geow6 - International football

[geow6]

Ivory Coast, Ghana and Cameroon join Senegal and Algeria in qualifying from Africa. All the big hitters from that section are through.

[geow6]

Another section complete - this time North & Central America. Costa Rica, USA and Trinidad & Tobago all going through automatically, whilst Mexico had to settle for the Intercontinental play-off despite failing to score in the last game against USA which would have seen them sneak 3rd on head-to-head.

13 countries confirmed finalists so far: Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, USA, Trinidad & Tobago.

19 more to go...

[BlackpoolRock]

Are you still having to paint the less familiar colours yourself, in addition to playing the matches?

If so, your keeping up with the schedules is even more admirable. It's a fascinating concept to devise and take on, and is developing into a fine competition.

[geow6]

I've decided to use the teams I currently have to get them as close as possible to the team that is playing. If they qualify, then I will paint them myself, unless they are available on the market.

I will have to paint a Trinidad team but everyone else who's qualified so far I've got.

[geow6]

2 games to go in the Asia section and it could not be any closer in both groups. Top two teams qualify for the World Cup, third place goes into the Asia play-off where the winners over two legs also qualify for Russia. 4th and below means elimination.

All have played 8 games, they stand like this:

GROUP A
South Korea 15
Japan 14
Jordan 14
North Korea 13
Uzbekistan 6
Syria 2

GROUP B
Iran 17
Australia 14
Qatar 14
Saudi Arabia 14
Thailand 7
Iraq 1

Some key games still left to play too. Most notably in Group A, the last round of fixtures sees North vs South Korea!

[BlackpoolRock]

That's fascinating. Eight of the twelve teams still in there with a realistic chance of making the tournament.

Three of them are going to be very disappointed.

[geow6]

It's certainly going to be enjoyable playing. Will be awful for the teams who finish 4th and don't even get the chance of a play off place.

[geow6]

Thrilling finale! Japan and South Korea not messing about despite both needing to win as did their respective opponents. In Group B, Saudi Arabia's defeat meant Australia could nick second and qualify automatically by beating Qatar on head to head. Qatar needed a 1-1 or higher to finish third above the aussies to get the play off spot. Excellent and very enjoyable!

[geow6]

Saudi Arabia won a tense play off 1-0 after a single goal home victory over North Korea. First leg was goalless. Saudi Arabia advance to the intercontinental play off later this year.

Now, just five rounds of the European qualifiers remain which I will be starting asap.

[geow6]

European qualifying is back under way. Wales drew 0-0 with Sweden as the top two met in Group A. Sweden hit the post four times, so Wales will happily take a point.

Germany are the only side with a perfect record and beat Liechtenstein 3-0 to make it 6 wins from 6. They are 9pts clear of Portugal and Georgia below them. Only a matter of time.

Group C is extremely tight. Italy won to go top on 12pts. Belgium drew 0-0 in Romania and Denmark won, leaving their respective points tallies at 11, 10 and 9 after 6 games.

[BlackpoolRock]

Unlucky Sweden. Strange how a jinx can follow a team around, sometimes not just for one game. It could, of course, be that Wales are having a run of good fortune.

[geow6]

I'm glad someone reads this other than me! I will post updates after each round of matches now. Any idea how to insert a table without having to take pictures of my results book? Always comes out sideways when I post pictures.

[geow6]

Tables after Matchday 6 - all teams played 6 apart from in Groups H and I, all played five, *indicates team only payed four due to odd number of teams in group.

GROUP A
SWE 11
WAL 11
BIH 10
TUR 8
KAZ 6
SMR 1

GROUP B
GER 18
POR 9
GEO 9
MLT 5
FAR 4
LIE 2

GROUP C
ITA 12
BEL 11
ROM 10
DEN 9
MAC 7
LIT 1

GROUP D
SUI 16
POL 11
SVN 7
FIN 6
CZE 5
CYP 2

GROUP E
NED 12
UKR 11
ISL 11
ISR 8
SVK 7
MOL 0

GROUP F
ENG 14
ROI 13
NOR 12
LUX 7
ALB 4
ARM 0

GROUP G
ESP 16
CRO 11
BUL 10
HUN 6
EST 5
AND 1

GROUP H
FRA 9*
GRE 8
NI 8
LAT 7
AZE 1

GROUP I
SER 10
MNE 9
AUT 7
SCO 4*
BLR 4

Very tight in some of the groups, but looks like Germany will be the first European team to qualify. England lead Ireland by a point ahead of their meeting in Dublin, which should be a cracker. Spain and Switzerland also looking strong but still a way to go yet with four matches to play in the groups of six teams. France keep hold of top spot despite not playing. Northern Ireland kept their hopes alive with a win. Scotland have work to do to qualify as they are now six points adrift of top, albeit with a game in hand. Wales drew with Sweden and host San Marino next in what should be three points. All to play for in their group.

[BlackpoolRock]

Some interesting games to come, but also, possibly a few more 'dead' ones than in Asia.

[geow6]

Always going to get that unfortunately doing something like this. I suppose only like your season when two mid table sides clash with nothing to play for?