Match Day Thread World Cup Qualifiers

[The B&S Fanclub]

I always wondered, in a game where the gulf in quality is so great, if the FA couldn’t team up with a registered charity like MIND or Cancer Research and offer a raffle whereby lads under 40 pay a tenner entry and the winner is guaranteed 45 minutes of England football.

Good idea..How about every pub in the country can enter a team...Cost say £250 each....Followed by Lottery style draw. Winning pub is able to put out an XI for 45 minutes with all the money going to a bone-fide charity chosen by the pub beforehand.

 

[Steven Toast]

Tommy Tickle already been on saying it will be hard to break down Andorra and not to get expectations too high. Last thing we need is to not take it seriously and start giving raffle prize winners a a game.

As far as “smaller” nations go, Andorra aren’t the pushovers they once were, owing mostly to the fact that the team FC Andorra (owned by Gerard Pique) has surged up the Spanish league system and into the second tier. Ironically, none of the current Andorra squad play for them and FC Andorra’s Andorran contingent is seemingly non-existent at the moment.
That being said, they now have more professionals playing for them now than they ever have done and their keeper (son of the manager) plays as first choice for Cordoba.

The gulf between them and England is still huge and if England don’t put at least three past them it’s a massive red face moment, but it’s not a tacked on 8-0 dry bumming like it was a decade ago.

 

[Phinius T Bookbinder]

They would make millions though and even though there would be cries of “it’s bring in g the game into disrepute”, it would be funny as **** and raise money for a good cause.

See if I was England manager, I’d always make one or two picks from non-league for that type of fixture, give some lads a chance to fulfil a dream that might never get that shot. Benson and Hedges style from Mike Bassett (though I think they played for somebody like Plymouth or Torquay).

A few years back Denmark’s players entered a dispute with the union and the entire first team had to be stepped down, so the manager had to call up an entire squad of 4th and 5th division players, entirely semi pro, along with some Futsal players for a qualifying match against Slovakia. They all counted as official caps though.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Slovakia_v_Denmark_football_match

Worth a try . And probably fill Wembley for the novelty

 

[Steven Toast]

Worth a try . And probably fill Wembley for the novelty

Exactly, you could do it on a lottery basis and the gate receipts from the game could be donated to the player’s club, which would give them what I imagine is a much needed boost.

 

[Steven Toast]

Kasey Palmer started and scored for Jamaica last night against Bermuda.

No Sincere Hall for Bermuda, surprised he hasn’t found a club yet. Guess there’s no rush when you’re a free agent, but you’d expect a bit of interest in him.

 

[TwoWrights]

And some complain about Americans influencing our game. The F.A. may have long been associated with old farts running it, thank frig the above jokers aren't.



The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.

 

[Steven Toast]

And some complain about Americans influencing our game. The F.A. may have long been associated with old farts running it, thank frig the above jokers aren't.



The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.

You wouldn't give a footballer from the lower leagues a cap against San Marino or Liechtenstein? Harsh.

 

[Steven Toast]

Teams that have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup (along with their world ranking - Teams in Bold are ):

Concacaf

USA (h) - 15th
Canada (h) - 28th
Mexico (h) - 13th

AFC

Iran - 20th
Uzbekistan - 55th
Jordan - 64th
South Korea - 23rd
Japan - 17th
Australia - 24th

OFC

New Zealand - 82nd

UEFA

None yet

CAF

Morocco - 12th

CONMEBOL

Argentina - 1st
Brazil - 5th
Ecuador - 25th
Uruguay - 16th
Colombia - 14th
Paraguay - 43rd

UEFA qualifying is still ongoing, with the only team unable to qualify being Liechtenstein because they're ****e.

African qualifying has three games left, with each group winner advancing to the World Cup and the four best second placed teams playing off for two extra spots. Egypt look most likely to win their group, with Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Ghana and Cape Verde looking likely to win theirs.
The Oceania play off spot was taken by New Caledonia, who will face a team from South America, North America (after they've done their playoff round) or Asia.

CONMEBOL qualifying is all but done (it started in 2023), but there's one round of matches to play. Either Venezuela or Bolivia will take the intercontinental playoff spot to face one of the other playoff teams. Venezuela play Colombia in the final round of matches, with Bolivia hosting Brazil.

The main AFC qualifying is also almost complete, and has now moved onto the fourth round. Two groups of three teams will compete, with the winning team going to the World Cup and the second place team entering a playoff for an intercontinental playoff spot. The six teams will be Qatar, Saudi Arabia (the two most likely on paper), Indonesia, Oman, UAE and Iraq.

 

[TwoWrights]

You wouldn't give a footballer from the lower leagues a cap against San Marino or Liechtenstein? Harsh.

No I bleedin' wouldn't, it'd be an insult to players like Chris Sutton and Lee Bowyer who only managed one cap each. The joke thread is elsewhere, and many jokes on there have better punchlines, few have worse.


The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.

 

[Steven Toast]

No I bleedin' wouldn't, it'd be an insult to players like Chris Sutton and Lee Bowyer who only managed one cap each. The joke thread is elsewhere, and many jokes on there have better punchlines, few have worse.


The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.

Game's gone then.

Personally, I couldn't give a **** about Chris Sutton or Lee Bowyer. Steve Bruce never got an England cap and he did alright didn't he? Meanwhile, certified, mint in box dickheads like Joey Barton have got one and I'd rather some young lad from Scarborough Athletic, Spennymoor Town or Curzon Ashton got one more than he did.

 

[The B&S Fanclub]

Teams that have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup (along with their world ranking - Teams in Bold are ):

Concacaf

USA (h) - 15th
Canada (h) - 28th
Mexico (h) - 13th

AFC

Iran - 20th
Uzbekistan - 55th
Jordan - 64th
South Korea - 23rd
Japan - 17th
Australia - 24th

OFC

New Zealand - 82nd

UEFA

None yet

UEFA qualifying is still ongoing,

It's a bit weird in some of the UEFA groups...Some groups, including the Jocks and N.Ireland, only started the games over this weekend, and the draw is on Friday 5th December. Cramming the games in or what?

 

[TwoWrights]

Game's gone then.

Personally, I couldn't give a **** about Chris Sutton or Lee Bowyer. Steve Bruce never got an England cap and he did alright didn't he? Meanwhile, certified, mint in box dickheads like Joey Barton have got one and I'd rather some young lad from Scarborough Athletic, Spennymoor Town or Curzon Ashton got one more than he did.

There's a very good reason Barton got an England cap and players from clubs you mention never will. Bruce had better players ahead of him, and by your reasoning I suppose you'd give the likes of Boyce at Scunthorpe a cap ahead of players of Bruce's ilk. Hard luck Steve, but Rob Dewhirst really deserved a cap, bollocks, absolute bollocks.

Abridged version, if you think the game's gone because they won't adopt your fruitcake idea, get real.
That is all.

 

[Chazz Rheinhold]

NI doing well holding Germany

 

[bradymk2]

just realised scotty wiseman is the manager of gibraltar

 

[Kalman II]

Kosovo beat Sweden lol.

To be fair, Kosovo have some decent players. I dare say they might even have a better squad than Albania.

 

[balkan tiger]

England away in Serbia this evening, the media are making a lot out of the potential for racial chanting and how that the England team has been fully briefed on the protocols of action that can be taken.
Yes Serbia has previous, but oddly enough all the major teams in the Serbian league have ethnic minority players.
Also made me wonder how will the players know if they have been abused if the chanting is in Serbian.

 

[Deano's Volley]

England away in Serbia this evening, the media are making a lot out of the potential for racial chanting and how that the England team has been fully briefed on the protocols of action that can be taken.
Yes Serbia has previous, but oddly enough all the major teams in the Serbian league have ethnic minority players.
Also made me wonder how will the players know if they have been abused if the chanting is in Serbian.

Don’t think monkey noises have different languages mate.

 

[Drew]

England away in Serbia this evening, the media are making a lot out of the potential for racial chanting and how that the England team has been fully briefed on the protocols of action that can be taken.
Yes Serbia has previous, but oddly enough all the major teams in the Serbian league have ethnic minority players.
Also made me wonder how will the players know if they have been abused if the chanting is in Serbian.

Might not be words though.

 

[x]

i see norway put 11 past moldova with haaland getting five and aasgaard four. disappointed to find that aasgaard's first name, which begins with t, is not thor (it's thelo, in case anyone wondered). he plays for rangers and used to play for wigan.

 

[bradymk2]

i see norway put 11 past moldova with haaland getting five and aasgaard four. disappointed to find that aasgaard's first name, which begins with t, is not thor (it's thelo, in case anyone wondered). he plays for rangers and used to play for wigan.

Hes a bloody scouser