World Cup 2010 Qualification Thread

  • Thread starter Famine
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Sorry, I missed Dave's post...

Congra :crazy:

Sorry, I'll try that again...

Congratu :crazy:

Darn it :irked: One more try...

Congratulations to England for qualifying...

:ill: I feel dirty.
 
Alright, not to take the focus out of the UK here, but Venezuela seems to still have the mathematical possibility of making it to their first World Cup.

Provided we win the remaining three games, including one against Brazil in Brazil. But it also depends on Paraguay, Chile and Brazil continuing their winning streak (except for the game against us) and Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and (I think) Colombia continuing their losing streak.

In the past, the minimum classification point is 25 and Venezuela currently has 18 with 3 games remaining. So out of a possible 9 points, we could still (theoretically) make it with 2 wins and a draw.

Then again, it's been a long time since CONMEBOL has been so competitive. I wish we were in CONCACAF instead; that way instead of playing against Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and other football icons, we'd go against the "lesser" beasts like the US, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica.
 
Don't forget the mighty Honduras who, at the time of this post, top the final CONCACAF qualification group :D
 
True. Though many CONCACAF members have the distinct ability of withdrawing and forfeiting games constantly.

I didn't mention Honduras because they haven't had such a long history as the rest. Besides, they have bigger fish to fry with Zelaya and Micheletti fighting over the presidency, although that's a completely different matter.
 
Anybody else watch the Saudi Arabia vs. Bahrain match? Now that's how a soccer match should be! Fantastic game! 👍 If you can watch it in repeat, don't miss it.

'Twas a good day for me, despite not watching any game I wanted to, but ended up watching the best game of the year. USA won and so did The Netherlands. Yep, a good day for me. :)
 
Well, now the day's games are over, congratulations to England and Paraguay who both qualify for the Finals.

Lots of former Finals attendees going out though tonight... Belgium, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Trinidad & Tobago and Wales all out.
 
Touring Mars
I doubt the point would have been enough anyway, but yet another "glorious defeat" for Scotland. Atleast we didn't embarrass ourselves against Holland tonight, we played really well and probably should have won... what was with the "offside" decision when infact it was a Holland player hoofing it back to the goalie? Anyway, as per usual, it was our rubbishness against the weaker teams that cost us ultimately. Taking just 1 point from two games against Norway, and losing to Macedonia simply isn't good enough... Norway take second place but they have no chance of getting to the playoffs either, since 10 points will almost certainly not be enough... ho-hum, it was great fun watching the game in a packed bar in Glasgow tonight. There was even one brave Englishman who celebrated every time England scored, and was always greeted with a loud but good humoured chorus of booze boos.
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Good match last night huh? That scoring chance you guys had against the crossbar was a nice one, besides that Scotland played well on certain occassions ;) Im pretty impressed with Holland this year, 24 pts. and 17-2 goal difference... But then again we'll have to wait and see how they do in South Africa in the pool phase because Holland always has a tendency to do good in qualifying and then lose track when it really counts... hopefully they do better this year...
 
It was a good match, and I'm glad I went to watch it, even if we didn't take our chances, and then handed the game to Holland on a silver platter :ouch: I think Holland can look forward to a good World Cup though - solid team, with some stellar players. I only hope that the likes of Robben, Dirk Kuyt and Van Persie clean up their act, and quickly... they are all immensely talented (esp. Robben IMO), but they won't get away with the sort of schoolboy antics (diving, feigning injury etc.) that they are extremely prone to doing...

Props to Charlie Nicholas on Sky Sports, though - talking about Burley's future as Scotland manager, Nicholas launched a scathing attack on those players - Kris Boyd, Barry Ferguson, and Allan McGregor - who's attitude and behaviour over the last year or two has effectively seen them voluntarily drop out of international football. Also, the SFA have been less than supportive at a crucial juncture. Couple this with injuries aplenty, and hardly the strongest pool of players to select from in the first place, and you'd be hard-pressed to think of an international manager who has been put under more pressure. Sadly, results dictate managerial careers these days, and Burley will probably walk away... and not many people could blame him. For me, Nicholas's criticism was spot on - and those players who have turned their back on Scotland deserve considerably more criticism than Burley.
 
Touring Mars
It was a good match, and I'm glad I went to watch it, even if we didn't take our chances, and then handed the game to Holland on a silver platter :ouch: I think Holland can look forward to a good World Cup though - solid team, with some stellar players. I only hope that the likes of Robben, Dirk Kuyt and Van Persie clean up their act, and quickly... they are all immensely talented (esp. Robben IMO), but they won't get away with the sort of schoolboy antics (diving, feigning injury etc.) that they are extremely prone to doing...
Click to expand...

I agree with your statement about Robben, Kuyt and Van Persie... Especially Robben needs to stop doing it... he's very prone to doing that kind of stuff and Im am not for it at all... I believe Kuyt also dived if I remember correctly?.. Someone we should keep an eye on is the goal scorer of the night, Elia... I have watched this player for a while now, when he played at ADO Den Haag and now with Twente.... He is a force to be reckoned with... I'm sure he will reach the heights that Robben and Van Persie have achieved... Very good, technical player..
 
What a sham. The whole thing.

FIFA do their best to get the big boys through. France/Portugal/Russia all struggle to qualify, so they change the rules half-way through (RATHER, NEAR THE END OF THE COMPETITION). Ireland arguably outplay France over two matches; France still struggle, and it takes a cheat to win it for them.

I'd say 50% of players would have done the same as Henry. I'd say 50% of officials would miss the hand-ball. Human's are not capable of getting every decision right. We do not have sufficient visual accuracy nor logic and judgement to get it right all the time. It takes 5 seconds for viewers at home to get a TV replay from the director; why the hell can't FIFA bloody put this technology to use. No, I won't even call it "technology". It's not TECHNOLOGY. It's just bloody common sense.

If this sport was created today, there is no way that the referee setup would be like this. It's old. It's dated. And arseholes Platini/Blatter absolutely stink with their policies, promoting unfair competition, and stubborness with the refereeing problems. As for how they decided to change the qualifying rules to suit the big boys - it's like China or North Korea have taken over the world or something.

Absolutely fuming. Can't believe it.
 
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There is no two ways about it - Ireland have been cheated out of the World Cup.

Even the BBC, usually a model of restraint and at pains to be even-handed, were unequivocal on this last night as the game was happening. It was as blatant a cheat as Maradona's goal in the 1986 World Cup.

It is truly appalling that players of Henry's calibre have to cheat to win. It is even more appalling that the authorities that run the sport will almost certainly do nothing about it.

Some UK Newspaper headlines today - the "Mirror" wins, I think...

"Le Cheat" (Daily Express). "Le Hand of God" (The Sun). "Ireland robbed by cruel hand of Henry" (Guardian). French nickers (Mirror). "Hand of Henry shatters Ireland" (Times). "Hand of God II" (Daily Mail). "Hand Gaul!" (Independent). "Hand of Henry cheats Irish" (Telegraph).
 
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:lol: It's almost as blatant as the real thing...

I just noticed that the Guardian have a cheekily worded header on their front page:

Ireland deserved to win, says Henry

French main man apologises for his side's World Cup qualification and says replay would be 'fairest solution'
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I assume the use of "main man" instead of "Captain" is a deliberate pun...
 
Hun200kmh
Portugal in, along with France, Greece and Slovenia. 👍

Russia, Ireland, Ukraine and Bosnia out. 👎
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NNNOOOOO Portugal in... :( :( No offense Mario, but they are enemy number 1 for Holland after the fiascos in Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006.... I take it you remember... :D
 
That whole Henry debacle made me sick. I'm an Arsenal and Barcelona fan, so I've been cheering him on...until now. Unfortunately, some scumbags are going to use this as an excuse for random attacks on anyone showing even a subtle hint of Frenchness (if that's a word). FIFA are going to do nothing about this because France qualifying is going to bring in more revenue than Ireland qualifying. The qualifiers were fixed so the biggest teams were drawn against the minnows. Fair play to Slovenia though, beating Russia. Putting those big teams against the little teams is like the big teams are people pretending to be handicapped at the Special Olympics, with the small teams being the actual handicapped people. Yes, I know I've made a South Park reference. But I did prove a point.
 
I'm afraid I didn't update the thread for the last round of games as I was a considerable distance away. However, I can add the draw for the Finals...

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

Group G looks a little... Deathy...
 
England is to play the US, I'll need to figure out where my support lies on that one.
 
Good draw for England indeed - although the USA will be tough... but I reckon both the USA and England have an excellent chance with that draw, and it could have been alot worse.

Group B looks tasty, as does Group G... although Group A will be interesting, given that SA are the weakest team but the top seeds, it will be a tight group if nothing else... just remains to be seen whether Henry will get to play or not!
 
Joey D
England is to play the US, I'll need to figure out where my support lies on that one.
Click to expand...

It's going to be fun here too.
Head to Head I've got to go with England really (being a born & bred Englishman), but I'll definitely be supporting the US to go through with us (as my adopted home) in all the other group matches.
 

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