!

Brilliant, DPRK are World Football Champions

Kim Jung III will just love the propaganda that comes with this one

ArmaniJeanss

losthorizon wrote: »

In Asia

Last night Lebanon beat S. Korea 2-1 and Kuwait beat the UAE 2-1 in Group B (the Top two in Each group qualify for the next round)

In Group C North Korea beat Japan 1-0 and Uzbekistan beat Tajikistan 3-0

In Group D Thailand lost to Australia 0-1 and Saudi Arabia drew 0-0 with Oman

IN Group A Jordan lost 1-3 to Iraq and China beat Singapore 4-0 (It looks like China are gone already)

Both these regular qualifiers are in a spot of bother within their preliminary groups now.
SKorea will need a draw at home to Kuwait in their final qualifier (Kuwait need the win so could be fun) to progress, and the Saudis will need to get something in their final game away to Australia.

losthorizon

ILikeBananas wrote: »

Just to make a mockery of the fact that Norway were in Pot 1 and Wales in the bottom pot, Wales thumped them 4-1 in a friendly last week.

I know it's just a friendly and all but you couldn't imagine a real bottom seed team like Malta or Andorra beating a real top seed team like Germany or Holland 4-1.




And thus become the new unofficial world champions!

Thats silly. Wales have been absolutely dire for years now. FIFA gave a clear and precise basis on the manner on which the seedings were based. They havent qualified for a tournament in nearly 50 years and have gone steadly backwards and the last time I looked at them they were around the level of the Faroes. Maybe they have improved since then - they certainly cant have gotten worse. They lost twice to Finland in their last WC qualifying campaign and they are a good bit behind Norway.

FIFA has to deal with the whole world and has loads wrong with it but I dont think its anti Welsh or pro Norwegian. Get a grip.

And the draw was mad at the perfect time for loads of reasons if people stop and think - dont be so eurocentric. And remember once all the teams are qualified you have the finals draw then you need six months alone to organise hotels etc for the different nations.

tolosenc

losthorizon wrote: »

And the draw was mad at the perfect time for loads of reasons if people stop and think - dont be so eurocentric. And remember once all the teams are qualified you have the finals draw then you need six months alone to organise hotels etc for the different nations.

Why couldn't the European draw have taken place 6 months later? Logic would have dictated that we should have been let finnish a qualification cycle.

patmac

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Both these regular qualifiers are in a spot of bother within their preliminary groups now.
SKorea will need a draw at home to Kuwait in their final qualifier (Kuwait need the win so could be fun) to progress, and the Saudis will need to get something in their final game away to Australia.

The Saudi's are going to have to win away in Australia even though the home side are through it will give them extra incentive so as not to meet them at a later stage, heads will roll if the Saudi's fail to qualify. China are gone as well.

ILikeBananas

losthorizon wrote: »

Thats silly. Wales have been absolutely dire for years now. FIFA gave a clear and precise basis on the manner on which the seedings were based. They havent qualified for a tournament in nearly 50 years and have gone steadly backwards and the last time I looked at them they were around the level of the Faroes. Maybe they have improved since then - they certainly cant have gotten worse. They lost twice to Finland in their last WC qualifying campaign and they are a good bit behind Norway.

Being precise on the exact manner of the seedings does not make them an accurate representation of a team's true strength.

In the last World Cup qualifying campaign Wales finished ahead of two other teams, same with Euro 2008 qualification. In the 2012 campaign they were seeded in the 4th pot out of 6. They ended up in a relatively tough group for them and lost their first five games against superior teams. The result of this though was a drop of two entire pots by the time the World Cup draw was made.

Meanwhile, Norway who were placed in the top pot haven't qualified for a major championship finals since Euro 2000!

While I'm sure FIFA didn't select their seeding criteria to reward Norway or to punish Wales they have used a system (the FIFA rankings) that is not a true reflection of team's real strengths.

carlop

patmac wrote: »

The Saudi's are going to have to win away in Australia even though the home side are through it will give them extra incentive so as not to meet them at a later stage, heads will roll if the Saudi's fail to qualify. China are gone as well.

One of the few times this phrase will be used literally on the soccer forum.

tolosenc

There's a meeting in Frankfurt today(Thursday) and tomorrow which will determine Ireland's qualification fixtures. I guess it'll have no real bearing on the outcome, but I wouldn't mind the last two games being at home to the Faroes and Kazakhstan.

ArmaniJeanss

tolosenc wrote: »

There's a meeting in Frankfurt today(Thursday) and tomorrow which will determine Ireland's qualification fixtures. I guess it'll have no real bearing on the outcome, but I wouldn't mind the last two games being at home to the Faroes and Kazakhstan.

Whatever the outcome (even if there is a stalemate and it goes to the UEFA randomiser) it will be regarded as a perfect fixture list and a tribute to the negotiating skills of the FAI delegation.

****
My only wish is for Austria away to be a Friday kickoff, Vienna would be good for a Thursday to Sunday trip.

Eathrin

What do people think of the squad prospects for 2014? I mean we'll have to replace the Keanes, Duffs, Dunnes, Givens etc. of the team. A lot of other players are getting on in their years i.e. Andrews, O'shea etc.

Maybe young players like McCarthy, Coleman, Clifford, Brady, Cunningham will become key players. We're going to need a strong team to get out of this group.

Also I agree, the draw for the group too early is a complete disgrace.

Zebra3

Cian A wrote: »

What do people think of the squad prospects for 2014? I mean we'll have to replace the Keanes, Duffs, Dunnes, Givens etc. of the team.

We have at least two of each these in our current squad?

Pisco Sour

Still, nobody has yet to explain why Norway were in the top pot?

Ferris_Bueller

It is going to be very tough to progress out of this group, Germany will finish top, and I know it's early days but I'd fancy them to even win the World Cup in 2014, they have such a good squad and most of their players are below the 25 mark, i'd say they have barely any players over 30 in fact. Then it looks like we will challenge Sweden for the play-off spot, maybe we will pip them to it but the Swedes are very consistent and clinical in qualifiers, they regularly qualify for tournaments, and I'm sure they will be expecting to finish second here too. If the likes of Dunne, Duff, Keane, Given etc. all retire after the euros, we have a lot of rebuilding to do, and although I think we have some very good young players coming up, this time around might be a small bit too soon IMO.

ArmaniJeanss

Cian A wrote: »

What do people think of the squad prospects for 2014? I mean we'll have to replace the Keanes, Duffs, Dunnes, Givens etc. of the team. A lot of other players are getting on in their years i.e. Andrews, O'shea etc.

I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be around for the next campaign, and Given and Keane might still be around for the 2016 campaign also.

We get very exposed to the PL and players retiring from internationals at 30/31 to concentrate on their money accrual club career, but in the rest of the world players like Miroslav Klose, Oliver Khan and Cafu continue to play for their countries until beyond their mid30s (or 40 for goalkeepers).

No real reason why Keane can't be like say Niall Quinn and play his final football match in an Ireland jersey, not a club jersey.

Fr Tod Umptious

04072511 wrote: »

Still, nobody has yet to explain why Norway were in the top pot?

Norway were ranked 8th in UEFA rankings when the draw was made.

It pretty straight forward really.

Pisco Sour

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Norway were ranked 8th in UEFA rankings when the draw was made.

It pretty straight forward really.

How the f*ck were a team that hasnt qualified for anything in donkies years at number 8th in europe? I dont understand it. What a flawed ranking system.

citytillidie

04072511 wrote: »

How the f*ck were a team that hasnt qualified for anything in donkies years at number 8th in europe? I dont understand it. What a flawed ranking system.

because they play less friendlies and been lucky to be in a group with less teams for the past two qualification outings.

Playing less matches helps your score as its cuts down on the points divider

ArmaniJeanss

They've also hit the bar on qualfying a few times, they consistently either finish just outside the playoffs or get beaten in the playoffs. In the last World Cup they were the unlucky runner up who didn't get a playoff.

Its counter-intuitive but 'coming close but not qualifying' is better for your ranking than 'qualifying and getting hockeyed in your 3 group games'.

Fr Tod Umptious

04072511 wrote: »

How the f*ck were a team that hasnt qualified for anything in donkies years at number 8th in europe? I dont understand it. What a flawed ranking system.

It may be flawed but it applies the same rules to all teams, so one has to live with it.

tolosenc

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be around for the next campaign, and Given and Keane might still be around for the 2016 campaign also.

We get very exposed to the PL and players retiring from internationals at 30/31 to concentrate on their money accrual club career, but in the rest of the world players like Miroslav Klose, Oliver Khan and Cafu continue to play for their countries until beyond their mid30s (or 40 for goalkeepers).

No real reason why Keane can't be like say Niall Quinn and play his final football match in an Ireland jersey, not a club jersey.

Given will be 38 at the next World Cup. Old, yes, but having a 35 year old keeper isn't uncommon in the World Cup. Robbie will be only 33 at the next World Cup (34 if we make the semis), by no means too old. O'Shea is younger still, Dunne'll be 34. Realistically, they'll all be grand for the next tournament. Duff will be 35, which is a bit old for a winger. Other that that, it's only Andrews and Hunt who are out of their 20s in the current squad. We'll need to expand our player pool in the next campaign, but not drastically.

ILikeBananas

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

It may be flawed but it applies the same rules to all teams, so one has to live with it.

But we're still free to point out its flaws

Laois_Man

Part of the reason I am personally savouring our success over the last week is because of my lack of confidence that we're gonna get out of Europe World Cup qualifying Group C. We definatley got the hardest draw of all the countries in Pot 3. Germany for me are the best team in Europe right now and are the team who I think will win Euro 2012 and we also got one of the top 2 or 3 teams from pot 2 and Austria from pot 4 are unpredictable! Even when you look at the group Spain and France are in, the group doesn't even have a team from pot 3.

I think it was a terrible draw to have gotten!

cgpg5

Laois_Man wrote: »

Part of the reason I am personally savouring our success over the last week is because of my lack of confidence that we're gonna get out of Europe World Cup qualifying Group C. We definatley got the hardest draw of all the countries in Pot 3. Germany for me are the best team in Europe right now and are the team who I think will win Euro 2012 and we also got one of the top 2 or 3 teams from pot 2 and Austria from pot 4 are unpredictable! Even when you look at the group Spain and France are in, the group doesn't even have a team from pot 3.

I think it was a terrible draw to have gotten!

I don't honestly think it's that bad we can get a point off Germany at home and Sweden are definitely beatable. Austria are a poor side make no mistake. Could have benefited from being in pot 2 though no question.

tolosenc

Laois_Man wrote: »

Even when you look at the group Spain and France are in, the group doesn't even have a team from pot 3.

Belarus.

We got the best teams from pots 1 and 3, and one of the best from pot 2. After that, Austria and the Faroes are the weakest teams in each of their pots, and the only half decent team in Pot 6 is Wales, who we avoided.

Laois_Man

tolosenc wrote: »

Belarus.

We got the best teams from pots 1 and 3, and one of the best from pot 2. After that, Austria and the Faroes are the weakest teams in each of their pots, and the only half decent team in Pot 6 is Wales, who we avoided.

group I has one less team than the others. According to pots called out in this thread, pot 3 is the one not in Group I. Everyone's chances are dictated by who comes out of pots 1, 2 and 3. I'm not sure how you can say our group has the best team from all 3 pots and say it's not that bad.

Incidentally. The fixture schedule was being negotiated in Frankfurt today. It has fallen off the media's radar now cos of what's happened. But it's vitally important. I hope we get our away games against Germany and Sweden out of the way by this time next year. Although strangely you might say it's the home games we should be more worried about in our case!

tolosenc

Laois_Man wrote: »

group I has one less team than the others. According to pots called out in this thread, pot 3 is the one not in Group I. Everyone's chances are dictated by who comes out of pots 1, 2 and 3. I'm not sure how you can say our group has the best team from all 3 pots and say it's not that bad.

Incidentally. The fixture schedule was being negotiated in Frankfurt today. It has fallen off the media's radar now cos of what's happened. But it's vitally important. I hope we get our away games against Germany and Sweden out of the way by this time next year. Although strangely you might say it's the home games we should be more worried about in our case!

Belarus were in Pot 3 for the draw. They are in Group I. Group I has no team from Pot 6.

It's not bad, because a solid campaign for us is based on 18 points out of the 6 matches against the 3 teams ranked below us, and they're all the weakest teams possible, except for Kazakhstan who are no great shakes but could have been San Marino.

Ideal match order for me would be:

Sept 12: Faroes (A), Germany(A)

Oct 12: Austria(H), Sweden(H)

March 13: Kazakhstan(A)

June 13: Germany(H)

Sept 13: Austria(A), Sweden(A)

Oct 13: Kazakhstan(H), Faroes(H)

gnfnrhead

tolosenc wrote: »

Sept 12: Faroes (A), Germany(A)

Oct 12: Austria(H), Sweden(H)

March 13: Kazakhstan(A)

June 13: Germany(H)

Sept 13: Austria(A), Sweden(A)

Oct 13: Kazakhstan(H), Faroes(H)

I wouldnt want to finish with two home games, we're much better away. I agree with the order of the teams but would much rather finish away in case it's still in our hands, which being realistic it should be unless we get hammered by Germany and Sweden before than.

tolosenc

Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 | Pot 6
Spain (1) | Russia (14) | Turkey (30) | Wales (53) | Georgia (75) | Cyprus (124)
Netherlands (2) | France (15) | Czech Republic (35) | Ukraine (56) | Bulgaria (84) | Luxembourg (126)
Germany (3) | Republic of Ireland (18) | Hungary (37) | Romania (59) | Finland (86) | Liechtenstein (129)
Portugal (5) | Sweden (19) | Israel (37) | Estonia (62) | Northern Ireland (87) | Moldova (136)
England (7) | Switzerland (21) | Slovakia (39) | Belarus (64) | Lithuania (92) | Kazakhstan (137)
Croatia (8) | Norway (24) | Montenegro (43) | Poland (65) | FYR Macedonia (98) | Malta (153)
Italy (9) | Bosnia-Herzegovina (25) | Armenia (44) | Latvia (71) | Iceland (102) | Andorra (203)
Greece (11) | Slovenia (26) | Belgium (46) | Albania (72) | Faroe Islands (112) | San Marino (203)
Denmark (12) | Serbia (28) | Scotland (47) | Austria (74) | Azerbaijan (120)

Based on the rankings that will be published next week (Source - No European team is playing between now and then, so this is correct, even if the actual final positions in the rankings are not), this is how the pots would look if the timing of the draw was consistant with the 2 previous World Cups (can't find info on world cup qualifying draws from before then). Typically, the previous qualification cycle was allowed to finish.

Movers:

Armenia (+2 pots)
Wales (+2 pots)
Bosnia (+1 pot)
Denmark (+1 pot)
Estonia (+1 pot)
Iceland (+1 pot)
Ireland (+1 pot)
Latvia (+1 pot)
Scotland (+1 pot)
Switzerland (+1 pot)
Belarus (-1 pot)
Bulgaria (-1 pot)
Cyprus (-1 pot)
Georgia (-1 pot)
Lithuania (-1 pot)
Montenegro (-1 pot)
Moldova (-1 pot)
Northern Ireland (-1 pot)
Norway (-1 pot)
Slovakia (-1 pot)
Turkey (-1 pot)
Ukraine (-1 pot)

Wales and Armenia should be pissed.

Laois_Man

Yeah the seedings called out on page 1 of this thread were wrong

Remember we were in the qualifying group with Germany for Euro 2008 and we went to Germany first and played very well under Staunton. We lost the game but played well. Immediately after a major championship is always the best time to play these teams.

I don't think we'd be playing 2 away games and 2 home games all the way thru the qualifiers tho. It's usually one of each in any given internatioal break.

Getting way ahead of myself here but if we did manage to grab second spot in the group, and we're not the worst runner up, we'd have every chance of qualifying if we got drawn against the runners up from groups D, E or G

tolosenc

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I wouldnt want to finish with two home games, we're much better away. I agree with the order of the teams but would much rather finish away in case it's still in our hands, which being realistic it should be unless we get hammered by Germany and Sweden before than.

Yeah, but it's Kazakhstan and the Faroes.