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Italy and Portugal have been drawn into the same path, so one of them won't qualify. Same as Wales and Scotland. Potentially two very interesting finals there.
Shame with Italy and Portugal, snigger, genuine shame with Wales and Scotland, would like to see them both there.
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
World Cup play off draw on 16:26 - Nov 26 by Wacko
True but I think 1/2 was the realistic best outcome
Yeah, avoiding Italy and Portugal for them is huge. The first path (Wales/Austria/Scotland/Ukraine) and second path (Sweden/Czechs/Russia/Poland) are both very evenly balanced, whereas Portugal and Italy are the clear favourites in the last one.
Boo. Wales v Scotland is a bit of a pain. I always want to see the other home nations qualify. Don't really care how they get on, but good to see them get there.
The decision to allow the highest two ranked countries and last two European Champions to be drawn in the same group just about sums up this idiotic world cup.
World Cup play off draw on 16:45 - Nov 26 by Swansea_Blue
Boo. Wales v Scotland is a bit of a pain. I always want to see the other home nations qualify. Don't really care how they get on, but good to see them get there.
[Post edited 26 Nov 2021 16:45]
If it came to Italy v Portugal that would be 5th in the world v 7th. Wales v Scotland would be 19th v 45th. Ukraine and Austria are 27th and 29th so that group is fairly even although Wales’ to lose you’d think. Would the final be at a neutral ground? Should be really to be fair.
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World Cup play off draw on 17:40 - Nov 26 with 1488 views
World Cup play off draw on 16:27 - Nov 26 by gtsb1966
I remember watching this in 1977 the last time they played each other with one game determining who went to the finals. Was played at Anfield.
Can't see it at the moment, was that the 'handball' game?
No idea when I began here, was a very long time ago. Previously known as Spirit_of_81. Love cheese, hate the colour of it, this is why it requires some blue in it.
The decision to allow the highest two ranked countries and last two European Champions to be drawn in the same group just about sums up this idiotic world cup.
Not really. Both of them had very winnable groups and failed to qualify - Portugal drew in Ireland and lost at home to Serbia, while Italy failed to win against both Bulgaria and Northern Ireland. They were seeded for the first game and now have comparatively easy passes through to the final, that they will face each other there is only due to their own failures. They're both there on merit.
Not really. Both of them had very winnable groups and failed to qualify - Portugal drew in Ireland and lost at home to Serbia, while Italy failed to win against both Bulgaria and Northern Ireland. They were seeded for the first game and now have comparatively easy passes through to the final, that they will face each other there is only due to their own failures. They're both there on merit.
Agreed. They didn’t make the most of their seeding in the groups so now they’ve got to put up with an “unfair” situation.
Which really is nothing like when you get caught on the wrong side of the qualification seedings in the first place. In the qualifiers for the 2008 Euros, Scotland were drawn in a group with Italy and France, the two World Cup finalists ... ridiculous effort by McLeish and the squad and we took it to the last game against Italy at Hampden. But despite that we were still stuck in the same lowly seeding position for the next qualifiers.
Really is an awful system on that score. Very few smaller nations can build over several campaigns (and sets of players) to get out of the trap. Which is why the Nations League has been a great boost as a wild card to shake things up a bit and give teams a fighting chance. I can accept from the perspective of the big nations it looks a bit Mickey Mouse but I don’t think they’d like to give up the ranking system instead.
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World Cup play off draw on 18:38 - Nov 26 with 1355 views
World Cup play off draw on 17:08 - Nov 26 by Ftnfwest
If it came to Italy v Portugal that would be 5th in the world v 7th. Wales v Scotland would be 19th v 45th. Ukraine and Austria are 27th and 29th so that group is fairly even although Wales’ to lose you’d think. Would the final be at a neutral ground? Should be really to be fair.
World Cup play off draw on 18:17 - Nov 26 by Darth_Koont
Agreed. They didn’t make the most of their seeding in the groups so now they’ve got to put up with an “unfair” situation.
Which really is nothing like when you get caught on the wrong side of the qualification seedings in the first place. In the qualifiers for the 2008 Euros, Scotland were drawn in a group with Italy and France, the two World Cup finalists ... ridiculous effort by McLeish and the squad and we took it to the last game against Italy at Hampden. But despite that we were still stuck in the same lowly seeding position for the next qualifiers.
Really is an awful system on that score. Very few smaller nations can build over several campaigns (and sets of players) to get out of the trap. Which is why the Nations League has been a great boost as a wild card to shake things up a bit and give teams a fighting chance. I can accept from the perspective of the big nations it looks a bit Mickey Mouse but I don’t think they’d like to give up the ranking system instead.
That Euros was a really tough one to qualify for. It didn't help that there were 2 host nations, and specifically 2 nations who weren't even regular qualifiers, in Austria and Switzerland, which left only 14 spots for the rest of Europe. Scotland being drawn against Italy and France, plus a Ukraine team that had reached the QFs of the previous World Cup is probably the toughest example. England were terrible and deserved not to qualify, but their draw of Croatia, Russia and Israel (a decent side at the time) was also very difficult.
As for the current structure, I think the seeding system as it is remains fair, but the Nations League addition is a welcome one because it reduces the need for pointless friendlies and means rankings are largely based off games between countries of similar standard, giving a more accurate picture. I like the way the play offs are seeded this time, whereby it's based upon performance in qualifying rather than FIFA ranking. So it means that Scotland get seeded for comfortably getting 2nd spot, ahead of the likes of Ukraine and Poland who only narrowly qualified despite having a higher rank. As well as rewarding performance it also reduced the number of dead rubbers - the Scottish and Welsh both played strong teams in their last match to guarantee seed status even though they'd already qualified.
That Euros was a really tough one to qualify for. It didn't help that there were 2 host nations, and specifically 2 nations who weren't even regular qualifiers, in Austria and Switzerland, which left only 14 spots for the rest of Europe. Scotland being drawn against Italy and France, plus a Ukraine team that had reached the QFs of the previous World Cup is probably the toughest example. England were terrible and deserved not to qualify, but their draw of Croatia, Russia and Israel (a decent side at the time) was also very difficult.
As for the current structure, I think the seeding system as it is remains fair, but the Nations League addition is a welcome one because it reduces the need for pointless friendlies and means rankings are largely based off games between countries of similar standard, giving a more accurate picture. I like the way the play offs are seeded this time, whereby it's based upon performance in qualifying rather than FIFA ranking. So it means that Scotland get seeded for comfortably getting 2nd spot, ahead of the likes of Ukraine and Poland who only narrowly qualified despite having a higher rank. As well as rewarding performance it also reduced the number of dead rubbers - the Scottish and Welsh both played strong teams in their last match to guarantee seed status even though they'd already qualified.
[Post edited 26 Nov 2021 20:05]
Yeah, I’m not going to complain about the draw. Scotland could have done a lot worse but we deserve it for fighting our way through.
It’s Sod’s Law that we fall at the final hurdle of these one-off matches where anything could happen, but I think this Scotland side could upset a major team at the World Cup. They’ve moved on from the Euros which was definitely a step forward but ultimately a disappointment considering how they’ve gone up a gear since.
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World Cup play off draw on 20:29 - Nov 26 with 1208 views
World Cup play off draw on 20:21 - Nov 26 by Darth_Koont
Yeah, I’m not going to complain about the draw. Scotland could have done a lot worse but we deserve it for fighting our way through.
It’s Sod’s Law that we fall at the final hurdle of these one-off matches where anything could happen, but I think this Scotland side could upset a major team at the World Cup. They’ve moved on from the Euros which was definitely a step forward but ultimately a disappointment considering how they’ve gone up a gear since.
Yeah, I think the Scotland team is a decent one. The attack is still a bit blunt sometimes , but that seems to have improved since the Summer and even in defeat they never seem to get hammered. If they qualify and reach the knockouts I could definitely see them beating a big team on penalties after frustrating them for 90 minutes. Steve Clarke is clearly a good manager, in 3 of his 4 jobs he's done well and even at Reading where he was largely disappointing, he managed to get them to an FA Cup semi final.
As a temporary resident of Cardiff I'll be supporting the Welsh, but if they don't make it it would be nice to see Scotland do it. Whatever happens, a Wales/Scotland final would be excellent. Wales are more than just Bale and have achieved some decent results without him but given the age of him and Ramsey, I think this will probably be their best chance, whereas Scotland will likely be stronger in 4 years time. Although having said that, it's a 48 team tournament next time so anyone half decent will probably qualify.
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