PastyHusty

.. good thing I'm not Sven then!
It's pretty dumb that people are throwing stones at his house anyway. :/

Pfffffft, that's just dodgy luck!


45 minutes until the first match kicks-off today.

PastyHusty

England 1-0 Austria
The facts:

* If Holland beat the Czech Republic tonight, England will automatically qualify, as they will be uncatchable as one of the two 2nd best placed teams. Any other result leaves it open until Wednesday.

* The referee is stupid. Owen was clearly fouled in the first half, but we didn't get a penalty for that challenge! .. yet David Beckham gets sent-off because Ibertsberger dived. Clear inconsistancy from the Spanish referee. Should he referee an important international match again? Hell no.

* We didn't play as well as we could, and should, have. Clearly an improvement in performance is needed on Wednesday night, as Poland are a better side than Austria.

*Sven took off Owen for Richardson, leaving Crouch up front .. Wtf!? Crouch has no pace and his true purpose for being in the team is to latch onto crosses. Seeing as we weren't playing with wingers anymore, it was a very strange substitution. Owen clearly has more pace and was a lot better suited to remaining on the pitch in that situation.


Group 1
Finland 0-1 Romania

Romania move into 2nd place, but will only stand a chance if Czech Rep. lose both of their remaining matches - not likely.

Group 3
Russia 5-1 Luxembourg
Slovakia 1-0 Estonia

Russia and Slovakia are locked in battle for 2nd place, but with one match remaining, Slovakia have an edge in GD. Ironically, the one match remaining for these two is against each other. Slovakia - Russia!

Group 5
Scotland 0-1 Belarus

Scotland's chances of qualifying are all but over..

Group 6
Northern Ireland 2-3 Wales

Group 8
Bulgaria 2-0 Hungary

Pinkie

Yes! Denmark 1 - 0 Greece

But I was told, not a very exciting game at all.

PastyHusty

Group 1
Today, I have another reason to like the Dutch even more - we've qualified for the World Cup because they defeated the Czechs 2-0! Congrats to Holland also, as they qualify with that result. Now Wednesday night's match will be a much more relaxed affair. Maybe (just maybe) this will spark a great performance from England.

1. Holland. 31.
2. Romania. 25.
3. Czech Rep. 24.

Holland and the Czechs have one match remaining. The Czechs are away to Finland and need only a draw to finish 2nd.

Group 2
Denmark 1-0 Greece
Georgia 0-0 Kazakhstan
Ukraine 2-2 Albania

1. Ukraine. 25.
2. Turkey. 20.
3. Denmark. 19.
4. Greece. 18.

Ukraine are through! 2nd place is hotley contested atm, with all 3 teams playing on Wednesday. Denmark are away to Kazakhstan, Turkey travel to Albania and Greece meet Georgia at home. Those fixtures definitely sway the chances in favour of Denmark IMO.

Group 3
Portugal 2-1 Liechtenstein

Portugal are through!

Group 4
Cyprus 0-1 Ireland
Israel 2-1 Faroe Islands
Switzerland 1-1 France

1. Israel. 18.
2. Switzerland. 17.
3. France. 17.
4. Ireland. 16.

Ireland - Switzerland will be the match to decide which of these two teams finishes in the top 2. Whatever happens, Israel need France to lose in order to finish in the top 2, as any result between Ireland and Switzerland will knock them down.

Group 5
Italy 1-0 Slovenia
Norway 1-0 Moldova

Italy are through! Norway are 2nd, 3 points ahead of Slovenia. Norway travel to Belarus on Wednesday, whil Slovenia entertain Scotland.

Group 7
Belgium 0-2 Spain
Bosnia H 3-0 San Marino
Lithuania 0-2 Serbia & M

1. Serbia & M. 19.
2. Spain. 17.
3. Bosnia H. 16.

Serbia will entertain Bosnia on Wednesday, while Spain pick up 3 points at the expense of San Marino. Therefore, it's a matter of whether Spain or Serbia will finish 1st.

Group 8
Croatia 1-0 Sweden

Croatia go top, 2 points ahead of Sweden, but both will qualify anyway.


Teams through to the World Cup Finals!
Germany (obviously )
Ukraine
Holland
Poland
England
Croatia
Italy
Portugal
USA
Mexico
Costa Rica
Angola
Ivory Coast
Togo
Ghana
Tunisia
Japan
Iran
South Korea
Saudi Arabia
Argentina
Brazil
Equador
Paraguay

24 down - 8 to go. 6 of those will come from Europe, with Sweden very likely to be one of the 6. The other two teams come from a combination of other zones. One team from Asia will play a team from North and Central America. One team from South America will play Australia (well, who else can actually play football in Oceania!? :P)

DrTagnian

We played a good match last night and Van Der Sar and Van Der Vaart were definitely our best players.

I wasn't really convinced when I saw England's result on teletext: 1-0 (Lampard, penalty). Can't you English people create chances?

England have a lot of work to do if they really want to compete with the big ones next year.

PastyHusty

Owen had a clear penalty denied and several shots, Crouch had a few headers, Beckham and Lampard had a few good long range efforts, but on the whole the Austrian kepper was having a good day. It didn't help having Bcekham sent-off either, as it damaged our attacking potential..

We've had 3 'strange' performances lately, based on what we have the potential to do. Sven needs to start making some better substiutions and tactical decisions and we need a bit more luck with injuires suspsensions (Rooney was out yesterday, Beckham out on Wednesday now, Campbell and Gerrard are injured..) I think we'll probably become good come the start next summer.

PastyHusty

Wednesday 12th October
Group 1
Andorra 0-3 Armenia
Finland 0-3 Czech Rep.
Holland 0-0 Macedonia

The Czechs have sealed 2nd place in the group and will take place in the play-offs. Holland finish the group unbeaten.

Group 2
Albania 0-1 Turkey
Greece 1-0 Georgia
Kazakhstan 1-2 Denmark

Greece and Denmark won't be taking part in the World Cup! This group was always going to end in disappointment for at least one big side, but thanks to Ukraine's fine form, two good teams won't be going to Germany next year.

Group 3
Luxembourg 0-2 Estonia
Portugal 3-0 latvia
Slovakia 0-0 Russia

Slovakia pip Russia tyo 2nd place on GD.

Group4
France 4-0 Cyprus
Ireland 0-0 Switzerland

France were always going to beat Cyprus.. so it was a matter of who would be joining them. Unfortunately, Ireland couldn't score and go out of the World Cup..

Group 5
Belarus 0-1 Norway
Italy 2-1 Moldova
Slovenia 0-3 Scotland

A terrific display from Scotland tonight should give them confidence going into qualification for Euro 2008 (which will of course be underway this time next year! ) The group was already decided though, so all matches were meaningless in terms of the final standings.

Group 6
Austria 2-0 N. Ireland
England 2-1 Poland
Wales 2-0 Azerbaijan

A much better display from England sees us finish on top of Group 6, which could help us in the bid to be among the top 8 seeds for the Group Phase draw in December.

Group 7
Lithuania 1-1 Belgium
San Marino 0-6 Spain
Serbia & M 1-0 Bosnia H

Serbia have qualified for their first World Cup! .. and have only conceded 1 goal along the way. I think they'll be tricky opponents next summer. Spain will have to settle for the play-offs.

Group 8
Hungary 0-0 Croatia
Malta 1-1 Bulgaria
Sweden 3-1 Iceland

Croatia and Sweden have both qualified for the World Cup.


Play-offs:
To be contested by:

Czech Republic
Turkey
Slovakia
Switzerland
Norway
Spain

If the draw is made on rankings, then the Czechs, Spain and Turkey will be the top 3 seeds.

PastyHusty

Play-offs:
Spain .v. Slovakia
Norway .v. Czech Rep.
Switzerland .v. Turkey

After Chris moaned that Norway would draw Spain, I bet he's now wishing that they had! The Czechs are a better team than Spain. They'll surely make it through against Norway. As for Spain, I don't think they've got it easy at all. The BBC showed just how little they understand international Football by claiming that Spain have a kind draw. Slovakia will be tough to beat - they can draw against Portugal, then they can beat Spain. The other tie is close to call IMO.

RoM

I cant belive Israel didnt make it through, they didnt lose a single match....

PastyHusty

Neither did Switzerland or France!