England have called up 17 year old attacking midfielder Ryan Healy of Carshalton Athletic for the game v Brazil. Of course, they haven't - but he can't be too far away from selection if the state of the current squad is anything to go by.
There's been loads in tonight's friendlies Armenia beat Cyprus 3-2 Albania beat Turkey 3-2 Kosovo beat Latvia 4-3
I hear Italians are looking to borrow some lions for Gian Piero Ventura's next public appearance. Throw in the ref too, to be honest, he decided on the result before kickoff and refused to waver from it.
However pleasing to see the Italians out, it does show how absurd the system is.They were in a group with Spain so one of them was always going to have a playoff game in which anything might happen. In the meantime some of the teams that will go from Africa and Asia....................
Looking at the teams that didn't qualify is guaranteed to give the sponsors a collective nervous breakdown Cameroon Chile Ghana Ivory Coast Italy Netherlands South Africa Turkey USA of America Wales
It's looking like 2018 will be a bit of a snooze fest. England, Switzerland and Sweden have produced some of the most turgid displays at tournaments ever (though thankfully the Ukraine haven't qualified so no repeat of one of the worst WC matches I have ever seen when they drew 0-0 back in 2006 against Switzerland). If Eire also qualify it will be an insomniacs delight and should be bottled as a miracle cure.
The only one that surprised people most is ITALY, the only time they failed to qualify was in 1958. Others soldiers go soldiers come.
Another reason to skip the World Cup: we won't be hearing the tuneful anthems of Italy or Chile, but we'll be hearing that funereal dirge about saving queens.
Who are you good people supporting tonight? Republic or Eriksen's Denmark? I'm swaying towards our little Elf.
"Can't say I have too much sympathy with Italy failing to qualify for the World Cup in Russia - having been watching footie as long as I have, Italy can be pretty fookin' tedious in major tournaments, too often preferring to stifle the opposition rather than outplay them, despite having had incredibly talented players over the years." - FosseFilberto, oblivious to the irony.
