To keep all the news together for the WC in Russia 2018, as qualifying draws to an end and the play-offs commence.
Well, having not seen this anywhere else... https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/news-gossip/337897/watford-brazil-richarlison-call-up/ Richarlison to get Brazil call-up? Which could see him in Russia.
Europen play-off draw: Northern Ireland v Switzerland. Croatia v Greece Denmark v Republic of Ireland Sweden v Italy. 9th-14 Nov. I hope RoI and NI go through, with Croatia and Sweden.
The Honduras boss is complaining about having to fly to Australia for the second leg of their play-off so soon after the first leg. He does point out that his team have to do the journey once whilst the Australians have to fly to Honduras first then go home. As there are no direct flights they have to go via LA. The journey takes nearly 24 hours. I think he has a point.
Australia is the greatest country on Earth and the only reason that they don't win everything is because of the natural charm and modesty of the Australian people. Australia will only win if they deem that such a result will not be devastating to social, cultural and economic well being of the people of Honduras. You only need to think of BB to know the truth of everything I say.
With both Scotland and the United States out, I am hoping for some Irish representation. Failing that - a road trip through the South West desert might be more fun.
Guess my question was a bit of a sitter there! Having been continuously POME bashed whilst in Oz, despite having a decent time, yes, I see your point!
Why were you being bashed with apples?? As to your original question - the Hondurans have deliberately chosen what's viewed as an 'awkward' kick off time for the first leg - 4:00pm local time, when the temperature should be around 30C & humidity around 90%. There not being any Queenslanders in the Aussie team (cooler than normal conditions for them), that could be in Honduras' favour - but they had to play in far worse heat to get this far, so maybe not. The upside of that is that they'll be able to return to Australia far earlier than otherwise possible, so a good move in my opinion. Having a couple of key players suspended for the match, I suspect we'll 'park the bus' with five at the back, play for a draw then go all out in the home leg for a win. The home leg is being played in Sydney - not particularly noted for vociferous crowds. I'd rather it was in Melbourne where the crowd know how to treat visiting teams... On a sad note - I used to regularly play against a guy who went on to become Australia's top football writer/tv presenter. I tried to contact him for his thoughts on the two games only to find that he had died of cancer three weeks ago.
I wish! I also wish I could write more clearly sometimes! They are a decentish arrogant bunch really and to be fair they can give and take banter whcih is a half-decent characteristic too! I have a feeling they'll win against Honduras too, I hope so. At least for your man there.
Whereas we play Peru who are higher in the rankings than England. Still, for quite a while it looked as if it was going to be Argentina. The other good thing about Peru is that i can support Carrillo if Peru win.
I had forgotten about that, it is strange that Australia is in the Asian section and Oceania only fight for a play-off place.
To be fair if Oceania had an automatic place in the finals that would almost guarantee NZ entry. NZ football is not very good but it is way better than what the islanders can produce. Australia joined the Asian section to improve the level of competition for the national side. That strategy seems to have worked. They are not a bad side now.
I think I'd disagree with that - the national side was far better prior to joining the Asian section in 2006. They did qualify for the 2006 World Cup and did remarkably well - it took a dubious 93rd minute penalty for Italy to knock them out - but they actually qualified via the Oceania group. They had some great players in that squad - Schwarzer, Viduka, Grella, Culina, Moore, Cahill, Chipperfield, all of whom played at top level in Europe - but were all mostly approaching the end of their international careers (apart from Cahill I suppose - still going strong at 38). As members of Oceania, they had some memorable results over the previous 15 year period - beating world champions Argentina 4-1, world champions Brazil 1-0, world champions France 1-0 - also drew with Brazil & Holland in that time. Not to mention beating England in London. Looking at the current team, they are but a pale shadow in my opinion.
