World Cup 2022 Qualifiers

[KingsX]

12 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

US mowing through Panama with most of their team unavailable due to injury or illness.  If they go into the WC healthy they're going to be a problem for anybody.

 

For me it's just a relief, putting Panama away in the first half.  Nothing is more hideous than CONCACAF qualifying football.  Sides ranked around, or below, 100th in the world doing everything in their power to bring you, and the refs, down to their level.

 

 I could never have felt confident about going down to Costa Rica needing a win or draw for automatic qualification.*  So I'm not predicting anything in Qatar.  We're in, let's just see what we can do.

 

*  (I am quite confident we won't lose by six.)

[OntarioFox]

14 hours ago, Jattdogg said:

@spacemunky @Molson Canadian how you feeling? Heck @OntarioFox we will win the cup before england lol.

 

 

Will put the joint back down but what a momentus time for us Canadians. I will be supporting two sides this world cup. Half and half shirt time

Technically it's a Winter world cup, so Canada have already got it in the bag.

Absolutely delighted for everyone. What a team.

The only downside of them qualifying is that now, for at least three games, I'm going to have to pay attention to this blood-soaked farce of a tournament.

Edited 28 March 2022 by OntarioFox

[Nalis]

4 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

They haven't had their first choice eleven (or even close, really) for any portion of the hex and they still could win it if they beat CR.  Their squad has guys who when healthy start for the likes of Chelsea, Barcelona and Juventus.  The old empire prejudices against "soccer" don't really apply anymore.  Not sure Berhalter is the guy to get the most out of them (I would have much preferred Marsch) and they may still be too young this go-around.  But on talent alone they're dangerous against any opponent if they can manage to get their best talent on the pitch at the same time.

Depends what the bar for being a dangerous opponent is. If its say, Nigeria or Ghana levels then fair enough you've got a point. The US have improved massively and have some decent players coming through which is impressive but its not really footballing snobbery to think they aren't at the level of the top nations right now. No shame in it either as not many countries are.

[enmac]

1 hour ago, Deeg67 said:

Dude, Alphonso Davies starts for Bayern (when he's healthy) and Jonathan David starts for Lille.  Those two are legit.

Apologies for my ignorance. 

[Deeg67]

23 minutes ago, Nalis said:

Depends what the bar for being a dangerous opponent is. If its say, Nigeria or Ghana levels then fair enough you've got a point. The US have improved massively and have some decent players coming through which is impressive but its not really footballing snobbery to think they aren't at the level of the top nations right now. No shame in it either as not many countries are.

You don't have to be the equal of Spain or Germany (yet) to be dangerous against them.  You just have to have the weapons to win on any given day. And I think those sides would like at an opponent with the likes of Pulisic, Reyna, Dest, McKennie, Adams, Musah and Pepi and very much wish they were playing someone else.

[foxes1988]

4 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

They haven't had their first choice eleven (or even close, really) for any portion of the hex and they still could win it if they beat CR.  Their squad has guys who when healthy start for the likes of Chelsea, Barcelona and Juventus.  The old empire prejudices against "soccer" don't really apply anymore.  Not sure Berhalter is the guy to get the most out of them (I would have much preferred Marsch) and they may still be too young this go-around.  But on talent alone they're dangerous against any opponent if they can manage to get their best talent on the pitch at the same time.

They don't but football on an international level is one of the trickiest sports to be successful at especially on a consistent basis.  A sport that participation wise has saturated the globe.  Just because Canada and the US are looking a little better now and the sport taken a bit more of a hold on the youth of those nations doesn't mean that its going to equate into semi-final and final appearances.  They have a lot of catching up to do still.  Yet I've met Americans who seemed to think that at some point in the not too distant future they will be winning the men's world cup like the USWNT.  Even a country like England which is a powerhouse of the sport in terms of participation and money has only ever made it to 2 finals of major tournaments ever.

 

Edited 28 March 2022 by foxes1988

[purpleronnie]

1 hour ago, foxes1988 said:

They don't but football on an international level is one of the trickiest sports to be successful at especially on a consistent basis.  A sport that participation wise has saturated the globe.  Just because Canada and the US are looking a little better now and the sport taken a bit more of a hold on the youth of those nations doesn't mean that its going to equate into semi-final and final appearances.  They have a lot of catching up to do still.  Yet I've met Americans who seemed to think that at some point in the not too distant future they will be winning the men's world cup like the USWNT.  Even a country like England which is a powerhouse of the sport in terms of participation and money has only ever made it to 2 finals of major tournaments ever.

 

I don't think the US will be winning world cups anytime soon but I believe they will get to the latter stages and compete with hose powerhouses you mention. 

 

England has the money but i believe the coaching at grassroots is poor compared to other nations and one of the reasons we have failed.  Plus (this is just my speculation) there is a mentality deficiency in English players when it comes to international football that is acerbated our poor performances through the decades, the US certainly don't lack that. 

 

As far as participation there are more American (men and women) registered players than England and the gap is only going to grow.

 

 

[foxes1988]

Yeah I think the best the USA can hope for for at least the time being is getting to round of 16 or maybe and quarter finals.  Need prolonged investment into their national team to achieve anything more and of course quite a bit of luck.

 

Of course England has reasons its failed/not done much for a long time but my point was just that a country can have many things going for it and it not work out.  England has many more then most so they should compete well but as its managed poorly/not managed at all it has underperformed.  Although i think England will do ok over the next decade.  USA could just as easily perform badly is the point anyway.  Haven't seen anything to make me think they are going to consistently do well (quarter finals and above).

 

As to the participation levels in America.  That might be the case but again it doesn't mean they will translate it into a good team as its not a particularly good metric to look at when it comes to sports.  Especially if they're losing players to 'more lucrative/aspiring' careers in other sports to have (NFL, Basketball etc).  England rugby has more registered players then anywhere else in the world.  It dwarfs New Zealand but the All blacks are always the team to beat. 

Edited 28 March 2022 by foxes1988

[foxes_rule1978]

2 hours ago, purpleronnie said:

I don't think the US will be winning world cups anytime soon but I believe they will get to the latter stages and compete with hose powerhouses you mention. 

 

England has the money but i believe the coaching at grassroots is poor compared to other nations and one of the reasons we have failed.  Plus (this is just my speculation) there is a mentality deficiency in English players when it comes to international football that is acerbated our poor performances through the decades, the US certainly don't lack that. 

 

As far as participation there are more American (men and women) registered players than England and the gap is only going to grow.

 

 

In the past maybe but I just look at our own leicester team and see players like maddison, Barnes, Justin and Thomas all very good players coming through. It has got much better over the last 10 years in this country 

[The Horse's Mouth]

do Italy have any likable players 

 

[Jordan]

3 hours ago, foxes1988 said:

Even a country like England which is a powerhouse of the sport in terms of participation and money has only ever made it to 2 finals of major tournaments ever.

 

Chance and luck have effects on the outcomes in international tournaments, too.

 

England has been a very good team overall since the late 1990s (of course they’ve not always looked like world beaters, but they’re one of the better teams). One could argue that their results in major tournaments don’t always meet their performances. At the World Cup, they were unlucky in 1998 vs Argentina, lost to an absurd goal vs Brazil in 2002, lost on penalties in 2006, were at best unlucky and at worst screwed over in 2010, and then lost by fine margins in 2018.
 

You could easily have a butterfly effect situation where England make (and win) more finals in a way you can’t with, say, a Japan or a Russia. From a neutral point of view, England generally go into major tournaments “in the discussion” so they are clearly doing something right (especially with younger players these days).
 

Meanwhile, you have a team like Croatia that’s finished in the top 3 at the World Cup twice during this same span, as they’ve had good generations of players sync up at the perfect time and also got the breaks in important games.

 

That’s in no way a slight to Croatia because they’ve had some phenomenal teams and have had really proud achievements.

 

What I’m really trying to say is that is good to be an England, but it’s also good to be a Croatia, too, so there’s more than one way to get to a major final.

 

I also think that the World Cup is about to get a little more random. This tournament only happens once every four years and lasts for a month, so the sample size is really small. Then, you add in that Qatar 2022 is the first winter World Cup, in a place that is unfamiliar to most, and have interesting weather. Plus, you can’t rule out any corruption or shenanigans there, so this could be a relatively crazy tournament.

On top of that, the 2026 World Cup will be stretched across an entire continent with 48 teams and even more knockout rounds. The USA will have home field advantage in a hot, humid summer. Mexico will play at least one game at the Estadio Azteca at really high altitude, and a pre-tournament favorite might also find themselves getting tripped up playing there against the wrong team at the wrong time.

 

I can easily see a scenario where a team that’s just good enough to be good becomes just good enough to win the whole thing, and the path to that level is much easier for the US to get to than it is to have an England-style program.

[foxes_rule1978]

38 minutes ago, The Horse's Mouth said:

do Italy have any likable players 

 

Does he not realise Italy played a whole qualifying campaign in a group that wasn’t that difficult. What a joke  

[The Horse's Mouth]

2 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

Does he not realise Italy played a whole qualifying campaign in a group that wasn’t that difficult. What a joke  

Like you could argue, a European champion should be at a world cup but they played NORTH MACEDONIA

[Detroit Blues]

After the failure of the US team to qualify for the world cup in 2017, it has been an agonizing 5 year journey to get to this point. The US media that barely paid attention to "soccer" found a lot of satisfaction in dunking on our failures, and even used the success of our women's team to further divide the US Soccer Federation and our fanbase. Taylor Twellman basically made a career of being outraged at US soccer

 

It was painful to watch the 2018 World Cup without the US involved. It was even worse to see FOX (the media company that owned the World Cup rights) essentially cuck US Soccer fans by telling us that we should root for Mexico, our biggest rival, to have success at the 2018 world cup. Having felt the pain of missing out, I take absolutely no pleasure in seeing teams like Italy fail to make the World Cup. Its a pain i don't even wish on Mexican fans, though if anyone was deserving it would be them.

 

We had hoped that the US Soccer Federation would learn something from the failure in qualifying, yet none of the changes we were promised were followed through on. We lost a year in 2018 by not hiring a manager, which is partially on the US Soccer Federation's ridiculous hiring process. The federation allowed the equal pay settlement drag on for 5 years, making the US Men's team look like cartoonish villians straight out of Captain Planet (i hope this reference made its way over the pound).

 

We hired a bald fraud (i kid) in Gregg Berhalter, and there was a lot of bumps and bruises along the way as he learned International Management on the job. There was lineup experimentations, a 3-nil bare bottom spanking by Mexico where we tried to learn how to play with the ball out of the back, more injuries than you could shake a stick at, our first (and certainly not our last) loss to Canada in a long time, and then a very emotional draining world cup qualifying campaign.

 

The 5-1 victory against Panama to essentially qualify just felt so good. It felt like all the pain and disappointments we had suffered for half a decade were shaken off, and we can finally dream of better things than simply making it to the World Cup. We can set our sights again on getting out of the group stage (which is always the measurement of success for the US), and being a roll of the dice away from making it to the Quarterfinal.

 

This team is not perfect. It maybe is not even good by comparisons to teams from other confederations, but there's so much talent and potential and grit in this team that I will back them against anybody in a single 90 minute game. We might lose 5-nil to Paraguay or beat Brazil 7-1, who knows? The life is full of endless possibilities. 

 

I think what we see in this team in 2022 is just the tip of the iceberg of what this team could look like in 2026 with four years of physical development, a world cup experience under their belt, homefield advantage etc. Nobody really is thinking the US could win a world cup in 2026. That's probably not even something i dare to dream about. But could we make it farther than we ever had (quarterfinals) and make it to the semi-finals? A tournament like that would explode interest in the sport in this country, which at the end of the day is the dream. 

 

Make fun all you want, but I believe US Soccer is a sleeping giant. We have a large population, a huge economy, a culture that is obsessed with athletics and sporting culture, a growing domestic league, and a tendency to punch above our weight in international tournaments. The sporting landscape of this country is changing. American Football is headed towards eventual ruin as fear of CTE and head injuries will erode youth participation. Baseball is dying a slow death along with the generation of Boomers that still care about it. Ice Hockey has always been a niche sport, and has a much higher barrier of entry in terms of cost.

 

I'm not saying "what if Lebron played soccer..." but what if Soccer becomes even the 2nd or 3rd biggest sport in this country? What happens when the money we invested into other sports and leagues starts funneling to MLS / MLS Academies, and youth development. We've developed a Pulisic/Reyna/McKennie/Adams with crappy soccer infrastructure. How much more talent could we develop with good infrastructure, and a genuine passion for the game? I hope to live long enough to find out. 

 

As for Canada. I'm really pumped to have a second team at the tournament to cheer for. I will even cheer for Costa Rica, should they qualify via the playoff. But i'm not rooting for Mexico. Not now, not ever

 

[foxes1988]

4 hours ago, Detroit Blues said:

After the failure of the US team to qualify for the world cup in 2017, it has been an agonizing 5 year journey to get to this point. The US media that barely paid attention to "soccer" found a lot of satisfaction in dunking on our failures, and even used the success of our women's team to further divide the US Soccer Federation and our fanbase. Taylor Twellman basically made a career of being outraged at US soccer

 

It was painful to watch the 2018 World Cup without the US involved. It was even worse to see FOX (the media company that owned the World Cup rights) essentially cuck US Soccer fans by telling us that we should root for Mexico, our biggest rival, to have success at the 2018 world cup. Having felt the pain of missing out, I take absolutely no pleasure in seeing teams like Italy fail to make the World Cup. Its a pain i don't even wish on Mexican fans, though if anyone was deserving it would be them.

 

We had hoped that the US Soccer Federation would learn something from the failure in qualifying, yet none of the changes we were promised were followed through on. We lost a year in 2018 by not hiring a manager, which is partially on the US Soccer Federation's ridiculous hiring process. The federation allowed the equal pay settlement drag on for 5 years, making the US Men's team look like cartoonish villians straight out of Captain Planet (i hope this reference made its way over the pound).

 

We hired a bald fraud (i kid) in Gregg Berhalter, and there was a lot of bumps and bruises along the way as he learned International Management on the job. There was lineup experimentations, a 3-nil bare bottom spanking by Mexico where we tried to learn how to play with the ball out of the back, more injuries than you could shake a stick at, our first (and certainly not our last) loss to Canada in a long time, and then a very emotional draining world cup qualifying campaign.

 

The 5-1 victory against Panama to essentially qualify just felt so good. It felt like all the pain and disappointments we had suffered for half a decade were shaken off, and we can finally dream of better things than simply making it to the World Cup. We can set our sights again on getting out of the group stage (which is always the measurement of success for the US), and being a roll of the dice away from making it to the Quarterfinal.

 

This team is not perfect. It maybe is not even good by comparisons to teams from other confederations, but there's so much talent and potential and grit in this team that I will back them against anybody in a single 90 minute game. We might lose 5-nil to Paraguay or beat Brazil 7-1, who knows? The life is full of endless possibilities. 

 

I think what we see in this team in 2022 is just the tip of the iceberg of what this team could look like in 2026 with four years of physical development, a world cup experience under their belt, homefield advantage etc. Nobody really is thinking the US could win a world cup in 2026. That's probably not even something i dare to dream about. But could we make it farther than we ever had (quarterfinals) and make it to the semi-finals? A tournament like that would explode interest in the sport in this country, which at the end of the day is the dream. 

 

Make fun all you want, but I believe US Soccer is a sleeping giant. We have a large population, a huge economy, a culture that is obsessed with athletics and sporting culture, a growing domestic league, and a tendency to punch above our weight in international tournaments. The sporting landscape of this country is changing. American Football is headed towards eventual ruin as fear of CTE and head injuries will erode youth participation. Baseball is dying a slow death along with the generation of Boomers that still care about it. Ice Hockey has always been a niche sport, and has a much higher barrier of entry in terms of cost.

 

I'm not saying "what if Lebron played soccer..." but what if Soccer becomes even the 2nd or 3rd biggest sport in this country? What happens when the money we invested into other sports and leagues starts funneling to MLS / MLS Academies, and youth development. We've developed a Pulisic/Reyna/McKennie/Adams with crappy soccer infrastructure. How much more talent could we develop with good infrastructure, and a genuine passion for the game? I hope to live long enough to find out. 

 

As for Canada. I'm really pumped to have a second team at the tournament to cheer for. I will even cheer for Costa Rica, should they qualify via the playoff. But i'm not rooting for Mexico. Not now, not ever

 

I don't want to piss on your bonfire or be the grumpy Englishman who doesn't want to accept an 'untraditional' footballing nation becoming a force but the notion there's almost an inevitability that the sleeping giant USMNT becoming a team competing regularly for semi finals and finals seems naive to me. Sure it could happen but a lot of things need to go right and an awful lot of luck is required aswell.

 

I would like to be wrong but there is no way USA ever beats Brazil 7-1 at this present time. Its not within the realms of possibility  unless  0.00001% is a considered a 'chance' although maybe this is just a classic case of American optimism and British cynicism/skepticism 

 

Large population, economy and sporting culture doesn't not mean success in football. The sport is way too widely spread, practiced and saturated among all sorts of peoples and cultures.  Portugal regularly are competitive  and won euro 2016 with a small population and economy.  The Netherlands the same. Croatia got to 2018 final.

As I said before if those factors where that important England would have had a better record. 

If the football becomes the 2nd or 3rd biggest sport in the USA (seems years and years off tbh) it would be generating basically the same or a bit more then Premier League generates. The EPL generates over over 4billion dollars a year in broadcast revenue yet England doest have a strong history at international level.

 

Having said all this I do hope USA and Canada both have a good world cup and it is a team sport so generally you can do pretty well with good team cohesion application and strategy which can on some occasions triumph over superior technique and skill so maybe with a favourable draw US could get to a quarter finals or semifinal.  I do definitely agree that the US will do well in 2026 got a decent young team and hosting will of course give them a boost and think that it'll be great to have a continent wide tournament.

 

Putting my entitled arrogant english hat on again. When the hell is the damn world cup going to held in the UK again. The US will have hosted it twice and the Mexico 3 Times yet England have held it only once. Ridiculous really.

 

Edited 28 March 2022 by foxes1988

[Finnegan]

23 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

They haven't had their first choice eleven (or even close, really) for any portion of the hex and they still could win it if they beat CR.  Their squad has guys who when healthy start for the likes of Chelsea, Barcelona and Juventus.  The old empire prejudices against "soccer" don't really apply anymore.  Not sure Berhalter is the guy to get the most out of them (I would have much preferred Marsch) and they may still be too young this go-around.  But on talent alone they're dangerous against any opponent if they can manage to get their best talent on the pitch at the same time.

 

The Americans 100% over-rate their squad more than the 'old Empire' under-rates it, to be quite honest. We hear this before every world cup, that the Americans are going to be some sort of dark horse and 'soccer' is growing in the US and we shouldn't write them off etc.

 

Completely forgetting that we know how good they are because we see their best players in action over here in Europe. We know Pulisic is an extremely average top-six quality attacking midfielder, we know McKennie is a solid box-to-box choice that does pretty well in a fairly middling Serie A, we know that Reyna was an alright alternative to Sancho with a bit of promise. We watch them play every week on the telly.

 

They still shouldn't be causing major problems with any side with designs to actually win the tournament. I suppose it depends what your bar is for "a problem." I mean, if you're talking about a potential banana skin like Germany getting done by Mexico and Korea then alright. That's cup football. But if you're trying to suggest they'll have much impact on the latter stages? Eh. Doubtful. 

[KFS]

27 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

The Americans 100% over-rate their squad more than the 'old Empire' under-rates it, to be quite honest. We hear this before every world cup, that the Americans are going to be some sort of dark horse and 'soccer' is growing in the US and we shouldn't write them off etc.

 

Completely forgetting that we know how good they are because we see their best players in action over here in Europe. We know Pulisic is an extremely average top-six quality attacking midfielder, we know McKennie is a solid box-to-box choice that does pretty well in a fairly middling Serie A, we know that Reyna was an alright alternative to Sancho with a bit of promise. We watch them play every week on the telly.

 

They still shouldn't be causing major problems with any side with designs to actually win the tournament. I suppose it depends what your bar is for "a problem." I mean, if you're talking about a potential banana skin like Germany getting done by Mexico and Korea then alright. That's cup football. But if you're trying to suggest they'll have much impact on the latter stages? Eh. Doubtful. 

This is spot on. As an Englishman in the US I can tell you that the overhype is definitely real. 
 

They are a sleeping giant, though. All you have to do is look at comment sections online saying people prefer football to armoured rugby, the turnouts they’re getting at football tournaments from boys and girls alike; and the fact that growing numbers of Americans have a Prem team… I think after the next World Cup it’ll only accelerate. 

[Finnegan]

22 minutes ago, KFS said:

They are a sleeping giant, though.

 

But we've also been hearing this for years, to be fair. 

[CosbehFox]

37 minutes ago, KFS said:

This is spot on. As an Englishman in the US I can tell you that the overhype is definitely real. 
 

They are a sleeping giant, though. All you have to do is look at comment sections online saying people prefer football to armoured rugby, the turnouts they’re getting at football tournaments from boys and girls alike; and the fact that growing numbers of Americans have a Prem team… I think after the next World Cup it’ll only accelerate. 

Accepted on this but from an outsider looking does the collegiate system not create a bottleneck?

 

Until Soccer reaches the same level of the traditional American sports at NCAA, it's going to be have a task. I accept that eventually these players make the MLS but the very top American players in their current team have been caught early by European clubs and do their learning there. 

 

Just looking at their squad and recent call-ups. 

 

Tyler Adams - fair, New York Red Bulls

Yunus Musah - Arsenal youth career from 12 - onto Valencia

Christian Pulisic - 'finished off' by Dortmund - childhood involves time in England including a trial with Chelsea

Ricardo Pepi - fair, MLS career 

Timothy Weah - four years at PSG 

Giovanni Reyna - starts in America but a childhood involving various countries and goes Dortmund

Sergino Dest - born in Netherlands and youth career in Netherlands

Weston McKennie - uprbinging in Germany, youth career at Dallas and then back to Germany. 

Konrad de la Fuente - born in Spain and youth career there 

 

[The Horse's Mouth]

49 minutes ago, KFS said:

This is spot on. As an Englishman in the US I can tell you that the overhype is definitely real. 
 

They are a sleeping giant, though. All you have to do is look at comment sections online saying people prefer football to armoured rugby, the turnouts they’re getting at football tournaments from boys and girls alike; and the fact that growing numbers of Americans have a Prem team… I think after the next World Cup it’ll only accelerate. 

How are they a sleeping giant? They've done absolutely nothing 

[KFS]

11 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Accepted on this but from an outsider looking does the collegiate system not create a bottleneck?

 

Until Soccer reaches the same level of the traditional American sports at NCAA, it's going to be have a task. I accept that eventually these players make the MLS but the very top American players in their current team have been caught early by European clubs and do their learning there. 

 

Just looking at their squad and recent call-ups. 

 

Tyler Adams - fair, New York Red Bulls

Yunus Musah - Arsenal youth career from 12 - onto Valencia

Christian Pulisic - 'finished off' by Dortmund - childhood involves time in England including a trial with Chelsea

Ricardo Pepi - fair, MLS career 

Timothy Weah - four years at PSG 

Giovanni Reyna - starts in America but a childhood involving various countries and goes Dortmund

Sergino Dest - born in Netherlands and youth career in Netherlands

Weston McKennie - uprbinging in Germany, youth career at Dallas and then back to Germany. 

Konrad de la Fuente - born in Spain and youth career there 

 

Still play for the US national team though mate and that’s the key for me. Just because Sancho was made in Germany it means naff all if he scores the winning goal in the World Cup final. 
 

Key point is it’s a mass of people who, if you catch their interest, is an incredible opportunity to overhaul the game. 

[CosbehFox]

4 minutes ago, KFS said:

Still play for the US national team though mate and that’s the key for me. Just because Sancho was made in Germany it means naff all if he scores the winning goal in the World Cup final. 
 

Key point is it’s a mass of people who, if you catch their interest, is an incredible opportunity to overhaul the game. 

I accept the point. Sancho did spend ten years in English academies however. 
 

My overall point was that football is growing in the US but there needs to be a infrastructural change (which would be a huge leap by organisations such as NCAA) to convert that interest at a young level into a system which can harbour/improve talent.

[KFS]

Just now, Cardiff_Fox said:

I accept the point. Sancho did spend ten years in English academies however. 
 

My overall point was that football is growing in the US but there needs to be a infrastructural change (which would be a huge leap by organisations such as NCAA) to convert that interest at a young level into a system which can harbour/improve talent.

That’s true. The groundswell of kids playing could change that. After all, the NCAA is easily swayed when student athletes want something changed!

[Alf Bentley]

Most of the remaining qualifiers and play-off contenders are to be confirmed either today or in the next 2 days, then. All apart from Wales v. Scotland/Ukraine, I think?

 

Would be good to see one or two first-time or rare qualifiers. Any chance that Solomon Islands could shock the Kiwis to make the play-offs? Or that Mali or DR Congo manage a 2nd leg comeback to beat Morocco/Tunisia to qualification?

 

I hope Iraq pip UAE to the second Asian play-off slot.....Qatar & Saudi is already enough dodgy, wealthy Middle Eastern oil states, thanks.

 

I hope Peru hold their nerve at home to Paraguay so as to grab the S. American play-off slot. Nothing against Colombia or Chile, who would both miss out, but Peru do provide some entertainment on the rare occasions they qualify (as do the other 2, tbf).

 

I have no strong preference between Poland and Sweden - perhaps I'd marginally prefer the Poles to qualify, as Sweden tend to play very dour, conservative football at World Cup finals.

 

Would be amusing to see Portugal cock it up against N. Macedonia, but which team would offer more in the finals? Nah, let's have the Portuguese - but then have some fiasco with Ronaldo at the finals: sent off in the 1st minute of the 1st match for 2 yellow cards - taking his shirt off after scoring, then pouting at the ref, something like that....

[Jordan]

Us Americans on FoxesTalk might be really bullish about the current state of the men’s national team, but I don’t think the media here or the fan base as a whole is.

 

Clearly, we know we’re going to be underdogs against the likes of France when we didn’t even beat Canada this year.
 

There is also significant undercurrent of the fan base that is miserable (maybe it’s just a Twitter thing like everything).

I think us Americans have a right to feel optimistic about the future of our national team considering the progress we’ve made and the potential of some of our young players… but I think any sort of overconfidence you guys are picking up is just our plain everyday Americanness and not something to read too deeply into.