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WCAD 3-13: June WCQ Madness Marathon Recap
75 Plays1 year ago
Austin and Amit run through all the madness from June's World Cup Qualifying action, which featured plenty of stakes. First, the guys place the African Groups into tiers, with special mentions for Sudan and Jordan Ayew plus renewed confusion over Nigeria's Group C, then they recap some bad football good drama action in Asia (pour one out for Thailand *and* India) while renewing their disdain for China, before closing with a quick look around CONCACAF, including how US visa policy is negatively affecting Cayman Islands' World Cup dreams (no, seriously).
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Transcript
The Thrill of High-Stakes Football
00:00:01
Speaker
It doesn't take very long watching football to realize that what makes football great are the stakes. You can put the best players out on the pitch, you can put the best teams out on the pitch, but if there's nothing to play for, it's not all that interesting. However, you could also put some not so very good players and some not so very good teams out on the pitch, but if there's something to play for, it is interesting. And that's what we had over the past five days of World Cup Qualifying. This is the World Cup After Dark podcast. My name is Austin Miller. In a second, I will bring in my co-host, Amit Malek. But Amit, over the last five days, we've seen, by my count, 118 nations participate in World Cup Qualifying.
00:00:48
Speaker
That got cut because we said goodbye to 18 Asian teams at the end of this World Cup qualifying. But of those 118 teams, I think we can probably count on one hand the number of teams who feel legitimately confident that they will cruise to a World Cup spot. So because of that, you have stakes in all of these matches because there are teams that feel like they should be going to the World Cup.
World Cup Qualifying Insights
00:01:12
Speaker
There are teams that figure they probably have no chance of going to the World Cup, but a good qualification cycle would be good. And so that's what we have here. We're going to break it all down on today's episode. i mean Did you enjoy the past few days of World Cup qualifying?
00:01:26
Speaker
Of course, it was lovely to see some very, very awesome atmospheres, because the stakes are real for these countries. um Just full-on madness, some really great games, um some good soccer, a lot of bad soccer, a lot of fun soccer. And that's what makes World Cup After Dark so good. ah You just don't know what's going to happen, and we did get just some some real madness, that's the whole point. um Yeah, full on enjoyed. People sometimes get this wrong about me. Whether it's with the people I work with, whether it's the people that I spend my time with, people think of me that I like bad football.
00:02:07
Speaker
I don't like bad football, but I watch it because it can mean something. Because at the end of all of that bad football, there's something on the line because I'm a big believer in this whole like idea of this great footballing story that is the World Cup that starts from the very start and goes all the way through. I watch because somehow I feel more fulfilled when I get to France, you know, when I get to the Euro semifinal of the World Cup, that's all these four European teams. But I feel like I participated in the story from the start.
Challenges and Expectations in World Cup Qualifying
00:02:36
Speaker
So, no, I didn't particularly enjoy the football because it was the football, but I enjoyed it because of what was on the line. Does that make sense? Of course, the stakes are everything. And that's why we do our part podcast is World Cup After Dark, because this is the the the start of the World Cup process and you can't beat those stakes.
00:02:56
Speaker
um you know So many teams take it for granted that they show up in the World Cup every year. And it's you know it's expected, but it's not. It's very hard to do. And yes, there's there's more teams now. But that's the beauty of international football.
The Globalization Effect on Football
00:03:10
Speaker
These are entire countries sporting lifebloods on the line. And you just yeah the scenes are are are a little different. And you know you watch we we all watch a lot of soccer. If you listen to this podcast, you watch soccer. yeah yeah You get scenes, but you have to earn them, like the the real moments of triumph and agony. And I think that's what's fun is here we are in middle of June in 2024, and you're getting those
Unpredictability in CAF World Cup Qualifiers
00:03:36
Speaker
moments. I mean, if you're listening to this podcast, you know why that that it matters. But you know, it's a little different. like
00:03:43
Speaker
And this is a ah bigger side thing with with world football, but you can't manufacture the stakes. yeah They try. They're trying to to give us more fixtures, more trophies, more stakes. And at the end of the day, they' they've done that to the World Cup process, too. They have. But that's the you know that's still what matters, is that these are teams trying to get farther than they ever have, trying to make their first World Cup, trying to fix years of history gone wrong. They have a lot of pride in the line. And there are more, we'll say this over and over again on every World Cup qualifying podcast that we do, there are more talented teams in World Soccer than ever.
00:04:23
Speaker
that the level of play is higher. And we're not saying it's good everywhere. We're not saying it's good. But there are more than ever. So like it's just it just the globalization of the game gives us this beautiful qualifying process. um Beautiful sometimes in good ways, and beautiful in bad ways. But this is what's fun about it. And I think this is obviously the World Cup qualifying process that began with the most amount of teams believing they had a realistic shot to make the World Cup. And that's for two reasons. One, because there's simply more spots at the World Cup. That really helps. And also because, as you said, the level of football globally, particularly of international football, is at a higher level than it has ever been before.
CAF Teams: Strengths and Challenges
00:05:01
Speaker
So let's get right into it. Here's what we're gonna do on today's show. We're going to break down as much of the action as we can that we saw in the student international window. We're gonna talk calf qualifying,
00:05:10
Speaker
We're going to talk Asian qualifying. We're going to touch on CONC and CAF qualifying. Let's start a bit with what I think is quickly becoming our favorite World Cup qualifying process. And that is CAF World Cup qualifying. Because in Africa, I don't know. I don't know what it is about this qualification process. Actually, I do know what it is. It's that nobody is good and generally nobody is bad. And so what does that mean? That means you throw anybody out on the pitch and anything can happen. And that's what we saw in this window. 100%. There are just so many good teams. There's a few really good teams, but not enough that ah anything is given.
00:05:45
Speaker
and there's very few very bad teams. You said it perfectly, and then you also get you know these incredible home atmospheres, these really tough pitches, really hot weather, and you just throw it you know throw all your preconceptions out the window, and it just leads to really fun back and forth games, and where ah both teams in almost any given game ah can talk themselves into going for it, and that leads to explosive results for us. You like tiers? You want to do some tiers? We're a big tier pod. We love the tiers. We love the tiers. It's just, I don't like rankings. Rankings are dumb because rankings, you nip it. Tiers are good. You just put things into tiers and everybody can be with them. So here's what we're going to do with it. We are going to put the African qualification, the nine African qualification groups into tiers today. And what we're going to do that is we're going to use that as a way to organize these groups into the ones that are similar and kind of what's happening, the other storylines and all that. So let's, does that sound good to you, tiers? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:42
Speaker
Tier them up. All right, so let's start with tier number one. And this tier is the tier that we are pretty confident we know what's coming. I think there's two groups in this tier. Group A and Group E. Let's start with Group A. Egypt, Amit, are four points clear. ah They had a road draw with Guillain-Avicel, which is probably fine. Burkina Faso, who were the team that on paper should be the challenger to Egypt for first place in this group, blew a two goal home lead against Sierra Leone to drop points, which is decidedly not fine. egypt to bit They're not going to wow you, but they have attacking players, Trezegate, Mo Salah, high level attacking players who make your mistakes, cost you as an opposition, and they have a defense that is good enough that they generally don't make a ton of mistakes. Add all of that up, throw in what is generally a pretty weak group, and it's hard to see Egypt getting beat for first place here. Agreed, and I kind of was feeling that before this window, and I think
00:07:37
Speaker
what they did was enough. um Again, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, solid teams. I think in other regions, they would be um fringe, bubbly teams for the World Cup, but CAF is too good. And it's a ah tough process in that you have to finish first in your group to get that spot. And Egypt, I don't think either of us think are particularly as good as the best teams here, but They have, you know, we, we said like they're veterans of the process. They don't be themselves. They're very solid. And you know, we were just kind of saying that, but it's really borne itself out in, um, so far through the games that have been played. And is it impossible for Guinea Bissau to catch them down four points, six games to play?
00:08:24
Speaker
No, but the way Egypt plays, they just don't ah make a lot of mistakes. And everyone else in CAF does. um And they did this without a full strength Mo Salah too, like yeah which is, you know of course, he's their tallest man and their best player heading to 26. And they just they they really grind it down. They really get the job done. um It's been well done by them, and I do agree with you. now I'm not expecting drama the rest of the way. Yeah. you and i traded so We traded a lot of tax over the past five days. We could just publish our tax chain as ah as ah as an article for for the patrons, I think. um One of the texts we traded was, CAF qualifying is about two things.
00:09:03
Speaker
One, making other teams' mistakes pay, and two, not making mistakes yourself so that other teams can't make you pay, right? Calf qualifying is about pouncing on mistakes and not making mistakes. Egypt are perfectly designed for that aspect of calf qualifying. They are defensively stable enough that they don't make a ton of mistakes, and they have high-level attacking players that pounce on the mistakes that you make. That is the type of combination that generally does you well. The other group in this tier of it is the group that features the only team that has yet to drop points in CAF qualifying. That's Morocco, who are three points clear with three games played. ah There's nobody in this group actually plays it. So this is the weirdest group. This is a group that saw Eritrea drop out before qualifying started.
00:09:49
Speaker
leaving them with a team less. Then in this window, Congo simply refused to play Niger. They were scheduled to play at a neutral site in D.R. Congo, which is right across the river from Congo. And Congo Stadium apparently then passed inspection, so they wanted to move the match. And there was this controversy whether Niger would would ah acquiesce to moving the match or not. In the end, Niger didn't show up. Congo said we're not playing and so this match got officially postponed but is most likely going to end up in three points for Niger who actually didn't end up playing it past this window because they were also supposed to play Eritrea who dropped out. Regardless, Morocco smashed Congo 6-0. They also beat Zambia in this window. Zambia should have been the team that challenged Morocco but they lost to Morocco. There's no shame in that. And then they lost at home to Tanzania. There's probably some shame in that.
00:10:38
Speaker
Morocco didn't have a great AFCON emit, but they are good and this group is not very good and they should qualify easily. Yeah, they're probably the best team currently in Africa. You know, you could make your cases for Senegal or Ivory Coast to just one AFCON, but um this format allows them to shine where it's not a one-off knockout match where they lost. They're just too much talent and yeah in CAF, you know, it's it Qualifying is tough, can be tough with the fields, can be tough with the physicality. And Morocco are not like an overly physical team, like what you think of maybe when you you think of the type of soccer being played yeah in these matches. They're just so technically skilled. They're so good at passing. And you know you play a good team, and your approach is to sit back and muck it up and defend. And they've seen that enough times, and they're just so good at slicing and dicing through it, is pretty textbook attacking soccer.
00:11:35
Speaker
um really impressive they just they keep proving it um yeah they were handed an easy group and yeah they didn't have a great second place team Zambia not really ah compared to the other second place teams we're showing in calf they got a good draw and credit to them this has been light work so and let me just they're gonna be the best African team at 26 I'm pretty sure of it yeah let me just say this right Congo who are in this group are one of the practically a million calf teams who are fine. They've got okay players. like They've talent. Yeah. Like there's decent players in here to lose six, like six, no results simply don't happen in calf. Unless you're playing an Island. Like if if if the nation is, if the nation is part of Africa in itself,
00:12:19
Speaker
or unless it's maybe Somalia, six new results just simply don't happen in this confederation. So for Morocco to take Congo and just absolutely smash them six note, that's a really impressive result. um We know what's gonna happen in this group. i don't I don't think we need to spend a whole lot of time. The second tier here, Amit, is the we think we know what's coming, but these are groups where the team going into qualification that was favored is still favored, but there are various reasons to doubt. Let's start in group D, where Cameroon have dropped points twice. They have coaching controversy where Samuel Etto, who was the president of the Federation, was against the hiring of of their Belgian coach, Mark
00:13:00
Speaker
Breast, I believe, is his name. And then pulled back on that. It was this whole complicated thing where Samuel Edso wanted to hire Cameron's coach, and then the Cameron National Sporting Federation wanted to hire their coach. Mark Breast is his name. And Mark Breast was named coach, and then Samuel Edso said he's not coach, and then Samuel Edso said he is coach. I don't know, it's this whole deal. Anyway, they reacted to that by absolutely smashing the pot two team in their group, Cape Verde 4-1. Then they were fine, and in a way, draw in a difficult atmosphere against Angola. The team's chasing Cameroon. Libya, Cape Verde, and Angola are all one or two points back. But admit, I don't think you can trust any of them. It feels like they're just going to keep picking off points against each other while Cameroon stays a step ahead. Yeah, that's the best way to describe it. I was hopeful for Cape Verde. I really liked them. You know, obviously they have a ah former union player.
00:13:49
Speaker
Jamira Montero. They actually are very solid. um And it's just a little too murky um behind Cameroon, where if they were a clear second, they could push Cameroon. But everyone's dropping points. It's close. But I do i was really impressed with Angola. that They were a team I had not you know kind of penciled in as a solid team at all. And they speak to this growing calf, middle class. like they're just They're just solid. and it was ah It was a tight game um versus Cameroon. Really tough. And I think if they wanted to do more, they probably needed ah the result there. um So it's hard to say with one point of separation that it's for sure going to be Cameroon by the time this is all said and done. I think your assessment of it is right. I think this this could be dramatic to the final final set of match days. Cameroon aren't so good.
00:14:44
Speaker
but I don't have a lot of faith in Libya to to keep this up. I honestly have more faith in Angola than Cape Verde at this point. I know they're six in Cape Verde seven, but I just have, having watched them, I think they're a little more suited to the style of calf qualifying. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, let's see. So the issue, the issue for Angola is that on the second match day, they they went to Mauritius and they drew no nail. It's like, you probably got to win at Mauritius. Um, they play Cameroon on the final match day in October. You can talk me into a scenario in which Angola go into that match where if they win, they can go to the world cup, but you're still going to back Cameroon in that situation. So that's the thing with this group. Like, yeah, you can talk yourself into a number of different stairs, but at the end of the day, came know that
00:15:30
Speaker
Cameron have stumbled already and they're just gonna kind of keep ironing it out. Let's see, they're not the youngest squad. um yeah you know What happens over the course of this window, some of their best players, maybe you know things fall off at their club situations. um I don't know. Also, just the Federation turmoil that always seems to come with Cameroon could rear its ugly head. You never know. But at the end of the day, this group is in this tier for a reason, and I think it's right. Another group here, Group F. Ivory Coast, the African champions, they're only a point up on Gabon, but they beat them head to head. I know they'll draw away against Kenya is not great, but these are the type of things that happen in CAF qualified.
00:16:10
Speaker
Gabon and the team chasing, they got a crazy 3-2 win against the Gambia to close out action on this match day. That match was delayed at one point for a power outage. The stream just kind of pooped out and then it came back and was like, oh, it's not over yet. ah So a 3-2 win for Gabon. Pierre-Emerick Gavamier also like tried to fight the entire, the Gambia squad at some point. ah But at the end of the day, are Gabon really going to not only keep pace with Ivory Coast of it, but also pass them? It doesn't feel super likely. Yeah, I have more confidence in the last group we talked about in one of those teams pushing Cameroon to the final day. I'm with you here. I think Ivory Coast are too good. um And I don't think Gabon is consistent and actually good enough to keep this up. um I mean, yeah, it's been great to have nine points to be a point back, but I see the separation just just widening.
00:17:03
Speaker
um They also lost head to head, right? Like the yeah so they're just against the eight ball. It's it's going to be tough. And, you know, I think we both like Ivory Coast. I think they're better than Cameroon. I think they're better than Egypt. I think there is a real case for them for the second or third best team. maybe the second best team in Africa. ah They won AFCON. And it was funny so funny, before this whole window, we were like, well, they they crashed out of the last window. They're not legit. But I think they've kind of answered those questions. And it starts by being very so ah solid defensively, um which has helped them. And again, to the Egypt point, to the teams that handled this qualification well, do not beat yourself. And we're going to talk about a lot of
00:17:47
Speaker
Oh, they haven't conceded yet. Yeah. So like see four games, no goals. Yeah. And like, that's how you approach these things. It's what gets you through. And there are a lot of teams that are good on talent that give up silly, silly goals that we're going to talk about um in a second in the more chaotic groups. There's a reason Ivory Coast isn't there. They're just, they've done the right things. I have confidence this will not be closed by match the last match day. The one thing working in Gabon's favor here is they have yet to play Seychelles who are one of the few very bad teams in Africa. So that's six points that they can bank on when Ivory Coast only has three from that matchup. That works in their favor. But again, at the end of the day, I think you favor Ivory Coast and the point that we made here. If you don't concede in Africa, good results are generally going to come and that's what they've been able to do.
00:18:33
Speaker
All right, the last, well another group in this tier is one that I actually had some question about when I was throwing this together. This is group G. I'll see what you think. Algeria are the team who topped this group. They lost at home to Amit's favorite Guinea hype train, but then they rallied for a very crucial win at Uganda. While they were rallying for that win at Uganda, Amit, your beloved Guinea hype train was derailed by a late penalty against Mozambique. Mozambique are actually level with Algeria on nine points. They did lose head to head. and they are also Mozambique. Botswana and Uganda have six points behind those two teams on nine points, but to me, this feels like a group where everybody's gonna beat Somalia, and then everybody's gonna beat up on each other, and Algeria, much like some of the other teams like Cameroon, are going to finish just ahead of that fray. But they might sweat a little.
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, I still believe in Knave, but- Yeah, baby, yeah. Stay on the high tree. I'm going to stay with them. i just I'm not so not convinced by Algeria. ah like they ah you uganda had Uganda had them on the ropes. If anything, like Uganda has been so impressive. ah But it's tough because of again the format of this that can one team out of these four push Algeria over the full course of the window. Will Algeria have the most quality in the end?
00:20:01
Speaker
probably I mean you said could this maybe be your tier lower and I think I'd be with you there um even more so like I know I said Cameron could may be interesting into the final day but at the end of the day I'm with you I think everyone will be fine this one I am more than the other two I really I like an A I like Uganda but but It's just tough for them all to scrap against each other. We'll see. I mean, get a man the hype train was going so well. They derail themselves. ah Let's let's keep it. Let's keep our eyes out. I don't want to ignore Mozambique and Botswana. I i just don't think they're as good as Ghana, but like.
00:20:38
Speaker
I mean, right there, you've got five teams in a group like that. That's ah that's messy. yeah So five of the six teams in this group have won twice. That's pretty impressive that five to 16 also speaks to how bad Smolley are. um Yeah, i I would have been completely out on Algeria, but I think the two one rallied result away against Uganda as a big result. That was a fantastic atmosphere. That was a tough pitch. It was a tough game. everything was built for this to have gone disaster for Algeria. They had lost against Guinea, they were down at halftime against Uganda, and they responded. They came out of halftime and they said, all right, no more mucking around, no more doubts, and within 15 minutes they were 2-1 up. I don't think Algeria are that great, but I think they have the type of quality and there's not quite enough quality in the other team of this group that I feel confident about Algeria, but I don't think I'm ready to take it all the way to the bank yet. Let's see.
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah, I'm with you. They're technically more skilled than everyone in this group. yep um they They kind of lack the physicality of G'day and Uganda, who are just like a little faster than them. When Algeria have the ball, it's humming, they're passing well, and we know that about them. If they clean up their defense, they'll be fine, but they're just, they're old and slow. Like they're susceptible to getting hit out on the counter by these teams with, you know, strong forwards, physically strong, fast forwards. And then also you play in a bad field, you slow down the passing game a little bit. yeah It can all work against them. I'm, I'm, I'm less believing in Algira than you, but my, my high hopes for heading into this group have taken a hit. You want, you want your good news on the G'day hype train here?
00:22:26
Speaker
Let's hear it. They got Somalia coming up. Haven't played Somalia yet. They still got six points to bank against Somalia. There we go. You'll notice a theme here in CAF Qualified. The team who has not played the bottom team has a little bit extra hope. Alright, the last group in this tier, Amit, is Group H, which would have been decidedly more fun if Emilio Sui was actually at l eligible to play for Equatorial Guedet. We covered this on the insert on the CAF preview podcast that we did. Equatorial Guedet docked six points because apparently this whole time Emilio and Sui was not eligible to play for them.
00:22:58
Speaker
Did he play 11 years for them? Yes. Was he AFKON top scorer? Also, yes. Was he eligible at any point during that period? Apparently not. Only only in CAF could these beautiful stories happen. What a shame. I mean, they're they were fun. they really No, legitimately were fun. And it's ah it doesn't cheapen the fun we had, but it removes the fun we could have had. And so what that has done is that has really opened up the path for Tunisia City, which I'm calling them because of their Stoke City similarities. Tunisia immense scored one goal in this window. It was a penalty. They collected four points. Namibia, Liberia and Malawi are all various degrees of hanging around because of those gifted points they got from the Equatorial Guinea results. But I mean, are you really going to trust anybody in this group to not just keep pace with Tunisia, but also pass them?
00:23:52
Speaker
ah I don't. they these These teams aren't good enough. Maybe Liberia, Malawi, they just, it's... I have them much more comfortably like I do Ivory Coast and not because Tunisia is particularly good. I think you pejoratively and liken them to Stoke City well, but it's just the other teams aren't good enough. They also haven't conceded. They're in the Ivory Coast group. They haven't conceded. It's not even because they like have such a great defense. They truly play like, suffer ball, like really defensive, regressive stuff. and
00:24:24
Speaker
and hey to their credit, you know, every team could try to do it. They at least have the personnel to do that um well-managed. So it's a little underwhelming but ah for us. But I mean, listen, yeah you you have this group, the second best team in your group loses its best player. You get to go to a World Cup if you play your cards right. Take advantage. That's yup that's under it to them. So similar to Egypt, I think even a little worse than Egypt, but like that's the beauty of this format. Like you're better than five other teams over 10 games. Doesn't matter how you do it. Yeah.
00:25:02
Speaker
And when, again, your biggest challenger is docked six points, that's a big help as well. That really helps. Look, you have your administrative papers in order. That also helps, apparently. All right, let's move down a tier now to tier three. This tier is, the things are getting interesting, but you probably still back the favorites. Let's start here in group B. I mean, when we previewed this window of CAV qualifying, we picked out a couple of teams that we said were teams that had opportunities. Sudan was one of those teams and and mean they took it with their two hands. Two very solid multi-goal true away wins, which is not easy in CAF against Mauritania and South Sudan. They lead group B on 10 points. Senegal, who are the pop one team in this group, are probably still favored here. They are in second place on eight points, gave up a late goal to draw it with the arcango,
00:25:53
Speaker
survived a trip to Mauritania for a 1-0 win. DR Congo are three back of Sudan after they had a four-point window. Sudan hosts Senegal in air quotes that will not be played in Sudan when action resumes in March. That is the pressure point in this group, I think, Amit. If Sudan can get something from that Senegal match, even if it's just a point, especially if it's three points, then it kind of feels like game on. Yeah, it's going to come down to that match. And wow, I've been really impressed by Sudan. um You know, I was watching Sudan, Mauritania, and thinking Mauritania was going to kind of play the ball and do their thing. And Sudan have shown that they understand how to play this their style very well. They know their identity very well. They sit back. They defend deep.
00:26:37
Speaker
They play long balls, they run at you, and they press you decently. They're very athletic. um And they don't make mistakes. They don't try to do more than they are. um And I think on talent, you know, DR Congo are decently better than them. I'm not going to say like miles ahead, but decently, but deer Congo like are not all that solid in the back. um Their talents kind of up front and Senegal is an interesting one. They're obviously the second or third best team in Africa, but this is this is going to take some doing and you know their best players are in Saudi Arabia. They still have they still have a lot of talent and I think I'm with you like they should be fine, but
00:27:20
Speaker
This is the magic of of calf of calf qualifying a World Cup qualifying. How long can you keep this going? You know, before the window, ah what what what would you think the odds would have been on Sudan getting out of this group? They would have been very long. They would have been. And it doesn't matter numbers wise, you wouldn't have even you wouldn't have even considered it. But it's one of those things that, OK, we're four games in. Now every game is your Champions League final. Every game is your World Cup final. It is attention to detail. It is the focus. And you watch them play. They're not making mistakes. Can they hold that up? Listen, the pressure gets to most teams. we It does. but um they they like you know think Think of how important this is now. so
00:28:04
Speaker
um I'm really intrigued. I'm really intrigued. Go ahead. Banking 10 points is also going to help them for a potential spot as a second place team, right? The more points you pick up, even if at the end of the day, setting all ends up passing you, maybe there's a spot in a, in a playoff to try and get. It's not the way you want to get to the World Cup. It's going to be hard. It's going to be long. But the more points you pick up, the more opportunity they give themselves. And look, they're deserving of their spot in this tier because they have taken care of business so far, and they still have two head-to-head direct games against Senegal, which probably favors Senegal. But you pick up a point, you you you stay in front of Senegal for as long as possible. Next thing you know, there's pressure on Senegal. So, credit to them. I don't think they can keep it up, but they deserve to plot it so far.
00:28:48
Speaker
I agree with you. I also don't think I keep it up, but I've been very impressed. I think to me, like one of the most pleasant surprises of the window of the of the whole thing so far. um Let's see, Senegal is, yeah they they should be good enough here. And you know, I'm a little disappointed in DR Congo, but at the end of the day, this was, um i at best I thought they could finish second anyway, so. Yeah, and DR Congo are still right there, right? They've got Senegal.
00:29:16
Speaker
ah oh an important win somewhere away from being back in it too. Yep, for sure. The other group in this tier, Amit, is group I. Also I for Jordan Iu. See what I did there? You like that one? That was bad. ah Game of the Window, Ghana IV, Central African Republic III. Jordan Iu and Luis Mafuta trade hat tricks. Ghana scored three times in 10 minutes to break the game open, and their very bad defense survived late. ah That coupled with Jordan Iu's late winner ah away against Malley.
00:29:50
Speaker
Feels like the tide is turning here. Ghana also have yet to play Chad, who are popping up this group. Jordan Ayu, man, you still got it. I mean, a really crucial, crucial hat trick in his career. I believe his first for Ghana. um And, you know, he's a very, very accomplished player, seriously, for them, has been at their World Cups. It's just hilarious, like again, the story of World Cup qualifying. This is a guy who's in the twilight of his career, and he's still, like his class can be coming through to like get it done against the Central African Republic when his country needed it.
00:30:27
Speaker
you know that's what makes your country legends your country legends like yeah it's not that you know of course he's had his big moments and then he's been to a world cup and he's done all these things for his club but like that's a seminal like career moment for him doing that um Yeah, i was I was really sad about Molly. I really wanted them. I really liked their team. I thought they were a really great project in West Africa, kind of a good development story ahead of schedule. They had a real chance in this group to push i Ghana, and they blew ah they blew a lead against Ghana. And it's not to say they can't do it, but um
00:31:04
Speaker
i do believe ghana will be fine and let's say say a little for madagas guard tough place to say yeah so so let's let's round up the the rest of this group here komaros lost at badagascar in south africa but igacar love themselves in empty south african stadium then commaros took care of business against chad they're on nine points they actually do top the group it's only on goldenferial and again as I mentioned ghana had yet to play chad they'll do believe Ghana will blew that lead against Ghana. And as you said, as I just said, they failed to score the 70 minutes against Madagascar. They are four points back of Ghana and two teams in between them if you throw Comoros in there. That's tough. Credit to Madagascar and Comoros. They're making this interesting. But it does really feel like Ghana turned the tide with this window in which they come out of this with six points, all of them coming from difficult situations in which they were behind. Yeah. And credit to Ghana. they
00:32:13
Speaker
can't really defend. They're a bad defense. Um, they're still a great team on talent because they have a great attack. I mean, we all, we haven't said his name yet, but Muhammad kudos is amazing. And he was behind some of the goals here. And so is, you know, the Jordan, I, you, as we said, turning back the clock, they know we cannot win by holding on. So we're just going to go, go, go attack, attack, attack. and The leaning into that identity rescued lots of points in this window, and that is their solution going forward. Are they ultimately a very good team? No, but
00:32:52
Speaker
They have been helped by attacking more than Molly, certainly, who are much more of a defensive midfield based team. And I think Ghana has been really, really helped out by Comoros, by Madagascar, um and Molly's inability to score. And Ghana saying, listen, it doesn't matter if we can't defend. We can score more than you. yeah Again, it doesn't matter how you do it. Play to your team's strengths. They've done that. I think they'll be fine. um Really crucial. turning point type of window, like save your spot in the World Cup type of stuff. Jobs not done six games to go, but like imagine what we would be saying if it if they didn't get that, if they lose the CER, they lose the Mali, like, yeah or get a point at those games. This is full fire alarm for Ghana, a country that's desperate. So um real real credit to like, that's that's what it's really hard. I think it was really hard to do because I don't think they're that good, but they they got it done.
00:33:49
Speaker
Yeah, ah the answer to your question of it is we would have put them in the next group, which is tier four, which is just the sickos meme. The yes, yes, that's Group C, baby. Coming into this window a bit, you and I, we said, all right, we're probably gonna get some clarity in Group C. Things are gonna get clearer, we're gonna figure out what's happening here. Oh, baby, you thought wrong. All right, here's Group C in a nutshell, and then we'll get into all this. Nigeria, the presumed favorites here, drew at home with South Africa, then blew a lead away against Benin. They are now on they're now four points off the top of the group with four teams in front of them They also have zero wins rut row South Africa backed up that good point against Nigeria with a 3-1 home win over Zimbabwe that featured two goals in the first 100 seconds one from each side then South Africa really took over the match and pumps in Bob in the second half and Benin, meanwhile, bagged themselves six points. A griny 1-0 win against Rwanda, and then that Nigeria win. Rwanda are the team that actually topped this group after a 1-0 away win against Lesotho, who had actually beaten Zimbabwe away from home in South Africa. This is gonna be stupid fun until the end, right? South Africa probably favorites?
00:34:58
Speaker
I'd be really interested to see some like betting market numbers, if they exist, whether or not they exist. um I think Benin's pretty good. And at the end of the day, despite the points, like if you whatever if if there is a betting market or not, like if you're using a player-based model, Nigeria would still be favored in my opinion. Their attacking talent is so good. Their defensive talent isn't bad on paper. But man, they're so bad at playing a normal game. They can't get out of their own way. Like, what is wrong with them?
00:35:37
Speaker
Yeah, this was exactly what Nigeria did not need. They were bad in the first two matches that had a really good African combinations. All right. They made the final Afghan. I don't just do what you did at Afghan and you'll be fine. And there didn't add a mola look him in their left winger, literally just single handedly won the Europa League final for Atlanta. You watch a play for Nigeria. He's not the problem. He just cooks everyone the entire time. Their striker has had a good goal, but like isn't that good? I just... I don't believe it when I see Nigeria are done and dusted.
00:36:14
Speaker
um ah South Africa, like, they play so well together, really a team of no high end talent. Everyone is playing in South Africa, but they're just really well, you know, they get points. And I think South Africa knows how to play Nigeria specifically that match up very well, um which is leading here to their position. I mean, if you want to say if we want to say South Africa is the favorites on odds, I'm with you, I I just struggle to see Nigeria getting it, but that's my brain being like, they're the best team. Just give them 10 games, they'll figure it out. But they might've had four and they haven't, right? And that's the problem. Yeah, no, this is the full-on fire alarm. So this is really going to be really fun, really fun to see. They're going to need a window or two of backs against the wall gut check. Can we not get in our own way? That should have been this window, but they still have time. I'm not going to write them off yet,
00:37:09
Speaker
but Yeah, I mean, let's see if South Africa can do it. there They're not bad. and They're clearly not good. um They'd be, I think, the worst team to win a group here, um other than Sudan, who we don't think will do it. I think of a team that plausibly no offense to the any of the second place teams, especially Sudan. But like South Africa would be the worst team to win a group. They're worse than Tunisia, worse than Egypt. but like They use while you play the game. They got a head start. Yeah, right. And now, go ahead, go ahead. Yeah, the thing about this group of it is it's just a mess because everybody's taking points off everybody. And so you're looking at a team that tops this group on seven points in Rwanda, right, who have scored three goals and given up one. That type of performance, if you keep that up, if Nigeria don't get their act together, you're like, who knows what's going to happen here? Like, yes, Nigeria probably have enough time to rescue this, but they have to start now.
00:38:06
Speaker
South Africa probably have enough to get this over the line, but they can't slip up. All these other teams can also look at this group and be like, we've put together six consistent matches, you never know what can happen. This group is fun, I love this group, every match of this group is is entertaining, and it's just it's just stupid, and it's fun, and then that's what qualifying's supposed to be, so it's good. All right, anything else you wanna touch on before Africa, as we move on here to Asia a bit? No, I mean these, it's going to be a while before we get to see these teams in action again. Yeah. but um Really, really fun stuff. um every time And they know, they they they know what the stakes are, as you said leading up with that.
00:38:47
Speaker
i think Both of us have been drawn to this window for obvious reasons. yeah But it really is the best qualification out of all of them. We'll see. We'll see whenever Euro happens. It's honestly got some of the same similar fun things leading to chaos. But this is the good chaos here in our area. So that's fun. All right, let's move on to Asia a bit. And the way that we're going to do Asia here is we're going to go group by group lightning round and we're going to go in alphabetical order because that allows us to start with what I think was one of the most interesting groups and and hit another interest. the The interesting groups all happen early on in the alphabet is my point. So we're going to go group by group lightning round in Asia. Again, what we saw here in Asia was the end of the second round. So we cut from 36 Asian teams to 18.
00:39:30
Speaker
Half the field was sent away. Eighteen teams advance to the third round. ah Programming, you know, that third round draw will happen at the end of this month. That will be key because the third round is where we start handing out World Cup tickets. We'll have full reaction to that at some point before the third round actually starts. So we're not going to focus too much on looking ahead here, at least for the teams that are good in Asia and have already gone through. So group by group lightning round here in Asia a bit. Let's start with group A. Frowny face for India, sad face for Afghanistan, meh face for Kuwait. Qatar, who are the best team in this group, sent a rotated side and that kind of threw this group into chaos. Because that side drew Neil Mill with Afghanistan, while at the same time, Sunil Chetri, the Indian footballing legend,
00:40:13
Speaker
final home match final match ended in a 0-0 draw with Kuwait. That led to a wacko final day with two games happening at the same time. India took the lead against that rotated katara tide, but then conceded a very questionable equalizer that we'll get on to in a minute. And then a banger that made it 2-1 to Qatar. While all that was happening, Afghanistan were doing what they could to hold on to Kuwait. Literally right after Qatar took the lead, which would have been a result that sent Afghanistan through with a draw. Afghanistan conceded a winner to Kuwait in the 83rd minute. Kuwait ended up going through second here. The draw moment was good. The teams were bad.
00:40:53
Speaker
I don't think Kuwait are going to do much of the second round. I'm not too excited to see them there. This was the quintessential bad teams, big stakes football. This was really, really fun. The final match day where we had India leading against Qatar by one and then Kuwait in Afghanistan tied. Like it doesn't get better than that in terms of like in the moment drama, like pure madness, what's going to happen? And you're like, do the teams know? Do they have instructions? like Imagine your favorite double darled action from the World Cup. Like it's that level of drama with significantly worse. Yeah. But then a bunch of really bad teams. And at the end of the day, yeah, Kuwait was the second best team here. They're not going to do anything the next round. But it really was hurtful for India. You know, a team that has a lot of pride and is trying to get better to kind of get
00:41:43
Speaker
ah jobed by the referees. The ball was really well over the line. Listen, if that goal doesn't go in, it's not to say that Qatar even rotated couldn't have still scored two. They they still could have. We don't know. So we can't say everything. We cannot. But it just hurts that I'm not going to sit here in good faith and say, man, we need to have DAR in the second round of Asian qualifying. I can't say that. I can't say that. At the same time, it stinks to get the call wrong. That's all. That's all I can say, truly.
00:42:22
Speaker
Bummer for India, but at the same time like was India better than Kuwait over this whole window? No, did they deserve it? No, does it suck? Yes um Congrats to Kuwait. I hope they Know I'm not not hope anything. They're not very good. But like they were better than India in Afghanistan. So, like, here's the thing that's frustrating for India. I mean, like, one, it's frustrating. they not very They should have scored more in the the first game in the window. That's what hurt them. They should have beaten Qatar head to head. They could have, or a Kuwait, excuse me. They should have beaten Kuwait head to head at their home match because they do that and then Kuwait's completely out of the picture. There's nothing Kuwait can do against Afghanistan. They picked up four points for the matches against Kuwait. That's a pretty good haul. The fact of the matter is they picked up one point against Afghanistan.
00:43:07
Speaker
And you have to do better than that. It's not going to cut it. Not going to cut it. You just have to. Afghanistan were vastly improved. This qualification cycle went on. um You could really tell the the the professionalism that they that they've brought in um to Afghanistan, the players playing outside of Afghanistan that they were able to bring in. They looked solid against Kuwait. I mean, yeah, they were like you know mostly one way, but it was not like a getting run off the pitch. the Professionalism is the right word. They very improved.
00:43:40
Speaker
Yeah, Ashley Westwood, a former man United cast off was all, he did the media rounds before this this qualification window. ah There was an athletic piece that was just like Ashley Westwood telling you how he's done so well with Afghanistan. But it deserves a lot of credit because this was a completely different level from what we saw from Afghanistan when they started this qualification cycle. um I think making the the Asian cup is a is a legitimate goal that they can achieve. And I think that would be a very, very good achievement. So we'll see Kuwait in the third round. Speaking of seeing a minute, that's not what we saw in Group B. Does it count if no one sees it? ah Syria and North Korea, as we mentioned in the preview pod, played a massive match to to kick off the slate here in Group B. Syria lost that match 1-0 with a 90-second-minute goal from Jeong Il-Gwon of North Korea. This match, as as as our our beloved patrons know, I am all over finding streams.
00:44:32
Speaker
trying to put these matches on so so our patrons can see them. We've got the World Cup Qualification Master spreadsheet, $3 Patreon dot.com slash WCAD for access to that. It really makes World Cup Qualifying a whole lot easier to follow. ah There was a stream of this match for seven minutes and then the Syrian FA was told by North Korea like, hey, you don't have the rights to do this apparently. So North Korea played two matches that nobody saw in this window. oh that win against against syria really put them in a good spot because syria went to japan and syria got smashed by japan they were three nil down within 21 minutes north korea themselves were two nil up on me and mar within 16 minutes that that uh rijo guk had a hat trick for north korea apparently in that win over me and mar um not allowing broadcast is smelly north korea is generally smelly as everybody knows they're through to the third round i don't really know what to expect the
00:45:24
Speaker
You never know what you're getting when North Korea show up, so we'll see. um I don't think they were super deserving of this. it's It's tough on Syria, who have had so many close calls, and now have probably missed their moment. Yeah, I don't have a lot to add. I would have loved to see it. like Yeah. make saw I hope we get to see North Korea in the next round. I hope they show up. They didn't play a few games, and they still got a got away. I mean, they they made it to the next round. so It's all a bit frustrating, but um listen, Syria had to beat North Korea and they didn't. No, they didn't even get a draw. They didn't even have to beat him. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, it's it's hard. It's really hard for Syria who are not bad as the Asian teams go, but
00:46:13
Speaker
Maybe North Korea isn't bad. um This was just, this was also, this was just a really tough draw for Syria, because as far as pot three teams are concerned, I think North Korea are as well ahead of the other teams, yeah but their FIFA ranking got tanked because they just didn't play throughout the entire pandemic, which like, were part of them. But so because of that, they were underrated for the draw and then got into it. So yeah, this was just an all around tough situation for Syria who were probably good enough to be going on to the next round, but didn't get it done. We'll see what we see from North Korea. I mean, like, the little bit I've seen from them, um I saw a little bit of their match against Syria, the first match that they played. Like, they're like every North Korean team ever. they're They're tactically solid. They are technically solid. They lack any sort of high-end talent. They lack any sort of high-end athleticism. But, like, they can make noise. I mean, they've qualified for World Cups before from this type of qualification cycle. and so
00:47:05
Speaker
Smaller segments when there were less teams. So we'll see what North Korea I I don't think you can write off North Korea as a threat in the third round Yeah, and hopefully we can see it. All right Group C of it This Asian qualified just did not hand us the results you were looking for here. Um, could I interest you in six more games of China? No, but we did get Thailand huffing and puffing to try to beat Singapore in the final day. This was fun. This was fantastic drama. This was fantastic drama. So on match day five, China were generally outplayed by Thailand, but they rescued a point in the 79th minute. That set up a very interesting situation on the last match day. These matches did not take place at the same time.
00:47:47
Speaker
cheer you China excuse me provided absolutely nothing for 90 minutes against South Korea. They lost 1-0. But that was a good enough result that made it so that Thailand, playing against the team that was bottom of this group Singapore, had to win by at least three goals or by two goals scoring four or more goals. Thailand huffed and puffed for 90 minutes here. They wasted a bunch of chances. At one point, they got pegged back to a one-room result after an incredible strike from Sirius from Singapore's Ixhan Fandi. And then the fun began when this match was 1-1 with a half an hour to go. Thailand continued to huff and puff, got it to 2-1 with an absolute banger tight angle goal. I had no idea. Like, if you they just do that, more is is what you wanted to say.
00:48:28
Speaker
That was poor a bit a Giviri for Thailand with that 2-1 goal Then they scored in the 86 minute to get to 3-1 and at that point of it They were in this really weird situation where they had to get the fourth goal But it didn't actually matter if they gave up a second goal because 4-1 and 4-2 were both results that got them through They wasted some really good chances where they could have gone through We're all sad because China are bad and we don't mean see any more of them, but we will The scenes really hurt for Thailand. It was in Thailand. The whole stadium was wheeling them on with every touch. They camera kept panning to the the bench, because they knew the stakes. They're like, one goal, one goal, we're good. And the and the final chance in the 94th minute, on the right foot, 13 yards out, fizzes it a foot wide of the left post. Just pure despondence. You could see everyone's face. like ah
00:49:22
Speaker
They thought they had it. And like look, like yeah would Thailand have done anything next round? No. Is China going to go do anything next round? Probably not. But like that was the hallmark moment for Thailand as a country to be like, look how far we've come. Not to be. Yeah. that Thailand needed like five to 10% more composure, skill, just everything in this match to get it done. yeah Singapore are a pretty bad team who can like ah at moments do some things. but Look, Thailand beat Singapore 3-1 when they played. This was probably a fair result.
00:49:54
Speaker
But oh, they were so close. And as you said, like, just so many chances that we're like, oh, you just should have done something different. You should have done something better. And they just didn't and do that or be China. It's it's there's ah there's multiple things you could point to. But when it gets those five margins, it hurts. Yeah. and Also, like don't lose to South Korea, 3-0. Look, what this literally came down to head-to-head points. They were one goal away from from changing the storyline here. Instead, i had I was ready. I was going to go in on China. we were just I was going to drop the bomb, and now I have to wait because we get to watch and stink it up for six more matches. China are bad. China are not good.
00:50:31
Speaker
They're just not good. They're just not engaged. like All of the like stakes and energy and passion that you see from elsewhere, you just don't see with China. They're just not any good. ah well Anyway, we'll we'll see what they do in in in round three. Those of it were really the three kind of intriguing groups where where stuff happened and and it was exciting. Let's run through quickly the rest of the groups just to to to wrap up what we saw in Asia. In the end, it was fairly easy for Kyrgyzstan. They drew with Malaysia at home in Bishkek with some of the worst TV directing we had the pleasure of witnessing in this World Cup window. Dude, don't, just, camera one. Just stay on camera one. The Kyrgyz Sport TV guy was like, oh, I had this camera that shows this weird angle in the box. Every time the ball goes in the box, I should cut to that and show you from there.
00:51:17
Speaker
Like, no, you shouldn't. You should just stick to camera one. Anyway, Malaysia drew that match 1-1, but they needed a whole ton of goals against Chinese Taipei, and they they didn't get anything close to that. Kyrgyzstan were, in the end, able to to draw pretty easily 1-1 with Oman, who had taken care of their business against Chinese Taipei. This was a good group. I mean, at the end of the day, it's Kyrgyzstan and Oman going through, and those are exactly the type of teams that we're gonna look out for in round three, because they are right on the line of keeping their World Cup hopes alive. They're right in that mix up. We're not good enough probably to qualify for the World Cup outright, but we can maybe advance to that fourth round and there's there's more on the line when we get there. Yeah, Malaysia was close. They didn't play badly. Yeah, Malaysia are fun. They needed a win. and you know For them to be that good ah for where they are as a country, like i just I was impressed by Malaysia, but yeah, credit to Kyrgyzstan, they just
00:52:13
Speaker
just did enough. And hey, hey that's that's how exactly how this works. That was yeah two really fun games between the two of them, Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia. Yep. Group B was decided before the window. That was the Iran, Uzbekistan group with also Turkmenistan in Hong Kong. Tough for Turkmenistan in Hong Kong, who drew twice in this group. Like, come on, guys. Like, work it out amongst yourselves. Get everybody a win. ah Iran and Uzbekistan also drew here in a match that did really matter. Group F, Amit, one of our round one friends got through. Indonesia get through in Group F. They lost to Iraq on match day five. Iraq might be good, good. They won six of six matches here.
00:52:49
Speaker
um While Vietnam and Philippines played a a wacky but ultimately fairly meaningless 3-2 game on matchday five, all five goals in that game came in the final half an hour, Indonesia then took care of business with a pretty solid 2-0 home win against the Philippines. This is a good result for Indonesia to advance from this group and make it to the next round, having started their path all the way back in round one. It's massive. It's type of stuff that changes your long-term trajectories Uh, for years, years. So, um, impressive. Didn't see it coming. I mean, I, I can't say that I was like thought Vietnam was especially good, but like that's being ahead of schedule is being better than a team like Vietnam. We pointed this out, right? Like we said, Indonesia are probably the round one team that are in the best position to have success. And they were Iraq. I mean, I think they're good. Yeah, I think so. nation team we We'll see. They, they,
00:53:43
Speaker
they should be able to handle the worst teams in the next round. We think, based on everything we've seen from them. I mean, it'll be fun to see if whoever they get drawn into, like the best team they get. If they can hold, I would put more stock into that result. But as process works, they don't need to beat that team yet. They just need to handle the other teams. And I think they should. Yep, and look, six wins from six while that was done by a number of teams here in Asia was pretty impressive. In group G, only one Asian Cup Dark Horse survives. It was Jordan who were fairly comfortable three-nil winners against Tajikistan. Not a terribly surprising result. You can only defend so much against talented teams like Jordan. Jordan then backed up that win against Tajikistan with a win against Saudi Arabia in a in a dead rubber. Jordan and Mitt are also one of those teams who are right in that Oman-Kirajikistan level of they're going to be right there fighting for a wall cup spot.
00:54:35
Speaker
Yeah, Tajikistan is a good ah team. ah We saw that at the Asian Cup, but Jordan are also a good team and a better team. We saw that at the Asian Cup. We saw that here. um Yeah, like you said, they're going to be in that really, like, this is our chance to get to a World Cup. A lot of pressure on them, I think, yeah in the next round. Really exciting team to watch. They can play. They can play with the ball. ah Very solid, well-organized, have attacking talent. um Impressive story of the window. I mean, finishing above Saudi Arabia in goal difference, that doesn't mean much, but it's nice. Like, yeah watch out. Yeah, it'll be a fun team to watch.
00:55:17
Speaker
Pakistan, one of two teams who did not pick up any points in this round, along with Chinese Taipei. Group H, Bahrain drew 0-0 with Yemen, which like sure, not a result I was terribly expecting, but that was enough to to put them through. Shout out to Nepal, who got a point with Yemen on the last match day ah to not join that Pakistan club. Bahrain and the UAE also right in that middle tier of Asian teams that we'll see come round three. And finally, in group I, Palestine worked very, very hard for a nil-nil home in air quotes draw against Lebanon in Qatar. That match sent them through fantastic seed celebration for the Palestine players. They then got thrashed five nil by Australia in a match that I would imagine they were not terribly up for having just sealed their spot in the third round and having to travel far.
00:56:03
Speaker
So Palestine will round out the field. um mit Really quickly, kind of what like I said, we'll have a full preview of the third round after that draw and ahead of those matches in September, maybe in August or something, we'll we' we'll we'll do that. Big themes from Asian qualifying. The surprises in air quotes here are North Korea, Kuwait, and Indonesia. North Korean and Kuwait from pot three, Indonesia from pot four who go through. That's at the expense of Syria, India, and Vietnam from pot two. I don't think there's any huge, massive, major surprise there. Oman was the only team in pot one that lost a game that mattered. They were also the worst pot one team. Saudi Arabia lost that dead rubber against Jordan. Asian depth of it, still not great. No, and we'll see that more in the next round. I think the stratification will be
00:56:50
Speaker
even more clear, but but the funky middle is going to be fun to sort out. It's they're not going to get to see everyone against each other because of the way the format works. um But this was good fun. I think as much as you can get for a process of this tricky and convoluted. um But yeah, I don't have too much to add. I think the drama will be between these teams vying for their first or historic births and the big dogs in this group should be OK. Yeah, ah that third round, 18 teams, three groups of six, they'll play everybody home and away. So plenty of matches, not a super small sample size, 10 matches. So what we see from the entirety of African qualifying, we'll get in this third round. So there'll be a lot of time for the talented teams to separate themselves. The top two teams from those groups of six will go direct to the World Cup.
00:57:39
Speaker
the next two teams will go into the fourth round where there will be more World Cup spots at stake and also spots in the Intercontinental Playoff. So the fight will be to get into that 3-4. I think we're gonna see those top six teams pretty easy. It'll be it'll be pretty pretty easy to tell from the draw who those teams will be. We'll maybe be able to pick out one or two who who could be under threat. So we'll see that in round three as we go. All right, let's close out this June match day a bit with a quick CONCACAF recap. um Dennis Green voice, they generally were who we generally thought they were, right? Yeah, honestly, how many like really crazy results were there? Not many. ah The top two teams were perfect in groups C, D, and E. That's Curaçao and Haiti in group C, Nicaragua and Panama in group D, Guatemala and Jamaica in group E. The way that this format wraps up, those teams will then play each other and then they'll have one more match. There might be a situation where
00:58:39
Speaker
There's a bit of quote-unquote drama in the last match for the team who loses that inter-match, but I think you'd favor all six of those teams to go through. The groups that got interesting, Trinidad and Tobago drew 2-2 at home with Grenada, who then themselves got smoked 3-0 by Costa Rica. El Salvador, who were actually a pot one team, drew 0-0 at home with Puerto Rico, who then smoked and Guilla 8-0. Those were the two of the quote-unquote top teams who dropped points. I think Trinidad and Tobago will probably be fine. It's probably going to come down to a home patch with St. Kitts and Nevis who are on three points themselves after they got a result against Bahamas yesterday. I think Puerto Rico El Salvador could get fun. Suriname topped that group on six points, but the way the format works, they still have to play both Puerto Rico and El Salvador.
00:59:26
Speaker
I think that three teams for two spots in that battle could be pretty interesting. I liked a lot of what I saw from Puerto Rico. Jeremy Leon, the Real Madrid B player on the wing for Puerto Rico is a name to remember. He's fun, he's flairy, and he's got this like feisty ginger kind of like fight you type style, which is is fun in these bad pitch um type matches. so Then the group Amit that is where the quote unquote madness is at is in group A. Honduras conceded two goals over this match day but they took six points from six relatively easy. I expect them to go through. Things get interesting in the fight for a second here because Bermuda picked up a late equalizer against Antigua and Barbuda and then were smashed by Honduras that gives them one point. The Cayman Islands who were the pot five team in this group got a late winner to beat Antigua and Barbuda who left this window with just one point
01:00:17
Speaker
and then the Cayman Islands match against Cuba was technically postponed but will almost assuredly be given as a 3-0 forfeit win to Cuba because the Cayman Islands refused to travel because the majority of the Cayman Islands squad, admit, are US college players who are operating on student visas and have a visa exemption because of their British passports, those visa exemptions are generally cancelled by the US s government upon travel to Cuba. So those players not wanting to risk their visa and travel status to the US refuse to travel to Cuba. Those two nations attempt to negotiate a compromise. Be kind of back Cuba here because they have a home match. They're not just going to give up a home match.
01:00:55
Speaker
So they will almost assuredly get a 3-0 result there. That will probably set up a wild battle for second place in this group. Cuba are probably in the pole position there, but they also haven't actually won a match on the pitch. Antigua and Barbuda, who are the Pot 2 team, are probably in trouble because they still have to play Cuba and Honduras. That was a lot of information, make it make sense. Yeah, well, I think in Group A, Cuba, even though they have zero points, should be favored to get through. We'll see if they can- They're gonna get three points, you would assume, and so that would probably help. Yeah. And then they'll be kind of in second and they just have to hold off a bunch of middling teams. Um, I think the, the three-way race in group F is pretty interesting, um, between Suriname, Puerto Rico, and El Salvador. I backed Puerto Rico and El Salvador to get through because they both get to play Suriname. But until that happens, that's probably, uh, the drama you're going to get. The rest of it is pretty straightforward. Um, yeah.
01:01:51
Speaker
China and Tobago, maybe, maybe, I think you highlighted. Costa Rica and them should get through. Curaçao and Haiti, fine already. Nicaragua and Panama, fine. Guatemala and Jamaica, fine. I think that's kind of what we expected. So there's maybe one like really good race. And then who's to say what could happen in the Cuba, Antigua, Barbuda, and Cayman Islands, Madhouse and Groupe? Yeah, and when we previewed this, this concave roll cut qualifying with John Arnold, I was a bit questionable of this format. I'll admit it. Having seen these teams play, this is a good format.
01:02:24
Speaker
I don't need to see. We need four games of it. Yeah. Four games is more than enough to give these teams an opportunity to do something, but you also don't need to see Bahamas play eight games. Like they're just not at the level to make this happen. If you're at the level to make noise, this type of format is not going to hurt you. If you are not at the level to make noise, you don't deserve to have any more games here. This is a good enough format to give everybody a chance you don't you know You're not just dropping teams after a home and a away, two-legged thing like we've seen in the past, but you're also getting to the good teams, playing other good teams quicker, which I think is what this qualification cycle is about. So, credits account is a good format. Yeah, I think they handled it well.
01:03:08
Speaker
All right, this was a very long, very informative, hopefully, and very interesting podcast on match days that we saw in World Cup qualifying in June. That is all for Amit and I. As always, a plug for our Patreon page, patreon dot.com slash WCAD. You can get exclusive episodes like our Euro preview because that starts in just two days that we'll be dropping tomorrow. You get access to that World Cup qualification master qualifying sheet where you get all of the schedule, all of the times, and all of the ways to stream those matches in the US and Argentina, and much, much more. So if you like what we do, we would ask you to support us on Patreon dot.com, as well as rate, review, upvote, I don't know, any other good things you can do to our podcast on all the various platforms. So that's all from us. Thanks for sticking with us. Our Patreon subscribers will have a Euro preview podcast coming their way to tomorrow.