Shame about USA not qualifying. They usually bring something different to the WC's and some terrific atmosphere.

Just realised it was Ospina's technical error then denied Chile and sent Peru through. Alexis must hate him

He should never have touched the ball.

Asterix wrote:

USArsenal wrote:

well, that's not something you hear every day..  lol

No, I meant we don't want to play the USA. And now we won't have to. 

It will be a bit weird not having the USA and Chile at the World Cup.

Honduras will be a stern test for the Aussies. Scoring 3 against Mexico is no mean feat. 

i know what you meant..  heh..   though, given the state of the US team, you probably should've wished to play them instead of Honduras

Clrnc wrote:

Just realised it was Ospina's technical error then denied Chile and sent Peru through. Alexis must hate him

He should never have touched the ball.

LOL. How about not sucking over 18 games. They have only themselves to blame. Ospina not knowing the free kick rules is neither here nor there. Most keepers will try to save a ball going towards their goals

Sad for Chile. But at least the list of players missing the World Cup isn't awful - Bale, Aubameyang, Sanchez, Vidal, etc. Could've been worse if Messi hadn't Mike Jordan'd them. 

USArsenal wrote:

Asterix wrote:

No, I meant we don't want to play the USA. And now we won't have to. 

It will be a bit weird not having the USA and Chile at the World Cup.

Honduras will be a stern test for the Aussies. Scoring 3 against Mexico is no mean feat. 

i know what you meant..  heh..   though, given the state of the US team, you probably should've wished to play them instead of Honduras

How have things gone so wrong for the US National team? There were a good few world cups where things looked like they were getting better and better.

Claudius wrote:

FIFA must be pissing themselves tonight. I wonder what their sponsorship contracts say wrt to the USA's participation at the World Cup. Despite Bruce Arena's protestations, CONCACAF is such a joke, FIFA must have assumed that they would be given, and sponsorship/tv contracts might have been written with some financial downside in the event of their non participation.
http://www.businessinsider.com/fox-world-cup-bid-200-million-2017-10?IR=T

http://www.footyheadlines.com/2017/09/nike-usa-2018-world-cup-kit.html

Chile's non-participation will be sad. I find them genuinely exciting. It also means that we will have a morose Sanchez for the rest of the year. We failed to manage a moody Arshavin when Russia failed to qualify for the World Cup 8 years ago, so Wenger does not exactly have a track record for righting these situations. I am genuinely concerned for this season.

IMO, Wenger fucked up Arshavin as he never really wanted him.
The guy was a SS who Wenger played almost exclusively on the LW.
He was completely unsuited for that role but Wenger never gave him any prolonged chances in the centre even when we were lacking a proper Cesc replacement.

Claudius wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Just realised it was Ospina's technical error then denied Chile and sent Peru through. Alexis must hate him

He should never have touched the ball.

LOL. How about not sucking over 18 games. They have only themselves to blame. Ospina not knowing the free kick rules is neither here nor there. Most keepers will try to save a ball going towards their goals

Sad for Chile. But at least the list of players missing the World Cup isn't awful - Bale, Aubameyang, Sanchez, Vidal, etc. Could've been worse if Messi hadn't Mike Jordan'd them. 

Turns out there are now new evidences. There are videos showing that Falcao and Colombia players went to talk to Peru players to convince them that a draw is good for both teams.

Venezuela's coach has also claimed that Paraguay tried to get girls to seduce him the night before the match.

USArsenal wrote:

Asterix wrote:

No, I meant we don't want to play the USA. And now we won't have to. 

It will be a bit weird not having the USA and Chile at the World Cup.

Honduras will be a stern test for the Aussies. Scoring 3 against Mexico is no mean feat. 

i know what you meant..  heh..   though, given the state of the US team, you probably should've wished to play them instead of Honduras

Haha, yes fair enough. Although knowing our luck we'd get the US team that beat Panama 4-0, not the T&T version. 

The Aussie press here is having fun with the fact that our game against Honduras is in San Pedro Sula, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world. You'd never imagine that the media might get all sensational, but there you go.

You making the trip Asterix?

Haha - I did suggest that to some mates. They weren't keen.

The second leg is in Sydney - I'll be at that for sure.

Lol just seen the Panama "goal." What happened to goal line technology? Wasn't even close to touching the line let alone being over. About a yard short.

Should've been a penalty anyways. He was about to kick it in when his right leg was impeded by the costa rican player.

Basically the ref awarded a penalty goal like a penalty try in rugby.

arsedoc md wrote:

Should've been a penalty anyways. He was about to kick it in when his right leg was impeded by the costa rican player.

Yes, was easily a pen...  but it was also easily not a goal.  How they called it a goal is beyond me.  It wasnt even remotely close to going over the line. 

So many bodies around the ball they prolly mistook someone's head for the ball across the line

USArsenal wrote:

arsedoc md wrote:

Should've been a penalty anyways. He was about to kick it in when his right leg was impeded by the costa rican player.

Yes, was easily a pen...  but it was also easily not a goal.  How they called it a goal is beyond me.  It wasnt even remotely close to going over the line. 

There's actually a rule for penalty goals now. Ref coulda judged the guy stopped the ball going over the line with his arm.

Thing is that is also a red card offence.

European Play-Off Draw:
Northern Ireland - Switzerland
Croatia - Greece
Denmark - Republic of Ireland
Sweden - Italy

Happy with that.

Happy with that too. Denmark are slight favourites for me.