Denmark is officially out Dax. They are the worst at the bottom of the nine second placed teams and then they can't go to playoffs.
Ah, thanks. I didn't even bother about counting them and figure out that the number of the group was odd. Basically Iceland, Croatia and France made it for one point, otherwise it would've been down to GD due to France having one opponent less, they cut out all the 6th placed teams in the point counts. Croatia made it for one more point than Denmark. I hope Iceland takes Greece in the seeding.... and wow if Portugal and France meet. Sweden is also good. And Croatia's coach resigned I hear after the second loss to Scotland, guess it wasn't just "Serbia being bad" in the campaign then
Panama really blew it. What was the guy doing trying to take on 4 players when all they needed to do was run down the clock?
So, these are the 8 teams that will have top seeding at the world cup Brazil Spain Germany Argentina Colombia Belgium Uruguay Switzerland Netherlands would take the seed if Uruguay loses to Jordan (lol) I think we are in the same pot as CONCACAF which effectively means we can't meet Mexico\NZ, USA, Honduras or Costa Rica. F'uck you FIFA. which means that effectively one group could be for example Brazil, Japan, Netherlands, Ivory Coast. Damn . If you take a look at the 2010 WC, France and to an extent Portugal are the only teams that we should've been very much afraid from the European 2nd pot. This time, because Belgium and Switzerland took top seed, the risk to meet Italy or the Netherlands or England or France is very big, and we will also have one of the 8 teams above. Switzerland on paper the best one? Well they beat Brazil at home recently....
Well, they didn't lose a single match in their WCQ campaign. It's worth nothing that they didn't have any "top seed" above them in their group but still Iceland, Norway and Slovenia are decent opponents On top of that, I see "recent" friendlies such as an away victory against Croatia, a victory at home against Brazil, and even a victory against Germany 5-3 one year ago... Taking a look at their side against Norway for example, there are many Serie A players like Lichtsteiner, Inler, Behrami, Dzemaili. Xhaka and Shaqiri are other notable players.
So what will JNT's bracket look like? What will be the chances that we will have the same level of difficulty as the bracket we had in 2010 WC?
Anything can happen at the world cup, but it's clear that there will be 4 groups where, on paper, one of the top seed and one of Italy, England, France, Netherlands are likely to go through. Which means that if we're in another group for example and we pass, whether we end first or second we have an high chance to meet one of these teams immediately. Again, on paper considering what happened to Italy and France in 2010, though I don't see it again this time (France still technically not qualified btw)
Chances are very slim I am afraid, if the JNT is hoping to advance from the WC Group Stages, they'd have to knock out a football powerhouse/top notch European or South American team, the group will most likely look close to the one they had in the Confederations Cup. Just replace Mexico with an African team (could be Ghana or Ivory Coast) and another one from Europe : France, Portugal, Sweden, Russia, Bosnia..
Then why did Japan had the bracket it did in 2010? I don't recall JNT's campaign being better either, the JNT even finished 2nd and lost a string of friendlies like it does currently.
Also we would've met Italy in the bracket anyway if they didn't fail and I'm not sure wtf the JNT campaign has to do with the bracket they face? edit: Guess you meant that despite the bad campaign they got to the second stage. Yeah but we've gotta see who are the opponents this time..
Face Italy is not a problem. Japan simply schooled Balotelli & Co. at Confederation Cup and lost only for bad luck (2 posts, 1 own goal, 1 stupid pk etc.). Recently (I mean from 1998 above) Japan has always played a good football against Italy then I prefer and hope them from the 2nd pot. From the 4th pot obviously an african "newcomer" team is the better option (dunno if there's any) but since Japan has a good "tradition" against african team at the WC (Tunisia 2002, Cameroon 2010) whichever team can be a good draw. Between Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Uruguay/Netherlands & Switzerland dunno. It's too easy to choose Switzerland and while Brazil it's obviously to be avoided (like Germany imo) maybe the same Argentina we have beaten in the past can be a good opponent (Messi always fail with his NT jersey and they won playing an awful football against SK in 2006 and totally not convincing against Japan in 1998 too despite Batistuta was there). When the draws will occur?
December... note that next month the playoffs will be played for Europe for France, etc. too Burkina Faso could be a newcomer if they manage to draw or win away in Algeria. Ivory Coast and Ghana are pretty much qualfied, Nigeria has a big chance to make it, and between Cameroon and Tunisia anything can happen (first match was 0-0) But man it would require tons of luck to get Burkina Faso\Algeria, and in the same african pot there are also Chile and Ecuador...
We're stronger than 2010. Less balanced (for now), but stronger. And getting out of that group of 2010 was epic; i think we can do better than Okada.
honestly it was epic because it was a first (outside Japan), and because we had an exciting match with the Netherlands. Oh, and Keisuke's freekick. Not because the (beaten) opponents were powerhouses and we did giant killing. We may be stronger now but the draw will play a big part. Even if we're stronger if we get Brazil, England and Chile or stuff like that you can start worrying because Zac or Okada or Mourinho all would have quite an huge task.
I do not think you followed 2014 FIFA WC Qualification-AFC final round carefully. You probably did that for your group but you did not for group A. You would not have said the bolded part if you have followed group A too. For Uzbekistan VS Iran match in Tashkent, the Japanese referee did not see Uzbek goal. On the other hand, the referee did not see clear Iran's goal against Uzbekistan in Tehran too. Do you remember Japan away game against Uzbek in WCQ 2010 and how the referee tried to screw Japan? Same thing happened to Iran against Uzbek in Tehran because the Arab referee tried to keep Qatar in the race. Fortunately Iran NT guaranteed the elimination of Qatar by beating them in Doha.
How many other times have they played, like twice? I remember 1-1 draw in friendly and a 3-2 loss in Athens. Italy pretty much always plays to the level of their opponent, but usually comes away with a result. Even as bad as they were in 2010, they probably would have at least tied the last game and squeezed in if they had Buffon in goal. Anyway, both WC runner up and Euro runner up are not seeded. Pretty ridiculous.
What you say simply agree with what I said. Exactly: Japan play a good football everytime they met Italy and the last time Japan lost only for bad luck and the MoM was Kagawa a player of the defeated team.That's why I hope for Italy as the perfect opponent from pot2. Who else can be better for Japan from that pot? Pay attention, I'm not underrating Italy, I'm simply saying that's a better opponent than others, so don't take it personal ok?
I think we are just about equal or a little better than our WC 2010 squad. Back then, we do not have the attacking options we have now but our defence is more solid with Nakazawa and Tulio plus Endo was in his prime.
Oh come on, Tulio and Nakazawa in particular were terrible in the friendlies before WC2010, do you remember against England? Both scored an owngoal XD Tulio was better as a scorer than a defender LOL! Then WC began and they play very good thanks to Eiji miraculous saves and Abe hardwork too of course. We can only hope Yoshida and Konno literally BURN as hell in this WC to avoid more than 2 goal scored against us. Let's hope for draws and that Kagawa find his way and Honda does not waste time in Milan. And not Nagatomo injury of course!
Did you watch that game? Sure they f**ked up in a lot of games, but that particular one they both were close to flawless other than those OG's. Both were just plain bad luck. That's why JNT fans started to show a little bit of optimism after that England match.
I hope that the JNT would try another CB alongside Morishige in the friendly against Netherlands e.g Tatsuya Yamashita and Yamaguchi inplace on either Endo. Also Osako in the striker role and put Kakitani elsewhere, maybe on the wings.