Way into Cameroon. But I also like the '98 Mexico Aztec shirt.

10/27/2013 12:42:39 PM

November Fixtures for final WCQ (All times are EST)

Playoffs
November 13th
3:30 PM Mexico v New Zealand
10:00 AM Jordan v Uruguay

November 19th
1:00 AM New Zealand v Mexico

November 20th
6:00 PM Uruguay v Jordan

UEFA Playoffs
November 15th
2:45 PM Greece v Romania
2:45 PM Portugal v Sweden
2:45 PM Ukraine v France
3:00 PM Iceland v Croatia

November 19th
2:00 PM Romania v Greece
2:15 PM Croatia v Iceland
2:45 PM Sweden v Portugal
3:00 PM France v Ukraine

Africa (CAF)
November 16th
10:00 AM Nigeria v Ethiopia (Nigeria holds a 2-1 advantage from the first leg)
2:00 PM Senegal v Ivory Coast (Ivory Coast holds a 3-1 advantage from the first leg)

November 17th
9:30 AM Cameroon v Tunisia (Wide open this one, 0-0 draw in first leg. Advantage: Tunisia)

November 19th
11:00 AM Egypt v Ghana (Ghana has basically qualified, winning 6-1 in the first leg)
1:15 PM Algeria v Burkina Faso (Could go either way, Burkina Faso won 3-2 but Algeria holds the advantage. Burkina Faso has never qualified.)

[Edited on November 11, 2013 at 9:38 AM. Reason : .]

11/11/2013 9:37:57 AM

I think these teams will make it:

Mexico
Uruguay
Greece
France
Iceland
Portugal (Toughest call this)
Nigeria
Ivory Coast
Tunisia
Ghana
Burkina Faso

11/11/2013 9:40:50 AM

Mexico
Uruguay
Romania
France
Croatia
Portugal
Nigeria
Ivory Coast
Cameroon
Ghana
Algeria

11/12/2013 12:31:59 AM

Uruguay has all but qualified with a 5-0 away win against Jordan.

Interesting article about Mexico.
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1614467/huge-bottom-line-mexico-world-cup-qualifying-playoff?cc=5901

A lot of uncertainty and it would be pretty shocking if Mexico don't make it.

11/13/2013 2:32:19 PM

damn I forgot about that Mexico game today (in 30 min apparently), I'll have to pull up a stream so that I can get some LOL's at work.

11/13/2013 3:01:58 PM

New Zealand's captain and best player, Winston Reid of West Ham, is out for both legs. Only other guy I recognize is Chris Wood and he plays for Leicester City.

This will be the ultimate LOL if Mexico doesn't qualify.

Fuck Mexico, fuck Concacaf, and fuck caring about potentially losing a 1/2 spot in a later WCQ cycle. Any US fan that cares about that spot is misguided.

11/13/2013 3:05:41 PM

I bet Mexico watched a ton of Spurs game film to see how to play against a team parking the bus.

Probably practiced a lot of penalties too.

11/13/2013 3:42:58 PM

Sweden the match is on watchespn if you have access.

Lol @aimorris

11/13/2013 3:44:42 PM

did Mexico just get hosed there? i've got a shit quality stream (no watchESPN access unfortunately).

11/13/2013 3:50:15 PM

Reddit saying it didn't cross the line and was saved....

11/13/2013 3:56:43 PM

wasn't a good angle. seemed like a good save to me but obviously I'm biased as fuck

11/13/2013 3:57:14 PM

Mexico fans are a bunch of classy gentleman aren't they?

Sweden if you want a good stream, Univision has a legal one in Spanish on their site....

[Edited on November 13, 2013 at 3:59 PM. Reason : .]

11/13/2013 3:58:29 PM

if throwing piss is classy, yes.

^awesome thanks, i'm at work with the sound off anyway so i don't care about the spanish.

[Edited on November 13, 2013 at 4:02 PM. Reason : foo]

11/13/2013 3:59:36 PM

damn it

11/13/2013 4:03:14 PM

Lol at that goal. Horrible defending from New Zealand. Was always coming though, Mexico is all over them. 80+% possession.

11/13/2013 4:04:07 PM

Well that's Mexico through. In other news Man City is about to put in a bid for the New Zealand goalkeeper.

11/13/2013 4:11:44 PM

hate you, Graham Zusi

11/13/2013 4:12:00 PM

All jokes aside, I'm legitimately pissed we put them through.

11/13/2013 6:33:05 PM

I am really excited to see if Iceland can qualify! Cindrella has arrived hopefully.

11/14/2013 12:40:22 PM

Shots fired!
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1616782/ibrahimovic-better-ronaldo?cc=5901

11/15/2013 9:28:03 AM

Interesting that a coach thinks his player is the best

11/15/2013 9:34:31 AM

11/15/2013 2:36:34 PM

11/15/2013 2:37:28 PM

Good result for Iceland! Will need to score in Croatia though.

11/15/2013 3:59:53 PM

Ukraine 1-0! France in danger now!

Allez Les Blues!

11/15/2013 4:12:32 PM

France all but done! Told you Ukraine could be tough.

11/15/2013 4:33:33 PM

Yep, gotta admit I was dead wrong on that. France definitely has the talent to get two goals but this Ukraine team has been pretty stout defensively.

I also think Portugal will beat Sweden today.


France looks to be the only real big team to miss out for 2014. Denmark, potentially France, and the loser of Portugal/Sweden is about it, I think.

11/19/2013 11:28:31 AM

France can still turn it around obviously and it will be interesting to see. The team is very ill-disciplined. Its ridiculous how professional footballers can be so haphazard. Not one person in the first leg looked like they wanted it. If France goes out they deserve to. Its a sad state of affairs for les bleus.

11/19/2013 11:39:39 AM

You'd think they would have learned their lesson after bombing out of the last World Cup.

11/19/2013 12:14:05 PM

Boo Algeria.

11/19/2013 3:16:48 PM

Burkina Faso out and Iceland on its way out

I really wanted a newcomer in Brazil. Iceland I hope can get a goal. It would be incredible to see a nation of 300,000 make the world cup.

EDIT: Damn. 2-0 for Croatia and they are a man down.... Come on Iceland, just need two more goals!!!

[Edited on November 19, 2013 at 3:22 PM. Reason : .]

11/19/2013 3:19:03 PM

France goal. Could get spiiiicyyyy

Portugal is dominating.

11/19/2013 3:24:23 PM

Sakho! Allez les bleus!!!!

11/19/2013 3:25:20 PM

Benzema questionably called off. France pushing for that second. Interesting stuff at Parc Des Princes.

11/19/2013 3:31:06 PM

France scores! Surely winning it now!

11/19/2013 3:34:33 PM

France level on aggregate now. Surely a 3rd goal is on the way too.

11/19/2013 3:34:45 PM

And Ronaldo seals it for Portugal. Seriously, he deserved the balon d'or last year. He better win it this year.

11/19/2013 3:58:29 PM

Ribery acting like he got his ankle snapped in half. Despicable. Got the Ukraine guy sent off as well.

11/19/2013 4:06:03 PM

what the fuck was that red card? Bullshit decision.

Eerie watching a game without any commentary.

[Edited on November 19, 2013 at 4:09 PM. Reason : oh second yellow]

11/19/2013 4:07:03 PM

IBRA MOTHERFUCKING HIMOVIC


god. damn. Ronaldo said suck me

and a third goal now. holy hell he is the master

[Edited on November 19, 2013 at 4:22 PM. Reason : .]

11/19/2013 4:16:01 PM

Ronaldo is unstoppable.

France just got their third.

[Edited on November 19, 2013 at 4:32 PM. Reason : .]

11/19/2013 4:23:34 PM

The scenes at the Parc Des Princes were reminiscent of 98, although they were worth a lot more in 98.... Those last two European qualifiers were incredible. Hope Brazil plays out that way too!

11/19/2013 5:00:32 PM

Last 11 teams:
Mexico (Still to play second leg but done deal)
Uruguay (Still to play second leg but done deal)
Greece
France
Croatia
Portugal
Nigeria
Ivory Coast
Cameroon
Ghana
Algeria

Portugal and France were incredible ties and France showed real character in making that comeback. Zlatan misses out and it was most likely his last chance at a World Cup. Heartbreak for Iceland and Burkina Faso (especially, lost on away goals). Iceland had their best chance to date to qualify and they may not come so close again for a while.

11/19/2013 5:11:56 PM

IOW, more of the same when it comes to who's in

11/20/2013 5:11:45 PM

^ Not necessarily. Coloumbia hasn't been back in a while. There are also 7 other teams who weren't there last time. Bosnia has its first....

11/21/2013 9:53:14 AM

Yeah, mostly it's the same teams though and there aren't many teams making their first appearances anymore. Think Slovakia was the only new team in 2010. I am bored as crap at work so here are some interesting numbers using average FIFA rankings (flawed rating system of course but) of qualified teams.

Average rank of qualified team by World Cup:

WC 2014 21.09
WC 2010 26.03
WC 2006 24.63

Average ranking by region:

AFC - 51.50 (4 teams)
CAF - 32.80 (5 teams)
CONCACAF - 25.50 (4 teams)
CONMEBOL - 9.67 (6 teams)
UEFA - 11.15 (13 teams)

Lowest ranked team by region: Australia(57), Cameroon (59), Honduras (34), Ecuador (22), France (21)
Highest ranked team by region: Japan (44), Ivory Coast (17), USA (13), Argentina (3), Spain (1)


tl;dr Fewer "weak" teams this tournament. Bet on South American teams to do well and Asian/African teams to do poorly.

[Edited on November 21, 2013 at 10:13 AM. Reason : .]

11/21/2013 10:11:50 AM

Couldn't part of that be that because there have been more world cups that more countries have participated over the years and that maybe fifa has gotten better at ranking teams? Not saying that's definitely the case, just that data like that doesn't necessarily mean exactly what it seems to mean.

11/21/2013 11:55:24 AM

Well the rankings only factor in last 4 years of results but yeah, there are various reasons why the rankings have changed. But I think this makes it clear that weaker teams have been replaced.

Avg. rank of teams that qualified for both: 17.75 in 2010 and 21.50 in 2014
Avg. rank of teams that qualified for 2010 but not 2014: 50.875
Avg. rank of teams that qualified for 2014 but not 2010: 19.875


Ignoring the rankings, tell me which group of 8 teams is better.

Belgium, Bosnia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Iran, Russia
VS.
Denmark, New Zealand, North Korea, Paraguay, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa


(Average rankings for teams that qualified for both would be around 17.5 vs. 19.9 if you took out Australia. HUGE drop from 20 to 57. Most of the other teams are very similar.)

[Edited on November 21, 2013 at 12:25 PM. Reason : I need a life]

11/21/2013 12:22:34 PM

Good analysis there aimorris. I would def. agree the weaker teams have been replaced. I think the quality is probably better overall compared to South Africa. Hopefully the football will be too.

11/21/2013 2:30:02 PM