World Cup Play-Ins

Besides the obvious interest in Egypt :cry: and the upcoming Mexico v New Zealand (Vucetich out after 2 matches for El Tri :lol: ), Europe still has 4 spots open and there will be some good teams left watching:

The draw isn't done yet, but some controversy already about which teams were seeded and unseeded:

Seeded: Portugal, Greece, Ukraine, Croatia

Unseeded: France, Sweden, Iceland, Romania

Not sure how Greece and Ukraine are ranked ahead of France and Sweden, thus getting home field advantage, but shenanigans at UEFA headquarters is par for the course.

 

"Ukraine is game to you?"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzLtF_PxbYw[/youtube]

 

:laughing-rolling: How many times do you see a scene from that show and say 'that was a great episode'?

 

Play-Ins start in earnest as El Tri host New Zealand. Crushing blow for the Kiwis as captain and West Ham defender Winston Reid is out due to an ankle injury. You know Mexico is desperate since the game is starting at maximum heat in the afternoon. Estimates of the financial implications of EL Tri not getting to Brazil are staggering. Biggest shocker is Adidas coming out and saying that Mexico is their #1 jersey in terms of sales in the world. How much will it cost the Mexican and US economies if they don't make it? Dr. Evil has the answer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf7uJDhVZIE

 

And that explains why ManU wants Chicharito, wow.

 

Heard a $600mil hit to Mexico if they don't make it.

 

Well, the people at Adidas, Unvision, Coca-Cola, etc. get to breath a huge sigh of relief as Mexico trounced the Kiwis 5-1. If it wasn't for the NZ GK, it could have been far worse. The new coach brought in a bunch of his Club America players (over half the starting lineup is from CA) and zero Euro based players. What is interesting is what will happen going forward.

Uruguay all but punched their ticket with a 5-0 win against Jordan

Friday the Euro teams hook it up highlighted by a great clash between Sweden and Portugal. One damn good side will be home watching the WC.

Iceland v Croatia; The checkerboard jersey kits of Croatia should find themselves through.

Greece v Romania; Evenly matched, could go to second leg PKs.

Ukraine v France; Les Blues should win, but they have been known to surrender a lead :mrgreen:

 

After watching that, I'm quite happy to see New Zealand stay home. Talk about negative football. That was brutal!

 

5-1 !!!!!!
Glad I forgot about it.

Damn, sad to see the 'glory days' of Kiwi soccer are done. Who knew that two of their best squad players of yore would have a Crew connection? and one a Fulham link.

Hey.. shut up! Everything's relative and it's gonna be a long time before someone beats his curious record of Prem starting minutes while brought directly in from MLS.
Unless Dempsey comes in and I doubt it, then.

 

We're unlikely to see either of them in the World Cup so I'm less concerned with who is easier to beat than who might be more entertaining to watch. World Cup football is negative enough as is. Including a team that only managed 27% possession (18% in the first half) is brutal. Heck, even Fulham manage to possess the ball longer than that.

 

A couple Fulham players in action tomorrow;

Karagounis came on as a sub and it tells you that barring injury he'll be on the Greek squad that travels to Brazil. Unless of course Romania can stage a comeback which seems unlikely after losing 3-1 in Athens.

Kacaniklic is a regular for Sweden, and I think he would flourish for Fulham if he had a manager that would tell him he was starting every game. He plays like he is looking over his shoulder for the hook for us. Sweden is lucky to only be down a goal and has to be liking their chances at home. Portugal will have to hope you know who bales them out again.

France...They are either are a serious contender to win it all or a complete disaster. Down to Ukraine by 2 goals and on the verge of not going can be categorized as the latter.

 

If it wasn't for his flopping, diving, and crying Ronaldo would be far more appreciated for his utter brilliance, a second half hat trick was too much for the Swedes despite Ibra's 2 second half goals.

France has made up the difference and lead Ukraine 3-0 late on.