Premature predict the 2018 qualifiers

Discussion in 'FIFA and Tournaments' started by BardiyaIcelander, Jul 14, 2014.

  1. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    As far as you can guess the other qualifiers, Africa is obviously an enigma until the June draw.

    Just using the above example of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cape Verde, Tunisia/DRC we could easily have he following group:

    Ghana, Senegal, DRC + a fourth team (Nigeria?)
    or
    Ivory Coast / Cape Verde, Tunisia, (Egypt?) + a fourth team (Gabon with Aubemeyang?)
     
  2. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    So now we know the groups:
    Group A:

    Tunisia, DRCongo, Libya, Guinea

    Libya is simply not good enough, Guinea is going downhill, so that basically means its between Tunisia and DRCongo. Fingers crossed for DRCongo as I don't think I can cope with another Tunisian outing at the World Cup.
    DRCongo is on the rise as well with Ibenge, playing really attractive football. Time to make amends for 1974.

    Group B:
    Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia

    OMG. Exactly the kind of group everyone hoped would not happen. Three World Cup finalists and the 2012 African Cup of Nations winner. This couldn't be any worse. Zambia is tricky and will take points, Cameroon must not be counted out as they have several top players in their midst and they are reforming, Nigeria is on the brink of their best ever generation, while Algeria has Slimani, Mahrez, Feghouli, Brahimi to name a few. In all honesty this is exactly why the CAF system is messed up. Both teams should be at the 2018 World Cup, but only one of them can make it.

    As EvanJ noted this is the first time in FIFA qualification history that two teams that made the knockout stages of the previous World Cup are unable to make the next World Cup because of a draw.

    Mental group. All bets are off. My heart says Nigeria, my spider sense says Cameroon, my *&^* that monitor says Zambia and my head whispers Algeria.

    Group C:
    Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Gabon, Morocco

    Tough group with a resurgent Morocco (Benatia, Boufal, Ziyech), a Aubemeyang-led Gabon (sorry, but Gabon has too little depth in quality), a solid Mali with some superb youth prospects (like Adama Traore). And Cote d'Ivoire, African champions, as the big boys. People say Cote d'Ivoire is at its ends, but the backline has never been this good with Kanon, Bailly, Dja Djedje, Kessie, Akpa Akpro, the attack still has many viable options. The midfield however is struggling with Yaya Toure on his last legs.

    I still think Cote d'Ivoire take this, but it will be a very rough ride.

    Group D:

    Senegal, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, South Africa

    No disrespect to the rest of the teams, but the power of this Senegalese outfit dwarfs that of 2002. A mix of youth and experience: Moussa Konate, Idrissa Gueye, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pape Souare, Boukary Drame, Ibrahima Mbaye, Mohamed Diame, Cheikhou Kouyate, Sadio Mane, Balde Keita, Lamine Sane, Salif Sane, Diafra Sakho. Player for player the strongest team in Africa. They will overpower their lesser rivals who have nowhere near the depth. The odd quality player won't change that.

    Senegal to make a comeback.

    Group E:
    Ghana, Egypt, Congo, Uganda

    Revenge for 2010 or a repeat? Uganda should be a non-issue (sorry, guys). Congo is a nicely playing side and did well in the 2015 African Cup of Nations and has some nice players like Bifouma, Malonga, but the joint power of Egypt and Ghana should overcome their threat. So its down to Ghana vs Egypt... We know how that worked out last time... Will we see a repeat? I think the group is taken by whoever does better against Congo and Uganda. Ghana and Egypt however have been pretty consistent in the past World Cup qualifying paths (Ghana has 5 wins and 1 loss in the 2014 group phase, Egypt 6 wins, while back in 2010 both had 4-1-1 records in the final group phase).

    If I understood the rules the opening group game will be the repeat of 2010: Ghana vs Egypt...

    I hope for Ghana. I think the World Cup will once again prove ilusive for Egypt.

    If I understand the draw right the first round will be:
    Group A:
    Tunisia vs Libya
    Congo DR vs Guinea

    Group B:
    Zambia vs Cameroon
    Algeria vs Nigeria

    Group C:
    Gabon vs Mali
    Algeria vs Nigeria

    Group D:
    Senegal vs South Africa
    Burkina Faso vs Cape Verde

    Group E:
    Ghana vs Egypt
    Congo vs Uganda
     
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  3. thedragonrik58

    thedragonrik58 Member+

    Los Angeles Football Club
    Mexico
    Jul 5, 2011
    Palmdale
    Club:
    CD Chivas USA
    Nat'l Team:
    Mexico
    Group A: Tunisia
    Group B: Algeria
    Group C: Cote D'Ivoire
    Group D: Senegal
    Group E: Ghana

    Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk
     
  4. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    B is a Group of Death.
    Glad BEIN Sports has the rights. Will watch every game of that one with popcorn in hand.
     
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  5. BocaFan

    BocaFan Member+

    Aug 18, 2003
    Queens, NY
    Any change in people's choices for UEFA now that we are getting a close look at most of the contenders to qualify?

    I'm mostly disappointed with Austria. Becoming perhaps clear that they only had a great Euro 2016 qualifying run because of an easy group - Sweden and Russia were 2 of the worst teams at these Euros. So I think great chance for Wales or Ireland to win their 2018 qualifying group and for the other to go to the playoffs. Serbia of course can't be ignored.

    Again with Sweden looking awful and Ibra retiring officially, perhaps Group A not looking so tough anymore. Anyone think it won't be France first, Netherlands second?

    Would anyone still bet against Croatia to win Group I? Maybe its the deepest group with Iceland, Ukraine and Turkey also involved. Ukraine looked pretty good against Germany but regressed after that opening Euro match. Turkey seems like they could have advanced if they weren't in such a tough group. Croatia looks great now but these are 3 tough places to play an away match in.
     
  6. vancity eagle

    vancity eagle Member+

    Apr 6, 2006
    According to the draws in CAF I predict the following qualifiers

    DR Congo
    Algeria
    Ghana
    Senegal
    Morocco

    Very uneven groupings.

    Group B Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia

    has 4 former African Champions, 3 worldcup qualifiers from both Brazil 2014 and SA 2010 and 2 knockout round qualifiers from Brazil 2014.

    Apparently this is the first time in Worldcup history that a team who made the previous worldcup 2nd round will not qualify for the next worldcup before a ball is even kicked.

    The qualifying system in CAF is unfair. It is the only confederation where there is absolutely no room for error.

    IMO CAF deserves a playoff spot. We should take it from Oceania. Enough of NewZealand getting thrashed, what a waste of time. IMO the Oceania champ should just move to the final round of AFC qualifying and the Oceania playoff should be given to CAF.

    Its really a win win for both Confederations.

    New Zealand or whomever will have a much easier time to qualify playing in the AFC final round than having a one off playoff with the likes of Uruguay. They will get the much needed competitive games against AFC squads. CAF will not waste the playoff spot.

    A team like Nigeria/Algeria or Ghana/Egypt could easily upset a team like Uruguay or Panama/Costa Rica.

    Shame that before a ball is even kicked one of Algeria or Nigeria will not make Russia 2018. 2 of CAFs best teams.
     
  7. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Seems that way on historical form but I can only assume the pots for the draw were based on FIFA rankings. Obviously the recent form of 3 of these teams wasn't good enough to keep them in the top 5 CAF nations. 2 in the top 10 and one in the top 15.

    They have already kicked a ball as they had a couple of games each to get to this point in the draw.
    So your solution to a problem of CAF's making is to penalise others. I will point out that New Zealand made it to 2010 (held in Africa) and performed better than half the African nations that were there. I will also point out that OFC has won two of their last three playoffs (same as CONMEBOL and CONCACF), so they aren't wasting the chance. 2-18 was also the first time that CAF has had more than one team make the knock out stages, Something that every other confederation with the exception of OFC has done at least twice. When you can regularly get half your teams through to the second round then you can argue a case for more teams at the expense of others. If its your qualifying system that holds you back, then its not too hard to design a qualifying system to qualify 5 teams that isn't as cut throat as the current system. Asia do it to decide 5 teams, CONCACAF do it to decide 4 teams.
     
  8. vancity eagle

    vancity eagle Member+

    Apr 6, 2006

    Nobody would be getting "more teams" at the "expense of others"

    OFC isn't guaranteed anything. They have a half slot. It would be arguable EASIER for Newzealand to qualify through the AFC final round as I am suggesting than a playoff against the likes of Uruguay or Ecuador.

    Likewise if CAF got an extra spot, they would earn it by beating a team like Uruguay or Ecuador.

    Sorry but your arguments for OFC don't hold since Australia is no longer a part of the confed, and like Australia, New Zealand should just join AFC.


    Its pretty pathetic to have New Zealand go up against a Uruguay type team, when you will have much stronger sides like Nigeria/Algeria Egypt/Ghana CIV/Morocco who don't get a second chance. Every other confederation has a second chance. Not CAF. I don't think it is fair.

    Like I said, I believe my proposal would actually HELP NewZealand in the short and long term. They would improve by playing AFC sides on the regular. Giving an OFC team a direct spot to the Olympics is another travesty.
     
  9. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    It does set up talk for expansion to a 40 team World Cup nicely though.
    I bet the narrative will be there are very good teams in Africa that did not qualify to Russia. The overall quality is there we need to expand to 40 teams in 2026.
     
  10. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    Well, everybody in Uefa is already talking about the drop in quality of the current Eurocup, with lots of matches finishing in scoreless draws, due to their expanssion from 16 to 24 teams in it. Crappy teams don't usually play for the win and only are worried in avoiding to get defeated, so they basicly bunker and hope for a miracle to happen.
    There is no need to be a geniuss, to realize that such an expanssion at the end was wrong, bad and a lot less atractive for most viewers, to the point that it is very likely that for future tournaments it will go back to be as it was in the past for less teams. For the Eurocup, not more than 16 teams in it.
    For the WC, it would be about the same thing. 32 teams in it, is more than enough.
     
  11. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    Everyone in UEFA is already talking about the drop in quality? I think people have been saying the Euro has been very exciting. But that is an issue for another thread.
     
  12. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    #187 Rickdog, Jun 25, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2016
    About Africa's incompetence in sorting out a much more fair and better qualifier process, francly I don't care.
    If they aren't enough smart to fix it by themselves, don't expect the rest of the world to fix it for them ( this is not a FIFA issue, but one that depends only on CAF instead). For the case, you can double the spots they get, but their qualifier system will continue being plain crap.

    Besides, the most of which they bring to the WC are lousy teams full of overaged players that usually make wonders in youth levels, but once they reach senior levels, they mostly crumble and almost never play as what is expected from them, given the results they achieved at youth level.
    20 years back in time, I thought about it diferently believing that it was the system that was being harsh on them, but now I realize that they simply are what they are, and that they will never be any more. At present times, maybe one or two of their teams will make a good campaign every once in a while. With 5 spots given to their Confed, is more than enough for those "special" teams to make it through, so there is no need to give them more, as the rest (not including the 1 or 2 special ones, unless their own Confed fvcks them by forcing them to eliminate each other), will be only battling for the title of whom is going to be "the worst team of the WC".
     
  13. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I meant that this is the first time for World Cup 2018 qualifying, not the first time ever. I'm not going to spend time checking that for every Round of 16. I did check for World Cup 2014 qualifying and all of the teams that reached the World Cup 2010 Round of 16 could have reached the Round of 16 again.
     
  14. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    #189 zahzah, Jun 25, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2016
    20 years back the CAF record spoke for itself - almost every team performed well, was close to qualifying from the group and/or were cheated by biased refereed. Africa did well well with their slots. Those performances show they are good enough and deserve more. CAF only started with their overall poor perfomances from 2002 / maybe 2006 onwards.

    As for 2014: Cameroon was the only team that was terrible. Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire had some good perfomances coupled with some mindmelts, nothing to be ashamed off. Nigeria and Algeria obviously did good.

    As for overaged players: Can we drop that already? We're in 2016 and CAF - despite all its flaws - has done a lot to root out playing overaged players (unlike other confeds that have swept the problem under the rug). And you can see the effects with their youth program, especially with regards to Nigeria or Senegal. There are many problems with African football at the moment but age cheating isn't it.

    Also: Can we not turn this thread into another confed bashing thread? The title is PREMATURE PREDICTS IN 2018 QUALIFIERS. Move your bashing to the expansion thread or whatever. Thank you.
     
  15. DzFooty

    DzFooty Member

    Feb 22, 2014
    #190 DzFooty, Jun 25, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2016

    What does being over-age have to do with a senior tournament? This isn't a youth tournament. You can be 40-years-old and play in the World Cup.

    Sorry but the casually racist trope of, "Those pesky Africans use older players to win tournaments." doesn't even apply here.

    And how exactly are African players lousy and don't live up to expectations? Did you forget about youth prodigies like Samuel Eto'o? Jay Jay Okocha? Yaya Toure? George Weah? Michael Essien? Asamoah Gyan? John Obi Mikel? Serge Aurier? Seydou Keita? Mohamed Salah?

    Literally the only failed youth player from Africa in the past 15 years is Dominic Adiyah - the same player that had his most famous moment stolen from him when Luis Suarez handled his sure goal in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals.

    Do you hold youth failures in Europe and South America to similar standards and scrutiny? Do you make overarching claims about a whole continent over the failures of Ryan Babel, Marco Marin, Anderson, Kleberson, Bebe, Michael Johnson, Andres D'Alessandro, Joe Cole, Denilson, Robinho, Sergio Canales, Bojan, Rodrigo?
     
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  16. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    Using an over aged player at senior level is no problem.
    When you use them at youth level though, besides of being a cheat, older players are stronger and more mature, which certainly gives an advantage over an opponent whom is playing only with kids.
    African teams are famous for this type of cheating, where as they perform brilliantly in youth tournaments , they get bigger contracts, but unfortunately age after a few years tend to pass them the account and they are completely wasted before they reach the suposed 30 years of age.

    So age cheating only helps them at youth level tournaments, but once they play against players of their same age at senior level, where there are no age restrictions, they only happen to be average at most.

    It's not about racism.
    It's about cheating, which is completely against sportsmanship and moral values. (It's in the same category as doping in sports)


    They win championships at youth level, with absolute ease over their opponents, but afterwards, they lose with that same ease at senior level.

    Has Africa produced great players ?
    Oh yes, they have. But have also produced lots of players with a potential great future, that really never produce anything and are not diferent than everybody else.

    And what is more important in this issue, is that they actually made it at youth levels basicly by cheating there.
    That's completely unacceptable, coming from whomever it comes. And what is worse is that this cheating practice, most of the times is done or condoned at their highest level, in their respectful FA's (there are some whom do a great job, trying to prevent it from happening, but they are losing that battle).

    Some links (just google up "age cheating in african football", and there will be hundreds of pages for that issue) :

    https://www.rnw.org/archive/age-cheating-rampant-african-football

    http://www.afristars.net/2016/01/20/africa-and-age-cheating-in-football-past-and-present/

    http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/26174252
     
  17. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Mods, can we block confed bashing on this thread? The above topics have nothing whatsoever to do with this thread.
     
  18. Rickdog

    Rickdog Member+

    Jun 16, 2010
    Santiago, Chile
    Club:
    CD Colo Colo
    Nat'l Team:
    Chile
    This is not Confed bashing.

    This is a problem , which affects Africa more than others, that still exists.
    Specially when you want to talk about the potential performance of the diferent teams of their Confed, something you particularly like to do very much, without facing afterwards the "odd" issues, that helps them achieve that suposed succesful performance, when others point it out to you.
    :rolleyes:

    If you really don't want to debate about the issue, don't post.
    But if you do, you got to be prepared to read what others will reply to your post.
     
  19. zahzah

    zahzah Member+

    Jun 27, 2011
    Club:
    FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd
    Regardless. If you want to debate this, this isn't the thread where to do it.
     
  20. almango

    almango Member+

    Sydney FC
    Australia
    Nov 29, 2004
    Bulli, Australia
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Africa would be getting a playoff at the expense of OFC. Asia would be accommodating more teams in a qualifying system that could see them lose either a spot or a playoff spot.

    You would be taking a playoff spot from them. They are guaranteed that. I wouldn't take a spot off them at all, I would give them a full spot as an independent Confederation and either take that half spot from Asia or the hosting confederation ie the hoists qualify and that confederation gets a playoff spot rather than a full spot in return.

    There are many who believe that they don't deserve what they have now (not me, but you don't have to look far on these boards to see them).

    Then ignore Australia and you would still find OFC have won 50% of playoffs since Australia left OFC. That's not wasting a playoff as you put it earlier, its par for the course.

    You are wrong. OFC don't get a second chance, and European nations only get a second chance as that's how they set up their qualifying. Your disrespect for New Zealand is noted, but not justified. They have proved that at their best they can compete with more established nations, as they did in 2010

    Your help is not required. It actually isn't helping but hurting, as you take a playoff spot from OFC and take it for yourself. Whilst pretending you are helping, you are actually stealing. Its a very patronising attitude. Put your energies into devising a better qualifying method for CAF. Don't try to fix your own problem by stealing from others.
     
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  21. Nico Limmat

    Nico Limmat Member+

    Oct 24, 1999
    Dubai, UAE
    Club:
    Grasshopper Club Zürich
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    Agreed. Let's not deviate too much here from the purpose of the thread (i.e. predict the 2018 qualifiers)
     
  22. Hideo

    Hideo Member

    Newcastle United and Shimizu S-Pulse
    Apr 30, 2010
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    With reference to the recent CAF qualifying draw, it is interesting to note the rather dubious means by which the seeding was decided. It was intended to have been from the last monthly FIFA ranking update, but an extra ranking of the CAF teams was done at a later date especially for this draw.

    What changed between the two dates? Tunisia went in to pot 1, and Egypt dropped to pot 2.

    The only nation to publicise the fact that this extra ranking was happening, even before FIFA mentioned it? Tunisia.

    In fact, depending on what arbitrary date they picked, the pot 1 team could have been Tunisia, Egypt or Cape Verde. Had they stuck to the originally published protocol it would have been Egypt.

    This explains it all far better than I can...

    http://www.weglobalfootball.com/2016/06/22/fifas-world-cup-draw-foul-play/
     
  23. Iranian Monitor

    Iranian Monitor Member+

    Aug 18, 2004
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    In the AFC, the general consensus is that Australia, Japan and S. Korea will qualify as they have done consistently in the recent past. On paper, Iran (which has been the #1 ranked team in the AFC for quite a while) is the next obvious choice, but Iran have never qualified to back-to-back World Cups and have, instead, developed a pattern of qualifying to the World Cup every other time since 1998 (qualified in '98, missed out in 2002, qualified in 2006, missed 2010, qualified in 2014). While it would be quite disappointing if Iran fail to qualify to Russia 2018, I do expect Iran to at least make the playoffs. But if Iran makes the playoffs, the Concacaf team which will be able to eliminate Iran will not be a side like Panama or Honduras or Jamaica or such. These are all decent sides, but Iran will be able to beat them handily. Instead, if it so happens that Iran is in the playoffs and loses out to a Concacaf team, it will most likely be the case that Mexico has again failed to get a straight ticket from Concacaf and has ended up in the playoffs.

    P.S.
    I don't want to venture a guess as to who will be 4th AFC team in the World Cup if Iran has kept up the pattern and failed to qualify, although the top choices in that case would be Uzbekistan, Qatar or China in that order.
     
  24. thewitness

    thewitness Member

    Melbourne Victory, Derby County
    Australia
    Jul 10, 2013
    Club:
    Derby County FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    New Attempt 11 months on:
    UEFA
    France, Portugal, Germany, Wales, Poland, England, Italy, Belgium, Croatia, Iceland, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands
    (Play-off losers: Ireland, Denmark, Slovakia, Bosnia)

    AFC
    South Korea, Australia, Iran, Japan
    (Play-off loser Uzbekistan)

    CAF
    DR Congo, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana

    CONMEBOL
    Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay

    OFC
    (Play-off loser New Zealand)

    CONCACAF
    Mexico, Costa Rica, USA, Panama
     
  25. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    I think Iran can lose to a Panama or Honduras in a playoff situation. Coin flip in either case in my mind.
     

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