World Cup 2014 Qualifiers

[Big Sam]

Final 6 in CONCACAF has been sorted:
USA, Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica (Canada had led their group going into today's games but got thrashed 8-1 in Honduras!)

The 6 play H&A in one group throughout next year with the top 3 to go through and 4th to play New Zealand for a spot in 2014.

I'm gonna say the Yanks, Mexicans and Costa Rica to go through and Honduras to play NZ.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

It's a thriller in Berlin.

Poland/England postponed... crowd violence???

Pretenders Portugal are losing too!... I like....

How many teams come out of Russia with points and how many teams can go blow for blow with Spain consistently? Not bad for pretenders...

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Osieck has wasted friendly matches in the last year or so to promote younger players through the system. The national team will suffer due to big money in weak leagues across Asia and Middle East.

How many teams come out of Russia with points and how many teams can go blow for blow with Spain consistently? Not bad for pretenders...

Not Portugal.

 

[hybrid_tiger]

The ref making Holger's decisions for him.

Glad Neill is suspended for the next one, he is f**king hopeless.

 

[langpark]

Picked it LP. Bolivia 4 Uruguay 1.

Wow, I expected the win, but not to that extent! I've spoken to people who've gone there just as tourists and they say it's difficult to breathe just walking around at a slow pace. So I can't imagine what it's like having to play football in those conditions!...

TT, it seemed to be their proper XI. Forlan, Suarez and Cavani all played...

Not Portugal.

^ this...

 

[ME SO HORNBY!]

A German side giving up a 4 goal lead? May never see that again. Wow.

 

[Big Sam]

Embarrassing start to the final CONCACAF round for Klinsmann's Yanks. 2-1 loss to Honduras away.

Their next two games are against Costa Rica and Mexico so things could get worse still.

 

[Latino87]

Embarrassing start to the final CONCACAF round for Klinsmann's Yanks. 2-1 loss to Honduras away.

Their next two games are against Costa Rica and Mexico so things could get worse still.

If you ask me I wouldn't say it's embarrassing for them. I follow the CONCACAF qualifiers & over the last few years, the Central American nations have gotten stronger. I wouldn't be surprised if USA don't get a automatic top 3 finish spot.

Costa Rica is lucky to have made the hexagonal, Mexico will finish 1st & spots 2, 3, & 4 will most likely be Honduras, Panama & the USA in which order I don't know. And there's also Jamaica, at home they are hard to beat but will struggle away especially in Central America.

 

[langpark]

Well Mexico failed to put away Jamaica at home, so this group is well and truly wide open. There are no easy-beats in this group, though you'd have to say Panama are the weakest. Honduras are unpredictable, they beat Canada 8-1 in October to sneak through to the final stage. I've always had massive respect for Costa Rica too, ever since 2002 to be exact. They'll be tough...

But USA and Mexico really should be blitzing the group. USA have 300 million population, all the resources a country could want + big latino immigration, some top players playing in Europe... all the ingredients for footballing success are there, but they just can't get it together. Having someone like Klinsmann in charge doesn't help matter either IMO...

 

[Latino87]

That game may come back to haunt Mexico, valuable away point for the Jamaicans. You're right on that, this is easily the strongest looking hexagonal I've seen. It will be a close one. Costa Rica also picked up a valuable away point, Panama choked in that game.

You're right about USA, they should be stronger, but they don't take advantage of the massive Latino population there, how many of their star players are of Latino background? El Salvador has picked up a few players that went through the USA youth system but never selected for the USA national team.

 

[langpark]

Yeah that's true, but even beyond that they have a great team. Guys like Howard, Bradley and Dempsey are truly world class players and in 2010 they looked like they might just finally reach their potential. They've gone well downhill since then. The squad they had the other night against Honduras looked very strong on paper. Who knows, maybe their domestic players crumble when playing in proper footballing atmospheres like Central America...

 

[Latino87]

That's the beauty of CONCACAF, especially in Central America & Mexico, playing at home makes a big difference, I went to a World Cup qualifier in El Salvador, it was packed 2 hours before kick off & it wasn't quiet for one second.

I watched a video of a crew that followed the USA team during the qualifiers for 2010, the look on their faces when their bus got to the stadium in El Salvador was priceless, after the game Donovan said that was the most intense atmosphere he'd ever experienced.

 

[langpark]

Some AWESOME fixtures coming up on Friday:

Israel vs Portugal
Croatia vs Serbia
Czech vs Denmark
Sweden vs Ireland (well, depends which Ireland turn up to play)
Bosnia vs Greece
Poland vs Ukraine
FYROM vs Belgium
N. Ireland vs Russia
Uruguay vs Paraguay

I've found surprisingly generous odds ($7) on the following:

Israel to beat Portugal
Cyprus to beat Swiss
N. Ireland to beat Russia

Of course I don't expect them all to come off, but worth a shot given the odds. Portugal are prone to choking and Nth Ireland have proven they're capable of an upset...

 

[HowHigh]

The only entertaining one there looks like Serbia vs Croatia lol

 

[Big Sam]

Along with Europe, other big fixtures this week include:

Mexico v USA
Uruguay v Paraguay (Copa America Final rematch)
Cameroon v Togo
Senegal v Angola
New Zealand v New Caledonia (yes, not a big fixture, but if the All Whites win they qualify for the play-offs)
Australia v Oman

Also LP, you missed San Marino v England

 

[shiznit]

highlights of the NZ vs NC game... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luz_aYWe-us

check out the foul on Smeltz... how on earth was that not a f**king penalty...

 

[Big Sam]

Congrats All Whites - just 2 games away from Brazil. Gonna take a while to find out your opponents though...

 

[langpark]

Israel really should have beaten the pretenders, they equalised in the 93rd minute! I knew 7/1 odds were worth a shot there...

 

[WireMan]

England win 8-0!!

ITS ON!!!!!!!!!! :crazy:

 

[Latino87]

Mexico have let go of a 2 goal lead, Honduras has scored 2 in 3 mins to equalize, this is gonna be a awesome finish to the game.