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!

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….

Playing like World Champions

 Brazil playing at home to the World Champions, their Argentinean rivals, is always bound to be a dramatic match. The World Cup qualifier a couple of days ago was no exception to the rule, and we even feared that the match would be suspended due to the fan disturbances before the start of the match.

It was sad to watch, but also odd how Brazilian police and stadium authorities appear to have next to no control over fans who are mixed in the stand, and to what the Argentinean players (who admirably rushed to defend their fans) appeared overly excessive reactions by Brazilian police.

Argentina, led by Messi, appeared ready to abandon the match, but in the end the match went ahead. One had to wonder how this dramatic start would affect either side. At least for the case of Argentina, the entire situation seemed to energize them, and in what became a rather dirty match, they were clearly much smarter than the Brazilians.

Brazil pressed high, made a lot of small fouls, specially on a dynamic Rodrigo de Paul who, as Messi largely disappeared from the match, took over the midfield with a fighting spirit, but also with small provocations for the Brazilians, who fell into the trap, and got a lot of yellow cards. At the same time, Brazil's pressure did not shake the Argentinean defense, who played the ball coldly around.

It was an intelligent and fighting Argentine side who got the winning goal on a header by the veteran Nicolas Otamendi following a corner.

Despite losing to Uruguay, Argentina remain head of the table. In the meantime Brazil are in shambles, on sixth spot, behind Ecuador. Were it not because most sides qualify, Brazil would be in risk, but I still think they will qualify.

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).

Colombia on the brink of elimination

 Colombia has had a weak World Cup qualification. After losing 6-1 to Ecuador, the new manager Reinaldo Rueda has struggled to make Colombia score goals, and before the match against Peru, Colombia had not scored a goal for five qualifiers in a row. So Colombia was under pressure at home against Peru, a team that has steadily improved and have chances of qualifying as well.

Under pressure to score Colombia started with an offensive side that counted the veterans Falcao, James and Juan Cuadrado, alongside Rafael Santos Borre and Luis Diaz. Indeed Colombia did all they had to do, except to score a goal: they attacked throughout the match, had possession and chances, but the ball simply refused to go in.

And we all know what happens in football. A defensive Peru scored on their only attempt on goal in the 85th minute when Edison Flores scored at the near post on a shot that David Ospina should have saved (and one may wonder if it was wise to let him play with an apparent injury; the only time he touched the ball in the match was when he had to pick it out of the goal).

Peru implausibly won, and came up on 4th position, ahead of Uruguay on fifth, while Colombia now lingers dangerously on 6th spot. Colombia have three matches left: Argentina (who qualified after their 1-2 away win to Chile), Bolivia and Venezuela, and have to start scoring goals if they are to retain hope of going to Qatar.

Heading for Qatar

 I must admit that I have been watching a lot of football the last few days; World Cup qualifiers from Europe, South America, Concacaf, and even watched good ole’ Liberia lose 0-2 to Nigeria, who goes on to win the group and is in the run for a World Cup spot.

In Europe all Group winners have been decided, with the two big surprises being Switzerland and Serbia. They Serbians did the unexpected by winning 1-2 in Lisbon to take first spot in the group ahead of Portugal, who were even 1-0 ahead and would have won the group with a tie. The other surprise were Switzerland, who did what they had to do by defeating Bulgaria 4-0, as Italy’s European champions were unable to get past 0-0 against Northern Ireland. Four years ago Italy also missed out on the World Cup in the play-offs, and although I think they will make it, the play-offs will be nerve wrecking: twelve teams will fight for three World Cup spots, and some of the teams besides Italy and Portugal include Russia, Poland, Wales, Sweden and Scotland.

The European sides going straight to Qatar from Europe are:

• Group A: Serbia
• Group B: Spain
• Group C: Switzerland 
• Group D: France 
• Group E: Belgium 
• Group F: Denmark
• Group G: Netherlands
• Group H: Croatia
• Group I: England
• Group J: Germany

In the meantime in South America Brazil and Argentina tied 0-0; Brazil has qualified while Argentina are on the verge of qualifying. Ecuador appears a relatively solid third after a strong 0-2 away win in Chile, while there is a bitter fight for he next two spots. Colombia, after yet another 0-0 against Paraguay is on fourth place with 17 points, with only two points down to Bolivia on 8th place. Bolivia defeated Uruguay 3-0 in La Paz, and are thus still playing for a place in Qatar. The only team that has no option of qualifying is Venezuela, while all other teams are still in the contest with just four matches left. Peru is currently in fifth place, with 17 points, following a win over Venezuela, and will face Colombia in the next match.

Await some epic matches in South America!

Brazil to the World Cup

There has never been a World Cup without Brazil, and Qatar will not be the first one. In fact, Brazil is looking as strong as ever. After twelve matches in the South American qualifiers they have eleven victories and only one tie, after today’s 1-0 home victory over Colombia. The Colombians were looking good in the first half, well-organized and occasionally dangerous despite their lack of goals. In the second half Brazil nevertheless pressed forward, and got their goal through Lucas Paquetá following a great pass from Neymar, who does a fantastic work on this team. All in all Brazil is strong on every position, playing great football, and are looking like a team determined to break the European hold on the World Cup title.

Despite Colombians lack of optimism, I still think that they will qualify. They are currently on the fifth play-off spot with 16 points alongside Chile on fourth and Uruguay on sixth. Colombians main problem is that they are not scoring many goals, although their defense is now looking solid after their debacle against Ecuador. The return of James and Falcao are in my view on the solution to their goal-scoring problem, although I still believe that with their quality they should make it to Qatar.

A World Cup without Brazil is unthinkable, but a World Cup without Colombia would be disappointing.

A most memorable non-match

Brazil-Argentina is one of the greatest clashes in the world, and today the two giants were to play a world cup qualifier today in Sao Paulo. The match started normally and I think all fans, including myself watching on TV, were hoping to watch a great football match, but instead it was a memorable show for its farcical scenes.

Five minutes into the match some officials ran onto the pitch and huge discussions erupted, which ended with the Argentine team walking off the pitch and the match suspended. The officials were apparently Brazilian health officials, who were there to deport four Argentine players, whom they alleged had breached Brazilian COVID-19 rules to enter Brazil. 

The four players are Premier League players, and according to Brazilian rules, people who have been in Britain must quarantine for 14 days. It was due to this that Brazil had not called up any of its players in the Premier League, after players had been disallowed to travel by their clubs. Argentina, on the other hand, had called up the players despite their clubs trying to block it, and the players had allegedly lied in the COVID-19 forms when entering Brazil. At the same time, Argentina appears to allege that they are under CONMEBOL and FIFA rules that have provided exceptions to quarantines; rules that were introduced for the Copa America.

There is no doubt whatsoever that anyone, including football players, must fulfill quarantine rules. But it is also the case that when these rules are not clear, then guessing becomes the rule. It appears that neither the Argentine Football Federation nor CONMEBOL had checked up with Brazilian authorities about the presence of the players. At the same time, the Brazilian football association appeared to have no problem with the Argentina PL players, and for three days Argentina were in Brazil, but only when the match had started, the Brazilian authorities decided to take action on the players, which appears if not farcical, at least strange.

In the long-winded TV images from the discussions it was nevertheless refreshing to see Brazilian and Argentina players being confused together, and as the good friends they are, smile at the farcical situation at a moment when they should have been facing each other in a footballing contest.

In the end this is another example of chaotic and disorganised football, that adds nothing positive to South America's image of being the home of the world's best footballers, but also the world's worst football organisers...

Why not throw them out?

 Hungary’s fans behaved as racist animals in their enormous defeat against England in Budapest. Besides the happiness that we should all have when Hungary loses, and the way we should celebrate when these people don’t qualify for the World Cup, this again brings to the forth the football organizers’ lack of willingness to do anything about it.

Firstly, if Hungary has already been ordered to play three matches without fans by UEFA; how come FIFA does not act on this? Do they not talk to each other? Or just assume that the racists are not interested in World Cup qualifiers?

Secondly, why such feeble punishments? Three matches without fans and some fine that they can pay with pocket change? Why not something like banning them from playing home games, not for a few games, but for years? Or rather, in my view, why not show that we mean to combat the scourge of racism by simply throwing out the teams of the tournament?! This would not be new: countries have been banned from World Cups for “government interference” or even using overaged players… 

I know some people would argue that a majority should not suffer from the animal behavior of a minority. But when the racism happens consistently at every game and there is no internal rejection of this behavior by the “majority”, then the majority is, sorry to say, complicit in the behavior. This includes everyone; also those in and around the team: your fans are part of your team, not just when they are great, but also when they are beasts (England knows this…), and so you carry a responsibility too; don’t’ turn away from it.

So these teams should just be thrown out of the tournament. 

Nobody will miss them.

European World Cup Qualifiers

The last two days have seen some interesting European World Cup qualifiers (which I have unfortunately not been able to watch):

• Denmark is continuing on the way to the the World Cup: a 2-0 victory against Scotland was their fourth straight victory, and with a score of 16-0 they appear to be more and more certain to qualify
  
• Portugal defeated Ireland 2-1 on two goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, which makes him the most scoring player on any national team ever.  (and more to come). Truly a legend.
• Sweden defeated Spain 2-1 in Stockholm to take the first spot in group B and make things more exciting in a group that initially seemed like a walkthrough for Spain
• England defeated Hungary 0-4 in Budapest and with four victories also appear on their way towards the World Cup, although Poland, who defeated Albania 4-1, are right behind them
• The European Champions of Italy played their first match after winning the title, but were disappointing as they only managed 1-1 at home to Bulgaria
• Germany played their first match under their new manager Hansi Flick, and won an unimpressive albeit important victory 0-2 over Liechtenstein. This puts them in second spot behind a surprising Armenia

Let us be frank: the only national teams worth to watch are in Europe, South America, and some in Africa. Today I had a ticket to go to see a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier: El Salvador versus USA at the Estadio Cuzcatlan in San Salvador, but given the chaotic evening traffic it was impossible for me to even get to the stadium. This would have been my first football match for two years, and my only consolation is that it was between a USA side that I will never ever support, and a Salvadoran side whose only claim to fame is having lost 10-1.

So I could care less.

Denmark riding on a wave

Yesterday I managed to watch Austria-Denmark online, alongside some Danish buddies over Skype, and with some beers at hand. 

Football-watching in COVID-times.

Denmark won 0-4 in Vienna, against the team that many consider the other contender for the World Cup spot. This was Denmark's third victory in a row in what must be the best start for World Cup qualifying for any team (journalists were already getting a bit too excited, proclaiming that Denmark was basically qualified): 0-2 victory against Israel in Tel Aviv, and an 8-0 trashing of Moldova means Denmark has 9 points and a score of 14-0!

But as much as the results of the matches, Manager Kasper Hjulmand is in possession of a lot of depth in his team: he used almost 22 players for the three matches, among them many young players, most notably strikers, a position where Denmark has been weak for years: 20-year old Mikkel Damsgaard from Sampdoria scored two against Moldova, and 21-year old Andreas Skov Olsen from Bologna scored two against Austria, and it appears more established players such as Martin Braithwaite or Yussuf Poulsen must be feeling some positive pressure from the youngsters. But also defense, where Denmark has solid players with international experience, seems to have young players to add to the depth of the team, such as Atalanta's Joakim Maehle.

Interestingly, Denmark u-21 team has also been playing the European Championships this last week, and also won their group with three victories against France, Iceland and Russia. So there is a lot of interesting young players coming up the ranks in Denmark.

Of course Denmark is not qualified yet. Far from it. And despite last night's routing of Austria, one feels that they are still to be tested against quality opposition. But after this last week, even with my un-apologetically biased eyes, I think that there is great cause for optimism about the Danish national team!

The last of the 32

This post will not make me popular, so let me say it from the start: it is about football teams and not countries. The best thing for these teams qualifying is that people can raise their flag and sing their anthem, because in terms of football quality, none will add anything to the tournament.
I have been watching many of these last play-off matches with disappointment, not just at the lack of quality, but also of the fact that in a 32-team World Cup this is a confirmation that there are really too many mediocre sides.
Honduras-Australia: yes the pitch was bad, but frankly that is just a useful excuse for a disciplined match from the Australians and a poor performance by the Hondurans. Will any of these sides contend for the World Cup title? Unlikely. Will they raise any eyebrows in the tournament? Even more unlikely.
Peru is likely to qualify, and being fifth in such a contested qualification as the South American one is always an achievement. That said, I am sure Peru will not raise any eyebrows either. They are from the hard and defensive side of South America, and is unlikely to win many friends, or add anything to the beautiful game.
In Europe we have three of four qualified teams: Switzerland, Croatia and Sweden. Of these, only Croatia, with its talented midfield and young players is one that we will want to see in the World Cup. Granted, the Swiss are a quality but too defensive side, while Sweden has to be credited for eliminating Italy from the World Cup, but little else.
The first World Cup since 1958 without Italy....
Of course they do not deserve to be there if they don´t qualify, but one has to wonder if the distribution of the groups is good enough: Poland won one group, Iceland another, and with all due respect for them, Italy is better than either of these sides, or Denmark and Ireland for that sake.
A World Cup without Italy will simply not be the same.
That brings me to Denmark and Ireland: of course as a Dane I support Denmark, but as a fan I have to face the truth that Denmark will add anything to the tournament, except, as with the Irish, to the beer sales in Russia.

Africa only has 5 spots in the World Cup, and is plausibly the only continent that deserves more, preferably instead of Europe (give the four play-off places in Europe to Africa!!!!!!): Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria and Senegal will all be exciting to watch in Russia, but countries like Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Algeria.... Will all be sorely missed, and would have made the World Cup much more exciting than the four European teams that have qualified.

The World Cup in Qatar will have 48 teams. More for Africa, yes, but also more pretty mediocre sides, all to the excitement of mass nationalism (the football World Cup and the Olympics are the only good reason for countries to exist at all).
Expect a World Cup in Qatar with a lot of 0-0´s and second-rate matches.

All is normal in Latin America

In San Salvador I went to watch the qualifiers in Sports bar called Strikers. A nice place that was full of Colombians and a few Peruvians to what promised to be a clash as we were also watching the scores of the other matches in South America.
Argentina needed a victory in Quito, and it looked bleak as they went down 1-0 after one minute. But none other than Lionel Messi scored three goals to give them a victory and a spot in Russia.
The World Cup would not be the same without Argentina and Messi, so we should all celebrate.
In the meantime Uruguay got their expected qualification with a 4-2 victory over Bolivia, while Paraguay destroyed their own hopes by losing 0-1 at home to Venezuela (and watch out for the young Venezuelan side in the future!).
As all this was happening Peru and Colombia were playing a nervous match until Strikers exploded with two goals: James scored for Colombia as Brazil went ahead against Chile. This meant Colombia were qualified. Paolo Guerrero equalized for Peru, who needed a win, and Colombia seemed nervous, but it didn't matter: Brazil ended up trouncing the defending South American champions 3-0, meaning that all of a sudden Chile were out.
Colombia are in Russia while Peru are in the playoffs against New Zealand.

It was all too much in one of the most excitng qualification nights ever, but it did not stop there as we swithched over to the CONCACAF qualifiers, where nothing was going as expected: USA was losing 2-1 to Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras was winning 3-2 against Mexico, and just as we started watching Gabriel Torres gave Panama a 2-1 lead against Costa Rica.
It ended like this, and that means Panama are in Russia, Honduras are in a playoff against Australia and the USA can go home.
Granted, Panama qualified with a non-goal, but that doesn't take away that USA lost it themselves. The team has lost five matches, and they were outright arrogant in many of their matches. They have to face it: despite the advances, and MLS and all that, USA is still only a mid-ranking CONCACAF nation. The World Cup is much better without the USA!

A great evening in San Salvador as we look forward to a final round of playoffs to find out about the last teams in Russia.

South American drama

The South American World Cup qualifiers are always the most difficult and most dramatic. None of the teams are bad, and as we head into the final round of matches six out of ten teams have options to join the already qualified Brazil.
Uruguay will almost surely join them, as they only need one point against Bolivia to qualify. The South American champions of Chile took an important step with a victory against Ecuador, but will probably still need a result in their last match against Brazil to be certain of qualifying. Not impossible, so Chile is likely to qualify.
Colombia could have made it with a home victory against Paraguay. And they were up 1-0 until the end of the match when the Arsenal goalkeeper made two huge blunders in added time, giving Paraguay two goals and the victory. Ospina may have cost Colombia a World Cup, but they have another shot against Peru at home. The problem is that Peru will also be fighting for a World Cup spot: after 0-0 against Argentina they have fifth place, and with a win will surely be in Russia, and could make it with a tie, depending on Argentina.
Argentina! Oh dear Argentina! After home ties to Venezuela and Peru they seems the least likely team to qualify: they need an away victory against home-hardened Ecuador. All credit to Peru, but their style will not win them friends in Russia, so Argentina will be doubly missed.
Come on! No matter what you think of Argentina, a World Cup without the Albiceleste will not feel real! (Besides the fact that for me it will be hardly worth watching).
Paraguay, who for a long time was deemed out, has better chances of qualifying than Argentina. With their victory against Colombia they just need a victory against Venezuela at home, which would likely give them at least a play-off.
Next week everything will be decided, and I pray that Argentina will make it. Please pray with me.

Argentina without Messi

South American World Cup qualifiers continue to be the most nerve-wrecking and closely fought contest in the world: every team can defeat anyone, and as the end nears seven out of ten teams can qualify, with one more outsider. Only Brazil, who started weakly but has risen over the last year, seem to be certain of going to Russia after their recent away victory in Montevideo against Uruguay, who remain in second spot.
But Argentina tonight lost away 2-0 to Bolivia, and will struggle to keep their closest competitors from Chile, Colombia and Ecuador away. Even Paraguay could beat them to the World Cup spot, and Argentina could risk a play-off match, or worse, not qualify!
Except for fans of Argentina (including myself) the worst consequence of Argentina not qualifying would likely be a World Cup without Lionel Messi. Let us face it; besides Messi, and perhaps DiMaria (and not counting an ageing and 'wasted-in-Barcelona' Mascherano), Argentina only has mediocre players who are not up to the task without Messi. Tonight's defeat to Bolivia was a case in point: after having defeated the South American champions of Chile last week (with Messi scoring the winning goal) Messi stupidly insulted the referee and got himself a four-match suspension. Argentina without Messi was a mediocre side unable to break the home side in the altitude of La Paz. With only four matches left, Messi will be available for only one. And they are not easy matches: Uruguay away, and Venezuela and Peru at home. Argentina's best hope seems to be that the other teams take points from one another and that they do not lose too many points in these coming three matches.
It is not looking good for a World Cup with Argentina and Messi!

Klinsmann out

Five years with Jurgen Klinsmann of the US National Team ended with Klinsmann being fired. In World Cup qualification USA is last after defeats to Mexico 1-2 at home, and a 4-0 trashing by Costa Rica.
Klinsmann was hired amid great expectations, and despite some improvements, I think it has been disappointing, given the potential of the US. It all seemed to start well with a victory in the 2013 Gold Cup and World Cup qualification. In the World Cup they made it to the last 16, but it was not impressive at all, and having watched US in other tournaments, this team was not impressive: they rode on a defensive wave, that was only strengthened by a great goalkeeper. But when it counted, against Belgium in particular, US looked without ideas.
In 2015 USA only made it to fourth of the Gold Cup, losing to Jamaica and Panama. At this point USA seemed like a side that arrogantly thought they were too good for CONCACAF, but obviously were far below the big boys. A semifinal spot at the 2015 Copa America Centenario did nothing to take away this impression when USA lost 4-0 to Argentina.
The last defeats are just a confirmation of how far USA is from its potential. Klinsmann's replacement is Bruce Arena, who also coached USA from 1998 to 2006, which was plausibly the period of most advances for US football, most memorably illustrated by their 2002 World Cup quarterfinal, where they fully had the quality to be among the 8 best in the world.
Bruce Arena has been away for a while, but he has the quality to take US back up from the last spot in World Cup qualifiers.