The fury and the dream

In 1982, Northern Ireland arrived at their second ever World Cup. Despite the country’s rich footballing tradition, expectations were modest as the small British possession prepared to face Yugoslavia in their opening match. A hard-fought 0–0 draw offered a glimmer of hope: with a win over the unfancied Honduras, a place in the next round seemed possible. 

But a frustrating 1–1 left them on the brink. 

Their final match would be against the hosts — Spain. Back then, Spain were not celebrated for their style, but for La Furia — “The Fury.” 

Backed by passionate crowds and, at times, sympathetic refereeing, the home side were overwhelming favourites against the modest Irish team. Even Northern Ireland’s own players had little faith; they confirmed their plane tickets and checked out of their hotel before the match. 

But football thrives on disbelief. Against the odds, Northern Ireland stayed — not only in the tournament, but in history — when Gerry Armstrong, Watford’s tireless striker, scored the decisive goal in a 0–1 victory. Spain’s fury could not overcome Irish heart.

Scandinavian delight and dismay

With 48 teams in next year's World Cup it should be assumed that some Scandinavian team will qualify, and indeed, the first qualified team has been Norway, who will return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998. Norway has been awesome in a qualification group that included Italy, and have sealed their qualification with a 1-4 away victory to the Italians. Norway has built up a strong side with a lot of young players, and I already predict that they will be one of the teams to watch out for in the World Cup. 

Italy in the meantime is going to the play-offs and is in risk of losing its 3rd World Cup in a row. In this context Gennaro Gattuso's complaint sounds hollow: "It's not fair that six teams qualify in South America and the seventh plays a playoff, while here the groups are so tight", because they way Italy has played, getting beaten twice by Norway and struggling to defeat Israel, they would surely not have pulled a result in La Paz, 7th team in South America....

Good luck to the Italians in the play-offs, but it is only up to themselves to qualify.

For another Scandinavian side Denmark it was also up to themselves to qualify in all but theory by defeating Belarus at home. Denmark had already won 0-6 away, and it was perhaps arrogance or exaggerated optimism that meant that Brian Riemer decided to play without some of the best Danish players. 

But you do not qualify if you do not take every game seriously. Denmark was ahead 1-0 at halftime but went down 1-2 in the second half, and barely managed to get 2-2. The biggest concern for Denmark appears to be mental. Even though the Danes dominate and are favourites they are clearly shaken when the opposition appears to play against them, including Mr. Riemer, who seemed in dismay when Belarus scored the second goal. 

Now the Danes will face a nerve-wrecking final in Scotland. Scotland needs to win to qualify directly, but they will be at home with massive support, while the Danish team is better on paper, but lacks the mentality to fight.

The Danish manager of Sweden, Jon Dahl Tomasson, may be a candidate for Denmark manager if Riemer fails to qualify, despite his massive flop in Sweden. One would have expected Sweden to be competitive in a group with Switzerland, Kosovo and Slovenia, but after five matches Sweden are at the bottom with only one point. That said, strangely (and here Gattuso's criticism of South America rings even more hollow), Sweden could still qualify through their Nations League performance, that will give them a chance in the UEFA play-offs.

Sweden lost to Kosovo and Slovenia while Bolivia defeated Brazil. 

Who deserves a World Cup play-off?

Super Doku

Today I watched the Manchester City-Liverpool match in the English Premier League. A lot will already be written by the defending champions from Liverpool, who look to be struggling to defend their title. But let us focus on Manchester City: after missing a penalty, Erling Haaland made it 1-0 on a rather lucky header, and Nico made it 2-0 right before halftime. 

Jeremy Doku: the 23-year old Belgian was simply unstoppable, an extraordinary player who scored a fantastic third goal to crown what was in essence a perfect performance. If Jeremy Doku can continue developing and show more performances like today, he will be one of the best players in the world, and I have become a fan today.