Still 0-0 but Canada are down to 10 following two yellows for Kaye. Panama are drawing so if everything stays the same Canada are qualified.
Internationals March (World Cup Qualifiers + Friendlies)
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1-0 Costa Rica just before half time.
Panama draw 1-1 with Honduras so as far as I can tell Canada have basically qualified. They would be six points ahead of fourth (Costa Rica) with two to play and a +11 GD advantage. Costa Rica still have to host the US as well.
Edit: if Mexico win against the US then Canada qualify regardless of their result tonight.
Edit: if Mexico win against the US then Canada qualify regardless of their result tonight.
Who is this ref for the Mex vs USA match? Mexico's midfielder should have gotten a second yellow card a few times in the second half!
Canada somehow lose 1-0 despite dominating most of the second half and missing some sitters. Sunday is the day.
i got a bit too excited when Bale scored the second and bought world cup tickets all the way to the final 
Maybe there is, but I can’t think of one from my memory.
I’ve said this many times before but I’ll say it again; this is unquestionably the worst Mexican team I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. They are garbage, and there looks to be a clear dearth of talent right now.
Despite their defeat yesterday, I’m delighted that Ecuador have qualified. It’s the only South American country I have visited so far, and I’m absolutely loved it (so much variety and diversity within a relatively small area - it’s said to be a microcosm of the continent). So I became a fan of the team.
Despite their defeat yesterday, I’m delighted that Ecuador have qualified. It’s the only South American country I have visited so far, and I’m absolutely loved it (so much variety and diversity within a relatively small area - it’s said to be a microcosm of the continent). So I became a fan of the team.
Italy dominated possession but they hardly created anything in the 120 minutes.
They were great in their first two games in the Euros but they weren't the best team overall, Spain was better.
Tbh Spain wasn't all that either, their group stage performance was meh, and they struggled against Croatia (with ten men) and beated Switzerland on penalties.
Certainly their best game was against Italy.
I wouldn't say Spain was better, it was very even with Italy.
Still Italy should have qualified, but they choked against Macedonia, players couldn't handle the pressure of being ultra favorites.
Yeah, I'd say they were. But characters nonetheless.
Forgot about Bergkamp. Definitely a good shout. If memory serves though, he didn't really set Italy alight.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...hobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1648209398-1
Replace Wales/Scotland with England and I’m on board.
Replace Wales/Scotland with England and I’m on board.
Haha wtf. Why would they do that.
Better would be to move the world cup away from awful Qatar and move it to Ukraine next summer
.Didn't see those. Finally we have the anti-Firmino. From don't shoot don't score, to keep shooting and keep scoring.
Kickoff of the first legs of the Jollof Derby and AFCON final rematch...
Disapppointed Mail lost. Have some talented midfielders but not much elsewhere but would've been a new name at the tournament. Will see what happens in second leg but up against it.
Tunisia always seem to be a making up the numbers team at the world cup and can't remember many star players from there bar Trabelsi who was good at Ajax about 20 years ago. Think Khazri did alright at Sunderland a while ago but generally they don't produce memorable players compared to other African teams.
Tunisia always seem to be a making up the numbers team at the world cup and can't remember many star players from there bar Trabelsi who was good at Ajax about 20 years ago. Think Khazri did alright at Sunderland a while ago but generally they don't produce memorable players compared to other African teams.
Senegal dominating atm. In terms of competitiveness I'd much rather have Senegal in the WC than Egypt.
Doucoure has recently switched to being a Mali international, there's also been rumours that Moussa Dembele (Lyon) will switch. The problem is Mali are already quite stacked in midfield so Doucoure isn't really needed, Dembele is more important for them right now.
Tunisia usually have a core of local based players that play for them which is why the majority of their players are unheard of.
They don't but they tend to be very professional and street-wise in qualifiers.
North African leagues in general tend to be more organized allowing for a collection of local players (alongside players in second tier leagues in Europe) that can be moulded into an effective team. Now that lack of star quality you mention hurts when they actually make it to the WC finals.
Yup, North Africa dominate African domestic football (particularly Egypt and Tunisia). Which is probably the reason why they're the 2 North African teams that depend the least on players in the European domestic leagues.
DR Congo is probably the only other African country that can compare domestically to Egypt and Tunisia, hence why they also have a strong national team based on mainly domestic talent.
No way we're qualifying. We're going to lose away.
So few goals in african games. Why are all teams so defensive? Was the same in african cup of nations.
Even star players like Salah, Mahrez etc are doing nothing for the national sides.
Even if European teams also are defensive in tournaments you see more goals.
Even star players like Salah, Mahrez etc are doing nothing for the national sides.
Even if European teams also are defensive in tournaments you see more goals.
Gonna celebrate this victory, as I'm definitely not looking forward to the away game.
Nah, This results suits your game plan. You will definitely get opportunities on the break, you have to hope Marmoush/Salah/Trezeguet can take advantage.
It's set up for a brilliant second leg.
It will probably go to pens again I guess.
I do not see many goals so 1-0 to Senegal my guess.
We didn't defend well today. Mane were running riots on his flank. We looked like we would completely collapse if we conceded one goal.
We pretty much did nothing in second half. Second leg we'll park the bus and keep on defending till we concede a goal and it'll be a shit show from there till the end.
Agreed. South Africa is the weird outlier.
Oh stop it, you have a great chance of stealing it in Dakar
Home advantage can be a bitch. Can't wait to see the flares in Casablanca and Tunis next week.
Away teams tend to be more cautious as a result, and rely more on counters and set pieces. Less opportunities for star players to take charge of a game, it's more of fitting into the team ethos. Mahrez had a decent game from what I saw of their match against DR Congo, but Feghouli (replaced Mahrez in the second half) had more moments running at a tired defense.
It's called tactical evolution, which is a code for "defensive set up".
Tier 2 and tier 3 teams just play defensive most of the time nowadays, to avoid getting spanked by better sides.
For the spectacle it's garbage, but i guess no player enjoys getting spanked 5-0 by a better team just to give the neutral viewer a beautiful game with lot of goals.
I can't believe anyone who saw today's match can believe this.
If we qualify it'll be down to either luck or Senegal having day off and nothing else.
They're miles ahead of us.
There's away goals in the qualifiers right ?
If so Egypt have a huge chance despite what @el3mel says.
If so Egypt have a huge chance despite what @el3mel says.
Although in leagues you see the weaker sides getting destroyed a lot of the time. In european qualifiers the big sides score a lot more.
I get it national football is quite defensive. The few teams that play attacking football like Belgium and Germany fail tactically in the big games a lot.
England is pretty attacking against weaker sides, but go defensive against the top sides. France the same. Brasil the same.
Then you have teams like Portugal, Spain and Italy that are pretty defensive and have been for a long time, but are extremly good in attack still and can smash weaker sides.
Enjoying Ivory Coste here, playing some good stuff against France at times.
The thing is these are the best 10 teams in Africa (barring Ivory Coast who were unlucky). It should be compared to two top teams playing against each other in the other continents. If you saw the previous round of qualifiers there were plenty of goals. The big African teams usually destroy the weaker teams as well.
The way the CAF qualifiers work is there's 10 groups of 4 and the teams that finish top are drawn and play a two legged knockout fixture to qualify for the world cup. There's not really a 'weak' team left in the CAF qualifiers at this point in time.
Algeria scored a total of 25 goals in their 6 group games, Morocco scored 20...
What I wonder though is why the african sides are so defensive in general.
Yes there is more goals when the big sides player the weaker sides in all continents, but african teams just play very defensive.
It may be that they have more good defensive players over attackers, but you think the teams with higher attacking quality should do better.
considering that Italy has never lost in a wc qualifier at home and Germany only twice before, I say not many have accomplished that within a decade.
Italy did create stuff yesterday but were wasteful. Macedonia defended quite well. Cleaned up a lot of chances.
We were missing Elmas, our best midfielder due to yellow. He will be back against Portugal.
We have never had a good striker.
If Kolusevski decided to play for Macedonia that would have been great for somebody on the wing. Scoring a goal will be tough.
We were missing Elmas, our best midfielder due to yellow. He will be back against Portugal.
We have never had a good striker.
If Kolusevski decided to play for Macedonia that would have been great for somebody on the wing. Scoring a goal will be tough.
Let's see what they can do against Portugal.
I have a feeling Portugal will score very fast, and Macedonia will crumble, plus 37 years old Ronaldo is better than Immobile.
Those draws to Bulgaria and Switzerland, despite dominating and creating chances, thanks to Immobile and Jorginho penalties costed Italy the qualification.
The biggest mistake of Italy made was not scoring early, as time was passing italian players started to feel the pressure, and choked.
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