A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

Bolivia 0-0 Brazil. Altitude and a heroic performance by the Bolivian GK gave the hosts a point.

And, now for the juicy stuff:

Argentina 0-0 Peru. Missed sitters, Messi getting tired, Peruvian defense surviving somehow. This Argentina doesn't seem to have a solid midfield, forcing Messi to go back to pick up the ball for his creative attempts. If Peru's attack/counter-attacks were more focused, they might have scored a goal (Farfán was certainly close in the first half). There was no Dybala and no Icardi coming from the bench, due to a injury by substitute Gago, which forced Sampaoli to use his last substitution (which was probably planned for either Dybala or Icardi. This is the match I watched, btw.

Colombia 1-2 Paraguay. 'El Tigre' Falcao scored first, but... Oscar Cardozo equalized, and then, in stoppage time Sanabria scored the winning goal that keeps Paraguay's hopes very much alive.

Chile 2-1 Ecuador. Ecuador's hopes, on the other hand, are dead. Goals by Vargas, Ibarra and Alexis Sanchéz.

Right, standings: Ecuador is eliminated. For the rest that is still not qualified:

Uruguay - 28 points; Chile and Colombia - 26 p. (Chile ahead due to better goal difference); Peru and Argentina - 25 p. (Peru still ahead due to more goals scored); Paraguay - 24 p.

Peru will play at home against Colombia, in a do-or-die match for both (but especially for Peru). Uruguay only needs to draw at home against Bolivia; Chile will face Brazil in an away match that the Brazilians will likely not want to lose; and Argentina will face Ecuador.

The last matchday is gonna be exciting. If it ended today, Argentina would be out of the World Cup.

EDIT: Ok, I think Uruguay might be already qualified, due to the following match-ups between a couple of teams below them.

edited 5th Oct '17 6:49:58 PM by Quag15

Making one suffer till the end. This is why they are the hardest qualifiers of them all. Gotta love it.

And that's why the South American qualifying tourney is the most awesome.

Croatia 0 - 0 Finland at half time, and I must admit I hope Croatia win this. Finland are very negative - 100% defending, lots of fouls, occasional diving. The Finnish commentator is trying to get away with calling Finland's long balls failed through balls or crosses, but anyone can see that they're just clearances. I'll give Finland some credit for appearing to have finally learned how to defend set pieces, because that's where Finland always used to concede goals, but attacking play in this game is nonexistent. Croatia could safely put 10 attacking players on the field without having to worry that their 'keeper would have to make a save.

It's even more disappointing than the 1-1 draw against Spain a couple of years ago, where Finland were also playing anti-football to steal a goalless draw until they eventually conceded but then still managed, against the run of play and any probability, to score from basically the only counter-attack all game.

If Croatia score, maybe Finland will start playing and eventually, hopefully, even deserve to score and draw the game. If the second half is the same as the first, though, I'll be unhappy if Finland manage to get a win or draw. We don't deserve anything from this game.

EDIT: Finally 1-0 for Croatia. Good. Since I doubt that anyone other than me in this thread would be watching this game, I'll just point out that the goal came from a counter-attack after Finland's first corner in the entire game. That corner, in turn, came from Finland's first shot in the game - after 55 minutes. The corner was played short, to waste time. If we're wasting time at 0-0 before 60 minutes, we deserve to lose big. Obviously I hope that Finland will start playing football now and get a goal, but if they don't do that, I hope Croatia score at least 3 more goals just to punish Finland for negativity.

FULL TIME: 1-1. Finland's goal was by Soiri, who had never played a competitive game for the national team before. That's quite a way to introduce oneself.

After Croatia's goal, Finland started to play, and ended up creating more chances than Croatia. That's quite a shock for me, to be honest. Finland are already eliminated from World Cup qualification, but beating Croatia away is a massive result for us, anyway. Based on our performance until the goal we would've deserved to lose, but I'll give our guys credit for playing some football after they fell behind.

Just for context: Finland's all-time best-XI, if you could have all the players in peak condition, would have only about 2-4 players who would make even the bench in this Croatia team. Conversely, out of Croatia's squad today, most players are better than any in Finland's all-time best-XI. Basically, this is like a League 1 team beating a full strength Premier League team in the FA Cup.

edited 6th Oct '17 1:44:22 PM by BestOf

Croatia 1-1 Finland's goals here.

The other matches of group I: Ukraine won at Kosovo thanks to an own goal by Paqarada and a goal by Yarmolenko.

Turkey, on the other hand, are eliminated. Iceland went to Turkey, and won... by 3-0 (goals here)!

In this group, Iceland only needs to win against Kosovo at home to qualify for the first time ever to the WC, while Croatia and Ukraine will likely duke it out for the play-off spot. Iceland could still draw and be top of the group, if Croatia and Ukraine also draw.

In group D: Wales won 1-0 at Georgia with a goal by Tom Lawrence, while the Republic of Ireland won 2-0 against Moldova (goals here, plus a red card for a Moldovan player for headbutting Harry Arter. Serbia had the chance to secure qualification today, but an Austria that was eliminated due to Wales' win earlier today decided to win for pride and won 3-2 against the Serbs (goals here).

With these results, Serbia should still qualify directly in the last match (at home against Georgia), while Wales and the Republic of Ireland will duke it out for the play-off spot. If Serbia doesn't win and Wales does, however, then it's Wales that will qualify (and Serbia would go to the play-off round).

Group G: Wow, this Italy doesn't look so good, after all (or maybe it's the manager, according to Italian redditors). They drew 1-1 at home against Macedonia (goals here). Spain played in second gear as they won 3-0 against Albania (goals here). This means that Spain is qualified, while Italy will go to the play-offs (and may end up in the unseeded category, depending on what the FIFA rankings say at the end of the qualifiers).

Israel won 1-0 at Liechtenstein's stadium (goal here).

There was also a match in the African qualifiers (specifically group C). Mali and Ivory Coast had a goalless draw.

edited 6th Oct '17 2:17:00 PM by Quag15

Spain qualifying right now was probably the most helpful thing for them, considering their delicate socio-political situation and how it affects the performance of the national team.

Spain almost always plays beautiful football, so for the World Cup itself, it's great that Spain are in.

If Catalonia was to become independent, it would have a fantastic squad - but even if that independence was to happen tomorrow, I don't think they'd have a fully functional football federation and a first-team squad playing before the World Cup.

If they did, Catalan players in Spain's team would have to decide whether they want to keep playing with Spain, going to the World Cup but making them eligible for Catalonia, or joining the Catalan team and missing out on the next World Cup. (They'd be playing qualifiers for the Euros after the World Cup, and those would be their first competitive fixtures.)

Croatia are apparently in turmoil, with their FA very unpopular among the public and a general perception that they're wasting a great generation of players by having them under a very poor manager. Whether the manager really is that poor I can't say, but their tactics against Finland could've been better.

Now they'll have to fight to get even a knockout game for the World Cup, rather than qualifying through the group directly. I'm sure they expected to seal the deal by getting 3 points against Finland and having Turkey slow Iceland down a bit. Now, Iceland are all but certain to go to the World Cup.

If Croatia are a mess at the moment, maybe going to the World Cup wouldn't really help. I want them to go because they, too, tend to play interesting football; but if they're not in the mood for it it's probably best to have Ukraine go instead.

I suppose the best case scenario might be that Croatia qualify, but the manager gets sacked anyway (and other changes, if necessary, are made in their FA). Then they'll regroup and be back in fighting form for the World Cup, with a new manager and new(-ish) tactics that get going through the pre-tournament friendlies and group stage.

USMNT beat Panama 4-0, keep hopes of an early group stage exit in June alive and well.

At first I was worried I - along with a number of fellow Frenchmen - was overreacting in regard to Mbappé's talent, and that I was exaggerating his achievements.

Then I saw American fans reacting to a Pulisic goal, and suddenly I was not worried anymore.

What American fans were those?

USMNT needed a big win last night, they pinned their hopes on Pulisic, he scored two goals, and if the United States does qualify for the World Cup, it'll likely be the performance he delivered last night that will carry them over. Good on him. He deserves it.

Presumably some of the American redditors, both /r/soccer ones and non-/soccer ones, who shitpost a lot whenever he scores a goal or does something that is expected of him.

Hype aside, Pulisic is still good. Not on Mbappé's level, but still good.

@Best Of:

Even if Zdravko Mamic is currently suspected of tax bribery and corruption and left the FA (plus he survived an assassination attempt in August this year), corruption in the Croatian FA still runs a fair bit deep. Not going to the WC would perhaps even benefit things in the long term, since the pressure by the parts of Croatian people who haven't yet boycotted the national team games (it's a long story, and one filled with corruption) would finally force the FA to pick a better coach, instead of simply a coach with 'connections'.

This is, of course, presuming that the FA cares at all. So far, there haven't been sufficient signs of such a thing...

US - Panama's goals, in case anyone hasn't seen them.

With nothing to play for, already qualified Mexico beat already eliminated Trinidad & Tobago by 3-1 (goals here).

Costa Rica - Honduras will play later on tonight. It was postponed yesterday due to tropical storm Nate.

There are also African qualifiers ongoing (Nigeria may qualify today), and more European qualifiers later.

edited 7th Oct '17 7:56:20 AM by Quag15

Those who, I assume, form a majority of r/soccer. Pulisic's goal got 12k upvotes. Now it's a nice goal...but that's what it is, nice. Not fantastic, amazing or extraordinary. He is an excellent young player, I agree, but the level of (over)reaction whenever he does anything is staggering.

And I say that as someone who routinely experiences absurd levels of hype for Mbappé (and Dembélé).

Knowing how hard it is to get anything done about corruption in football (even starting with getting any relevant authority to care), it's very unlikely that Croatia's situation will be any better before the World Cup. If they do qualify, the fans will probably cause problems again.

Maybe it would be best if Ukraine qualified instead of Croatia (although they'd still have to go through the knockout round, anyway). Despite the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukraine players would probably still feel relatively at home in a Russian stadium with largely Russian fans, who would probably support Ukraine over just about any other country. They might be a sort of secondary home team for the Russian fans, especially since Ukraine are more likely to go through the group stage and maybe one additional round than Russia.

On the other hand, the fights between Russian hooligans and Ukrainian hooligans will be epic...

There are qualifiers that have ended, and more to happen, and some are ongoing. Let's check the ones that have finished:

In Africa: (group E) Uganda and Ghana had a goalless draw, though Ghana's goal at the last minute was unjustly invalidated by the assistant ref (due to a non-existent offside). If the match ends up not being annulled, this means that Egypt only needs to win tomorrow against already eliminated Congo to qualify.

(group D) South Africa haven't given up yet. They won 3-1 against Burkina Faso (goals here). They're probably watching the ongoing match between Cape Verde and Senegal, which is going to be decisive for either team.

In group B, Nigeria have qualified, with a 1-0 win over Zambia (goal by Alex Iwobi). Great joy ensued, naturally. Already eliminated Cameroon and Algeria faced off, with the former winning 2-0 (goals by Clinton N'Jie and Tchidjui).

In Europe (group A)... well, the Dutch NT manager, Dick Advocaat, had said last week that there was no way Sweden would win 8-0 against Luxembourg (link in Dutch).

However, Sweden won... by that exact amount (goals here, including 4(!) goals by Marcus Berg. With this result, Sweden have pretty much secured at least the play-off spot, while the Netherlands are essentially out, even if they win the last two matches (including against Sweden). Unless they somehow score some 10 or 11 goals in the course of both matches. Yeah...

(group H) Estonia destroyed Gibraltar by 6-0 (goals by Luts, Kait, Zenjov, and a hat-trick by centre-back Joonas Tamm). With this result, Cyprus is eliminated.

On the other end, one of the most insane matches in these qualifiers (goals here) in one of the shittiest pitches has just ended. With this result, if Greece win tonight against Cyprus, they'll pretty much be in line for a possible play-off spot (because they'll face Gibraltar next).

In group B, the Faroe Islands and Latvia had a goalless draw.

Our lineup for the match against Andorra. Ronaldo won't start, because Santos doesn't want to risk him getting injured or getting a yellow which would not allow him to play the decisive match against Switzerland 3 days from now.

edited 7th Oct '17 11:15:22 AM by Quag15

France leads 1-0 at half-time thanks to an early goal from Matuidi, but Kanté got injured and as soon as he left, the team looked less intimidating.

Considering the game is played on a slippery pitch under a heavy rain, I will just say that I am not feeling confident at all. Bulgaria almost scored on one of these actions where the ball goes crazy, and Lloris executed both a crappy save and a wonderful one in short succession.

Also, Deschamps infuriates me. He decides to replace Giroud by Lacazette, fine...but then after ten minutes his strategy became crystal clear - having the fullbacks combine a lot and try crosses to tire the opponent. If you play like that, why not use Giroud? It's a bit maddening to see five-feet tall Griezmann surrounded by bulky Bulgarians in the penalty area and battling for headers. You have in your team one of the foremost experts of the aerial game in Europe, and you only decide to replace him when you start using English football style.

Edit: 0-1 FT. No shot on target during the second half. Deschamps is a fucking doofus. Okay, I'll admit, losing Kanté is a big blow to any plans, but if with the depth of our squad you can't cook a fucking plan B against BULGARIA in SIXTY FUCKING MINUTES, then you don't deserve to lead a national team. That second half was utterly pathetic, only Matuidi sometimes managed a forward pass (emphasis on sometimes), Tolisso and Rabiot seemed to be physically unable to see that they had strikers in front. Coincidentally, considering their respective prices, to see Mbappé, Griezmann and Lacazette (who didn't have a shot in the entire game) running next to each other despite the width of the pitch was almost farcical.

I am 100% convinced that, if we manage to make it to the WC, with a manager like that, our chances of winning it are void, unless every single opposing coach is hit by a sudden case of deep stupidity. There is no plan, the whole strategy relies on some gifted players making the difference by themselves, and as soon as a wrench is thrown in, the team completely crumbles. So yeah, sometimes (see: Netherlands) the plan comes together and it's beautiful to see, but other times (see: Sweden, Luxemburg, Bulgaria) it does not, and honestly, who would love the A-Team if three times out of four Hannibal's plans utterly failed and he had zero backup?

I don't know if he is a coaching genius, but at least Zidane makes it look like he has a plan when he leads his team. If a player is out for some reason, even if that player is important (like Kroos, Modric or Ronaldo), the plan remains and the team stays efficient.

I'm so mad right now. I get how Argentinian fans must feel, really. At least English ones can also blame the lack of depth of their squad, but we definitely can't.

And the worst fucking thing, if France qualifies for the WC, Deschamps' contract will be extended and run until 2020, which will give him two more years and one more tournament to waste one of the greatest footballing generations we had.

edited 7th Oct '17 1:50:09 PM by Julep

Perspective. In the eyes of anyone heavily invested in following the US men's team, it wouldn't just be a goal or even just be about Pulisic. The squad's obvious decline under Klinsmann after he failed to build upon their performances in the last World Cup (where they still fell short of their aims of making the Round of 16, anyway) had left them in a precarious position where they could possibly even miss out on the tournament for the first time since hosting it in 1994, and many supporters of US Soccer could only fret about what future the organization could have should the men's squad ultimately fail. For those fans, Pulisic's performance brings them hope, something that could rescue their lost fortunes for much of this qualifying campaign, especially, and something more that they could build their future on.

If France was in a similar position as the United States in UEFA qualifying, and Mbappe suddenly stepped up and made a difference in the exact same way, that could just as well mean every bit as much to French fans (and as little to anybody else), too.

edited 7th Oct '17 1:53:06 PM by SeanMurrayI

In Africa, group A: Tunisia won 4-1 at Guinea's stadium (goals here), while DR Congo won 2-1 against Libya (can't find the goals). This means that Tunisia only needs a draw a month from now at home against Libya to qualify.

In group D, Cabo Verde lost 0-2 against Senegal. Looks like there won't be three Portuguese-speaking nations in the World Cup (first and only time it happened was in 2006, when Angola was in). Here's the second goal (can't find the first one).

Meanwhile, in light of what happened earlier today, the Ghanian FA lodged a protest, with the aim of getting a rematch.

In Europe, group A: Here's Matuidi's goal that gave France the three points.

The Netherlands won 3-1 at Bulgaria. Goals by Propper, Volodjko, Robben and Depay (in the last minutes of the match). The Netherlands' only chance of getting the play-off spot is by winning against Sweden... by 7-0 (iirc).

In group H, Greece has secured the second place and is in the fight for the play-off spots against other second-placed teams. They won 2-1 at Cyprus (goals by Sotiriou (the Cypriot goal), Mitroglou and Tziolis.

In group B, Switzerland won 5-2(!) against Hungary (goals by Xhaka, Fabian Frei, a brace by Zuber, Guzmics, Lichtsteiner and Ugrai. As for us:

Andorra 0-2 Portugal

This artifical pitch was quite bothersome. Andorra's ultra-defensive strategy, fouls here and there, and some complacency by our team led to the first half ending with no goals. In the second half, Ronaldo came on, and things began to change. Then Ronaldo scored. The other goal was scored by André Silva.

Considering the fact that Andorra defeated Hungary at home and only lost 1-2 against Switzerland, I'll take it. We were poor in the first half, but focused a lot more during the second half.

And, three day from now, it's us vs. Switzerland. We have to win, if we want to qualify and top the group.

Morocco has categorically won 3-0 against Gabon, and eliminated them, as a result, thanks to a hat-trick by Boutaïb. This means that Ivory Coast and Morocco will duke it out at the former's stadium on the last matchday, a month from now, to see who will qualify. Morocco can qualify if they draw.

edited 7th Oct '17 1:59:49 PM by Quag15

There also was a huge overreaction when Pulisic scored for Dortmund - or when he does anything for Dortmund, including giving an assist or just doing something fancy with the ball. Anytime there is a Pulisic vid, it will end on the front page of r/soccer.

I think Netherlands would have to win by 8 if goal difference is what they are looking for.

It's 7. Sweden has +19, the Netherlands have +7. If it ended with a 6-0 win, it would end with +13 for both teams, but Sweden would still be above, due to one more goal scored overall. With a 7-0 win, the Netherlands would have +14 and Sweden would have +12, thus putting the Netherlands above.

But I seriously doubt the Netherlands will win by that much.

edited 7th Oct '17 2:13:19 PM by Quag15

Netherlands isn't going to make it, I'm afraid. Unless Sweden pulls a PSG or Jorge Wilstermann and suffers a once-in-a-planetary-aligment goal flurry that is conveniently wide enough for Netherlands to overcome the negative goal difference, I'm sure this is the end of the road for the Orange team. And quite a few Mexicans will be happy that Robbo-- errr, Robben won't pull another diving performance against them this time around.

I do feel bad for Colombia and Croatia, though. I guess that's what happens when you leave homework for the last minute. I couldn't care less about Argentina's via crucis.

edited 7th Oct '17 3:11:18 PM by MyFinalEdits

Tuesday is gonna be crazy. Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay are gonna fight like madmen to get to Russia. And Uruguay better get serious too if they don't wanna have a hard time.

Meh, worst case scenario, Uruguay would fall into the play-off spot, where they would face New Zealand. They're probably gonna get a draw, anyway.

As for Peru vs Colombia, I'm slightly torn. On one hand, it has been a long time since Peru was at the WC (plus I want to see my man Hurtado there). On the other hand, Colombia not going through would mean I would not witness Falcao at the World Cup (that injury before the 2014 WC was awful).

Costa Rica qualified yesterday, after a 1-1 draw with Honduras (goals by Eddie Hernandez and Kendall Waston). This means that the US only needs to win or even draw against an already eliminated Trinidad & Tobago to secure qualification, while Panama and Honduras will play against Costa Rica and Mexico (respectively), and hope that the other falls and they win (and vice-versa) for the inter-continental play-off spot.

More European qualifiers today are about to begin, plus we might see Egypt finally qualifying, after years of disappointment and choking.

On a more humourous note, bagpipes have been allowed at the match between Slovenia and Scotland for the play-off spot (which will begin in 10 minutes, iirc).

edited 8th Oct '17 8:56:31 AM by Quag15

Group E: Poland won 4-2 against Montenegro (goals here, including a lovely overhead kick by Stefan Mugosa). The Montenegrins nearly spoiled the party, but Lewandowski and Own Goal came to the rescue. Anyway, Poland has qualified, since Denmark drew 1-1 with Romania and will be going to the play-offs (penalty by Eriksen and equalizer by Deac). Kazakhstan drew 1-1 with Armenia (goals by Mkhitaryan and Turysbek).

The last time Poland was in the WC was in 2006.

Group F: England won 1-0 at Lithuania with a penalty by Harry Kane.

The sad story of the day is for Scotland. They scored first, then Slovenia scored twice in the second half, then Scotland equalized near the end, but it wasn't enough. 2-2, goals here. It is Slovakia won will be in the fight for the play-off spot, since they won 3-0 against Malta (brace by Nemec and goal by Duda).

Overall goal differential puts Slovakia above Scotland, in what constitutes another disappointment in a long string of disappointments for Scotland. Strachan was clueless in his subs (both timing and selection).

Northern Ireland secured their play-off spot due to these results.

edited 8th Oct '17 11:10:20 AM by Quag15

There was nothing to play for in group C, but anyway: Norway won 1-0 against Northern Ireland (own goal by Chris Brunt); Czech Republic comfortably won 5-0 against San Marino (goals by Krmencik, Krmencik again, Kopic, Novak and Kadlec; and Germany won 5-1 against Azerbaijan (goals by Goretzka, Sheydaev, Wagner (goal technology helps), Rudiger and Can).

More importantly, Egypt has qualified and they'll be in the WC for the first time in... 28 years! Mohamed Salah was the hero of the match. He scored first, but Congo's Bouka Arnold equalized. Then, there was a penalty at last minute, and... well, see and hear for yourselves.

Their GK (and captain) is 44 years-old(!), which means that the record for oldest player that was set 3 years ago by Colombia's Faryd Mondragón will be beaten if he's part of the final squad next year (El Hadary will turn 45 in January).

edited 8th Oct '17 1:47:09 PM by Quag15