World Cup Qualifiers

I saw what appeared as water was sprayed at Mascherano's direction. Perhaps the cart driver squirted him? Or pinched/touched him? Maschareno certainly seemed alarmed as to something touching or bothering him, and seemed to be assessing what was going on before his reaction.



Costa Rica is looking likely to sneak a result in Mexico. Already hit the post and that CR forward is looking very dangerous on the break.
 
Jayvin said:
You obviously didn't watch that match. I'm not a fan of Switzerland but by the end of the match I wanted them to win so badly; Cyprus were infuriating. Time wasting, feigning injury and generally making the game horrible to watch. They got what they deserved.
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No I didn't. I said as much. Switzerland aren't much worse when they go a goal up. Can't imagining Cyprus being a joy either. I merely pointed out that for a team that was supposedly only fouling for 90 minutes they didn't get called on it more often.
 
Ruiz is being pelted with objects when taking the corner. He refused to take the corner until the officials did something. Mexican player trying to push Ruiz over to take the corner. I believe Ruiz is allowed to do what's necessary for his safety.

And here comes more flying debris at Ruiz. Geebus!
 
MrMarcello said:
I saw what appeared as water was sprayed at Mascherano's direction. Perhaps the cart driver squirted him? Or pinched/touched him? Maschareno certainly seemed alarmed as to something touching or bothering him, and seemed to be assessing what was going on before his reaction.
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Mascherano said after the match he thought the stretcher was going too fast and that he was falling out. "I asked him to slow down but he didn't - and I reacted." He says he knows he shouldn't have responded like that and he's ashamed of himself now.
 
Was following Chile on bet365 as the last leg of my treble bet (Colombia-Draw Ecuador/Argentina-Chile) and Vidal was excellent. I know he isn't leaving Juventus, but man, he'd be a good partner for Carrick. Got the 3rd goal at then end with a header.
 
I never understood why we weren't in for him when he was leaving Leverkusen in the first place. He was an obvious talent and we were already in a big need of a midfielder back then. Bayern were pretty keen on him back then, good that they didn't manage to sign him because their midfield options would be even more ridiculous (not that he'd be a guaranteed starter with Schweinsteiger and Martinez around but they would've probably skipped Martinez).
 
Sarni said:
I never understood why we weren't in for him when he was leaving Leverkusen in the first place. He was an obvious talent and we were already in a big need of a midfielder back then. Bayern were pretty keen on him back then, good that they didn't manage to sign him because their midfield options would be even more ridiculous (not that he'd be a guaranteed starter with Schweinsteiger and Martinez around but they would've probably skipped Martinez).
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He is good, isn't he? If the fans on here saw him more often, I'd be surprised if many didn't rate him highly. He drove Chile forward last night, even though they were winning 2-1. Was there something wrong with our scouting network under SAF? We seemed obsessed with youth players when in fact there are good players a bit older that would be good acquisitions.
 
Armenia looked like a team on the verge of something when Ireland played them in the Euro qualifiers. Now they're hammering Danes.
 


The first one was deliberate. As for the second one... you need a huge pair to do that right infront of the ref. He got away with it though.
 
Wonder Pigeon said:
Armenia looked like a team on the verge of something when Ireland played them in the Euro qualifiers. Now they're hammering Danes.
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They can cause a big upset here and there but I doubt they are ready to qualify for a big tournament. I remember them beating us 1-0 at their ground in Euro 08 qualifying, we went on to win the group with Portugal, Belgium, Serbia, Finland and them in spite of losing 3-1 to Finland at home and losing in Armenia. Beenhakker times, good old days.
 
Ole.

feck some of the diving and cheating that goes on in the Asian qualifications system is beyond an atrocious joke. These guys make Suarez look like a saint.
Good to see Holger straight away calling them diving cheats after the match as well.
 
ghaliboy said:
Ole.

feck some of the diving and cheating that goes on in the Asian qualifications system is beyond an atrocious joke. These guys make Suarez look like a saint.
Good to see Holger straight away calling them diving cheats after the match as well.
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My brother actually stood up and clapped him when Holger called them out. :lol:

They started playacting from 60 mins :lol: feckin' knobheads
 
The qualifying for Asia and North America is laughably easy, they really should do something about it. It seems incredibly unfair that certain teams who despite not being that good are guaranteed a place at every world cup by virtue of the awfulness of the rest of their confederation.

I'd like to see North America and South America merged into one qualifying system, to stop the free ride Mexico and the US get for every tournament, likewise in Asia they should really merge with Oceania and then they could have 4 places (which is still overly fair when you consider Australia had to finish above Omen, Jordan, and Iraq to qualify) and that extra place could go to Europe or Africa, where semi decent teams do actually fail to qualify.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
The qualifying for Asia and North America is laughably easy, they really should do something about it. It seems incredibly unfair that certain teams who despite not being that good are guaranteed a place at every world cup by virtue of the awfulness of the rest of their confederation.

I'd like to see North America and South America merged into one qualifying system, to stop the free ride Mexico and the US get for every tournament, likewise in Asia they should really merge with Oceania and then they could have 4 places (which is still overly fair when you consider Australia had to finish above Omen, Jordan, and Iraq to qualify) and that extra place could go to Europe or Africa, where semi decent teams do actually fail to qualify.
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Bullshit. Its the World Cup. If you just want European teams then watch the European championships.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
The qualifying for Asia and North America is laughably easy, they really should do something about it. It seems incredibly unfair that certain teams who despite not being that good are guaranteed a place at every world cup by virtue of the awfulness of the rest of their confederation.

I'd like to see North America and South America merged into one qualifying system, to stop the free ride Mexico and the US get for every tournament, likewise in Asia they should really merge with Oceania and then they could have 4 places (which is still overly fair when you consider Australia had to finish above Omen, Jordan, and Iraq to qualify) and that extra place could go to Europe or Africa, where semi decent teams do actually fail to qualify.
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North America yes, But Asia we have had plenty of different Asian countries in WC's which would suggest it is competitive
 
charleysurf said:
Bullshit. Its the World Cup. If you just want European teams then watch the European championships.
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Can you read? I clearly didn't say give all their qualification away. Just teams should have to earn it, by you know, competing with at least some level of decent teams.

Taking 1 position away from Asia (which would be a play off spot anyway if it was merged with Oceania) would hardly make that much of a difference (indeed it doesn't address much of my problem but does ensure things like New Zealand don't qualify by virtue of beating no teams in the top 100) likewise merging North America and South America means USA and Mexico actually have to bother trying. You say its the world cup yet the Asian qualifying already ensures the the majority of the world won't be represented anyway, no one between Iran and Korea every qualifies so its basically a free ride for South Korea, Japan, and Australia every single time. That Australia somehow struggled this year is more an indictment of how terrible their team is.

The only reason Asia has had plenty of countries in the world cup is because they're all crap beyond South Korea and Japan so there was consistently 2, maybe 3 other spots depending on who was drawn in the play offs. Now that Australia are there you just get that standard one other team qualifying every time.
 
It's not really a free ride for South Korea. Korea gets there in the end, but usually make it very hard for themselves.

And taking 1 position away from Asia, when they only have 4? is a lot.
 
wonnie said:
It's not really a free ride for South Korea. Korea gets there in the end, but usually make it very hard for themselves.

And taking 1 position away from Asia, when they only have 4? is a lot.
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Oceania gets 0.5 spots so combining them with Asia would mean they still get 4, but an extra spot would be created for elsewhere.
 
Merge with Oceania by all means (as it would make it even easier for Australia to qualify) but taking a place away overall is a stupid idea. Why not just invite the top seeded clubs and do away with qualification all together? In fact why not just play a final series between Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, England and France? Far less messy.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
Oceania gets 0.5 spots so combining them with Asia would mean they still get 4, but an extra spot would be created for elsewhere.
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Or the 5th placed team played off against whoever it is that Oceania play off against. So no change.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
Can you read? I clearly didn't say give all their qualification away. Just teams should have to earn it, by you know, competing with at least some level of decent teams.

Taking 1 position away from Asia (which would be a play off spot anyway if it was merged with Oceania) would hardly make that much of a difference (indeed it doesn't address much of my problem but does ensure things like New Zealand don't qualify by virtue of beating no teams in the top 100) likewise merging North America and South America means USA and Mexico actually have to bother trying. You say its the world cup yet the Asian qualifying already ensures the the majority of the world won't be represented anyway, no one between Iran and Korea every qualifies so its basically a free ride for South Korea, Japan, and Australia every single time. That Australia somehow struggled this year is more an indictment of how terrible their team is.

The only reason Asia has had plenty of countries in the world cup is because they're all crap beyond South Korea and Japan so there was consistently 2, maybe 3 other spots depending on who was drawn in the play offs. Now that Australia are there you just get that standard one other team qualifying every time.
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How do you grow the competition in Asia by reducing the chances of other Asian countries of reaching the finals and getting the boost to their football that it would bring? The likes of Indonesia or Thailand or Vietnam (or indeed China) regularly reaching the finals would grow football in Asia tremendously. Who knows, maybe even India can find 11 good players some day.

So you are completely wrong.
 
charleysurf said:
How do you grow the competition in Asia by reducing the chances of other Asian countries of reaching the finals and getting the boost to their football that it would bring? The likes of Indonesia or Thailand or Vietnam (or indeed China) regularly reaching the finals would grow football in Asia tremendously. Who knows, maybe even India can find 11 good players some day.

So you are completely wrong.
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The likes of India, Thailand, Vietnam never even qualify for the final stage of qualifying so the current system hardly does them any good or helps them to improve. It just exists as a means to allow the same 3 teams + 1 to qualify each time. That one team by the way generally being fought out between the gulf sides.

Forgive me for thinking the world cup should be about representing the best teams in the world. Considering there's a legitimate chance France for example will miss out by virtue of being seeded in the same group as Spain. The world cup has been crap for years, first and foremost it should be about quality and entertainment. Ever since its been 32 teams there's been far too much filler as it is.
 
Asia gets 4.5 places anyway don't they? And Oceania 0.5? No way will they cut it back and the present arrangement means that South America has a good chance of 2 extra teams in the WC when they beat the Oceania winner and the 5th team in Asia.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
The likes of India, Thailand, Vietnam never even qualify for the final stage of qualifying so the current system hardly does them any good or helps them to improve. It just exists as a means to allow the same 3 teams + 1 to qualify each time. That one team by the way generally being fought out between the gulf sides.

Forgive me for thinking the world cup should be about representing the best teams in the world. Considering there's a legitimate chance France for example will miss out by virtue of being seeded in the same group as Spain. The world cup has been crap for years, first and foremost it should be about quality and entertainment. Ever since its been 32 teams there's been far too much filler as it is.
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Any crapness in the world cup has little to do with the likes of Japan and South Korea, who are always entertaining, and seem to be getting better and better. Nearly all the Japanese team play in your beloved Europe. Better them then the likes of stodgy England who stink up the tournament with hype and WAGS yet neither deliver entertainment nor quality.
Its the World Cup. There must be teams from every region of the World so it can be worthy of the name.

Let me guess, you think Park Ji Sung and Kagawa were just bought by United to sell shirts. Your disdain for Asian football seems pretty old fashioned and narrow minded to me.
 
What part of my posts are you failing to grasp? At what point have I said the world cup shouldn't represent every region? All that happens at the moment anyway is the same teams qualify often with very little difficuty. How does that help the poorer teams who play a handful of games before being knocked out a year before qualification even ends? As I said, compare that to Africa where Ghana for example, their best representative of the last world cup have to top a group including Zambia who won the African nations and then still have a play off to win. They'll have earned their position in the world cup. Japan basically can't fail to qualify, neither can the US or Mexico in North America. All I want to see is that all teams at a world cup earn it, rather than that section of teams who can't fail. You think it does Japan any good to be in a position where they don't play competitively against any decent teams the vast majority of the time?
 
JulesWinnfield said:
What part of my posts are you failing to grasp? At what point have I said the world cup shouldn't represent every region? All that happens at the moment anyway is the same teams qualify often with very little difficuty. How does that help the poorer teams who play a handful of games before being knocked out a year before qualification even ends? As I said, compare that to Africa where Ghana for example, their best representative of the last world cup have to top a group including Zambia who won the African nations and then still have a play off to win. They'll have earned their position in the world cup. Japan basically can't fail to qualify, neither can the US or Mexico in North America. All I want to see is that all teams at a world cup earn it, rather than that section of teams who can't fail. You think it does Japan any good to be in a position where they don't play competitively against any decent teams the vast majority of the time?
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Mexico will miss qualifying the way they are headed.

England are strolling to the WC and they´re shit. Maybe the European places should be cut by your logic.
 
charleysurf said:
Mexico will miss qualifying the way they are headed.

England are strolling to the WC and they´re shit. Maybe the European places should be cut by your logic.
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In what way are England strolling to the world cup? Clearly struggling to qualify at the moment. And I still doubt many people would genuinely bet on a Asian or North American side against them...
 
That was so woeful from Korea, can't believe a dire 1-0 loss at home to Iran means they've qualified for the World Cup.

Seriously sad.
 
wonnie said:
That was so woeful from Korea, can't believe a dire 1-0 loss at home to Iran means they've qualified for the World Cup.

Seriously sad.
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I feel for Uzbekistan; they must've seriously thought they were going to pull it off today.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
In what way are England strolling to the world cup? Clearly struggling to qualify at the moment. And I still doubt many people would genuinely bet on a Asian or North American side against them...
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They´d beat the US in the World Cup would they?

Couldn't last time...
 
JulesWinnfield said:
The qualifying for Asia and North America is laughably easy, they really should do something about it. It seems incredibly unfair that certain teams who despite not being that good are guaranteed a place at every world cup by virtue of the awfulness of the rest of their confederation.
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I disagree completely, especially when it comes to the Asian region.

The Asian region is a developing region in terms of football, so there's no telling what will happen in the future. Did you for instance know that before the World Cup of 1998, Japan had never managed to qualify? Japan, the former economical superpower who currently have several good players playing in Europe, couldn't even qualify to the World Cup before 15 years ago. Now they've qualified for the World Cup 5 times in a row. Would you say that they had their spots handed to them? They didn't even have to overcome an obstacle?

Obviously Japan is a bit special, but who's to say that there aren't any other countries in the Asian region that could rise up to a decent level? It's a huge region after all, and the popularity of football is growing day by day. 10 years from now, Asians might raid these forums and complain about how unfair it is that they only have so few spots. We're talking about a tournament with 32 fecking teams here. It's not like it's filled with "crappy" teams just because a couple of traditionally weaker regions are handed a couple of spots. Besides, I'm sure that the likes of Japan, Mexico, USA and South Korea would manage to reach the World Cup most of the time, regardless of which region they played in. Just because it's a bit easier as of this moment, it doesn't mean that it's unfair. Taking more spots from Asia and North America would not only be incredibly arrogant, but also counter productive to the football in those regions.

Besides, the FIFA ranking system is already heavily biased towards the very regions you criticize. It's pretty much impossible for an Asian or North American team to get into the top 7, unless they actually win the World Cup. From 2010 to 2012, Japan got into the top 16 in the World Cup, beat Argentina and Paraguay(the same team that got into the top 8 of the World Cup), won the Asian Cup, beat their main rivals South Korea 3 times, and beat France away. After all this, they barely managed to reach the top 15 in the FIFA rankings. You might say that this is a fair position, and I wouldn't disagree too much with that. The thing is, unless Japan keeps travelling the world and challenging top nations all the fecking time, their ranking will plummet completely, seeing as the Asian region almost exclusively consists of weaker ranked nations. Right now Japan is ranked 32. Do you honestly think that is a fair ranking?

When the pots are selected for the World Cup, Asian teams will forever have to play top teams, even if they are pretty strong themselves. That is because the FIFA rankings are completely retarded. Until they manage to do something about this system, no one has the right to complain about Asia or North America getting too many WC spots. Even if these teams qualify, they still have to face tough groups, regardless of their own strength.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
The qualifying for Asia and North America is laughably easy, they really should do something about it. It seems incredibly unfair that certain teams who despite not being that good are guaranteed a place at every world cup by virtue of the awfulness of the rest of their confederation.

I'd like to see North America and South America merged into one qualifying system, to stop the free ride Mexico and the US get for every tournament, likewise in Asia they should really merge with Oceania and then they could have 4 places (which is still overly fair when you consider Australia had to finish above Omen, Jordan, and Iraq to qualify) and that extra place could go to Europe or Africa, where semi decent teams do actually fail to qualify.
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And european qualifying? thats the easiest of all... its a fecking joke.

South America its the only tough qualy around...
 
Sounds like the Ethiopian FA has admitted they fielded an ineligible player in one of their qualifiers. Huge lifeline for South Africa if true.
 
George Owen said:
And european qualifying? thats the easiest of all... its a fecking joke.

South America its the only tough qualy around...
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What? There's at least 5 teams who don't qualify from Europe each time who would easily win qualification elsewhere. Sweden, Czech Republic, Croatia, Russia, Ireland, Turkey, Ukraine and Bosnia didn't make the last world cup - some genuinely good teams in there. Three of which made the knock out rounds of the Euro's a couple of years beforehand, and 2 semi-finalists....
 
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