Official Football Thread

Sweden - Norway would be fun. I mean, there's only good things to come out of this. If we win, we win. If we lose, well, then Erik Hamrén and the whole team just have to retire... What's not to like?
 
Just crazy. In order for Turkey, who had started the last two matchdays as the worst 3rd placed team, to come away as the best 3rd placed team, the following needed to happen in the last two matchdays of the qualifiers:
  • Portugal-Denmark: Denmark had to lose a point.
  • Slovenia-Lithuania: Slovenia had to lose a point.
  • Luxembourg-Slovakia: Slovakia had to win.
  • Poland-Ireland: Poland had to win.
  • Ukraine-Spain: Spain had to win.
  • Latvia-Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan had to win.
  • Turkey-Iceland: Turkey had to win.
All of them happened.
  • Portugal won, despite not having an incentive to do so. Denmark had to win to push themselves above Albania.
  • Lithuania had barely been able to beat San Marino in the match prior while Slovenia was clearly the 3rd best team in the group. Lithuania managed to steal a point.
  • This one isn't particularly interesting.
  • This match basically decided the group's fate. Poland held on to a 2-1 win in a hard fought game.
  • Spain won despite not having an incentive to do so and did it against a very strong Ukrainian team that went all out. David de Gea was the man of the match.
  • Kazakhstan had not won a single away game in qualifiers in 6 years. They dominated Latvia straight from the start and won.
  • Turkey wasn't able to score until the 90th minute, then came Selçuk Inan with a brilliant free kick.
This will be our first major tournament since Euro 2008, where we reached Semi Finals. The one before was 2002 World Cup, where we got the 3rd place. Turkey has a way of rarely qualifying for major tournaments but being able to go places when they do so. I hope to see the team become more consistent at qualifiers, the talent is there.
 
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Black Wizard said:
The defending for that goal was reminiscent of Koscielny and Szezhshdghegduyydgd.
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Yep, rubbish. A shame, but that's what you risk when you have to replace an experienced defender (Tom Høgli, who was injured in a league game two weeks back) with an inexperienced one (Haitam Aleesami - very talented guy but has never played a game of this importance before).

By the way: it seems I was mistaken about the seeding, Hungary are just above Denmark (according to this page). So let's have Hungary, please. Finishing 3rd in group F isn't all that impressive.
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
2-1 Italy ... game over :(
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We are going to get in trouble, no matter who we play. Im not saying we definatly going to loose against any of our next opponments.
But it will get hard. I still feel alot of what we was what that amazing match of Berget. I hope im wrong.

The 1 st goal of Italy. Just so bad. So sad.

And that right back of Italy really seems on fire theese days.
 
For the first time ever, Belgium is the number one on the (upcoming) FIFA world ranking list. :yes:

A rare case of unity is breaking out in Belgium, where the country is about to take over at the top of Fifa's world rankings after winning their final Euro 2016 qualifier against Israel on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ time).

But while the modest-sized nation celebrates, there is widespread doubt about the value of the honour, which many argue skews the real strengths of teams.

The Red Devils will clinch the No 1 spot when the contentious rankings are published in November, following second-placed Germany's loss to Ireland and Ecuador's surprise win over current leaders Argentina in the past week.

"Becoming No 1 was something the whole country had been looking forward to," said Pieter Jan Calcoen, football journalist for daily Het Laatste Nieuws.

Wednesday's newspaper front pages were full of pictures of the national squad celebrating - a rare unifying feature in a country otherwise divided between French and Dutch speakers.

"Devils party, Orange in deep mourning," wrote broadsheet De Morgen, referring to the failure of neighbours and arch-rivals the Netherlands to qualify for Euro 2016.

The Fifa ranking, which takes into account results, the opponents, the region and the importance of the games, has been criticised for not reflecting a team's strength and excessively rewarding weaker teams who are on a winning streak.

Germany fan Joerg Schroeder was not impressed.

"Belgium top of the Fifa rankings? Well that's no surprise if you consider the Fifa mess... I wouldn't say Germany deserved to be top, especially after our mediocre qualification campaign. But Belgium? Come on," he said

SPECTACULAR RISE

Belgium, a country of 11 million people, are the second nation since the system's introduction in 1992 to take top spot in Fifa's rankings without having won a World Cup or European Championship.

The Dutch, who were there for a month in 2011, at least won the Euros in 1988 and have reached the World Cup final three times. The other former No 1s are Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Belgium's rise to the top has been spectacular, from 71st, among the likes of Zambia and Uzbekistan, to their current third place.

Benefiting from a vast pool of talent, including Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, midfield wizard Eden Hazard and Manchester City's record signing, Kevin De Bruyne, Belgium reached the quarterfinals at the 2014 World Cup and climbed to fourth in the rankings.

For Euro 2016, bookmakers William Hill and Coral rate Belgium as fourth-favourites, behind Germany, France and Spain.

"I think the expectations are for Belgium to get to the semifinals. Anything else would be a disappointment," Calcoen said.

Belgium's manager, Marc Wilmots, and his players are less effusive about being ranked the best in the world but acknowledge that their journey has been something special with captain Vincent Kompany proud of the team.

"I've won prizes in my career, and this isn't a prize as such, but today the Dutch are out and we're No 1," he said with a smile.

- Reuters





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It's not sure yet how low the Netherlands will sack, but the lowest position was number 22 in 1997.
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About those FIFA-rankings, Iceland has made the journey from #131 in the world to #23 in just three years. Pretty amazing.
 
Turkey will apparently jump from 37th to 18th in the upcoming rankings. They had a nine place jump from 46th to 37th last month. A 28 place jump in the Top 50 in two months is not too shabby.
 
Wow, so this international break fucked Liverpool over massively, Joe Gomez and Danny Ings both out until the end of the season, both due to torn ACL's I think.
 
Van Persie is currently a backup in Fenerbahçe. Fernandao is ahead of him in the rotation. That should tell you enough about his form. It'd be foolish for Barcelona to sign him. He's an awful fit for their style of play anyway.

Besides, there's a massive error in that piece of news, which isn't shocking because it's Daily Mail, Van Persie's release clause is €25 million, not €3 million.
 
Van Persie is not doing well there. He probably wants to leave soon.

It's in other media as well. Barca and VP's management have already talked.
 
Anyway, it doesn't look like he will be missed anyway in Istanbul. I'd say, take the first plane tomorrow and get the hell out of there.
 
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