Germany and England have such easy groups, they better schedule tougher friendlies whenever they can to keep sharp.
well Germany in November played Italy, few days ago played England. we are also playing at the Confederations Cup and add that the DFB recently scheduled friendly games with Brazil and Spain to be played in March 2018, a few months before the WC!!!! More than enough to be sharp for the World Cup. don't know about England since I don't follow them.
England played Spain in November, Germany last week, and have France away in June. They're doing what they can, even if their team is in rough shape.
Messi has been suspended for four of Argentina's matches for insulting an assistant referee. Argentina sits third in CONMEBOL qualifying, but only two points ahead of sixth-place Chile. Top four qualify, fifth place plays off against OFC.
Two of Messi's suspended matches are against Bolivia (later today) and Venezuela. Two of CONMEBOLs bottom feeders, they better hope they can hold the fort while he's gone!
What could he have said that warrants 4 match ban? Really stupid to suspend the world's biggest star for "insulting words".
All 1-0 home wins for the favorites in AFC group A. Form holding in B as well, with KSA/Iraq still to go.
So Messi will miss @ Bolivia, @ Uruguay, v Venezuela, v Peru, then be eligible for the final WCQ @ Ecuador.
The list for the AFC play-off team looks to be trimmed down. With 3 games left to play, UAE and Syria are now 4 points off the pace in their groups - they do have easier fixtures coming up, but seems unlikely at this point. Iran is leading Group A with 4 points - so they won't be the guy, either. Which - thank God - means no pointless political prattle overtaking the mainstream media if the US ends up in the 4th place play-off. Can you imagine if it was US-Syria or US-Iran for the WC spot? You just know some idiots on the 24-hour news channels who know nothing about soccer (or Syria, or Iran, or politics, or anything, really) would decide it was a topic worth getting all outraged about. (FYI, if you don't know AFC's qualifying - final round has two groups, top 2 teams in each go to World Cup. The 3rd place teams play each other, then winners goes to the playoff against the CONCACAF 4th team. Unlike us, they're already pretty close to the end of their WC qualifying.) As it stands, the playoff team will likely be one of Uzbekistan, Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, or Australia. Group B is turning into a deathmatch between Japan, Saudi, and Australia - they're practically level on points, and will all play each other in the next 3 games to decide it. Looks intense. Group A is more boring - Iran has more or less sealed the group, while Uzbek and Korea are fighting to see who chokes hardest.
It wasn't too surprising that all the home team won all six matches in AFC qualifying today; after all, the home team was the favorite in all six matches. What is quite surprising is that all six wins were shutouts! @skim172, you are right to suggest that the current top three teams in each AFC group are the favorites to finish in the top three, but I'm a little less ready than you to rule out a Syrian rise to a spot in the playoff between the AFC groups. Syria hosts fifth-place China (in Malaysia), then hosts last-place Qatar (also in Malaysia), then travels to presumably-already-qualified-by-then Iran. It really would not be too surprising to see Syria make up that four-point deficit on Uzbekistan, who now must travel to a still-very-motivated Iran, then travel to fifth-place China (who has given up a total of one goal at home in four group matches), then host a possibly desperate-for-a-win South Korea. It would be a tall order for Syria to upset Japan/Saudi Arabia/Australia in a home-and-away total-score knockout, though.
A tall order indeed, but even that two-match set would give us a welcome opportunity for some pointless political prattle of our own.
The Saudis are bound to drop since they still have two hard games on the line: at home to Japan & away to Australia. They already lost in Japan and failed to beat the Aussies at home. My prediction is a Saudia Arabia - Uzbekistan battle for the playoff spot.
@Dr. Gamera - Good point, hadn't looked at Syria's schedule. That's a pretty good run of games. It would be a pretty epic choke by whichever of Uzbekistan/Korea didn't make it, though.
Bolivia is about as strong as the #4 CONCACAF team (Panama), although I can see Panama winning in Panama City for a lot less than what the Bolivians would do to them in La Paz, in a serious game. Venezuela is even stronger. Not good for Argentina, and probably even worse for New Zealand, if they finish #5.
I love how you presume people wouldn't get worked up over US-Saudi Arabia. But if there's any justice, Panama-Uzbekistan will give us a guaranteed WC debutant.
The top 3 of both groups in Asia look basically set, with only who's going to the playoff in question. However if I had to bet on one last surprise you could see a late flurry from The Chinese. They get Syria at a neutral site in Malaysia, and then the Uzbeks at home afterwards. Meanwhile Uzbekistan has to go to Tehran next. China entering the final matchday only within 2 points is not unthinkable.
The problems are: 1) the Chinese are 7 points back with 9 possible points left to gain, 2) two out of 3 matches are road/neutral site, and 3) China isn't good at soccer. I think there's an excellent chance that it's Uzbekistan/Australia for the playoff.
I agree, their chances are really small. They need 5 results to go their way, and though all of those are realistic (some even probable), anytime you need 5 things to go your way, you're in trouble. I could see one last little flurry from them though.
Venezuela already gave up on these qualifiers and is playing @ Chile with their U20 team. Already losing 3-0. And to add insult to injury, Luis Caicedo gets a second yellow. Ecuador with 10, losing at home to Colombia 0-2.