WC 2022 qualifying draw

[tiger76]

Takes place this evening, no doubt it'll be the usual long-winded affair, the seedings are as follows.

Pot 1: Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands.

Pot 2: Switzerland, Wales, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania.

Pot 3: Russia, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, Norway, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greece, Finland.

Pot 4: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Israel, Belarus, Georgia, Luxembourg.

Pot 5: Armenia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra.

Pot 6: Malta, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, San Marino.

So yes there is the possibility of some all-British ties once again. and in theory all the top ranked nations should get a winnable group, but looking through those pots there exists the danger of a difficult group for the likes of England to negotiate.

And only the 10 group winners are guaranteed to qualify, The 10 group runners-up will go through to the play-offs, along with the two best Nations League group winners who do not finish in the top two of their World Cup qualifying group.

I hope somebody understands this process better than me, but essentially if you want to avoid the lottery of the play-offs you need to win your group,

[claretonthecoast1882]

Wales
Scotland
Luxembourg
Andorra
San Marino

You could rest the first 11 until the knockout stage

[tiger76]

Wales
Scotland
Luxembourg
Andorra
San Marino

You could rest the first 11 until the knockout stage

Could just as easily be

Switzerland
Russia
Bosnia
Cyprus
Malta

TBH it's about time England got a tough qualifying group, the pattern in recent tournaments has been cruising to the finals, and then flopping on the big stage, 2018 perhaps accepted and even then England blew a golden opportunity.

[Dyched]

Could just as easily be

Switzerland
Russia
Bosnia
Cyprus
Malta

TBH it's about time England got a tough qualifying group, the pattern in recent tournaments has been cruising to the finals, and then flopping on the big stage, 2018 perhaps accepted and even then England blew a golden opportunity.

Flopping? When?

[tiger76]

Flopping? When?

The 2016 exit to Iceland comes to mind, I'd consider that a flop.

[Claretitus]

[quote=Dyched post_id=<a href="tel:1433193">1433193</a> time=<a href="tel:1607360043">1607360043</a> user_id=2712]
Flopping? When?

The 2016 exit to Iceland comes to mind, I'd consider that a flop.
[/quote]
That was the Euros, not World Cup.

[tiger76]

The 2016 exit to Iceland comes to mind, I'd consider that a flop.

That was the Euros, not World Cup.
[/quote]

Fair enough I was referring to the major tournaments in general, England over the past 10 years have strolled through qualifying, but failed when the main event has come around, now whether that is purely down to an easy ride in qualifying is up for debate, but it surely can't help when you are racking up the goals against the also-rans, and not being truly tested, this is where the NL might prove helpful to England, at least in that format they are playing against decent opposition on a more regular basis, and over time that should enable them to become more battle-hardened in facing such quality, so when the big tournaments do roll around the jump in class shouldn't be as much of a culture shock.

[Dyched]

The 2016 exit to Iceland comes to mind, I'd consider that a flop.

Yes of course that one. Not criticising you here. It generally gets boring when people say England “failed. When you actually look how they’ve gone out and against who over the past 20 years, there’s only the Iceland game that could be considered a failure.

[Clarets4me]

Poland again ! Hungary, Albania, San Marino and Andorra make up the rest of England's group ....

[ClaretTony]

Poland again ! Hungary, Albania, San Marino and Andorra make up the rest of England's group ....

I don’t think you could have chosen it much better

[tiger76]

Yes of course that one. Not criticising you here. It generally gets boring when people say England “failed. When you actually look how they’ve gone out and against who over the past 20 years, there’s only the Iceland game that could be considered a failure.

If your being objective the only real failure, other than the Iceland debacle was Brazil 2014, to not even get out of the group has to be considered poor, albeit it was a group containing Italy and Uruguay, that was a pathetic effort. Most of the other occasions England have exited early, it's been on penalties, or too a team that's gone on to reach the latter stages, part of the problem is the immense expectation placed on every England team since 1966, but rightly or wrongly that won't change anytime soon.

[tiger76]

The full draw below.

Group A: Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan

Group B: Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo

Group C: Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania

Group D: France, Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia, Kazakhstan

Group E: Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia

Group F: Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands, Moldova

Group G: Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, Gibraltar

Group H: Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta

Group I: England, Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, San Marino

Group J: Germany, Romania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein

England will be happy with that, the rest of the home nations less so. Although Poland with Lewandowski will be tricky.

[taio]

I think Scotland has been particularly fortunate.

[AfloatinClaret]

...Although Poland with Lewandowski will be tricky.

Nah, Lewandowski's just a circus clown and he doesn't even have a pair of gloves.

[SalisburyClaret]

Does second place qualify

[Steve1956]

The 2016 exit to Iceland comes to mind, I'd consider that a flop.

That was the Euros, not World Cup.
[/quote]

Still a flop though

[jrgbfc]

Does second place qualify

Second place goes into a playoff I think.

[Tribesmen]

Happy as i can be with Ireland group , love if i can get to Azerbaijan

[timshorts]

Belgium, Czech Republic and no cup cake from pot 6. Same sort of draw as usual for Wales. The only blessing is that Belgium won't want us in their group given their record against us with their super team.

[claret_in_exile]

Yes of course that one. Not criticising you here. It generally gets boring when people say England “failed. When you actually look how they’ve gone out and against who over the past 20 years, there’s only the Iceland game that could be considered a failure.

In 2010, we drew with Algeria and the US and in 2014, we finished bottom of the group after drawing with Costa Rica.

2018 has been the exception to the rule.

[jrgbfc]

Some good away trips for the England fans at least with Poland and Hungary. We've played Poland loads but barely played Hungary over the last 20 or 30 years. Fancy new stadium in Budapest as well.