211 to 1: World Cup 2026 Elimination Timeline (R)

They know what's up.

 

That's easy to say comming from a confederation where you dont need to be consistent, and can actually be piss poor, not even try and still qualify

 

Someone create a best player in the world not in the World Cup thread.
It would be entertaining.

 

Keep CONCACAF outta this.

 

I'm actually talking about out Conmebol.

Bolivia lost 10 matches and are in the inter continental playoffs.

Nigeria has lost 1 match.

Please dont talk about "consistency" like that actually means anything.

 

I knew you were talking about CONMEBOL. It was called a joke.

South American qualifying is the longest and most grueling qualification process in all of futbol.
It is more about attrition and surviving in a marathon style of tournament.
Different beast that takes a toll mentally and physically.

Africa seems to be more concerned with the African Cup of nations than getting the Qualifier process correct.

 

Crazy enough, Stroeykens was the real prize. 21 and having a great season at Anderlecht. Rumors they're working on a couple more... Metinho of Basel and Iling Jr.

 

He didn't even play this window. However, the ACN could be the perfect place to work him into the team. Same with the other two.

 

67. United Arab Emirates

They lost 2-1 to Iraq after a very late stoppage time penalty and thus are officially out.

Iraq moves on to the Intercontinental playoffs.

 

Iraq scored in the 90+17th to win 2-1. I wonder if that is the farthest into stoppage time a team was eliminated.

 

Bolivia also played Brazil twice, Argentina twice, Uruguay twice, etc. Who did Nigeria play?

 

Nigeria played South Africa (first), Benin (third), Lesotho (fourth), Rwanda (fifth), and Zimbabwe (sixth). They beat Gabon in extra time.

 

66. and 65. Costa Rica and Honduras.

Edit: Costa Rica were eliminated at the end of their match. Technically, Honduras have to wait until the end of Jamaica-Curaçao, although at the end of the game they have not reached the number of points that Jamaica had at the beginning of the matchday, so there is a good argument that both Costa Rica and Honduras were eliminated at the same time.

Edit 2: OK, let's go with my last argument, and state that both were eliminated at the same time.

 

Central America hangs their head in shame.
Other than Panama.

 

So here's an interesting question....what are the biggest shocks so far in terms of who has been eliminated?

I'd say Nigeria, Cameroon, and Costa Rica failing to qualify despite their federations each getting more places.

And I'd say China failing to even make the AFC playoff rounds.....

And although they're not eliminated yet, Sweden finishing winless and bottom of their group also has to be a huge shock.

 

I'd say all of that is pretty accurate.

Still can't get over the controversial call in the Oman vs Palestine game iirc.

 

I predicted Venezuela to fall flat on their face when everyone around here banked on them getting in early on in qualifying.

That said, the way they crapped the bed and Bolivia beat Brasil on the last match day was kinda surprising.

 

I wouldn't call China a shock. They've traditionally been trash. A team like UAE or Bahrain is more of a shock IMHO.
The others are more like it. I'd add Serbia and Mali given their talent on paper (plus, Mali was coming from a great AFCON and was sharing a ggroup with a Ghana that was reeling) and Venezuela.

 

I think as Qualifiers rolled on, it was apparent who was qualifying and who wasn't based on form and performance patterns.

Like when Bolivia beat Brazil at home, it was a likelihood they were going to find that result because they were absolutely rolling at home. Then Venezuela was pretty much entering the last game on an absolute whim after their form free fell after the 4th game of qualifying.

 

Honduras did not have to wait to be eliminated. Once they finished with fewer points than both of Jamaica and Curacao regardless of the outcome of their game, Honduras was eliminated.

Costa Rica 0-0 Honduras eliminated both of them. Costa Rica was third in their group. Honduras was eliminated as the worst second place team. It looked like they were getting a gift from Guatemala leading Suriname 3-0, but Guatemala scored an own goal in stoppage time to send Suriname to Playoffs and eliminate Honduras.

 

Tonight it was easy to roll the dice with Curaçao. Jamaica has looked clueless in their final third all campaign long and I just didn't see how they'd score on a team that's simply much more organized than them in every facet of the game due to significantly better coaching.

Same for DRC who over came an early goal and Chelle turning things around for Nigeria. Teams with good defenses tend to qualify.