It's no longer in their hands. First of all they need to win against Northern Ireland tonight. Any other result will end their hopes of avoiding the last pot. Then they face an anxious wait, as they need Iceland, Faroe Islands and Luxembourg to stumble.
Of course, it's quite likely FAW know nothing about it so there won't be any anxious wait, just an unpleasant surprise when FIFA announce the seeding.
Matches involving Iceland, Faroe Islands and Luxembourg:
03 Jun Luxembourg - Hungary (Friendly)
03 Jun Faroe Islands - Slovenia (Continental Qualifier)
04 Jun Iceland - Denmark (Continental Qualifier)
07 Jun Faroe Islands - Estonia (Continental Qualifier)
07 Jun Belarus - Luxembourg (Continental Qualifier)
What results do the Welsh need, besides a win against Northern Ireland?
Belarus - Luxembourg 1 or (Luxembourg - Hungary X2 and Belarus - Luxembourg X)
Faroe Islands - Slovenia X2 and Faroe Islands - Estonia X2
Iceland - Denmark 2
I'm sure they don't. Wales fielded a pure B team against Scotland, who fielded their strongest lineup. Wales actually lead 1-0 at half time, but then the Scots decided to stop messing around, and won the match 3-1.
ReplyDeleteThey don't even have a qualifier to need to rest for. And even if they did, that would be the match to throw under the bus, bcause their Euro 2012 campaign is essentially over.
All that being said, Northern Ireland have been pathetic. They also have a pure B team out, and it got crushed 5-0 by their neighbours. Andorra put up more of a fight, losing 3-1 there in a qualifier earlier. If Wales can't defeat Northern Ireland well maybe they deserve it. But if they do win, I would think the odds of the other matches going the right way would be reasonable. We'll find out if Wales can win this vital match that I expect will be treated as nothing more than an exercise tonight.
Well Wales got the job done. 2-0 win. Now it's over to the other teams. Biggest threat is surely Iceland taking a result at home against Denmark.
ReplyDeleteI think in the future they should wait after the EURO qualification has finished and then make a draw for the WC using the UEFA coefficients.
ReplyDeleteThey can't wait - they brought the draw forward to allow more time for AFC and CONCACAF qualifiers.
ReplyDeleteHmph. Well I guess that's Wales to the bottom pot and the Faroe Islands elevated to Pot 5 thanks to their victory over Estonia.
ReplyDeleteThe Faroe Islands lost 2-0 to Slovenia over the weekend so I wouldn't say Wales is doomed yet. We'll have to wait and see if the Faroes victory over Estonia is enough to jump over Wales in spite of the earlier defeat.
ReplyDelete@ rf_dawg
ReplyDeleteEdgar says draws were okay but wins weren't. A win is worth 3X what a draw is in FIFA rankings, so it makes sense on that basis, and the guy's never wrong, so for me, Wales are screwed. Better hope they draw the Faroe Islands out of pot 5. Edgar will set the record straight in a couple of days anyway.
Yes, Wales will be in Pot 6.
ReplyDeleteSee the pots.
@Lorric
Haha... the guy's never wrong :)
@ Edgar
ReplyDeleteI said that to a friend too just a moment ago who is Algerian about you placing Algeria in the top pot in the African section for World Cup Qualifying. Something to hopefully cheer him up after what Morocco did to his team, along with a link to it, of course.