2014 World Cup Qualifying

[crawjo]

Felt like this needed a thread. I've been following the second round of qualifying in Africa, which has been going on for the last week. Namibia got a nice win today over Kenya, but I think the best action is going to be in Group D, where Ghana, the quarterfinalists from 2010, and Zambia, the surprise 2012 African Cup of Nations winners, are in the same group. Zambia lost last week but today they beat Ghana, 1-0. They'll need to do that again if they want to pull off the upset.

[surfer]

Wow, just looked at the draw. Croatia is in the same group as Serbia (and Macedonia for that matter). Also Belgium is going to be tough. Scotland didnt look good against the ol' USA a few weeks ago. Kind of wide open, although the derby could be a bloodbath.

[Antoine]

France & Spain in the same group (of 5 teams only). I can see the "playoffs in winter 2013" again for the bleus.
Also, I was looking for Brazil in the South American group... Hm, I suppose I need more coffee!

[crawjo]

Today saw the last qualifying matches in Africa for the next nine months. The most significant results were Algeria losing to Mali, 2-1, Egypt coming back to beat Guinea, 3-2, and Libya beating Cameroon 2-1. 1/3rd of the way through the second round qualifying, the ten teams now in a position to advance are Ethiopia, Tunisia, the Ivory Coast, Sudan, Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Egypt, Benin, Libya, and Senegal.

Of the traditional African powers, South Africa (two draws) Cameroon (a win and a loss) and Ghana (a win and a loss) are in a bit of trouble early on.

[DarkAttraktor]

Wow, just looked at the draw. Croatia is in the same group as Serbia (and Macedonia for that matter). Also Belgium is going to be tough. Scotland didnt look good against the ol' USA a few weeks ago. Kind of wide open, although the derby could be a bloodbath.

last time when Serbia and Croatia met in a qualifying group together, this was only 4 years after the war in Croatia and Serbia was still called Yugoslavia as it was in a state union with Montenegro (the so called Srboslavija). the whole Euro 2000 qualifying campaign was uncertain for Yugoslavia as there were mounting rumours that we'll be disqualified from the competiton due to tense political situation, yet another time after 1992. while Croatia was in 7th heaven having won 3rd place in the WC 1998 in France, in Serbia people were furious as we had severely flopped in the same WC, despite having players that were on par, if not better than what Croatia had. the first match in Belgrade was postponed for August of 1999 because of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the first half of 1999. it was an interesting 0:0 match, yet there was a completely unexplained power-cut in the middle of the game that lasted for almost an hour. i can imagine how the guests felt

the return leg in Zagreb was in October of 1999 and yours truly was a 13 years old, football-raving idiot with a tofu instead of a brain and i remember the game was literally, but literally a matter of life and death for me. luckily we won and i was alive and well

anyway, here are the highlights from the second game. there is some really funny stuff here like Dejo Savicevic showing off what a git he is, Mirkovic squeezing Jarni's balls and getting a red card, Croatian fans being like super-confident that Serbia will be disqualified after CRO lost the game and alike.

btw, jel ti razumes hrvatski, surf ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBa_pX5p-lA

[surfer]

btw, jel ti razumes hrvatski, surf ?

malo malo, not really though.

[surfer]

anyway, here are the highlights from the second game. there is some really funny stuff here like Dejo Savicevic showing off what a git he is, Mirkovic squeezing Jarni's balls and getting a red card, Croatian fans being like super-confident that Serbia will be disqualified after CRO lost the game and alike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBa_pX5p-lA

Yeah, I remember that match vaguely, esp the red card.

But my god I remember those kits for Croatia. Those are THE BEST EVER.

[surfer]

Lots of "Hot Euro Action" today as Alastair would say. Just about every match can be watched live on ESPN3 (online streaming).

[surfer]

Early but critical match between Belgium and Croatia in two hours to decide who goes to the top of Group A.

[surfer]

Belgium - Croatia in Belgium 1-1 FT

Also Ukraine up 1-0 on England in the 80th minute.

[surfer]

Fat Frank with the equalizer!

[surfer]

The US with an (very) early "scare" against Guatemala, the US equalized 6 minutes later and ended up winning 3-1. Its hard for me to get any kind of read on this USMNT, they suck on the road, except against Mexico and Italy, are solid at home, have attacking talent but dry stretches where they cant score, defense is a work in progress. It seems like a Chelsea situation where you have a coach that is trying to impose a style of play that is uncomfortable for the team (leading to wildly erratic play), and / or that they dont have the personnel for, and that they team is gradually morphing back into the counterattacking side they've always been traditionally. Weird team and a work in progress. Into the Hex with Jamaica (!), Mexico, Hondurus, Panama, and Costa Rica. US should qualify for Brazil easily.

re: UEFA WC qualifying, Serbia appears to be a team in freefall, drawing with Scotland and losing to Macedonia. Group 1 appeared to be wide open, but now its a two horse race between Belgium and Croatia for the top spot, each team has 10 points, and Serbia and Macedonia in 3rd with 4 points each.

Also Germany blew a 4 goal lead at home to Sweden.

[Antoine]

Also Germany blew a 4 goal lead at home to Sweden.

This one was fun (plus note that Sweden's 1st goal only came at the 62').
Also, Spain / France was a nice game. I had a real pleasure watching the second half... and it has been years and years I haven't seen that with France. Very unexpected feeling when you're so used to boredom. Will see on the mid or long term if it was just an accident or maybe the beginning of a Deschamps effect.

[surfer]

48 hours to the derby to end all derbies. Croatia / Serbia at Maksimir Stadium Zagreb will be on ESPN Deportes. Best of luck to my man D.A., although I certainly hope we win. Just NO VIOLENCE please.

Other matches of note: US v. Mexico at Azteca on Tuesday, Spain v. France on Tuesday as well. US plays Costa Rica in Colorado on Friday in the Hex, they really need to get full points from this one, lots of pressure on Klinsmann right now amid reports he's lost the locker room. I still think they qualify for WC, but its getting a bit iffy with this very young and inexperienced squad, particularly on the defensive side. CR's no pushover but the US really should win this next door to their training facility.

[surfer]

Also on Tuesday, battle for the top of Group 8, England tries to wrestle back the top spot from the plucky Montenegrinos. I predict Roy Hodgson will be quoting Bobby Robson after a 1-1 draw,

"We didn't underestimate them. They were just a lot better than we thought."

[crawjo]

Personally I'm most interested in seeing Namibia/Malawi.

[DarkAttraktor]

48 hours to the derby to end all derbies. Croatia / Serbia at Maksimir Stadium Zagreb will be on ESPN Deportes. Best of luck to my man D.A., although I certainly hope we win. Just NO VIOLENCE please.

we're so gonna be horrifically eviscerated, discombobulated and obliviated all in the same time that i wish i could somehow magically teleport to Baffin island on the 22nd and be fishing with Eskimos all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DajLQup-5QM

[surfer]

well, all I can say D.A. is that all the pressure is on Vatreni, at home in front of 100% home fans, comfortably at the top of the group. Serbs have nothing to lose. There's no doubt in my mind its going to be very tough, hard fought, cagey match. Both sides probably want to avoid losing more than they want to win. Which means (in cliche-speak) the Serbs will probably sit deep, absorb pressure, find their feet, and try to counter when Croatia is stretched because they are vulnerable at the back. Croatia will probably try to hold possession and get an early goal to put Serbia back on their heels, but the longer the match goes, the more the pressure ratchets up on the home side.

[DarkAttraktor]

ha ! this Serbia NT couldn't score from a counterattack even if their lives depended on it ! the only way Serbia can score a goal against Croatia is the same way rump Yugoslavia could 14 years ago - thru set pieces. and most likely these will be thru a direct Kolarov free kick, either via a Kolarov cross inside the box with a lucky finisher or through a scramble in the box after a corner.

ironically, that's all that was necessary in 1999. but Kolarov is a poor man's Mihajlovic and that team was a pretty experienced gang of international cutthroats, while this team is a just a bunch of kids (from really promising ones to completely mediocre ones). so if we were a 'one trick pony' 14 years ago now we're something like '1/4 trick pony'

the only hopeful thought i can come up - is that the history repeats itself twice and that this time around it could come back as a really nasty farce for the bros

[DarkAttraktor]

congrats Darren

completely expected result, completely expected course of the game. i'd say Mandzukic was your best asset today in every aspect of the game.