Germany strolling away with Group C, but another magnificent night for Northern Ireland. Yes it was only 1 goal (very late on) against lowly Azerbaijan, but it was away from home & their hosts are above Norway in this group. Their probable rivals for second place, Czech Republic, could only draw away in Norway to add further gloss to NI.
Poland still solidly in charge of Group E, With the 3 top sides all winning, no real changes to report. Montenegro continue to have just the goal difference advantage over Denmark.
Real 'end of season' display from table toppers England. Gareth might look at it that way & so that might save some of the England squad for the future, but, the last 6 minutes aside, this was a dire game with absolutely nothing to delight a fan of football.
Elsewhere, the 2 'S's' won to ensure this is not the very easy group it should be for England to qualify from...

No one wanted to win a game in Group D..
Creditable result away to the leaders by Wales, but, as far as qualification goes, a poor one as well.
The Republic fail to capitalise as well & so remain locked on points at the top.
Spain & Italy continue their march towards Russia. The only real decision in Group G is who is going to win it out of the 2, with Spain 4 goals to the good in difference even after yesterday's results..
Huge win for Iceland against the leaders of Group I sees them go joint top.
However this is just about still the most competitive of all the Groups & as Ukraine & Turkey also both win away from home they are locked in 3/4 place just 2 points behind the joint leaders..

That is it for this round of qualification games with just some worthless friendlies taking place preventing players hitting the beach...

Didn't really know where to post this but,because it impacts on England in Russia 2018,put it here.

"Wayne Rooney has retired from international football after turning down the chance to be part of the England squad for next month's World Cup qualifiers.
The Everton striker, England's all-time leading scorer, was asked by national coach Gareth Southgate to be involved in the games against Slovenia and Lithuania." BBC Sport

No UK involvement tonight (unless anyone wants to get political about Gibraltar ) , but here are the games.

As far as I can make out the Ireland game tomorrow is being shown on Thai TV (I think channel 25, but may be wrong )

Sweden beaten by Bulgaria while France thrash Holland puts France on top of Group A. Sweden are 3 points back in second & Bulgaria a further point back in third. Netherlands are a further 2 points back in fourth. That is only a win away from a second place qualifying spot, but they still look in danger of not making it!!

No real change in Group B as the top 3 played the far weaker bottom 3.. Switzerland are 3 points clear of Portugal who are a massive 8 points clear of Hungary..

In Group H poor old Gibraltar get a real thrashing at the hands of runaway leaders Belgium. Despite only drawing against 5th. place Estonia, Greece remain in second spot, but are now 6 points adrift. Bosnia- Herzegovina stumble against Cyprus & are now 2 points behind Greece..

Tonight

" Bosnia- Herzegovina stumble against Cyprus & are now 2 points behind Greece.."

Wot ..... no mention of the fact that Cyprus came from 2 - 0 down with 25 mins to go, and the lad from Sarfend Utd, Jason Demetriou (must have moved down from the East End wiv a monika like that) set up the winner

No surprise that Germany are dominating Group C. The big surprise is the form of Northern Ireland though. OK last night they were playing the group minnow & Germany did them a favour with the Czech Republic, but to be only 5 points behind the leaders & 7 points above the third placed Czechs is some achievement.

Group E leaders Poland take a hammering away at third placed Denmark, but still remain 3 points in the lead. Montenegro are locked on points with Denmark & look the main threat to qualification.

England rather flattered by the score, but brush aside the Group F minnows. Scotland remain in third place as Slovakia look like the only side who can threaten England. They are England's next opponents, at Wembley, on Monday!!

Serbia now look in control of Group D, with both Wales & Republic of Ireland battling for second spot. The advantage is with the Republic, by 2 points, after they have a disappointing away draw with one of the group whipping boys. Wales improve their chances with the win against 4th, placed Austria.

Spain have a resounding win against second placed rivals Italy to put Group G firmly in their hands. Italy look very well placed to get 1 of the second placed qualifying spots though & remain 4 points clear of 3rd, placed Albania.

The current table for Group I looks too close to call, with the top 4 teams separated by only 3 points, however current second placed Croatia have a game in hand due to a waterlogged pitch last night. As it is against the group whipping boys, Kosovo, it is reasonably certain that they will return to the top. Iceland & Turkey both had poor nights as Ukraine are starting to look favourites for second spot. However with so many teams doing well it could mean that the points accumulated by the second place side will be insufficient to gain qualification..

Strangely France can only play out a home draw with lowly Luxembourg so they now only lead the Group A table by a point. Second placed Sweden easily beat bottom of the table Belarus. Holland finally get their act together to beat close rival Bulgaria, but it still looks a mountain for them to climb to even get to the play offs.

Switzerland easily brush aside group whipping boys Latvia. Portugal keep them honest with the far harder task of beating 3rd. placed Hungary away.

Belgium become the first side to qualify out of the groups after a close battle away in Greece. Bosnia-Herzegovina & Greece (plus a very outside chance from Cyprus) battle it out for second.

As expected, Croatia beat lowly Kosovo in the rearranged match to go top of Group I. It was far closer than I expected though & this group still looks like going down to the wire..

Germany thrash poor Norway in Group C but the real story of the group remains the form of Northern Ireland. Certain to be in the top 2 & looking good for 1 of the top 8 playoff spots.

The top 3 in Group E all win, so no change. Poland have a 3 point advantage over Montenegro & Denmark.

The England win puts them 5 points on top of Group F. Beneath them it is now Slovakia 1 point ahead of Slovenia & a rejuvenated Scotland..

Serbia remain top as they defeat the Republic of Ireland away & Wales now overtake the Republic into second place by a point.

Spain brush aside poor Liechtenstein as Italy keep the second placed spot..

Croatia lose away in Turkey so now top the table only on goal difference from Iceland. Turkey & Ukraine (who lost the chance to go top themselves) remain 2 points behind in the most competitive group..

That is the qualifiers over until there is yet another break in Premiership/Championship football in early October..

Slightly off topic but its still the World Cup qualifiers......

Last night I watched Australia make heavy weather of beating Thailand 2-1 at home and now face a tricky play off against Syria for a place in the Finals.
The Aussies missed chance after chance and the Thailand goal led a charmed life.That said,I was far from impressed with the Aussies.
The English and Australian football teams seem to have the same level of mediocrity as their cricket teams !
Already qualified for the Finals are Brazil,Japan,Iran,South Korea,Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Interesting in the South American qualifiers where the top 4 qualify and the 5th team will face a play off against New Zealand.Despite their dodgy campaign I will be surprised if Argentina don't qualify with just 2 matches to go.

Team,Played,Points
Brazil 16 37
Uruguay 16 27
Colombia 16 26
Peru 16 24
Argentina 16 24
Chile 16 23

Zidane wrote: ↑

September 6, 2017, 3:41 pm

Slightly off topic but its still the World Cup qualifiers......

Last night I watched Australia make heavy weather of beating Thailand 2-1 at home and now face a tricky play off against Syria for a place in the Finals.
The Aussies missed chance after chance and the Thailand goal led a charmed life.That said,I was far from impressed with the Aussies.
The English and Australian football teams seem to have the same level of mediocrity as their cricket teams !
Already qualified for the Finals are Brazil,Japan,Iran,South Korea,Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Interesting in the South American qualifiers where the top 4 qualify and the 5th team will face a play off against New Zealand.Despite their dodgy campaign I will be surprised if Argentina don't qualify with just 2 matches to go.

Team,Played,Points
Brazil 16 37
Uruguay 16 27
Colombia 16 26
Peru 16 24
Argentina 16 24
Chile 16 23

The Oz v Thailand game was compulsive viewing and, in spite of the dominance of Oz, there should have been 1 and perhaps 2 red cards given against them - one when there should also have been a penalty.

Interesting also in Sth America that Chile and Alexis Sanchez probably wont even make the play off with one of their games away to Brazil. One of the next games is Argentina v Peru which will decide 4th place.

BTW Zid, England are qualifying comfortably so don't put them in the same basket as the Aussies who, as you say, seem pretty poor.

Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill arrested on suspicion of drink driving........

No mention of if he was driving a black vw beetle or if any of his companions looked like they had come from the wrong end of D & N.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-41236833

A batch of World Cup final tickets go on sale today..
Personally not interested (the thought of going to a football match in Russia is a bit too much of a throwback to Millwall/West Ham in the '70's for me) but for anyone who is...

Any idea how many freebie tickets are being given to FIFA etc etc committee members to sell on the black market this time Bob

Who is it actually that wants these games?

Can only be FIFA/UEFA/FA's (whose members need to maintain their lavish lifestyles)

Fans don't want them (attendances/TV figures/fear of important players being injured/prefer a 24 team 46 game league))
Clubs dont want them (pay 100m for a player and millions for top trainers and equipment and then have some solicitors clerk from Yamoussoukro take the training sessions on a cabbage patch)
Players dont want them (Proud to play for my country soon turns into I cant play due to a broken fingernail and early international retirement to extend their careers)
TV co's dont want them (audience figures for all but the top games are abysmal. they would much prefer more league matches to televise)

Time for Prem league/Serie A/Bunders??/La Liga etc etc to join forces and tell their respective FA's and "governing groups" to go take a long walk off a short pier and rethink their International schedules as players under contract to their teams will NOT be allowed to go on International duty if it disrupts their leagues.

https://www.facebook.com/CH3Thailand/vi ... 288331785/

Pretty sure this says the game is live on Channel 3 for anyone with insomnia or who cant get to sleep due to bloody loud music or fireworks.