Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland

[Jattdogg]

Haiti should have picked up a point tonight.

 

Ah well.

[spacemunky]

Top of the group!

[Scotch]

Crap from us but our first win at a WC in 36 years, I couldn't care less. 

[CWC1983]

Not pretty, but 3 points 🙂

 

What date is the final? 

 

No control over that 2nd half at all, but much like the qualifying campaign 

 

 

[Jattdogg]

Just now, spacemunky said:

Top of the group!

From what we've seen today, I think Morocco and Brazil will be top 2.

[MPH]

Bit lucky to win after that second half.. glad they did though!

[Jattdogg]

Just now, Scotch said:

Crap from us but our first win at a WC in 36 years, I couldn't care less. 

Gotta feel good!

[Vacamion]

 

Well done Scotland.

 

They are going to think they can win the World Cup, now   

 

Not sure sitting back and defending was the best strategy, those last 20 mins were a bit painful.  

 

If only Haiti could finish they'd be half decent.

 

 

 

 

[spacemunky]

3 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

From what we've seen today, I think Morocco and Brazil will be top 2.

They certainly should be, but these things don't always go as planned.

[The Doctor]

nerves absolutely destroyed by that. Would have liked a bit of a goal difference buffer for Morocco and Brazil but a wins a win

[Deeg67]

Absolute crap football, but under the circumstances I guess it doesn't matter. First win in 36 years and hope 3 points is enough.

[Scotch]

8 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

Gotta feel good!

Right now, it's more relief than anything else. 

[KFS]

Pretty incredible

 

[Nick]

I'm not sure where any other points are coming from for Scotland but they are gonna need more than a single draw out of their last two games I'd have thought.

[st albans fox]

8 minutes ago, Nick said:

I'm not sure where any other points are coming from for Scotland but they are gonna need more than a single draw out of their last two games I'd have thought.

If they avoid conceding a shedload then 3 points should be enough (I think 75% likely according to a study) but not scoring a couple more may come back to haunt them. the win was essential  though. 

[Super_horns]

Guess Scotland will just be glad to get three points but probably hoped for more goals 

[Samilktray]

The Scotland away kit is 1 of the best at the tournament for my money 

[fox_up_north]

Just seen the result. A nervy 1-0 win is not what I expected.  Thought it would either be a fairly confident win or an evenly matched draw.

 

Not sure where this puts them. 

[RowlattsFox]

Could've guessed it would be a jammy deflected goal 

 

Going to take a poor performance from Brazil or Morocco for Scotland to get anything out of them games. Morocco probably their best bet but they'll need to defend better. 

[MC Prussian]

Hats off to Scotland.

Deserved winner in a very entertaining game.

 

Not used to seeing them play in red.

[Alf Bentley]

I posted in another thread that I thought 4 points would guarantee any country 3rd place, at least.

 

I looked at how that prediction compares to recent World Cups - though they had 8 groups, not 12.

 

- In 2022, surprisingly, the 3rd place team got 4 points in 7 out of 8 groups

- But, in both 2014 and 2018, the 3rd place team got 4 points in only 2 out of 8 groups.

 

I suspect that 2026 may be more like 2014 & 2018, due to the expansion bringing in weaker teams.

I reckon there'll be at least a couple of groups where the 3rd place team has only 1 or 2 points - and quite a number where they have 3 points.

 

So, despite the evidence from 2022, I still think 4 points will mean qualification. I reckon 3 points will mean qualification for some, but elimination for others.

 

So, to qualify I reckon Scotland need either another point or, at the very least, to only lose very narrowly (could be a nailbiter).

[Ian Nacho]

Anyone mad enough to stay up for the Aussies?

[Foxdiamond]

6 hours ago, Scotch said:

Crap from us but our first win at a WC in 36 years, I couldn't care less. 

What a wonderful song Flower of Scotland is. I wish England had something to compare. 

[1972 Fox]

2 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

So, despite the evidence from 2022, I still think 4 points will mean qualification. I reckon 3 points will mean qualification for some, but elimination for others.

 

So, to qualify I reckon Scotland need either another point or, at the very least, to only lose very narrowly (could be a nailbiter).

Agree. Some teams will go through with 3 points, but unlikely to be Scotland as they only achieved the narrowest of 1-0 wins. I think Scotland will probably need 4 points to progress.

[Alf Bentley]

10 minutes ago, 1972 Fox said:

Agree. Some teams will go through with 3 points, but unlikely to be Scotland as they only achieved the narrowest of 1-0 wins. I think Scotland will probably need 4 points to progress.

 

If I was Scottish, I'd certainly be assuming they need another point. It'd be on a knife-edge even if, say, they lose their other 2 matches by 1 goal. 

If they end up with a GD of -3 or worse, they'd be out, I reckon.

 

There'll probably be 1 or 2 groups where the 3rd place team only has 1 or 2 points - and 1 or 2 other groups where a team scrapes a single 1-goal win, but gets a spanking in another match. So, I reckon the cutoff line will be around a GD of -1 to -3. We'll find out in a week or two, I suppose.