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. 

Italian tragedy

Italy will be the most missed team in the World Cup, and that is a tragedy for football fans all over. The Italy that won the Euro this year were the best Italian side, but were defeated today in the World Cup playoffs against North Macedonia in a match where the Macedonians played their only chance: defending and hoping for the counterattack, which they got in the 92nd minute and gave Aleksandar Trajkovski the winning goal for the away side.

Despite dominating the Italians never seemed able to fight their way through, so the Macedonians have every reason to be proud about this huge upset. That said, they are certainly not qualified as they will now face Portugal, who defeated Turkey 3-1 to advance to the playoff final.

If the Macedonians advance to Qatar they will certainly deserve it!

Two World Cups in a row without Italy. Unheard of for a team that only had not qualified in 1958 (in 1930 they did not enter).

The Group A results

Group A has finished in the Euro 2021, and Italy won the group in style with three victories and a score of 7-0. After their first two 3-0 victories against Turkey and Switzerland respectively Roberto Mancini had decided to rest many players against Wales, and although the Welsh did get some good chances, the Italians always seemed comfortable with their 1-0 victory, and continued to their 30th unbeaten match.

Italy will face the runner-up in group C: either Austria or Ukraine, who are indeed facing one another in a mini final to decide who faces the Italians in London, in match were the Italians will be huge favourites to make it to the quarterfinals.

Wales ended up runner-up in the group ahead of the Swiss on better goal difference, and will be looking to play the runner-ups in group B (probably Finland or Russia) and a repeat of their successful 2016 campaign. In the meantime Switzerland must await the results of other group to see whether they go through on this spot. 

Turkey is going home after three defeats in one of the most disappointing performances of the tournament.

One year late, but it is here

Perhaps it is because of the COVID lockdowns, the lack of sports and excitement, or even the one-year delay, but I have been looking forward to these European Championships. This despite the low expectations on quality and the continued xenophobia, greed and politics that continue to haunt football in general, but very specifically when it comes to national teams.

That said, I will enjoy focusing on football ranting over the next month or so, and delighted to see fans in the stadiums!

The opening match was as much a disappointment about Turkey, as about a warning about Italy. I had certainly expected more from the Turks' young team, but they did not seem like a team that wanted or even believed that they could win , and only one shot on goal throughout the match is only witness of a team that was there to defend. 

And they defended well, but we can thank the Italians that it did not work, and Italy's 3-0 victory was not too big. Italy were deservedly rewarded for their patient pressure and dominance, and should indeed be considered one of the candidates to go all the way.

Who are these candidates anyway?

Let us start by saying that all teams can make it; there are no weak sides in the tournament, and on a good day the lowest ranked sides of Finland or North Macedonia can defeat the highest ranked of Belgium or France. And be certain that we will see surprises from smaller sides, as well as disappointments from some of the so-called "giants". That said, there are certainly some teams that I will personally find interesting to watch (in no particular order):

• France: the defending World Champions have the most complete squad of all, with perhaps the best player in the world, N'golo Kante, as well as super stars as Kylian Mbappe or Rafael Varane, even a returning Karim Benzema, who had been out of the world cup squad. If things work for them as they did in Russia in 2018, they will win
• Belgium: The side continues to be ranked number 1 in the FIFA world rankings, and continue to have a side that can defeat anybody. However, as in 2018, one has a feeling that they lack one last bit of something to go all the way. That said, personally, Belgium will be one of my favourite teams to watch, and as long as they don't face Denmark (which they will), to support
• Portugal: One cannot dismiss the defending champions from 2016, despite it being the most boring final of all time. Portugal are still led by the Great Cristiano Ronaldo, who despite his age is still brilliant and surrounded by hugely talented players. Portugal will go for the repeat for sure, and will be contender, although I hope it will be more entertaining than in 2016....
  
• Germany: The ever-strong German poor results lately have probably weakened expectations, but one would be silly ever to discount the Germans. This will be the end of the Joachim Low era, and no matter how they do, it will be interesting to see how it ends, and whether it lays a foundation for a new era of for German national football; the talented youngster are plenty. Personally I always look forward to watching Germany, but I never support them!
  
• England: I will not support England in any match. That said, any football fan should be excited about their talented young team; after so many years England is managing to get hugely talented youngsters from the best league in the world. After making it to the semifinals of the World Cup they must certainly be considered contenders for the title; expectations from English fans are always huge, but this time they are justified
• Croatia: I always love watching Croatia, simply because no matter what, they put so much passion into the game. After making it to the world cup final in 2018, they are nevertheless an older side, but still led by the Great Luca Modric, and many talented young players. Despite it all, they are unlikely to win the title, but could defeat anyone
  
• Denmark: Of course I am biased, as I will support Denmark, but beyond that, I think that after many years of not having a full first-rate side, Denmark now has a full contingency of solid players, all playing in big clubs in some of the best leagues. In particular defense looks world class (including one of best goalkeepers in Kaspar Schmeichel), and there are many promising young players. The attacking power is still weak, and although they will have to do their best, on a good day they can defeat anyone

Of course, all 24 sides are worth watching, and may I add that Italy (winning today) and Spain should probably also be considered (serious) contenders for the title. Additionally, it will be great to watch and welcome the fans from Finland and North Macedonia to their first international tournament ever, and hope for them that they get some good results and fun on the way!

And last of all: let us enjoy this with respect and friendship centered around our common love for football, and forget all the narrow-mindedness that keeps separating us.

Top 5 Best things of Euro 2008

The Euro 2008 was exciting, great matches, entertaining football, drama and tenacity. It was one of the best international tournaments of the last years.
In my personal opinion the five best things of the tournaments were the following:

5) Netherlands in the first round: The Dutch started the tournament like super-men, trashing the Italians and French in spectacular matches which led one to think about their spectacular teams of the 1970’s. It was a pity that they were unable to keep it up, but still, I loved seeing them, and look forward to see if they can do better in South Africa.
4) Russia: Welcome back to the Russians! Under Guus Hiddink and with some marvelous players the Russians showed that they were rightfully in the tournament. Look out for the Russians!
3) Austrian fans: In general the fans of Euro 2008 were great – although don’t mind a handful of trouble-makers, a few petty nationalisms and high prices. But I liked the Austrian fans, who gave their otherwise petty national team excellent good-humoured support which surely gave the players and extra incentive.
2) Turkish tenacity: The “crazy” Turks showed how much it matters never to give up, and for that they gave us some memorable matches in Euro 2008: Their amazing come-back against the Czechs, the incredible last-second equalizer against Croatia, and their spirited fight against the Germans were all examples of good ole’ fashioned spirit, and many teams could learn from this.
1) Spain: Spain were the best of the tournament, firstly because they finally managed to win a major tournament, and secondly because of how they did it; they played brilliantly.

Germany back! (But Turkey will be missed)

Germany defeated Turkey last night in a delight of a match, where the Turks again showed some of the greatest spirit seen on a football pitch seen for a long time: these “crazy” Turks shows that in football one should never give up!
The Turks will be missed: Last night they almost did it again, but against another of the traditionally figthing teams in the world: Germany…
Well, the German are again like in the good ole’ days: a boringly efficient team, that annoys by its pure efficiency and great players. You have to admire them! And I am happy to have Germany back like I like them, that is, to dislike them in my sheer admiration.
Football is much better like that - Germany could win the whole thing. I personally don’t hope they will win, but they’d deserve it for their tenacity and efficiency.

Euro 2008 quarterfinals

The group-stage of the Euro 2008 ended last night with a well-deserved Russian victory against Sweden. The Russians are a young exciting team that has tried to play football, and last night did excellently against an old and boring Swedish side.
I think this Euro 2008 has so far been great; it is long ago we have seen so much entertaining and good football on national level. Perhaps it is because at the European level, with only 16 teams, we tend to see less of the second-rate teams abounding in other tournaments, but truth is that teams like like Netherlands, Spain, Russia and Portugal all play entertaining attacking football, just like Croatia and Turkey play refreshing and beautiful football. Both Germany and Italy have also shown that they can, but still don't do it in every match.
But now, the quarterfinals look as follows:

• Portugal-Germany: the Portuguese are favourites against the Germans. But the Germans are not to be underestimated!
• Croatia-Turkey: The Croatians are favourites after three victories in a row, but the Turks have shown that they never give up! Predict a great match!
• Netherlands-Russia: Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink will face his country with a young Russian team that is not afraid to play up against the best. At the same time, the Dutch have an amazing side that has won three impressive victories and scored stunning 9 goals on the way.
  
• Spain-Italy: Italy always defeats Spain, and I believe it will happen again, but I certainly hope to be wrong as it will be a pity to see the exciting Spanish team out of the tournament.
  

Thank you Turkey and Czech!

Sometimes football gives you some amazing experiences, and tonight was one of them: in the last match of the first round, Turkey and the Czech Republic were playing a small final, as a winner had to be found on who would continue in the Euro 2008 or go home. Both teams had it all to play for, and the atmosphere was truly great.
The Czechs started off best, and went ahead in the first half by Jan Koller. Although the Turks started best in the second half, the always-dangerous Czechs scored to 2-0 by Plaitsil. The game looked set for the Czechs.
But the Turks have shown they don't give up, and in the last 15 minutes, scored 3 goals - the last one a great strike by Nihat (who also scored the second after a grave mistake by goalkeeper Peter Cech). It was an absolutely amazing comeback, and the match ended in drama when Turk goalkeeper Volkan was red-carded, and the Turks, out of substitutions, had to put a player on goal in the last nerve-wrecking moments of the match.
It is great for the super-Turks, but also sad for the charming Czechs (their fans shall be missed!). But that is football, and these kind of matches are what make it great.
Congartulations to the Turks, and thank you very much to both teams!

Greece to defend its title

Greece qualified for the EURO 2008 in Austria-Switzerland last night, after defeating their arch-rivals of Turkey 1-0 in Istambul on a goal by Amanatidis.
All in all it was a very well-deserved victory, and I was impressed by the defending 2004 champions, who were otherwise missed in the 2006 World Cup. Greece managed to put pressure on the home team, who was unable to open the typically tight Greek defense. But Greece played great, and will be very welcome next year to defend their title!

Top-10 biggest football mistakes of 2005

2005 has been a year where many have brought negative attention upon themselves in the world of football. This is my top-10 list of the so-called "turds":

• 10) Referee Yoshida: The Japanese referee did not know the rules in the World Cup qualifier between Uzbekistan and Bahrain. He annulled a penalty goal for Uzbekistan because a player ran onto the pitch. The game was cancelled, and in the end Bahrain qualified.

• 9) Gambia fans: The fans of Gambia also have the privilege of being on my cool-top-10, for exactly the same reason they are on this list: their stunt of faking an emergency landing in Peru, in order to make it to a match on time.

• 8) Jorge Fosatti: Uruguay did not qualify for the World Cup, and is a great football nation that will be missed in Germany. They lost their final play-off match against Australia. Before the play-off match, the Uruguayan coach Fosatti, had been very arrogant and had spoken lowly of the Australia team, only to be beaten on the pitch.

• 7) Abel Xavier: The Portuguese defender of Middelsborough was tested positive for doping in November, and he was suspended for 18 months.

• 6) Wayne Rooney: He is undoubtfully a wonderful player. But this year his temper has run off with him too many times, which has brought unwanted attention on him. First was his attack on David Beckham during the Northern Ireland-England World Cup qualifier, and then his foolish red card in the Manchester United-Villarreal Champions League match. It seems lately he has managed to control himself, so I hope he can avoid getting on this list next year!

• 5) Referee Robert Hoyser: This German referee brought forth the specter of corrupt referees in football. Scandals also emerged in Brazil, but what makes Mr. Hoyser special, is that he was sentenced to 2 years in prison because of his admitting to fixing nine matches. And this was in the country that will host next year's World Cup...

• 4) Turkish fans: A disgrace when Turkish fans showed themselves as bad losers, and threw many things at the Swiss players who had just beaten Turkey to qualify for the World Cup in Germany.

• 3) Turkish players: More pathetic that their own fans, were the players of the Turkish national team. When the game between Turkey and Switzerland ended, with Switzerland qualifying for the World Cup, the disappointment of the Turkish players turned into blind rage, and they were caught on camera attacking Swiss players. Turkey should be suspended.

• 2) Italian fans: Racism in football has continued growing this year. While last year it was the Spanish fans, this year it has been in Italy. The issue came to a high in November, when the Ivorian player of Messina, Zoro, was reduced to tears by Inter Milan's fans racist chants.

• 1) Paolo Di Canio: With racism being the scourge of football and European society nowadays, it is pathetic to see the captain of Lazio, one of Italy's leading clubs, do a facist salute to the openly racist fans whenever he scores a goal. He has been fined and suspended for it, but he says he will continue doing it.

The list has not been that difficult to do. Unfortunately, many have done stupid things this year. I hope there won't be that many in 2006!

Turkish shame

Turkey was a great footballing nation in the Japan/Corea World Cup in 2002, when they managed to win bronze.

This time around, they will not be missed. In their last play-off match against the Swiss in Istambul, they won an otherwise exciting match 4-2. However, after losing 2-0 in the first match, they were out. This led to an massive violent outburst from the whole crowd of assembled Turks, from fans, police, to the Turkish players themselves. Swiss players were attacked and abused, and could not leave the stadium. Many have received serious injuries. I have seen some of the pictures, and I must admit that this is a deplorable show from the Turks. They are not worth having in the World Cup, let alone let participate in tournaments in the near future. This was a complete disregard of sportmanship, of honour and of normal human decency.

This is certainly a country that will not be missed in Germany next summer.

European World Cup Qualifiers Play-off draws

Today was the draws for the play-off matches in November:

• Spain-Slovakia
• Norway-Czech Republic
• Turkey-Switzerland

Predictions are tempting to make on Spain, Turkey and the Czechs. However, in these kind of matches all teams will try their best to take the three last spots for Germany. The Slovakians have their first game in Spain, which is a slight advantage. The Norwegians are always strong in defence against a Czech side which has been having attacking problems. Finally, the Swiss have been doing well against a Turk team that tends to underestimate other teams - just see their last play-off against Latvia for the Euro 2004.

It will surely be nerve-wrecking games, in particularly for the fans!

World Cup 2006 Qualifiers

Three more teams qualified for the World Cup 2006 after yesterday’s qualifiers:

• France: The French destroyed Cyprus 4-0, and with a tie in Switzerland’s match against Ireland, the French swept to top of the group, after much difficulty. First time since 1986 France qualifies “by itself”… (in 1998 they qualified as hosts, and in 2002 as defending champions).
• Serbia-Montenegro: Defeating Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last match, gave the Serbians the top spot in the group in front of Spain.
• Sweden: It was very unlikely that Sweden would not qualify before yesterday's match, even if losing to Iceland at home. However, the strong Swedes won a 3-1 victory, and are now ready for Germany.

With these, 27 teams are now ready for Germany 2006. There are five more teams to go, and they will be found among the following:

• Trinidad/Tobago-Bahrain: This will be the play-off game between the Asian play-off winner and number 4 in the North- Central America zone. I bet Uzbekistan is disappointed it was not them instead of Bahrain, after their victory in the first match was annulled. Instead Bahrain made it through by tying 1-1 away, and getting 0-0 at home.
• Uruguay-Australia: Uruguay made sure they would get the fifth spot in South America, by defeating Argentina 1-0 in Montevideo in their last group match. Australia has never won a play-off against a South American fifth before, and will again have a hard time against the seasoned double-World Champions.

The draw for the European play-offs will be tomorrow (Friday October 14th), but there will be the following teams in the bowl:

• Spain: Will be a hard team for anybody to defeat, but hardly impossible. A 6-0 win over San Marino only gave them second spot after the Serbians.
• Czech Republic: With a resounding 3-0 victory against Finland in their last match, the Czechs squeezed past the Romanians on the second spot.
• Turkey: With a difficult 1-0 away-victory against Albania, the silver-medallists from 2002, grabbed the second spot in front of a disappointed Danish side.
• Slovakia: After a nerve-wrecking 0-0 at home against Russia, the Slovakians got the second spot, and will have another chance at qualifying for their first world cup.
• Switzerland: 0-0 in Ireland was enough for the Swiss to get a play-off match.
• Norway: The Norwegians were in a group which was easily won by Italy. They will surely have their hands full against any coming adversary in the play-off.

The first three teams (Spain, Czechia and Turkey) are all top seeded, and can therefore not draw one another. Any of the three other teams will surely have a hard time against either of them, but it is certainly not impossible!

By November we should know the final list of countries who will fight for the trophy next summer!

Gambia in the U-17 World Cup

In the U-17 FIFA World Cup in Peru, we have now reached the semi-finals, which look like the following:

• Turkey-Brazil
  
• Netherlands-Mexico

Brazil-Turkey should in particular be an interesting match, as Brazil are defending champions, and Turkey has played marvellously.

However, there is something more interesting that happened in the first round to the African champions from Gambia (whom I do not have the greatest sympathy with because of how they won the African Cup):
After defeating Brazil and Qatar in their first two matches, African Champions from Gambia were only a step away from the quarterfinals before their last match against the Netherlands. Gambia lost the game 2-0, and was out on goal difference.
But prior to the final match, the Gambians had displayed true fanaticism in the match against Qatar. To support the team, the Gambian president decided to send 300 fans in a specially chartered plane from Gambia to Peru. Apparently the planning was not too good… The match was being played in Piura, many kilometres from Lima, and in order to get to the stadium, the plane decided to fake an emergency landing in Piura (which has no international airport), in order to get to the game.
The fans did get to watch the match though, while the plane apparently was impounded to the airport in Lima.
After hearing this story, I was considering to nominate the Gambians as the biggest football-fanatics or not. But I must say that such a daring act of stupid football fanaticism must deserve a nomination!