UEFA WC Second Round

Lets discuss possible matchups etc

Hope Scotland get a kind draw

Yeah... about that...

Final FIFA rankings:
Denmark: 1001
Slovakia: 885

Denmark will get seeded.

Northern Ireland can get 889/924/994 points (L/D/W) depending on outcome against Norway

It will be tough for Northern Ireland. Norway have improved a lot under Lagerbäck.

Ukraine-Croatia should be good now. A draw leaves them both out.

don't they advance over slovakia?

delet

No, I think their GD is worse, ignoring results against Kosovo and Malta.

was langetback not their manager when we thrashed then at home? They were seriously awful then

anything but Croatia

PLEASE NOT ITALY OR PORTUGAL I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE

If there are 2 elite teams and 2 average teams we can be drawn against us Swedes know we 100 % will get the elite teams, we always do get them

> implying you could handle Greek offense

Took another look and realized Croatia can still get into the playoffs with a draw, provided Wales also draws with Ireland.

Fun thing is that both Wales and Croatia could be tied for 8th best 2nd placed team. What will be the tie-break criteria? Number of yellow cards?

Like I said they have improved a lot since you last played.

It's unlikely that Croatia gets seeded. They can get a maximum of 961 FIFA-points.
Portugal might beat Switzerland.

Confirmed playoff teams:
>Denmark
>Italy
>Portugal/Switzerland
>Northern Ireland

Potential second place teams (may not play playoff)
>Sweden/Netherlands
>Wales/Ireland
>Slovakia
>Greece
>Iceland/Croatia/Ukraine

>Iceland
They have to play to a literally who with only 1 point so they're pretty much in

They’ve looked quite bad the entire group too, that Czech team was awful and they look like they’ll finish below them

In order for Sweden to clinch, because let's be honest Netherlands probably won't beat them by 7 (seven), they need to not lose by more than five goals. Losing by that many or more would put them in jeopardy.


Probably, but there's still the mathematical chance that they don't. It's the same with Sweden.

Greece can do nothing else to increase their chances. They play Gibraltar, the last place team, on Tuesday. The same with Slovakia, as they have played all their games, and wait on the other results.

Greece just needs to worry about not losing their group's 2nd spot, which I doubt will happen since they're playing Gibraltar at home. They're safe from being the worst 2nd place because Slovakia has played already and is behind the greeks.

Wales and the Republic of Ireland are playing for second place (in Wales). A win for Wales would assure them of a spot. A win for Ireland would be more interesting, as they would have to win by 4 to finish ahead of already qualified Northern Ireland. A tie would put keep Wales in second, but would likely make them finish last out of all the second place teams.

Right, thanks.

Greece is in the play offs and is hoping that Croatia loses or draws tomorrow so that they dont end up in the seeded play offs.
Denmark - Sweden - Northern Ireland - Wales - Ukraine Slovakia are all opponents that we can wish to have when there are teams like Italy,Portugal,Switzerland in it.
Apart from those two (Ita and Por/Swi) I would also avoid Sweden. The rest are more than managable.
If anyone disagrees friendly reminder we barely lost a match we should ve won vs Belgium and drew them away. Greece is a very decent team when the opponent is good. Breaking a weak defense is our problem since Mitroglou has no service.

Btw does anyone know if qualifying for the play offs gives some sort of Ranking Bonus? I remember when Hungary qualified for the Euro despite barely doing so they went in top 20 for no reason whatsoever (they lost their last match vs last placed Greece then). I honestly doubt we ll make it in the WC so building up ranking for the Euro qualifiers would work for us.

Finally, the closest group so far. In Group I, the top 4 places are still up for grabs, but of the four, Turkey cannot qualify, as Ukraine and Croatia (two of the three teams above them) play each other. Iceland, the current leader of the group plays last place Kosovo, and would need to seriously choke to give up that spot, as said. Say they did though and the winner of the Croatia - Ukraine game would win the group, and Iceland would finish second (but with their current points, Iceland would qualify for the playoffs indefinitely).

Why would you avoid us?

Anyone watching Norway v northern Ireland. No thread?

i am. it's awfully boring.

espn announcer said san marino should not be in the qualifiers because they are not competitive. that's literally the highlight of this match.

If I can get teams like Ukraine who did nothing significant in the qualification or Denmark who did the obvious stuff (surpass Montenegro) and both have inferior roster, or even better a Northern Ireland who IDK how they ended up second in yet another qualification, why would I want an in form Sweden?
It's a matter of perspective. You re not the worst option like Italy or Portugal/Switzerland, but you re not the best one either.

Will we pass Denmark in the rankings if we win vs Netherlands?

You will even if you draw. However seeded teams will be based on fifa ranking.

Yes I meant that ranking. It updates before the playoffs to allow the final matches to count too doesn't it?

Oh wait we're already past them? Then what about Northern Ireland? They're currently ahead of us.

If I am not mistaken Denmark have 1001 points. Sweden can get 999 if we beat Netherlands so Denmark will end higher in the rankings than us. The only way for Sweden to get seeded is if we beat Netherlands and Wales loses to Ireland.

Would be fun to draw Iceland and beat them so the whole world hates you.

That's disappointing. Let's hope we get Denmark and not Italy then.

Netherlands is out in all but theory. Their entire goal difference in 9 matches is +7 goals. In order for them to win the second spot they have to win with 7 goals. In other words they have to achieve the combined goal difference from 9 matches in just one match. The statistical probability for this to happen is less than 1 percent.

>we can as well fuck everything up and let you in first place
The probability is far from zero

Bulgaria was the harder of the two. Belarus will be a breeze for you. It won't be a Luxembourg considering you NEED to win this game. You could afford to drop points vs Luxembourg because we lost to Bulgaria. Bit salty about that still.

Iceland have an easy fixture left and will top their group.

No point in reasoning like that because if we had won against Bulgaria France would have give say 55 % and won against Luxemburg. I'm only salty about that loss because it fucked up our rankings. We would've been in a good seeding position had we won that game.

Looks like Norway won against Northern Ireland.

This means that Northern Ireland will end with 889 FIFA-points meaning they are not getting seeded.