World Cup 2018

[Libertine]

The US bomb out of the World Cup. Needing only a point they traveled to Trinidad and Tobago...and lost 2-1. U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!! We can't even make the to the WC playing in CONCACAF?! WTAF?!! Unbelievable, embarrassing, I am at a loss for words to describe my shock about the fact that they f-cked it up so completely.

[10539.4 Miles Away]

Sadly not to be

Syria's unlikely 2018 World Cup dream is over after Tim Cahill's extra-time header saw Australia progress 3-2 on aggregate to the final qualifying tie.

Omar Al Somah gave the civil war-torn nation hope of reaching Russia when he gave them an early lead in Sydney.

But Cahill, 37, quickly equalised with the first of his two headed goals.

Syria, who drew 1-1 in the first leg, were reduced to 10 men when Mahmoud Al Mawas was sent off before Cahill nodded in Robbie Kruse's cross for the winner.

Australia will now play either Panama, Honduras or the US from the Concacaf section for a place in the finals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41562035

Tim bloody Cahill. Scored 11 of Australia's 19 goals in qualifying (group + playoff).

[double d]

The US bomb out of the World Cup. Needing only a point they traveled to Trinidad and Tobago...and lost 2-1. U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!! We can't even make the to the WC playing in CONCACAF?! WTAF?!! Unbelievable, embarrassing, I am at a loss for words to describe my shock about the fact that they f-cked it up so completely.

Cue Donald trump giving this reason to build the wall because Mexico lost 3-2 to Honduras

[Sanguine]

Only goalscorers for Argentina in their last 8 games were Messi, and own goal. They got 8 points in 7 games without him, and 20 points in 11 games with him.

Panama will make their World Cup debut despite scoring only 9 goals in 10 qualifying games. Honduras' into the playoffs on GD essentially because they lost 6-0 in the US.

Tim Cahill scored 11 goals in qualifying, at nearly 38 years old.

[Silver Fox]

The US bomb out of the World Cup. Needing only a point they traveled to Trinidad and Tobago...and lost 2-1. U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!! We can't even make the to the WC playing in CONCACAF?! WTAF?!! Unbelievable, embarrassing, I am at a loss for words to describe my shock about the fact that they f-cked it up so completely.

They reeeeeaaaaalllly didn't want to get invited to the White House

[NewCorkSeth]

Jaysus just noticed Chile didn't make it!

[LWJ]

The US bomb out of the World Cup. Needing only a point they traveled to Trinidad and Tobago...and lost 2-1. U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!! We can't even make the to the WC playing in CONCACAF?! WTAF?!! Unbelievable, embarrassing, I am at a loss for words to describe my shock about the fact that they f-cked it up so completely.

Cue Donald trump giving this reason to build the wall because Mexico lost 3-2 to Honduras

eh?

[genome]

The US bomb out of the World Cup. Needing only a point they traveled to Trinidad and Tobago...and lost 2-1. U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!! We can't even make the to the WC playing in CONCACAF?! WTAF?!! Unbelievable, embarrassing, I am at a loss for words to describe my shock about the fact that they f-cked it up so completely.

Cue Donald trump giving this reason to build the wall because Mexico lost 3-2 to Honduras

eh?

Yeah... what?

[Sutekh]

And it's Peru that will get to beat New Zealand for the final qualification place.

[double d]

Cue Donald trump giving this reason to build the wall because Mexico lost 3-2 to Honduras

eh?

Yeah... what?

Because Mexico is annoyed at usa about the wall and stuff so they decided to lose on purpose to Honduras by scoring own goals and getting sent off so usa didn't go through and Honduras did.

[Sutekh]

So far...

32 teams to partake of the Russian "festivities" next year (48 in Qatar of course, which is just ridiculous but then that whole story is just utterly ridiculous in itself - and hopefully yet may be changed).

The 23 known qualifiers so far are :

1. Brazil
2. Russia
3. Germany
4. Iran
5. Japan
6. Mexico
7. Costa Rica
8. Belgium
9. Saudi Arabia
10. South Korea
11. Spain
12. England
13. Nigeria
14. Poland
15. Egypt
16. Iceland
17. Serbia
18. France
19. Portugal
20. Argentina
21. Uruguay
22. Colombia
23. Panama

The 9 remaining qualifiers will come from :

Europe (4 teams)

Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Croatia, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Sweden and Greece.

South America/Oceania (1 team)

Peru or New Zealand

Concacaf/Asia (1 team)

Honduras or Australia

Africa

Three teams still to be decided from the remaining group games.

DR Congo or Tunisia
Morocco or Ivory Coast
Bukina Faso or South Africa or Senegal or Cape Verde

Schedule of games

17 October: Europe play-off draw
9-11 November: Remaining games 1
12-14 November: Remaining games 2
1 December: World Cup finals groups are drawn
14 June - 15 July 2018: World Cup

[LWJ]

[Silver Fox]

So far...

32 teams to partake of the Russian "festivities" next year (48 in Qatar of course, which is just ridiculous

TBF it's still 32 teams in Qatar, 2026 is when it goes to 48, it's literally the only sensible thing about the 2022 tournament

[genome]

eh?

Yeah... what?

Because Mexico is annoyed at usa about the wall and stuff so they decided to lose on purpose to Honduras by scoring own goals and getting sent off so usa didn't go through and Honduras did.

Right you are

[genome]

What I would give to see a ROI vs Northern Ireland playoff

[Sanguine]

What I would give to see a ROI vs Northern Ireland playoff

Both unseeded, so can't happen.

[Ascotexgunner]

More like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4SuR8hTGMI&app

[Starfish]

NI - Switzerland
Croatia - Greece
Denmark - ROI
Sweden - Italy

I thought that Denmark would be our best bet but we'll see. Still, happy to avoid Croatia & Italy!

[Sutekh]

Can see ROI beating Denmark
Would expect Croatia to beat Greece
Italy are at risk against Sweden but will ore than likely get it right on the night
NI v Switzerland is probably the toughest to call, can see it going either way hoping NI will make it.

[Starfish]

Indeed.

It's asking for a bit much but I would love it if NI & ROI both qualified. The first World Cup I really watched (to the point of obsession) was Spain 1982. ROI were still some years from qualifying for a WC (although we came extremely close that time, only losing out to France on goal-difference in a group including Belgium & The Netherlands), but NI were there and took us on a bit of a rollercoaster ride.