Watching Scotland last night.................

[the other bob wilson]

really good win for them, but the question did occur to me, how different would their football history look if the penalty kick had not been invented?

[19bluebirds27]

England’s may look better too.

[Rjk]

It’s remarkable how far Ireland have fallen in recent years though.
I think they’ve won one game on their last 15 and that was against Andorra.
They are already basically out of contention for the qualifying

[surge]

It’s remarkable how far Ireland have fallen in recent years though.
I think they’ve won one game on their last 15 and that was against Andorra.
They are already basically out of contention for the qualifying

Quick look suggests they're having their Toshack moment where the style of football is modernising and they have young players to be excited about but results are going the wrong way.

It is amazing that (so long as Serbia get 1 more point or don't get hammered in goal difference) that Ireland will be one of the first nations out though.

Scotland have played Israel four times since September 2020 and their fifth game at home on 9th of October has huge implications of which side progresses from that group.

[Rjk]

Quick look suggests they're having their Toshack moment where the style of football is modernising and they have young players to be excited about but results are going the wrong way.

It is amazing that (so long as Serbia get 1 more point or don't get hammered in goal difference) that Ireland will be one of the first nations out though.

Scotland have played Israel four times since September 2020 and their fifth game at home on 9th of October has huge implications of which side progresses from that group.

similar to the toshack times for Wales, I think they're playing youngsters because they don't have any other options rather than any lofty ambitions to develop going forward.

also like Wales if they let their ranking drop too low they will get harder and harder qualifying groups.
some of their results recently have been truly abysmal.
in another universe where they persuaded grealish, rice and bamford to play for them they'd have a decent side.

[Pearcey3]

Looking at our position we are going to make the play offs come what may. The ten runners up from each WC group will go into the play offs with the two best ranked sides from the Nations League who don’t finish in the top two of their WC group.
There are four best ranked teams above us in the Nations League including France, Italy and Spain. They will finish top two so at worst we will make the play offs via the Nations League

We would be unseeded for the play offs if that we’re to happen so it’s best to finish in the play offs in our WC group and hopefully do well enough to be seeded for the play offs which are in March.

[City123]

similar to the toshack times for Wales, I think they're playing youngsters because they don't have any other options rather than any lofty ambitions to develop going forward.

also like Wales if they let their ranking drop too low they will get harder and harder qualifying groups.
some of their results recently have been truly abysmal.
in another universe where they persuaded grealish, rice and bamford to play for them they'd have a decent side.

Could have had Kane as well

Their side last night could have been

Bazunu

Doherty Duffy M.Keane Manning

Redmond Rice Grealish Maddison

Kane Bamford

[Rjk]

Could have had Kane as well

Their side last night could have been

Bazunu

Doherty Duffy M.Keane Manning

Redmond Rice Grealish Maddison

Kane Bamford

I think they probably could have beaten Azerbaijan with that lot

[the other bob wilson]

Always find it interesting to have the occasional look at the FIFA world rankings for little nuggets like the USA being rated tenth and Luxembourg being ranked in the top 100 in the latest rankings - really surprised to see the Republic of Ireland above Scotland in the table before the latest round of games. When you see how much a team like Iceland have dropped in the last few years, Wales really do deserve a lot of credit for staying in the top twenty as long as they have and, provided there’s no disasters tonight, they’ll be going into the crucial game with the Czechs next month something like ten to fifteen places higher than them.

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-rank...dateId=id13372

The Welsh women’s team must still be kicking themselves for missing out on a Play Off place to a Northern Ireland side a long way below them in the rankings.

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-rank...nking_20210820

[City123]

Always find it interesting to have the occasional look at the FIFA world rankings for little nuggets like the USA being rated tenth and Luxembourg being ranked in the top 100 in the latest rankings - really surprised to see the Republic of Ireland above Scotland in the table before the latest round of games. When you see how much a team like Iceland have dropped in the last few years, Wales really do deserve a lot of credit for staying in the top twenty as long as they have and, provided there’s no disasters tonight, they’ll be going into the crucial game with the Czechs next month something like ten to fifteen places higher than them.

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-rank...dateId=id13372

The Welsh women’s team must still be kicking themselves for missing out on a Play Off place to a Northern Ireland side a long way below them in the rankings.

https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-rank...nking_20210820

I don't think Mexico in 9th is a good reflection of their ability, considering they managed to lose to Wales B

[Rjk]

I don't think Mexico in 9th is a good reflection of their ability, considering they managed to lose to Wales B

I think the ELO rankings are usually more accurate.
they have Mexico in 15 th

the Czechs 1 place above us

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worl...ll_Elo_Ratings

and Ireland down in 56th