2018 World Cup Qualifying: Day 2

Today were the second legs of several home-and-away playoffs between the very lowest ranked teams in the Asian Confederation. The big news is that Bhutan, ranked lowest at 209th according to FIFA, defeated Sri Lanka to advance to Round 2.

India, Timor-Leste, Chinese Taipei, and Cambodia also advanced thus making Mongolia, Nepal, Macau, Brunei, and Sri Lanka the first teams officially eliminated from Russia 2018.

The second leg of the Yemen-Pakistan matchup has been postponed, to be played in a neutral location, following violence in Lahore where the match was to be played today. The first leg was also played in neutral territory due to security concerns in Yemen, who currently lead 3-1.

The six winners will be drawn into 8 groups of 5 teams each for home-and-away group play starting on 11 June.

Next up: CONCACAF begins first round play on 22 March with Barbados at home against U.S. Virgin Islands.

Qualifying for World Cup 2018 Started Today

Over in Asia, the 12 lowest ranked teams (according to the FIFA world rankings) played the first tie in a home-and-away playoff. The second legs will be played on the 17th, thus eliminating the first six teams from WC 2018.

The 12 matchups are:

India - Nepal

Yemen - Pakistan

Timor-Leste - Mongolia

Cambodia - Macau

Chinese Taipei - Brunei

Sri Lanka - Bhutan

Bhutan is the lowest-ranked team in the world at 209 and they defeated Sri Lanka away 1-0 in front of 3,500 stunned fans. 21-year old Tshering Dorji scored in the 84th minute to give his nation their first ever World Cup qualification win.

Macau and Mongolia will have challenging three-goal deficits to overcome in their second legs. The other teams are all still very much alive.

CONCACAF qualifying will begin on 23 March.

Japan Qualifies

I missed it the other day, but Japan became the first team apart from host nation Brazil to qualify for next year's World Cup. That leaves 113 nations vying for 30 spots.

Both Uzbekistan and South Korea (playing each other) can qualify with a win on the 11th.

Prepping 2014

UPDATE: Belize took this one 5-2. That means Montserrat (an island nation lacking sufficient coastline to even run a marathon) will have to win their away leg by 4 goals or score at least 6 goals but win by a margin of 3.

Can you believe this? The first qualifier for Brazil 2014 is being played as I write. Yes, the next World Cup tournament is still 3 years away, but that's how long it takes to weed out the insignificant national sides like Montserrat and Belize, (ranked 202 and 172 in the world, respectively) who are playing each other in the first leg of a two match playoff that will see one of them as the very first team eliminated from the next World Cup (not counting Brunei, Bhutan, Guam and Mauritania, who have not entered the competition). The second leg will be played in Belize on 19 June.

By the way, this is the first of 832 qualifying matches that will be played over the course of the next 2 1/2 years.

Life Is What I Do Between World Cups

Another month-long World Cup tournament is finished and I have to return to a normal schedule that doesn't involve waiting for the next match to start or thinking about who's going to win or worrying if the USA is going to lose to Ghana.

Thankfully at the start of September qualifying begins for the 2012 European Championship. But I'll have to wait nearly 2 years before the USA plays anything related to Brazil 2014.

Time to start saving money for a holiday in Brazil in 4 years.

Some Exciting Soccer Today

Let's forget my knockout round predictions which have been blown to hell by both Brazil and Argentina having spectacular flameouts. Also, I had picked Spain to win the World Cup, but after seeing Germany dismantle Australia, England and now Argentina and seeing the struggles of Spain to defeat Paraguay, I can't say I'm hopeful for La Roja to take down Germany on Wednesday. In the rematch of the Euro 2008 final, I'd say Germany has the upper hand.

First there was Germany tearing apart Argentina. Germany got that early goal and then nothing much happened through the rest of the first half. But in the second half, with Maradona's boys all out of ideas for how to crack through the German midfield and their defense falling to pieces, Miroslav Klose struck twice and Friedrich once to give Germany a smashing 4-0 victory. That's the third match in this tournament in which Germany has scored 4 goals, a feat not accomplished in the World Cup since 1970 when Brazil defeated Czechoslovakia 4-1, Peru 4-2 and Italy 4-1.

25 Years Ago This Month (July 1985)

Back to the Future opened in July 1985 and was the king of the summer box office, taking in $210 million during its run to finish at number 1 for the year and number 9 all-time. It's currently sitting at number 91 on the all-time list. This was one of my absolute favorites as a child and I watched it repeatedly. Michael J. Fox became a major film star as a result, although he'd already achieved big success on his television sitcom "Family Ties." He shot both the TV series and the film simultaneously, acting on the TV sound stage by day, and doing the film shoot by night. That "To be continued..." teaser at the end dogged me for what seemed like an eternity when in actuality it was only 4 years before the much-anticipated sequel was released. Of course, these days the sequel is planned and written while the first film is being shot so they can release it the next year or two years later. Because nowadays the first film is little more than an extended commercial for the sequel. How things have changed in 25 years.

If You're Jewish, Who Do You Root For?

The obvious choice was the USA with 3 members of the tribe (Jonathan Bornstein, Benny Feilhaber, Jonathan Spector) on the squad, but now that we've lost out to Ghana where can you turn?

Tablet Magazine has a quick rundown for you. Hint: It isn't Germany (my second favorite in this WC after my birth country), nor is it "The Inquisition (Let's Begin) / The Inquisition (Look out sin) / We've got a mission / To convert the Jews (Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew Jewwwwwws)" Spain (my home country).

Sucks to Go Out on Penalties

Poor, poor Japan.

But Paraguay are through to the quarterfinals. The only loss suffered by a South American side in this World Cup was Chile at the hands of Brazil.

I'm sticking with my prediction of a Brazil-Spain final, but I think Argentina will be a tough opponent for Spain. But first they've got to get through Portugal tonight.

USA 2014 World Cup Squad: Never too early to start dreaming

With the USA ousted from the World Cup by Ghana for the second straight cycle, it's time we start making that long slow march toward the next big thing for US Soccer.

Unfortunately for the CONCACAF teams there's not a whole lot to look forward to after a World Cup. Sure, we'll have the Gold Cup next year and the winner of that biannual tournament will then compete in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup (the tournament where, last year, the USA famously defeated the indomitable and mighty Spain to reach the final against Brazil). Apart from our regional championship, we'll have nothing but friendlies to watch until our next WC qualifying cycle begins probably sometime in Spring 2012.

New Knockout Stage Preditcions

I will revise this after I'm sure to get something wrong in the Round of 16, but for now:

Uruguay over South Korea
USA over Ghana
Germany over England (difficult, but England hasn't shown anything that can defeat this German team)
Argentina over Mexico
Netherlands over Slovakia
Brazil over Chile
Paraguay over Japan (a difficult pick)
Spain over Portugal

Quarterfinals:
Uruguay over USA
Brazil over Netherlands
Spain over Paraguay
Argentina over Germany (before seeing Argentina perform I would have picked Germany. If both teams actually make it to this match up it could be the game of the tournament)

Semifinals:
Brazil over Uruguay
Spain over Argentina (another great match up but I have faith in Spain and I'm sticking with my prediction for Spain to go all the way)

Third Place:
Argentina over Uruguay

Final:
Spain over Brazil (we'll see)

Looking back at my Groups G and H Predictions

So in Group G Brazil and Portugal went through just as I had predicted. Unfortunately, my standing in my Yahoo sports group suffered because I picked Brazil to defeat Portugal today and after a very physical, yellow-card-studded first half, the two teams came out to have a damn kickabout for the entirety of the second half.

How Did I Do with Groups E and F?

Four years ago I was working an English Summer Camp in Portsmouth during the tail end of the World Cup. We had a large group of Italian students with us and we all watched the France-Italy final together. Look how happy they were as Italy won. Yesterday I couldn't help thinking about how those kids felt to see their precious Champions fizzle out of the first round of the World Cup.

Looking back at my Group C and D predictions

Well, I didn't quite get Group C right. I had England and USA advancing in first and second places, respectively. The actual result is reversed, which is perfectly fine for me because it means we don't play Germany in the Round of 16. If we defeat Ghana, then it's likely on to Uruguay, who I don't really think we'll defeat, but you never know. Why couldn't Mexico have won that group? I know we can beat them.

I was way off the mark with England getting 9 points from the group. I can't believe they've only scored 2 goals. The US has scored 6, but two of them were insanely called back for non-calls.

In Group D I had Germany in first place with 7 points. I wasn't far off with their 6. I didn't anticipate the loss to Serbia. Who could? But I had Serbia going ahead in second place. Oh they were so close to drawing level with Australia toward the end of the match today, which would have put them through. Instead it will be Ghana, who I had finishing bottom of the group.

So England will have to face Germany on Sunday while the US takes on Ghana (in a rematch of the 2006 World Cup match that put my boys out of the tournament). If we can defeat Ghana then we'll face the winner of Uruguay-South Korea.

Oh My God!

Why did the US have to wait until 90'+1 to score the goal that would put them into the second round?

I spent the first 20 minutes of the match nervously waiting for Algeria to score (that great shot by Yebda that thankfully hit the crossbar almost killed me). We had our chances, a couple from Hercules Gomez, who should have started in our first two matches instead of Robbie Findley. Then we scored - a shot by Gomez deflected off the keeper, touched across the face of the goal and slammed in by Dempsey. The bar I was in went nuts, I went nuts, then the off side flag. Then the replay - he was clearly on side. Another legitimate goal called back by the referee. What the f--- do we have to do?

A Look Back at my Groups A and B Predictions

In Group A it turns out I severely underestimated Uruguay, who won the group while I predicted a last place group finish. And France completely imploded, taking only 1 point out of the group while I predicted a second place finish and advancement to the second round. I was correct in guessing that South Africa would be the first host nation in the history of the tournament not to advance from the group stage.

I was right about Mexico moving on, but I had them in first place. Uruguay have performed quite well so far and at this point I'd say they're good contenders for a semi-final run.

Say Goodbye to some of the supposed best in the world

With Italy fizzling out against New Zealand that leaves only Brazil, Argentina and The Netherlands performing up to the standards people expect from the best teams in the world. And even then, Argentina only managed a single goal against Nigeria. However, they came back with fury, scoring 4 on South Korea. Brazil were unspectacular in their 2-1 defeat of North Korea, but were back to their old selves in a 3-1 drubbing of Ivory Coast.

England, like Italy, have only managed 2 points from 2 matches. Like Italy, the second of those came against a team (Algeria) that everyone expected to go out with zero points from 3 matches. I don't think Algeria were particularly good against England, they certainly weren't much good against Slovenia and they were awful in a pre-tournament friendly with Ireland. But England couldn't connect on passes, they couldn't string decent plays together in the box. They just kept giving the ball away. It was hardly the result of any brilliant defending on the part of Algeria, but of the lackluster performance of England. Their third match against Slovenia is going to be tough. I have a feeling they're going to lose and bust out of the tournament.

France are almost finished, too. They're sitting on 1 point after a scoreless draw with Uruguay and a loss to Mexico. They have yet to score a goal. They have some of the best players in the world on their squad but the talent has been squandered by the bizarre habits of their useless manager, who (rumor has it) left someone off the squad because of his star sign. Anelka has been sent packing after reportedly criticizing the manager during halftime of their loss to Mexico. Then the team refused to show up to training in protest. They should defeat South Africa, who are a dreadful team, but they're engulfed in inner turmoil, going down in flames. Has there ever been another country that, in four World Cups, made it to the final twice (winning once) and failed to advance from the first round twice? France could be that country this week. Even if France defeat the host nation on Tuesday, they have to make up a 5 goal deficit to advance.

Wouldn't it be exciting to see a second round with no England, Germany, France or Italy?

World Cup poised to get more exciting next week.

A lot has been written about how dull the first round of matches was in this World Cup. Matches have been mostly low-scoring and there have been a lot of draws.

But now Groups A-D have finished their second matches and there is still no team guaranteed a spot in the second round and no team has been eliminated. Granted, there is only one very remote scenario that would keep Argentina from advancing and although there is only one scenario by which Nigeria can advance, it's more than possible. They have to defeat Korea while Argentina defeats Greece.

Group E will finish their second match tonight with Cameroon - Denmark. No matter the result of that match either someone will be eliminated (Cameroon) or someone will advance (Netherlands).

Looking ahead to Group F, it doesn't matter what happens in the second matches, no one can be guaranteed advancement or elimination.

So we've got the makings for some very exciting final group round matches in which just about every match will have big consequences. I would expect to some of the most exciting matches so far next week.

Bad call by ref could be the difference between advancing and going home

You tell yourself that in sports sometimes the referee or umpire makes a bad call, but when one of those bad calls goes against your national team in the World Cup and costs them the winning goal, it's hard to swallow.

The USA fought back from 2-0 down against Slovenia at the half. Goals from Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley brought us level. Then a free kick was awarded for a foul on Cherundolo. Maurice Edu got a head on it in the box and scored what should have been our go-ahead goal to give us 4 points and sitting on top of Group C. But for some bizarre and inexplicable reason, the ref had blown his whistle before the goal was scored, presumably for a foul committed by a US player. Replays show that the only fouls being committed were against the US.

The World Cup after all teams have played at least once

Ugh, what the hell happened to Spain? I didn't see the match because I was at work. According to my brother, Switzerland seems to have studied last year's US defeat of Spain in the Confed Cup semi-final because they used an identical strategy.

Spain will have lost a good bit of confidence from this and I'm sure Chile and Honduras are both looking at this and seeing a vulnerable team. I'd say Spain are lucky to be facing Honduras next because Chile would go for the throat. Spanish fans should be hoping for Chile to defeat Switzerland because that will guarantee them a place in the second round, so they'd be likely to rest most of their starters for the Spain match, when Spain will be looking for a win. But on the other hand, second place in this group is likely to face Brazil next, so Chile will be looking to avoid that considering they lost both their qualifying matches against them.

And South Africa, after losing 3-0 to Uruguay, look poised to become the first host nation to fail to advance. A miracle is all that can save them now. Their best result tomorrow would be a France-Mexico draw, but then they still have to defeat France in their final group match. If France and Mexico finish in anything other than a draw, then South Africa will still have to defeat France, but by a huge margin of goals. This scenario seems extremely unlikely.