So, USA, Chile and Holland huh? Ghana, Cameroon and Algeria and still possibly Ivory Coast too missed out from Africa but... USA, Chile and Holland (again) huh?
The draw for the World Cup will be exciting, I want to play some of the newer teams we never played against before such as Panama, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Peru (if they beat New Zealand). It'll also be exciting because Spain, England, and Italy will be in pot 2. Knowing our luck we will get drawn into a third consecutive group of death. Croatia in pot 3 if they make it too.
The groups will be difficult. there aren't many teams on this list I look at and say, "This will be easy".
I hope the group is Portugal Mexico Iceland Morocco/South Korea (Revenge for WC 1986 or 2002 humiliations)
USA and Chile was a surprise to me but Holland not so much for Europe. Holland has been shite for a while. Ghana, Cameroon, and IC would be a surprise for Africa.
There are quality teams in each pot, but at least Germany, Brazil, Argentina and France are also in pot one. Ideally, Portugal will draw a group that's neither a cakewalk nor a nightmare (though this team is certainly good enough to make it out of any group). I'm ready for some new teams and to hell with CONCACAF, I don't know why Portugal plays poorly against them. How about Peru/Colombia, Egypt and Japan? I want to see opponents from all over.
Man, Italy have a little hill to climb after yesterday's match. They pretty much need to win 2-0 to advance.
If they only manage to score one goal without conceding a goal, then it goes to penalties. Am I right?
Those North African teams are prevailing over their southern counterparts. Egypt, Morocco & Tunisia all qualified. Teams so far...
Extra time and then pks I think Italy will get an 85+ minute PK and go on to advance in PK's. Bring back the old Italian style lol
Greece is out....was hoping to whip them in a tourney. Oh well Eder can beat them in a friendly in preparation maybe.
Wow crazy to see some of the countries that will be sitting on their couch when the WC starts. Wouldn't have expected this many "upsets".
Worst Italian team in a long time, take a look at the world class starting 11 they had in the late 90's to around 2006/2008 and then look at them now, they need to do what Germany did in 2000.
I'm kind of loving these playoffs right now as they relate to Portugal. First off, the last six playoff matches - UEFA and inter-confederation - have all finished 0-0, so apparently Portugal didn't single-handedly ruin international football by switching to cautious, defensive tactics and lineups at Euro 2016. It's almost like it's all a continuation of where the sport has gone at the tournament and competitive qualifying level. Second, remember when Portugal was derided by pundits for having to qualifying more than once via playoffs? Well, not only did Portugal actually qualify each time, it managed to do so with five wins and one scoreless draw, whereas the Italians couldn't break through Sweden's defense once over 180 minutes. Under similar circumstances, Portugal was putting away playoffs by scoring three in Sweden, six against Bosnia in Lisbon and one that essentially counted as two in a Bosnian cow pasture. Of course, if Italy had scored late and won a shootout, that would just be proof of Italy's toughness, belief and strict adherence to its system, and pundits would bend over backwards to pick Italy to reach the semis next summer. Enjoy rooting for Iceland next summer, guys!
This isnt the time to get cocky, we could draw Spain or a young talented England team in pot 2, Serbia/Senegal and get stuck in another tough group. We need to pray we have a healthy squad and take it match by match. It's our best team since Euro 2004 and our best shot at a World Cup since 2006.