2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)

The draw:

Group A: Netherlands, France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus, Luxembourg

Group B: Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia, Andorra

Group C: Germany, Czech Republic, NORTHERN IRELAND, Norway, Azerbaijan, San Marino

Group D: WALES, Austria, Serbia, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, Moldova, Georgia

Group E: Romania, Denmark, Poland, Montenegro, Armenia, Kazakhstan

Group F: ENGLAND, Slovakia, SCOTLAND, Slovenia, Lithuania, Malta

Group G: Spain, Italy, Albania, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Liechtenstein

Group H: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus

Group I: Croatia, Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland

The winners of each group will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and the eight best runners-up will advance to the second round (play-offs).

Second round (play-offs): The eight best runners-up from the first round will play home-and-away over two legs. The four winners will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

good draw for ireland but we are still too shit to come out of that group

Group A is a bastard! Not unhappy with Scotland's draw tbh.

portugal/switzerland group the usual farce both nations seem to get

Zlatan constructing FIFA voodoo doll rn

Recently learned that Scotland was in the original Group of Death and was the only team in that group not to get to the knockouts. Although now I see that the term was apparently used earlier in Mexico.

Good draw for Denmark, though the manager always complains about having to travel so far all the time.

Bolivia manager Angel Guillermo Hoyos picks 93-man squad.

cast that net yo

No point even pretending not to be awed and grateful to the servant robbie keane has been to his country, regardless of the frustration his style/effort combo brought at times

Ah yeah we all enjoyed slagging him from time to time but you cant deny he was a top top player for ireland

couldnt believe the chants they sing for him at the la galaxy games

guess you gotta work with what you have

Gonna fucking win it

What an absurdly competent, incisive start.

Six of the Kosovo squad were only cleared to play by FIFA four hours ago.

This game is not competent anymore but it is very entertaining. Pitch is like a tarts tights

Hendrick a bizarre mix of strength, technique and utter foolishness. I think I'm very fond of him

Meanwhile, the Welsh Xavi gets his first ever Welsh goal as we go two nil up against shambolic Moldova

Guess what about this ref

Cunt since we scored

Like not just lol dmac, this is certifiable bias

that was a shocker alright

O Shea looks a mile from international standard

Ref booked two irish players in that first half for comedy, ignored two or three cert yellows for the Serbs. Completely hampers the midfield early on.

That said tactics since minute two have been laughably absent.

Offside? Think not.

Good call, if close.

whistle-blowing was a bit ostentatious though

still a cunt

Oh ya a cunt for the years. He'll get his own song when we qualify the cunt

We look the match for them again now we've decided to be.

I mean tbh we look a good deal better than these lads when we want.

a veritable festival of the defensive arts

fucking get in Murphy!

Oops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeWNQR5nRDE

Ah here how much better is it than watching a trap team away tbf

Oh christ

Take that, all considered

Best tackle all night from.dunphy on whelan there. Ouch.

after the early goal they were pretty formless and too deep most of the time, but at least they showed up in the 2nd half

After quinn came on he harried them well.

Finishes four nil in Cardiff after Bale penalty deep into injury time.

this ireland team scoring an early goal is a fairly concerning event.

p great result though - it took a while, perhaps due to the need to undo trapp's cultural lobotomy, but mon has really built a team with bottle. and bottle is all irish teams really have.

We have our bottle back, but we were hardly shamed technically out there. Disagree with the tenor of the analysis from rte here, we have as good a set of players from midfield as weve done since the halcyon days of Matty holland

Why did we only start playing after we went behind? Same old Ireland

Hendricks only player with a bit of guile. Stating the obvious but what is the point of glen whelan. I dont see much of him in the prem but he cant be so utterly useless for stoke

Old argument. Surrounded by better players.

Brady, hendrick, long, coleman all well fit to play a bit, and I don't think we'd mind the balance ito numbers if they were allowed or encouraged to.

Look, a draws a good result particularly with that ref. We didn't deserve more, although imo it was there for the taking.

hourihane, egan, o'dowda better than what's being put out there

Hurling has spoiled my footy for good. Semi-watching the sinking of the titanic called Lolland. Lovely chip by Berg puts Holland 1-0 down against Sweden.

Janssen is "alright" though, in case anyone wonders.

The Blind leading the Blind

Exactly. Blind Jr.'s cowardly man-bun not scoring any sympathy points either. Blind sr. can just fuck off imho.

Spas Delev, who has scored nine times in his last seventy-eight appearances in Polish and Bulgarian domestic football, and never before at international level, managed it twice in fifteen minutes vs the Netherlands.

Only good thing abt this shambles is Danny Blind will be butchered in the press. He's such a fucking tool and I hate him so so much.

He selects a 17 yo who's only played a hand full of games for Ajax. He lets him debut in a way too tricky and uneasy match, the poor guy makes an error leading to a goal. By halftime Blind throws him under the bus by keeping him in the dresser. Way to destroy a young player, man.

Something is rotten in the state of Holland! Seems to be no decent young talent coming out of their lately which is surprising

Blind out. Bless.

There's lots of talent Michael B, it's just mistreated, misjudged and misguided by layers and layers of incompetence within the association.

Fred will be happy.

lol (xp)

small nation mentality

ok now Group D is pure hipster

Russia vs Saudi Arabia as the first game of the tournament. #getthispartystarted

Overall a pretty good draw, no? Denmark lucky, but apart from Morocco and Iran nobody can be that upset.

group d not quite a group of death, more a group of sustained peril

great group for england

Group H could be interesting, all DARK HORSES all the time.

when did England last get out of a group? they may have a shot

I think Morocco could frustrate Portugal or Spain

lol russia vs saudi arabia is on my birthday too - gonna be sweet

i've decided i'm supporting mo salah's egypt

Overall a pretty good draw, no?

Dull as ditchwater for the neutrals. Apart from Por v. Spa.

Poland
Senegal
Colombia
Japan

^is that the most balanced WC group ever?

Calling Argentina v Croatia as the game of the tournament already. England v Belgium dead rubber probably the worst.

H is the Group of Life.

lol

Overall a pretty good draw, no?

Dull as ditchwater for the neutrals. Apart from Por v. Spa.

― Action of Boyle Man Prompts Visitor to Stay (Tom D.), 1. december 2017 17:00 (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, yeah. These two things might be connected :)

Jose Fonte knows more about geography than Shearer.

Spain group closest to something of a death group.

I expect Morocco to shine and take second place.

Poland
Senegal
Colombia
Japan

^is that the most balanced WC group ever?

― ogmor, Friday, 1 December 2017 16:02 (forty-eight seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

According to our agreed-on Ogmor Quality scale, yes it is.

The same scale tells us that the easiest group is group A (cumulative quality points 81, where the best team gets 1 point and the worst gets 32) and the most difficult group is F (53).

now that's the sort of stats the people need to hear

Three quarters of the Spain group total next-door neighbours also, you could probably get from Portugal to Morocco in a car in an afternoon (NB this estimate is untested).

(via Spain obv)

My gut feel is that Colombia are comfortably the best team in that group but we'll find out.

colombia didn't look great getting beaten by SK the other day. that's definitely the most curious, I've not seen senegal play at all

How are Eng fucking thia up? I don't know but I'll enjoy finding out.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DP-RCM-X4AMgiVV.jpg

Love this pic; so many possible explanations for what might be happening here; most of them are more plausible than "this is the draw for the world cup 2018".

why are they in area 51

The general lack of legit good teams (four, maybe) should make this pretty even and interesting, I think.

Has anyone got tickets / plans to go?

I've not seen senegal play at all

Mane, Balde Keita, Sow and Niang up front, Koullibaly at the back - definitely wouldn’t bet on Colombia in their current form.

Russia could well be out of this after the first round; I can see Egypt and Uruguay ending above them.

Here's hoping.

I'm sure their fans will accept it with passive equanimity

Russia’s main problem, apart from Igor Akinfeev, is that they are incredibly boring but if they can click I think they should probably finish above Egypt.

Craig Bellamy
8/11
Tony Pulis
3/1
Ryan Giggs
11/2
Osian Roberts
8/1
Carl Robinson
10/1
Thierry Henry
18/1
Kit Symons
20/1
Rob Page
22/1
Dean Saunders
25/1
John Hartson
25/1

What a shitty shortlist for next Wales manager, wouldn't want any of these near a league one club.

standard Ryan Giggs hilarity:"Of course I'm interested," 44-year-old Giggs told Sky Sports.

"I've not spoken to anyone at the moment but I'd definitely be interested.

Thierry Henry!!

A bit like Giggs in that he wants to be an engine driver with an engine driver hat when he grows up, although obv Giggs is the extreme case,

Giggs very much the Full Kit Wanker of the management world. He carries a sheepskin coat, a pint of wine and a wound-down car window with him everywhere he goes these days.

and yet strangely never goes towards lower tier clubs where he might have an actual chance of being given an experimental chance

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/feb/01/russia-world-cup-locusts-pitch-damage-officials-fear

most of the world cup kits are v disappointing, boring and a bit 90s-blocky. I quite like japan & argentina's kits, and belgium's is good:

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/adidas-new-kit-belgium.png

but the new nigeria kit is an instant classic

https://images.cdn.fourfourtwo.com/sites/fourfourtwo.com/files/styles/image_landscape/public/nike-news-football-soccer-nigeria-national-team-kit-12_original.jpg?itok=OAZj29nj

agree on all 4!

the away kits for portugal, france and croatia too

obvs the german 1990 nod too

oh that portugal away kit is nice and seems quite portuguese to me. the german kit is also deutsch as hell, not bad http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Leroy+Sane+Germany+Adidas+Present+New+Kit+PDmLLEODQtvl.jpg

These are all pretty nice, Nigeria especially. I like the French one too:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C9nKP5NwspU/Wg3J6dfXvXI/AAAAAAABXPU/BlohnWUwZa00lHmXd-AaG_vFh8vLHVRKACLcBGAs/s550/france-2018-world-cup-kit-2.jpg

A lot of retro styling going on.

Ooh, new Spain and Germany away kits leaked today - very nice

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6aqVNBd-X3Q/WoHZD2UTDYI/AAAAAAABbGM/Btf2ce0pa0wZzs8j2LZYAJKhb6KWwEB4QCLcBGAs/s1600/adidas-germany-2018-world-cup-away-kit-2.jpg