Honduras scored one in the final play of the match, but the Aussies were already celebrating. Fireworks over Sydney mark their qualification for a 4th straight World Cup. Looking forward to see them with their inflatable kangaroos & singing their real anthem, Down Under:
Honduras missed their best chance at qualifying by being honorable and not challenging the phantom goal.
Poor Honduras. Oh well, I shall be supporting underdogs like Panama and Costa Rica. I'm betting on Poland as a dark horse.
oh well.. while you guys were all watching these boring qualifiers.. yours truly was at the game that really matters: Qatar vs Iceland international friendly here in Doha! Okay, well maybe it didn't matter that much, but hey free entry and a last minute equalizer to make it 1-1. I think the goalscorer for Iceland was Goaonsson. There was this older British guy behind me who kept on shouting his name every time he got the ball. Anyhoo, why was this game significant? Well it's the current least populated country to qualify for a world cup (Iceland) with a population of 332,529 against what would be the least populated country to qualify for the world cup if measure by nationals only (that's counting qualifying as host of 2022). Despite having a population of over 2 million, Qatar has only around 330,000 genuine passport holders... not that that's stopped them from nationalizing and calling up a player for the national team in the past. Anyhoo, given the birth rates here, something tells me that by 2022, the population should have gone up by then anyway. This match was part of a three team friendly series that also included the Czech Republic. The Czechs won both their games beating Iceland 2-1 in the opener and the hosts 1-0... but as Iceland are kind of everyone's favorite fairytale team, I decided the Czech this one out..
The australian coach has done an amazing job, arguably the worst australian team ever and he wins the asian cup in 2015 and now takes them to russia. Cleared out all the old guys prior to brazil 2014 and done about as well as you csn do under the circumstances. Fortunately honduras looked about 2 levels below australia in both games, they could hardly touch the ball at home and should have lost by more then 3-1 on aggregate. How the US finished 5th in the hex is mind boggling, would probably beat australia...honduras are definately the worst team in that section after trinidad and tobago.
I kept thinking that too! From a distance, with his shiny bald head, he looks like Bradley in a yellow jersey. And he plays central mid, and he also keeps screwing up on free kicks but inexplicably continues to take them. But then I saw him closing down on players in defense and charging forward in attack and then the illusion was broken.
Im an Aussie, nothing you could say to make me believe honduras is better then the US, the 6-0 speaks for itself, most of us down under are breathing a sigh of relief that we faced such an ordinary team.
Here's a weird thing: The Spanish language network for Bein Sports is broadcasting the NZ-Peru game .... in English. The pregame was entirely in Spanish - and so are all the menus. But the commentary is English. You'd think a game in Peru - being broadcast on the Spanish-language affiliate - would be in, I dunno - Spanish? Not that I'm complaining - the color commentator for the broadcast is an extremely excitable Scot whose accent becomes incomprehensible when he starts squealing in excitement. Very entertaining. I understand him less than I do Spanish. (Edit) He might not be Scottish. He might be a Brit with a regional accent that I cannot identify. He might also be high. New Zealand very defensive as expected, but Peru adapting by piercing them deep down both flanks. NZ withstanding the onslaught so far - but they're giving Peru so much open space on the wings. But really, im more invested in listening to this guy babble like he's having a really good acid trip. He sounds like he's about to either cry or orgasm. Maybe both.
Hahah here I was thinking something was just off with the stream I was watching. That's pretty horrible they couldn't broadcast the game in Spanish.
^Ray Hudson is a Geordie. I'm hoping for New Zealand to sneak in a first half goal and make this match interesting.
Ahhhh, I see I always mix up Geordies and Scots. Peru scores a great goal - and it started on the wing. NZ gave them so much open space - Peru hit back on the break, got the ball on the left wing and had tons of time to wait for and pick out Jefferson Farfan - and he buries it with a great shot. By the way, I LOVE this announcing duo. Not just Ray Hudson the acid-tripping Geordie, but the American play-by-play man, who's been sounding so staid and professional so far - when Peru scores, he just absolutely screams into the mic, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" No words, just this long extended primal scream. And then Hudson joins in with "Faar-FAAAAAAAAAN!! JEFFERSON!! MOVING ON UP!! TO THE EAST SIDE!!!!!!!!!" I can't believe I've never heard these guys before. Their analysis has actually been pretty good too. I want them to announce all games.
I think they pretty much do all the La Liga games. Ray Hudson is famous for his hyperbole in describing Messi.
New Zealand has been great on the road tonight, as was Australia on Friday. Even though Peru has been in control, NZ has done much better than I expected and has carved out chances. Compare that to the US, which has generally been garbage on the road in the 2014 and 2018 World Cup cycles. The team squeaked out a few last-minute wins and several against extremely outmatched opponents - the only good win that didn't occur in a meaningless match occurred at Jamaica in 2013.
Peru winning 2-0, still they have missed the effectiveness of Paolo Guerrero. They look like the team they've always been, great at the passing and triangulation game, but this time they have improved the mental side, and don't seem to tire as quick as before.
If this result holds, the pots are: POT 1: Russia, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France POT 2: Spain, Peru, Switzerland, England, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Croatia POT 3: Denmark, Iceland, Costa Rica, Sweden, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Iran POT 4: Serbia, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Morocco, Panama, S. Korea, Saudi Arabia A group can only have two teams from UEFA, all others cannot have but one per group.
Now that we have the pots confirmed, there are certain matchups I'd like to see: Argentina vs. England. They haven't played each other since 2005. It's about time we dust this one off for another go round Germany vs. Spain. A match between the two previous World Cup champions? Mouth-watering for any neutral Spain vs. South Korea. Let's just say the Spanish may want some revenge for 2002.
Even though the FIFA rankings suck, this is still a lot better than the Geo based pots. There's really no GOD there. I mean, having Spain in Pot 2 makes for one top heavyweight group (unless Spain is drawn with Poland or Russia), but after that, it seems pretty balanced.
A bit more about the pots based on ranking: 1. Only non-UEFA, non-CONMEBOL team in the top two pots is Mexico. 2. All five CONMEBOL teams are in the top two pots. 3. Iran is the only AFC team not in the last pot. 4. CAF is the opposite of CONMEBOL: their five teams are in the bottom two pots.