LDOG

France and Wales won the semifinals and qualified for the world cup.

Ireland and Wales will play the final for the only place available.

Final european qualifiers for world cups have started. One place at the WC for women's. Format is straight knockouts. Quarterfinals 1-7 4-1 0-1 3-0 Semis v v

Final european qualifiers for world cups have started. Two places at the WC for men's. Format is straight knockouts. Quarterfinals 5-0 (3) 0-0 (2) 2-0 2-0 Semis v v

are already escaping from the pack as it should be given the individual quality at their disposal. I still favor to get 4th. They were fine this window without Bailey and Antonio.

Greece still has a chance but they would need to beat Spain (and Kosovo) and then wait for Sweden to hold Spain to a draw last game (though in this scenario Sweden would probably arrive to the last match already qualified after beating Georgia). Ultimately those lost points against Georgia and Kosovo killed their chances. Also interesting to see what will happen in France's group between Ukraine, Bosnia and Finland. So many different outcomes are possible. Every other group will have a pretty straightforward resolution.

Manolas and Sokratis were awful last few years before they got kicked out.

Germany first qualified team End of the road for many teams today (whether mathematically or realistically). Turkey survived with a 90+9 min dodgy penalty.

I strongly suggest you watch COL-BRA and ARG-URU games, both had AMAZING fast pace and box to box action. The former one even though it was a 0-0. Copa America and most qualifiers so far were bad because majority of the pitches are awful and unplayable. These two games had good pitches and it becomes another sport entirely.

Canada fails to qualify for the first time after losing to Chile. Uruguay qualified after defeating USA. USA and Chile will play for the second american quota (the loser will advance to intercontinental repechage).

I think Mexico has the same level as usual, just Canada is better. I also think you're making strong conclusions, we haven't seen any competitive matches between national teams of different continents in a while. And cross-confederation friendlies are almost non existent these days.

Was he the only one that did not do it in both teams?

I'm in.

[hide] Knockout Round Third-Place Match Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 October 3rd 2021, h. 18:00 Brazil 2 0 Kazakhstan Final Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 October 3rd 2021, h. 20:00 Argentina 4 2 Portugal [/hide]

It's literally a combination of 2010 and 2018, which were the two worst formats ever the single worst thing is the "all results carried" rule, ofc.

Draw is done....

To make sure Italy keeps playing in Italy and Bulgaria in Bulgaria regardless if they finished 1st or 2nd in their first round pool. Normally when there is only one host they distribute the teams in 2nd round like one group with: A1, B2, C1, D2. But with two hosts they want to make sure the local audience doesn't lose interest.

[hide] Knockout Round September 22nd - Ocotber 3rd, 2021 4 Nations, the Winners of each Semifinal will qualify for the Final, the Losers will play the Third-place Match Semifinals Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 September 29th 2021, h. 20:00 Brazil 2 3 Argentina September 30th 2021, h. 20:00 Kazakhstan 1 2 Portugal [/hide]

I've already watched many japanese series/movies of this "death game" genre (which are quite a few) so I didn't fully experience the shock value or unpredictability (at some point you start to see the patterns in all these similar plots) but korean acting and characters are better than what you usually see in this type of thing.

Semifinals are set vs vs Iran is out after a spectacular 2nd half comeback from Kazakhstan.

[hide] Knockout Round September 22nd - Ocotber 3rd, 2021 16 Nations, the Winners of each Round of 16-matches will qualify for the Quarterfinals Round of 16 Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 September 22nd 2021, h. 17:30 RFU 6 1 Vietnam September 22nd 2021, h. 20:00 Venezuela 2 3 Morocco September 23rd 2021, h. 17:30 Brazil 4 2 Japan September 23rd 2021, h. 17:30 Argentina 2 0 Paraguay September 23rd 2021, h. 20:00 Kazakhstan 4 1 Thailand September 24th 2021, h. 17:30 Uzbekistan 3 4 Iran September 24th 2021, h. 20:00 Portugal 2 1 Serbia September 24th 2021, h. 20:00 Spain 4 0 Czech Republic [/hide]

I was happy to see that goal called back in the last minute. Hate it when this behavior goes rewarded (like Spain in basketball or Brazil in volleyball in the past). I think our team will beat Paraguay handily (Argentina is stronger and they are weaker than what they were 5/6 years ago). I see all the favorites winning in R16 but IMO Serbia against Portugal is clearly the biggest chance of an upset.

Just 1 (rather unintentional) foul in the entire half says it all.

All 24 qualified teams for women's world championship confirmed. Hosts Defending champions CEV CSV Norceca CAVB AVC FIVB World Ranking