World Cup 2018 Qualification Gets Under Way

[naderb94]

Sad for Wales aka 13th team in the world not to make it.
They haven't been in the WC since 1958

[Taz]

The Irish are more fun, they brought the party to Euro 16 in Paris so hopefully they can qualify through the playoffs, great support.

[Leicester City]

As much as I love Iceland I still think we can beat them with a Ansarifard.

[naderb94]

Since Slovakia is the lowest ranked 2nd place team, they are eliminated

[Omid177]

Hopefully we'll see a Northern Ireland - Republic Ireland play off match

[Bessos]

As much as I love Iceland I still think we can beat them with a Ansarifard.

Wasn't it Ansarifard who scored against Iceland back in 2009 during our friendly match with them?

[elnino99]

So here it will be for the European play offs:

Seeded: Switzerland/Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Denmark

Unseeded: Sweden, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Greece

I can see some very close match-ups. Sweden has a free flowing attack, while both Ireland teams can park the bus and defend against opposition....and Greece is Greece.

My preferred match ups (assuming Portugal win tomorrow) would be:

Italy vs. Ireland
Croatia vs. Sweden
Denmark vs. Northern Ireland
Switzerland vs. Greece

[naderb94]

So here it will be for the European play offs:

Seeded: Switzerland/Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Denmark

Unseeded: Sweden, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Greece

I can see some very close match-ups. Sweden has a free flowing attack, while both Ireland teams can park the bus and defend against opposition....and Greece is Greece.

My preferred match ups (assuming Portugal win tomorrow) would be:

Italy vs. Ireland
Croatia vs. Sweden
Denmark vs. Northern Ireland
Switzerland vs. Greece

Northern Ireland is ranked ahead of Denmark, so swap them around.

[elnino99]

Northern Ireland is ranked ahead of Denmark, so swap them around.

They won't be, after the FIFA Ranking update will be released in October. N.I lost both qualifiers (noticeable to low-ranked Norway), whereas Denmark won 1 and drew 1, so they'll overtake them in the rankings.

[Leicester City]

Wasn't it Ansarifard who scored against Iceland back in 2009 during our friendly match with them?

Haha yes

[KC McElroy]

Any one who cares about the look of our players is a gay to me. As long our players look groomed, im fine with it. No offence against gays, but some of you realy sound gay to me.

Based on your reasoning in your first sentence, your second sentence proves that you are gay.

[saeed_noro]

Update:
A1: Russia
2. Germany 1631
3. Brazil (open)
4. Portugal (open)
5. Argentina (open)
6. Belgium (open)
7. Poland 1323
--------------
8. France (open, most probably win the group)
9. Switzerland (open)
10. Spain 1218
11. Colombia (open)
12. Peru (open)
13. Chile (open)
14. England 1116
15. Mexico (open)
-------------
16. Uruguay (open)
17. Italy 1016 (Playoff Top4)
18. Croatia 1013 (Playoff Top4)
19. Denmark 1001 (Playoff, Top4)
20. Iceland 920
21. Costa Rica(open)
22. Sweden (Playoff)
23. USA (open)
-------------
24. Northern Ireland (Playoff)
25. Rep. Ireland (Playoff)
26. Slovakia (Playoff)
27. Tunisia (open, most probably)
28. Egypt 818
29. Senegal 815 (open, most probably)
30. Iran (773 losing - 787 draw - 807 win vs. Russia)
31. Serbia 748
32. Nigeria 721
Japan (open)
Korea Rep. (open)
Saudi Arabia (576, seems Jamaica Friendly was not an official match)
Greece (open)
Morocco (open, most probably)
Australia / Syria / Panama / Honduras (open)
South Africa / Cap Verde...
New Zealand (last in ranking, whatever happens)
.
.

[Camran khan]

Don't you remember how much it meant to us when we qualified in 1998? If there was social media back then we would have reacted the same way and gotten the same media coverage too.

Here's a clip of celebrations from 1997.

[GoIran]

Iceland's achievement is really amazing considering even Luxembourg has more population than them.

[mahestan]

mazda... Zoom zoom

Actually, the automaker Mazda is named after a Ahura Mazda. This has been officially confirmed by the automaker. You can read it here:

http://www.mazda.com/en/innovation/s...tcar/mazda-go/