And even if the US had qualified for the WC, they still would've had to break their European curse!! Every WC in Europe the US went to they were always knocked out in the 1st round!! 1934, 1990, 1998, and 2006
My 2 cents on the WCQ Playoffs CRO V GRE(CRO WINS 3-1 ON AGG) NIR V SWI(SWI WINS 2-1 ON AGG) SWE V ITA(ITA WINS 4-2 ON AGG) DEN V IRE(DEN WINS 2-1 ON AGG) HON V AUS(AUS WINS 3-2 ON AGG) NZL V PER(NZL WINS 4-3 ON AGG)
Yeah, agreed. I think what ended up happening was Tite would've have called him up for these friendlies. However, Jorginho still wanted to wait out for Italy. He was rewarded with an appearance. But, he'll be watching from home. Either way, CBF still hasn't learned their lesson. We should have been hounding Jorginho 2 years ago. Even now, there are guys who we could lose -- Allan, Jorginho's team mate is already a Portuguese citizen I believe, and he could acquire Italian citizenship shortly.
That Pot 2 is going to suck balls. Assuming Peru makes it through, it will be between Spain, Switzerland, England, Mexico, Croatia. I'd think Croatia would be the preferred draw. Switzerland can be stingy. We typically get the best of England but those games are always tight. Mexico has given us trouble but I'd be OK with it. Out of the other 2 pots probably want to avoid Nigeria as they are looking sharp.
I’m looking to go to Russia with the wife and kid. Unable to get tickets but just to be there would be awesome. Looking at arriving July 5th and staying until the 16th. I know that the final is July 15th Moscow but my dilema are the semis. One semi in St. Petersburg and other in Moscow. Do we know the chances of Brasil in which of these 2 cities will play the semi’s?
Yeah potential for 2 groups of death. Gonna be tough. So annoyed at these ranking rules - Poland gaming the system to get a seed wtf.
No one is "gaming" anything. It's those sour grapes Spanish people who think that they should be in Pot one, solely because "they are Spain". But in fact Poland has a better record than Spain in the last two years and has advanced into the quarterfinals of the last European Cup, while Spain did not. Same thing goes for England. Those two are the ones crying into their panties about Poland "gaming the system", without realizing that it was the substellar performance of their teams that caused this to happen. Any questions?
It's a combination of poor performances by the bigger teams and certain teams playing less friendlies. The rankings punish the teams that play regular friendlies. Poland, Switzerland, and Wales benefitted from playing less friendlies, and as a result, they were ranked higher than they should be.
I understand the point, but the major fallacy of this reasoning is that there is no reason to suspect that the countries that avoided playing friendlies would have necessarily lost FIFA ranking points by playing them. If they did well enough in qualifications and tournaments, why would they suddenly start playing like crap in friendlies? However, thankfully, this question will be mostly put to rest one the League of Nations starts. Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread!
Planning a trip to Russia is becoming an impossibility. First to get a Visa you need an invitation letter from a tour company. 100% of the hotel rooms, every single hotel room in every city of the venues were purchased by the Russian Government. So there is no guarantee you will get a room even if you have a reservation. And the $300 a night hotels are going for $3,000.00 a night. Wherever Putin will be staying, all streets within surrounding 10 miles will be shut down causing a transportation nightmare. Tourists locations will not be operational. It’s going to be a mess. The 2 largest tour companies to Russia will not be offering during the WC. There is one tour company offering flight/5 nights hotel/1 ticket for about $15,000.00 a person, but I have heard this company many times will take your money and leave you stranded. What a shame.
You don't need a Visa. Buy a ticket and then you get the Fan ID, which allows you to enter the country visa free. More importantly, you need the Fan ID to get into the stadium, along with your ticket. On a related note, Brazilians do NOT need visas to enter Russia. Still will need Fan ID tho.
Here's my 2 cents on how the draw will go tomorrow!! Group A= RUS-COL-ICE-NIG Group B= BEL-SPA-EGY-AUS Group C= BRA-CRO-SEN-SER Group D= GER-URU-SWE-MOR Group E= POR-SWI-IRN-PAN Group F= ARG-MEX-DEN-KSA Group G= FRA-ENG-CRC-JPN Group H= POL-PER-TUN-KOR
Serbia the least likely to I think. Haven't really watched much of Costa Rica, but I know they employed a 5 man backline in the last Cup. I think they have a different coach now, but I am certain they'll probably bunker us.