The Un-qualified

Well, the last four teams from Europe have qualified. Personally, very disappointed that Denmark did not qualify, but at the same time gotten a bit tired of Danish news and commentators saying that Denmark were a better team.

They were not. 

Denmark had three straight chances of qualifying. Had they defeated Belarus at home, they would have qualified, but they tied. Had they not lost to Scotland away, they would have qualified. They lost after penalty kicks to the Czechs, who were both more cold-headed when taking penalties, but also seemed to want it more.

If you have that many chances and you don't make it, it is not because you are a better team. You are simply not good enough to be in the World Cup!

And if you really believe you are a better team, but did not make it, then the Manager is to blame. Mr. Brian Riemer repeatedly said that Denmark should and would qualify to the World Cup, but in the absence of qualification, he should take responsibility and leave.  

Other sides were successful in their qualification: Sweden took advantage of its Nations league option, even though they ended last in the World Cup qualifying group, to defeat Poland and make it to an unlikely World Cup where, frankly, they do not belong. 

Czechia, who lost to the Faroe Islands in the group stages, may have defeated my favourites Danes, but are not a team that will add anything in terms of football or fans to the World Cup; they are just there to take up space. 

Turkey, defeating Kosova, are in their first World Cup since their memorable 2002 World Cup, but have struggled to be there, and is unlikely to add anything either. 

Finally, while one has to respect Bosnia-Herzegovina for their heroic win against Italy, they will be nothing but an addition to a tournament with too many teams. Italy, again disappointing with another hapless qualification, is simply not good enough to be in a World Cup, despite Mr. Gattuso's previous criticism that South Americans had it too easy to qualify... I saw Bolivia play, and they were surely better than any of the eight European sides who were in the last round of play-offs, and would surely have added more to the World Cup that even the last four European teams who qualified.

The World Cup has too many teams with 48; but it has way too many European teams as well, and in a tournament of 48, it would have benefited much more with four less teams from Europe, and four more from the rest of the world. 

Report from the last qualifying match in Monterrey, NL

At half-time between Bolivia and Iraq I was a bit sad amid the great atmosphere at the BBVA stadium in Monterrey: both teams deserve to be in the World Cup, not least for the great atmosphere the fans created, complemented by many happy Mexicans who just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the World Cup. 

With 48 teams in the World Cup, the last spots should rather be given to non-European sides with great fans and commitment to their national sides, rather than the entitled and mediocre European sides that qualified in the European play-offs.

But it had to one of the teams, and it turned out to be an entertaining match to find the last qualified to for the World Cup. Iraq took an early lead on a header by the Luton striker Ali Al-Hamadi, and poor defending by the Bolivians. It led to the Bolivians putting pressure on the Iraqis, and following a period of dominance by the quick and technically gifted South Americans, Moises Paniagua equalized on a splendid strike. As the first half ended 1-1, the Bolivian fans had reason to be optimistic, as they were dominating, but in the second half Iraq came out more organised, and soon enough scored on a counter-attack: Aymen Hussein (extraordinary player with a difficult personal history) came ahead of a poorly placed Bolivian defender, bringing joy to the Iraqi fans, many of whom had come over from the USA.

Bolivia attacked an attacked the rest of the match, but despite possession and pressure, never managed to open up a disciplined and committed Iraqi side, who in Mexico qualified for their first World Cup since 1986, in Mexico.

Sad to see the Bolivian exit, but fans took it in good spirit, as the Iraqis were applauded and celebrated. Personally I loved being there, in a beautiful stadium, in the fantastic city of Monterrey, who will be great hosts this World Cup. 

This match represented what the World Cup will be about: celebrating, and be sure I will have a soft spot for Iraq as the face France, Senegal and Norway!

Step one

I took the afternoon off work in Mexico to watch Denmark take its first step towards the World Cup. After a nervous first half, the Danish dominance was rewarded in the second half nevertheless, and with goals from Mikkel Damsgaard, Gustav Isaksen with two goals, and an Olympic goal by Christian Eriksen that was credited to his namesake Nørgaard, Denmark won a comfortable victory. It looked good; the Danes dominated, pressured and had possession. There is reason to be optimistic about the final against Czechia, who had to come back from 0-2 and penalty kicks to defeat Ireland.  

That said, it will be a completely different match with big strong Czechs who play hard and have an advantage in the air against unseasoned Danish defense. But Denmark are the better side, so if the manager sets the right team and they can keep their head cool, Denmark has a fairly good shot at coming here to Mexico.

Kom nu.

It will happen

There are so many doubts about the World Cup right now, due to the complex geopolitical situation. Some weeks ago I bought a ticket for the play-off match between Iraq and the winner of Bolivia/Surinam on March 31st, to take place in Monterrey. I am treating it as an excuse to visit the state of Nuevo Leon, including the iconic BBVA stadium, and see a match that will go into the history books of one of these nations.

But there have been many doubts about Iraq: due to the war in Iran, Iraqi airspace has been closed down, and until today there were doubts whether the team would even be able to make it to Mexico. Today the doubts seem to have been cast aside, and the match will go ahead as the Iraqi team will have chartered a private plane to take them to Mexico.

I am looking forward to my little pre-world cup adventure in Northern Mexico in a couple of weeks, and hope you will be able to read about it here, on this very blog :)  

The sad state of the world

 Iran and the United States are at war; people are dying, people are suffering, and in this context the world of football is absolutely irrelevant.

This being said, Iran has qualified for the World Cup and they are set to play its matches in group G in Los Angeles and Seattle. But what now? Will Iran retire from the World Cup in a country they are at war with? While a lot of things can happen over the next few months, this is a real risk, and if it happens, Iran would likely have to be replaced by Iraq, who in this moment is set to play a play-off final in Guadalajara against either Bolivia or Suriname. But being the next Asian participant in line, they would take Iran's spot, and the United Arab Emirates, as the next in line, would take Iraq's place in the play-off.

I hope it does not come to this. I hope the world will be standing, and that Iran will participate with its great team and fans to celebrate a world in which I hope that football brings people together, because we certainly need that... 

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?

Euro qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup

This weekend In have watched a couple of European World Cup qualifiers. Denmark and Scotland tied 0-0 in a match where Denmark had the ball all the time but there was as much passion and wish to score as in a funeral. Scotland defended, Denmark had the ball, and nothing happened... They are in a qualifying group with Greece and Belarus; one of these teams will qualify straight to the 2026 World Cup, and although I support Denmark, I have my doubts whether any of these sides are good enough to be in a World Cup; they will just defend and not try to win a match.

Alongside Argentina, Spain are surely the best team in the world right now, and they gave a class act in Turkey, winning 0-6 and hardly sweating. The Spaniards were impressive, with Pedri in particular directing the orchestra with two goals, but also Arsenal's Mikel Merino scoring three goals, one better than the other. Spain is in a group with Turkey, Georgia and Bulgaria, and after tonight's trashing they are surely on the way to a World Cup where they will be among the favourites. 

The World Champions have qualified

Argentina has been awesome in terms of defending their title in the World Cup qualifiers, and last night they could seal their mathematical qualification against none other than their arch-rivals of Brazil in front of a home crowd in Buenos Aires. 

Brazil, on the other hand, have been a shadow of themselves in these qualifiers, lingering on 4th-5th place, which may be sufficient to qualify, but is not where we expect to see the great Brazilians, who at least in social media were eagerly pumping up the atmosphere before the match.

 Perhaps a little air went out of the balloon as Argentina´s qualification was sealed before the match, when Bolivia tied Uruguay at home, but this was not obvious as the match started with a highly motivated Argentina who was leading 2-0 after only 12 minutes on excellent strikes by Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez, and it seemed it could be a total trashing until Cuti Romero gave away the ball to the Wolverhampton striker Matheus Cunha, who scored easily in what was one of Brazil´s few shots in the match. For a short period Brazil seemed optimistic, but it quickly faded as Alexis MacAllister scored a splendid third for Argentina, first-timing a perfect pass from Enzo Fernandez. 

It is always a shame in these matches that players spend as much time bitching and crying as they do playing, and the first half ended in disgraceful arguments and fights between the players. 

Well, they may be great footballers, but they are not upstanding citizens. 

Second half was dominated by Argentina, who could have scored more, but Giuliano Simeone´s marvelous strike was the only goal amid many chances, and Argentina sealed a memorable victory, and appears as a serious contender for the title, even without a certain Lionel Messi….