2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[KTChampions]

Australia have qualified to World Cup after beating Peru in penalty shootout.
Whole match wasn't nice to watch, there were no many dangerous moments, so, nothing surprising that game went to penalties. Australia missed first penalty, but it didn't stopped them and last Peru penalty was saved by goalkeeper.
I said that Australia is understimated too much. Tomorrow New Zealand - Costa Rica.

Completely forgot about this game    I saw that the odds for this game are inadequate and Australia is greatly underestimated, but watching the League of Nations I forgot to place a bet on this game in time. From the description, the game was rather dull - was it caused by the heat or were the players in the same situation as the players participating in the League of Nations?

[snipie]

Australia have qualified to World Cup after beating Peru in penalty shootout.
Whole match wasn't nice to watch, there were no many dangerous moments, so, nothing surprising that game went to penalties. Australia missed first penalty, but it didn't stopped them and last Peru penalty was saved by goalkeeper.
I said that Australia is understimated too much. Tomorrow New Zealand - Costa Rica.

Completely forgot about this game    I saw that the odds for this game are inadequate and Australia is greatly underestimated, but watching the League of Nations I forgot to place a bet on this game in time. From the description, the game was rather dull - was it caused by the heat or were the players in the same situation as the players participating in the League of Nations?

I was almost sure Peru will win that game that I didn't bother to watch it until I saw the results hours after and I was like surprise!
Today Costa Rica is the favourite one, I can't imagine having the underdog teams winning twice in this qualification!

[cygan]

costa rica is now the last team to qualify for the 2022 world cup in qatar.
with a 1-0 win against new zealand, costa rica will now play in a world championship for the sixth time. the team will face germany, japan and spain in group e.

[nullama]

costa rica is now the last team to qualify for the 2022 world cup in qatar.
with a 1-0 win against new zealand, costa rica will now play in a world championship for the sixth time. the team will face germany, japan and spain in group e.

What a game.

New Zealand was attacking all the time, but never actually managed to score. The only time they did score it was after a foul, so it was not valid. And close to the end there was a great save by the Costa Rican goalkeeper. After watching this I reckon New Zealand should practice more at actually shooting the ball into the goal, there were many attempts, but the vast majority were not forced mistakes from the striker.

In the end the early goal from Costa Rica sealed the deal for them. It wasn't pretty, but it's all it takes to win. That's football.

[Sithara007]

Quite disappointing results from the playoff. I don't have anything against Costa Rica, but I wanted at least one team from Oceania participating in the world cup (Australia is a part of the AFC, and they no longer represent Oceania). In the end, it was a very close match, but New Zealand lost their golden chance to qualify. Anyway, next time (2026 World Cup), they are almost assured of a slot, since the number of participants are going up and there is one dedicated slot for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). I expect not much competition for New Zealand, since their ranking is far higher than the second and third placed teams (Solomon Islands & New Caledonia).

[nullama]

Quite disappointing results from the playoff. I don't have anything against Costa Rica, but I wanted at least one team from Oceania participating in the world cup (Australia is a part of the AFC, and they no longer represent Oceania). In the end, it was a very close match, but New Zealand lost their golden chance to qualify. Anyway, next time (2026 World Cup), they are almost assured of a slot, since the number of participants are going up and there is one dedicated slot for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). I expect not much competition for New Zealand, since their ranking is far higher than the second and third placed teams (Solomon Islands & New Caledonia).

Australia used to win all the time in OFC, so they moved them to AFC. I think they will continue to dominate AFC now.

And in theory New Zealand should be dominating OFC now, but they still need to learn and practice a lot more, after watching this game. They need better strikers, who actually score. They lost so many chances.

But yeah, next world cup will be a bit easier to qualify, hopefully that doesn't bring the whole level down in the actual competition.

[Sithara007]

Australia used to win all the time in OFC, so they moved them to AFC. I think they will continue to dominate AFC now.

And in theory New Zealand should be dominating OFC now, but they still need to learn and practice a lot more, after watching this game. They need better strikers, who actually score. They lost so many chances.

But yeah, next world cup will be a bit easier to qualify, hopefully that doesn't bring the whole level down in the actual competition.

Australia did the right thing by moving from OFC to AFC. For OFC, there is only a half slot and for qualifying the winner need to participate in playoff against the 4th placed CONCACAF team. And everyone knows the quality of teams in AFC and CONCACAF. Attaining 4th or 5th position in the AFC qualifier is much easier than winning against the 4th placed CONCACAF team (as New Zealand just found out). A better solution would be to merge the AFC and OFC qualifiers. What is the point in having a separate tournament for the OFC, when they don't even have one dedicated slot?

[bering]

Clever Costa Rica because at the beginning of match they can utilized the weakness of New Zealand defense and score goal and after that Costa Rica defense was playing well because until second half there is no good attempts to score goals from New Zealand and seems New Zealand situation became so difficult for them after Barbarouses get red card and after final whistle ended the score hasn't change 1-0 for Costa Rica and after this result they has filled last spot for world cup tournament

[Oluwa-btc]

Clever Costa Rica because at the beginning of match they can utilized the weakness of New Zealand defense and score goal and after that Costa Rica defense was playing well because until second half there is no good attempts to score goals from New Zealand and seems New Zealand situation became so difficult for them after Barbarouses get red card and after final whistle ended the score hasn't change 1-0 for Costa Rica and after this result they has filled last spot for world cup tournament

Frankly, I didn't get to watch the game, but a quick scan at the stats shows that, New Zealand was the better side of them both yesterday.
They had better and higher Ball possession in both half's of the game,more goal attempt and also more shot on goal.
The former Arsenal international Joel Campbell scored an early goal which also would have played a part, a red card was seen in the match which I know would have also reduced their pressure on Costa Rica. This would be the sixth time Costa Rica has qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Congratulations to Keylor Navas and the full Costa Rican National team as they will return to Qater November.

The Experienced Keylor Navas also played a big part in holding and maintaining a single goal and tried to keep if pressure from the New Zealand side at home soil.
The home side was favorite to win though, ( having lesser odds ) But New Zealand had much impact, the red card had negative effect on them I see.

[nullama]

~snip~
Frankly, I didn't get to watch the game, but a quick scan at the stats shows that, New Zealand was the better side of them both yesterday.
They had better and higher Ball possession in both half's of the game,more goal attempt and also more shot on goal.
The former Arsenal international Joel Campbell scored an early goal which also would have played a part, a red card was seen in the match which I know would have also reduced their pressure on Costa Rica. This would be the sixth time Costa Rica has qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Congratulations to Keylor Navas and the full Costa Rican National team as they will return to Qater November.

The Experienced Keylor Navas also played a big part in holding and maintaining a single goal and tried to keep if pressure from the New Zealand side at home soil.
The home side was favorite to win though, ( having lesser odds ) But New Zealand had much impact, the red card had negative effect on them I see.

Costa Rica didn't attack as much as New Zealand did. Although New Zealand missed so many chances, it was a bit ridiculous sometimes.

At the end there was a really good shot but the keeper from Costa Rica did a wonderful save. Man of the match right there, saving his team.

New Zealand scored once actually, but it was after they committed a foul, so it was not a valid goal. Such a shame that one of the few times they actually attacked properly was cancelled.

In the end the early goal from Costa Rica, which wasn't even good, ended up giving them the qualification.

At the end of the day, you have to score more than your rival, even if you attack less.

[buwaytress]

Well, the NZ dream didn't last, so my Antipodean acca wouldn't have hit even if I went for an Aussie qualification rather than ML.

Still, can't say Costa Rica didn't deserve their place. Also had some physical disadvantage to fight against but good to see that better technical ability won the day, even if marginally.

Interesting mix now we have for the finals in Qatar. Will soon be time to share all early outright!

[Pandu Geddon]

Clever Costa Rica because at the beginning of match they can utilized the weakness of New Zealand defense and score goal and after that Costa Rica defense was playing well because until second half there is no good attempts to score goals from New Zealand and seems New Zealand situation became so difficult for them after Barbarouses get red card and after final whistle ended the score hasn't change 1-0 for Costa Rica and after this result they has filled last spot for world cup tournament

Costa Rica plays tactical. they managed to score early in the game and set up an impenetrable defense. New Zealand was not without chances, making 15 shots but only 4 on target. it frustrates players.

Costa Rica was only able to control 30% possession of the ball. and that was enough to get the win. Regarding the performance in the finals, I think the coach just needs to come up with a new strategy. moreover, Costa Rica is in the grub which is not easy. Spain, Germany, and Japan are all strong teams.

[Cnut237]

Interesting mix now we have for the finals in Qatar. Will soon be time to share all early outright!

Wonder what the odds on England will be. A lot of people were considering them amongst the favourites (not outright favourite, but up there with the top teams). However England have had a pretty disastrous couple of weeks, culminating in that astonishingly bad 0-4 home defeat to Hungary the other day. Perhaps this might cause England to be under-rated for the tournament? They still have strong players and a favourable draw... the potential is there if not (currently) the confidence. A couple of goals and a morale-boosting win at the start of the WC could transform them.

[KTChampions]

Completely forgot about this game    I saw that the odds for this game are inadequate and Australia is greatly underestimated, but watching the League of Nations I forgot to place a bet on this game in time. From the description, the game was rather dull - was it caused by the heat or were the players in the same situation as the players participating in the League of Nations?

I was almost sure Peru will win that game that I didn't bother to watch it until I saw the results hours after and I was like surprise!
Today Costa Rica is the favourite one, I can't imagine having the underdog teams winning twice in this qualification!

Australia often takes part in the finals of the World Cup, so I immediately noticed this couple and overestimation of Peru. But as I said, I forgot to bet on the game.

Wonder what the odds on England will be. A lot of people were considering them amongst the favourites (not outright favourite, but up there with the top teams). However England have had a pretty disastrous couple of weeks, culminating in that astonishingly bad 0-4 home defeat to Hungary the other day. Perhaps this might cause England to be under-rated for the tournament? They still have strong players and a favourable draw... the potential is there if not (currently) the confidence. A couple of goals and a morale-boosting win at the start of the WC could transform them.

I do not think that these results will lead to any serious changes in their odds. Everyone evaluates the League of Nations tournament as a friendly game. It's sad, but true.

[Sithara007]

Australia often takes part in the finals of the World Cup, so I immediately noticed this couple and overestimation of Peru. But as I said, I forgot to bet on the game.

Australian national football association (Football Australia) made a strategic move to move from OFC to AFC in 2005. And since then, they have participated in each and every edition of the world cup (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and now 2022). When they were part of the OFC, as a result of the complex qualification criteria set up by the FIFA, they could qualify only once (in 1974). But to be fair, at least on paper, Peru was a far better team when compared to Australia. And in general I would say that any team from CONMEBOL is far ahead of any team from AFC.

[LUCKMCFLY]

It was amazing but frustrating to watch the first half (second half I was having my eyes elsewhere so couldn't really tell if they improved) but this match was so important to them and they played like they were not really hungry (I even felt UAE were more desperate).

Peru's pretty good, mind you, they've been solid players in the Concacaf games -- both will want to continue their WC final appearance but yeah, Aussie's got the weight of history behind them, appearing in every edition I've ever watched except the first (1998, where they lost the playoff to Iran)

Who else thinks a Kiwi-Aussie acca is worth the money?

I think so. I'm surprised that Australia has a 4.6 odds of winning and a 2.9 overall odds of qualifying. Despite the fact that Peru is a strong team, these are too pessimistic estimates for Australia. I think that in such circumstances betting on Australia would be a logical move because winning looks more likely than the bookmakers show us.

I am South American and I know what the capabilities of Peru are, IF something that Australia has as an advantage over Peru has always been the height of the players, if they are intelligent they manage to develop more air soccer for the World Cup that they really need to do and have more dynamics, free kicks are the best they can take advantage of if they are not given the strategies for Australia in the World Cup, they must play faster, everyone is talking about these classifications, both Australia and Costa Rica, many really believed that Peru was going to go, however I am glad to see these countries in the World Cup are deserving.

[Juggy777]

It was amazing but frustrating to watch the first half (second half I was having my eyes elsewhere so couldn't really tell if they improved) but this match was so important to them and they played like they were not really hungry (I even felt UAE were more desperate).

Peru's pretty good, mind you, they've been solid players in the Concacaf games -- both will want to continue their WC final appearance but yeah, Aussie's got the weight of history behind them, appearing in every edition I've ever watched except the first (1998, where they lost the playoff to Iran)

Who else thinks a Kiwi-Aussie acca is worth the money?

I think so. I'm surprised that Australia has a 4.6 odds of winning and a 2.9 overall odds of qualifying. Despite the fact that Peru is a strong team, these are too pessimistic estimates for Australia. I think that in such circumstances betting on Australia would be a logical move because winning looks more likely than the bookmakers show us.

I am South American and I know what the capabilities of Peru are, IF something that Australia has as an advantage over Peru has always been the height of the players, if they are intelligent they manage to develop more air soccer for the World Cup that they really need to do and have more dynamics, free kicks are the best they can take advantage of if they are not given the strategies for Australia in the World Cup, they must play faster, everyone is talking about these classifications, both Australia and Costa Rica, many really believed that Peru was going to go, however I am glad to see these countries in the World Cup are deserving.

I didn’t watch the match but prior to the match I believed that Peru would beat Australia and qualify for the World Cup, but Australia played well and in the end deserved to be playing at the World Cup. Furthermore how many of you’ll had actually wagered on Australia, because those were really nice odds and now I truly regret not placing a small wager on Australia for fun sake.

[BALIK]

I didn’t watch the match but prior to the match I believed that Peru would beat Australia and qualify for the World Cup, but Australia played well and in the end deserved to be playing at the World Cup. Furthermore how many of you’ll had actually wagered on Australia, because those were really nice odds and now I truly regret not placing a small wager on Australia for fun sake.

I also expected Peru to win. But they did not play well. Their performance was poor. Australia played well enough. Their defense was good. I did not expect such poor gameplay from an experienced team like Peru. This is Peru's failure. However, congratulations to the Australian team. Australia's performance in the last few matches is very commendable.

[joker_josue]

Now that all the groups for the 2022 Worlds are closed, who do you think will make it through each group?

Group A: Qatar / Ecuador / Senegal / Netherlands
Group B: England / Iran / United States / Wales
Group C: Argentina / Saudi Arabia / Mexico / Poland
Group D: France / Australia / Denmark / Tunisia
Group E: Spain / Costa Rica / Germany / Japan
Group F: Belgium / Canada / Morocco / Croatia
Group G: Brazil / Serbia / Switzerland / Cameroon
Group H: Portugal / Ghana / Uruguay / South Korea

[3meek]

Now that all the groups for the 2022 Worlds are closed, who do you think will make it through each group?

I think the following countries will qualify...
Group A: Senegal / Netherlands
Group B: England/Wales (but maybe USA instead of Wales...)
Group C: Argentina / Mexico
Group D: France/Denmark
Group E: Spain / Germany
Group F: Belgium / Croatia
Group G: Brazil / Switzerland (but this is the hardest group to predict because it could go anywhere with Brazil...)
Group H: Portugal / Uruguay