Conquer Club

So we've got almost all the qualified teams!


Europe 13/14
Belgium
Croatia
England
France
Germany
Iceland
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Serbia
Spain
Switzerland
Sweden
Denmark
Ireland

Africa 5/5
Egypt
Tunisia
Nigeria
Morocco
Senegal

South America 4/4.5
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
Uruguay
Peru

Asia 4/4.5
South Korea
Japan
Iran
Saudi Arabia
Australia

CONCACAF 3/3.5
Costa Rica
Mexico
Panama
Honduras

Oceania 0/0.5
New Zealand

That's 29/32 qualified. The remaining 3 will be decided in the next couple of days, they will all be playing decisive second legs for knock out:

-Ireland - Denmark (0-0 in Denmark) TOMORROW
-Peru - New Zealand (0-0 in new zealand)
-Australia - Honduras (0-0 in Honduras)

The football world will be on its head if Italy and Australia don't make it, after team USA already failed.

waauw wrote:The football world will be on its head if Italy and Australia don't make it, after team USA already failed.

hummm... I guess this is a little banter for our australian and american friends?

Well actually it was quite surprising that the USA didn't even make it to the playoffs, behind panama and Honduras.
Australia wouldn't be that much of a surprise...

The big surprise would obviously happen if Italy doesn't manage to overcome the 1-0 loss in Sweden. I heard they only missed 1 world cup, back in 1954! A time where they probably had better things to do after Mussolini.

betiko wrote:

waauw wrote:The football world will be on its head if Italy and Australia don't make it, after team USA already failed.

hummm... I guess this is a little banter for our australian and american friends?

Well actually it was quite surprising that the USA didn't even make it to the playoffs, behind panama and Honduras.
Australia wouldn't be that much of a surprise...

The big surprise would obviously happen if Italy doesn't manage to overcome the 1-0 loss in Sweden. I heard they only missed 1 world cup, back in 1954! A time where they probably had better things to do after Mussolini.

Seems I forgot the biggest upset of them all, the non-qualification of Chile.

if you look at the world ranking:

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ ... sociations

here are the teams ranked in the 32 first places that are not in the world cup (yet?)

9. chile
10. peru (still in the race)
14. wales
15. Italy (still in the race)
19. Denmark (still in the race)
20. Netherlands
23. Northern Ireland
24. Slovakia
25. Sweden (still in the race)
26. Ireland (still in the race)
27. USA
29. Scotland
30. Ukraine

and russia, who will bee seeded 1 as the organiser is actually ranked 65 lol

Think for any of those European sides still in the play-offs it'd be pretty depressing to miss out when Iceland and Serbia have managed to qualify.

I'd have quite liked England to miss out. They've been fricking dog shit for years now and as long as they keep qualifying for the big tournaments, they're going to keep acting as if things are fine. Unless at some point they fail in really humiliating fashion they're just going to keep on acting as if everything's fine.

betiko wrote:if you look at the world ranking:

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ ... sociations

here are the teams ranked in the 32 first places that are not in the world cup (yet?)

9. chile
10. peru (still in the race)
14. wales
15. Italy (still in the race)
19. Denmark (still in the race)
20. Netherlands
23. Northern Ireland
24. Slovakia
25. Sweden (still in the race)
26. Ireland (still in the race)
27. USA
29. Scotland
30. Ukraine

lol, have things really gotten so bad for Italy that they're now ranked below Wales?

mrswdk wrote:Think for any of those European sides still in the play-offs it'd be pretty depressing to miss out when Iceland and Serbia have managed to qualify.

I'd have quite liked England to miss out. They've been fricking dog shit for years now and as long as they keep qualifying for the big tournaments, they're going to keep acting as if things are fine. Unless at some point they fail in really humiliating fashion they're just going to keep on acting as if everything's fine.

well iceland has proven to be a very worthy competitor. Look at it this way.... their population is 1000 smaller than the US; 4000 times smaller than the chinese, so you can pretty much suck it mrs.
Serbia has a very good team, I'm surprised they are ranked so low.

My point was merely that teams such as Italy, Sweden and RoI are significantly stronger than Iceland and it would suck for any of them to see themselves miss out when Iceland didn't.

Chinese grassroots football has been largely neglected and suffered from match fixing in recent years, so it's somewhat unsurprising that China still doesn't field a particularly good national team (as opposed to sports such as badminton, diving, ping pong etc. which are funded heavily and China therefore dominates). Give it time though - the govt. has stated it wants to become a football power and (along with the big club teams) is pouring money into Chinese football academies. It won't happen overnight but China will become a regular sight at world cups.

Also, lol at Sepp Blatter getting roped into the current sex abuse scandals:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hope-solo- ... oping-her/

mrswdk wrote:lol, have things really gotten so bad for Italy that they're now ranked below Wales?

Yeah but Wales only holds that rank because of their great performance during Euro 2016 where they basically humiliated my country. Just as Chile still holds its rank purely because it won the Copa America. Italy actually had a decent qualifying performance. They were just unfortunate to be seeded against Spain.

They should've been seeded against England so that they could knock England out.

I went to see one of England's qualifying games and they were so bad that by the second half England fans were playing paper aeroplanes rather than watching the game. Like seriously, some of the biggest cheers of the game were when people managed to get aeroplanes to land on the pitch.

mrswdk wrote:My point was merely that teams such as Italy, Sweden and RoI are significantly stronger than Iceland and it would suck for any of them to see themselves miss out when Iceland didn't.

Chinese grassroots football has been largely neglected and suffered from match fixing in recent years, so it's somewhat unsurprising that China still doesn't field a particularly good national team (as opposed to sports such as badminton, diving, ping pong etc. which are funded heavily and China therefore dominates). Give it time though - the govt. has stated it wants to become a football power and (along with the big club teams) is pouring money into Chinese football academies. It won't happen overnight but China will become a regular sight at world cups.

There is not much difference between sweden, ireland and iceland as historical football nations. All would be ranked as "ok opponents", nothing more.
Italy is top notch. Netherlands is top notch (not as much as italy but still). Those are 2 european soccer nations that need to be in a world cup... because they are part of the nations that brought so much to this game.

mrswdk wrote:Also, lol at Sepp Blatter getting roped into the current sex abuse scandals:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hope-solo- ... oping-her/

Hope solo isn't really the kind of person I'd trust. Not even against blatter. Even if I don't like him, I find that unlikely.

waauw wrote:

mrswdk wrote:lol, have things really gotten so bad for Italy that they're now ranked below Wales?

Yeah but Wales only holds that rank because of their great performance during Euro 2016 where they basically humiliated my country. Just as Chile still holds its rank purely because it won the Copa America. Italy actually had a decent qualifying performance. They were just unfortunate to be seeded against Spain.

No... chile has won the last 2 copa america straight, and it's been doing great at least since the 2010 world cup. They lost their last qualifying game, had they drawn they would be in the wc and argentina would be in playoffs.
The thing with Chile, is that the team is based on the same players and same generation.... alexis sanchez, vidal, medel, vargas, beausejour, bravo... and that they are starting to get old.

waauw wrote:

mrswdk wrote:lol, have things really gotten so bad for Italy that they're now ranked below Wales?

Yeah but Wales only holds that rank because of their great performance during Euro 2016 where they basically humiliated my country. Just as Chile still holds its rank purely because it won the Copa America. Italy actually had a decent qualifying performance. They were just unfortunate to be seeded against Spain.

Regarding Belgium... now that you got rid of Wilmots... and now that DeBruyne is such crack... like seriously... maybe the best all rounded player in the world right now. Manchester city is walking on water thanks to him, let s see if he doesn t finish too tired for this summer and the WC

betiko wrote:Those are 2 european soccer nations that need to be in a world cup...

Never took you for a blasphemer Betty, but this is plain heretical.

waauw wrote:

betiko wrote:Those are 2 european soccer nations that need to be in a world cup...

Never took you for a blasphemer Betty, but this is plain heretical.

Shit these yanks....

Anyways... after 30 minutes still 0-0 italy isn t equalizing!

betiko wrote:

waauw wrote:

mrswdk wrote:lol, have things really gotten so bad for Italy that they're now ranked below Wales?

Yeah but Wales only holds that rank because of their great performance during Euro 2016 where they basically humiliated my country. Just as Chile still holds its rank purely because it won the Copa America. Italy actually had a decent qualifying performance. They were just unfortunate to be seeded against Spain.

Regarding Belgium... now that you got rid of Wilmots... and now that DeBruyne is such crack... like seriously... maybe the best all rounded player in the world right now. Manchester city is walking on water thanks to him, let s see if he doesn t finish too tired for this summer and the WC

To be honest Eden Hazard and Lukaku perform better in the national squad than De Bruyne does. I think Guardiola simply had the brilliance to make De Bruyne so usefull, not that he isn't world class.

Personally I think there are only three great candidates for this summer and that's Spain, Germany and Brazil.

betiko wrote:

waauw wrote:

betiko wrote:Those are 2 european soccer nations that need to be in a world cup...

Never took you for a blasphemer Betty, but this is plain heretical.

Shit these yanks....

Anyways... after 30 minutes still 0-0 italy isn t equalizing!

Can't believe Immobile's ball didn't go in.

waauw wrote:

betiko wrote:

waauw wrote:

mrswdk wrote:lol, have things really gotten so bad for Italy that they're now ranked below Wales?

Yeah but Wales only holds that rank because of their great performance during Euro 2016 where they basically humiliated my country. Just as Chile still holds its rank purely because it won the Copa America. Italy actually had a decent qualifying performance. They were just unfortunate to be seeded against Spain.

Regarding Belgium... now that you got rid of Wilmots... and now that DeBruyne is such crack... like seriously... maybe the best all rounded player in the world right now. Manchester city is walking on water thanks to him, let s see if he doesn t finish too tired for this summer and the WC

To be honest Eden Hazard and Lukaku perform better in the national squad than De Bruyne does. I think Guardiola simply had the brilliance to make De Bruyne so usefull, not that he isn't world class.

Personally I think there are only three great candidates for this summer and that's Spain, Germany and Brazil.

I'd add France and Belgium to those 3.
I'm pretty sure italy will make it... if they don't take one. If sweden scores they NEED 3 goals...

betiko wrote:I'd add France and Belgium to those 3.
I'm pretty sure italy will make it... if they don't take one. If sweden scores they NEED 3 goals...

France: Along with Spain probably the best squad, but too many narrow victories during qualifyers. I find les bleux extremely inconsistent. *purely based on results as I haven't actually watched the games.
Belgium: The manager, Martinez, knows his tactics but he is obviously better at setting up offensive lines than he is at defensive lines. And our games against Greece have shown how much of a difficult time the red devils have if Eden Hazard is absent.

Both are strong and could go far, but I think both still have big weaknesses that need fixing before the WC.

And italy is out! Crazy.
Congrats to swedes. Wonder if Zlatan is now going to ask to play the wc...

waauw wrote:

betiko wrote:I'd add France and Belgium to those 3.
I'm pretty sure italy will make it... if they don't take one. If sweden scores they NEED 3 goals...

France: Along with Spain probably the best squad, but too many narrow victories during qualifyers. I find les bleux extremely inconsistent. *purely based on results as I haven't actually watched the games.
Belgium: The manager, Martinez, knows his tactics but he is obviously better at setting up offensive lines than he is at defensive lines. And our games against Greece have shown how much of a difficult time the red devils have if Eden Hazard is absent.

Both are strong and could go far, but I think both still have big weaknesses that need fixing before the WC.

I don't really see why you see them as inconsistent.... here are our results since the euro 2016 final (a competition that we should've won...). Obviously there are some bad results, but like for every team... not sure spain for example did much better than this... Tomorrow there is a friendly game france-germany.

France 2 -0 Galles
France 2 -1 Biélorussie
Bulgarie 0 -1 France
France 0 -0 Luxembourg
France 4 -0 Pays-Bas
France 3 -2 Angleterre
Suède 2 -1 France
France 5 -0 Paraguay
France 0 -2 Espagne
Luxembourg 1 -3 France
France 0 -0 Côte d'Ivoire
France 2 -1 Suède
Pays-Bas 0 -1 France
France 4 -1 Bulgarie
Biélorussie 0 -0 France
Italie 1 -3 France

Out of 5 African representatives, 4.5 of them are Muslim countries? No wonder there were riots.

betiko wrote:I don't really see why you see them as inconsistent.... here are our results since the euro 2016 final (a competition that we should've won...). Obviously there are some bad results

Hence waauw calling France inconsistent. Goalless draws with Luxembourg and Belarus, narrow wins over Bulgaria... a team like Germany would bury teams like that 10 times out of 10.

France have the same problem as England. Against the big teams they put in some effort and play like a proper team, against the smaller teams they get complacent and just piss around. A team like Germany or Spain would've used all 16 of those games to hone their play, teams like England or France only bother using the 7-8 games against big name teams to do the same. Means that when they get to the big tournaments they aren't as well practised and they get turned over.

Yah yah I know France got to the final of the last Euros, but they got lucky to beat Ireland in the first knockout round and ultimately ended up losing to Portugal, so there.

You people probably aren't aware of it, but you have spent this entire thread talking about nothing but soccer.
Let's give it a rest, shall we?