World Cup: 2018 WC Qualifiers Part II

[HajdukSplit]

For US viewers, both matches are on ESPN3, with NIR-SUI being on ESPN2 (CRO-GRE is only on Spanish, ESPNDeportes)

Sokratis passes his fitness test and starts for Greece but Torosidis is out with Manolas suspended, for Croatia missing out is Badelj while Mandzukic only makes the bench due to a minor hamstring injury. A total of 14 players combined (7 on each side) are a yellow away from suspension with a card happy referee

No real surprises in the other match, Northern Ireland going with what they have while the only newish name from the Swiss NT is defender Akanji from Basel who only made his debut in June

 

[HajdukSplit]

Croatia get the early goal they needed, Modric with a penalty kick after Kalinic's pressing forced Karnezis to take his down, could have been red

 

[rangerssharks414]

2-0 Croatia

 

[HajdukSplit]

forgotten man Strinic with an assist, was largely blamed for the loss to Portugal at Euro and hasn't played much since

 

[joe89]

Yeah I don't really see Greece getting back from this. But sure 2-1 by some miracle would still be a good away result.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Croatia gift a goal to Greece, sloppy play leads to a corner and of course they score

 

[HajdukSplit]

3:1 Croatia in a game that was expected to be tight

Perfect build up play for once, nice cross by Vrsaljko and header into empty net for Perisic

 

[HajdukSplit]

Greece thankful the halftime whistle blew, Croatia could have scored another 1-2...Greece in typical fashion score on a corner kick gifted to them. Still nervy Croatia concede another silly goal

NIR-Switzerland is scoreless, Swiss the better team as expected

 

[HajdukSplit]

Greece with another gift, poor backpass which is pounced on...can't believe what I'm seeing with Greece, even without Manolas this isn't them

 

[rangerssharks414]

Switzerland gets one from the spot.

 

[HajdukSplit]

deserved lead for the Swiss

 

[HajdukSplit]

Lovren is a nightmare

 

[Live in the Now]

The Swiss penalty was a horrible call, I thought.

Also, yeah, that sounds like Lovren.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Greece with three corners, scored on one and almost scored on the other two...their only offense today yet Croatia keeps playing stupidly in their own half....however, Croatia finishing poor in the 2nd half

 

[HajdukSplit]

Swiss win on a controversial pen but lets be real, Northern Ireland didn't deserve much from that match, limited beyond belief

 

[HajdukSplit]

Croatia win 4:1, total domination and could have scored more but Greece did have their chances, very few of them but they almost scored on all of them including in the final minute where they could have cut it to two goals...Croatia should progress, Greece will have to open up more than they want to

 

[bolt thrower]

Swiss win on a controversial pen but lets be real, Northern Ireland didn't deserve much from that match, limited beyond belief

Switzerland wasn't much better. The Swiss are a loser team and they won't go far if the qualify. The Swiss are among the biggest loser teams in Europe, they never won any trophy nor have they come close to win one. They will always lose all the decisive games like the one against Portugal, just a really mediocre team. Still hope they get kicked out by Northern Irland, that would put back to reality the whole annonying Swiss press, what a bunch of wankers.

 

[sabremike]

Who the hell hates Switzerland?

 

[bolt thrower]

Who the hell hates Switzerland?

I do!

 

[cgf]

Switzerland wasn't much better. The Swiss are a loser team and they won't go far if the qualify. The Swiss are among the biggest loser teams in Europe, they never won any trophy nor have they come close to win one. They will always lose all the decisive games like the one against Portugal, just a really mediocre team. Still hope they get kicked out by Northern Irland, that would put back to reality the whole annonying Swiss press, what a bunch of wankers.

The Swiss have been one of the better non-elite european teams in recent cycles. Yes they haven't won, but the only teams who have won lately are the Spanish Golden generation, Germany and Portugal with a horseshoe up its ass. It seems silly to criticize a second tier NT for not being on that short list. They play with great cohesion & organization. Which is why they were the only team to take a point off Spain in 2010 despite most of their top talents not yet making the break into the senior side; and they've got a second highly talented generation starting to break in to fill out the team around the Xhaka / Shaqiri / RiRo / Schar age group. They need some tactical tweaks and for their youths to come on strong, but that could be a fun team at the euros with something like:

Embolo - Oberlin
Zuber/RiRo - Edimilson - Zakaria - Widmer/Shaq
Xhaka
RiRo* - Schär* - Elvedi
Sommer

*Akanji / Bamert

​

With the right coach that's a squad that could be very tidy with the ball and just lethal on counters...as Sommer is the best sweeper keeper in the world; the back three options are all skilled & mobile (with Elvedi, Schär & Bamert also being very smart); both Xhaka & Zakaria can launch counter attacks from anywhere; and they'd have pace for days up front.

Nevermind what the first arrivers of the Lorenzo Gonzalez, Nishan Burkart, Yannick Toure, Andi Zeqiri || Izer Aliu, Filip Ugrinic, Vasilije Janjicic, Karim Bertelli || Jordan Lotomba, Cendrim Kameraj || Cedric Zesiger, Marco Corradi, Eray Cümart || Philipp Köhn, Lars Hunn; generation might provide them in 2020 & moving forward.

PS - They split their matches with Portugal, so this mediocre team was able to split the points with the defending European Champions the same way they did against the eventual world champions in SA. They won't win, but they are tough little team that can prevent some contender from winning.

 

[tony d]

Sweden/Italy's first game is tomorow, that should be a good game, the fixture I was looking forward to the most of the 4 games in this round of qualification for Europe.

 

[sabremike]

Come on Ireland, give me a reason to care about the World Cup!!!

 

[Corto]

The Swiss have been one of the better non-elite european teams in recent cycles. Yes they haven't won, but the only teams who have won lately are the Spanish Golden generation, Germany and Portugal with a horseshoe up its ass.

Yeah, I'm not sure why anyone would label the Swiss "losers". They had decent-but-not-great teams (like the one now) and the fact it took a last game vs Portugal for them not to go to the WC directly is a credit to them.
They've got a solid team, stable and consistent, even if they're not filled with world class players.

That said, Northern Ireland got completely robbed.
VAR has to come in for the next cycle of qualifying, it is unbelievably frustrating and unfair to miss out on a WC or EURO due to ref mistake. It really is a matter of national interest to qualify for these events for most countries, and it shouldn't hinge on a ref messing up a tough call (or in this case, making a completely mindboggling call).

...

Croatia is looking like a completely different team under a coach who isn't a complete tool.
It was 4-1, but it could've been 6 or 7.
To the surprise of noone but maybe Ante Cacic, Strinic is a massive freaking upgrade over Mamic's little boy Pivaric.
He was a backup in Napoli, but there's no shame in being the backup to Ghoulam. And now he's a fixture is this year Serie A hit Sampdoria.
Rakitic is being used in an almost Pirlo-like regista role, and its working, while Modric is playing further up the pitch.

The only thing I didn't like about the starting 11 is Brozovic over Rog - but I can live with Brozovic playing in the actual midfield as opposed to some kind of attacking forward where he was useless under Cacic.
I also disagree on the previous comments on Lovren, he was fine - especially considering the crap he's been going through since the Spurs game.
The Greece goal came after a mess that was primarily Vrsaljko's fault, but he redeemed himself with a perfect cross for the Perisic goal.

 

[Corto]

Double post, sorry...

 

[Incubajerks]

The Swiss have been one of the better non-elite european teams in recent cycles. Yes they haven't won, but the only teams who have won lately are the Spanish Golden generation, Germany and Portugal with a horseshoe up its ass. It seems silly to criticize a second tier NT for not being on that short list. They play with great cohesion & organization. Which is why they were the only team to take a point off Spain in 2010 despite most of their top talents not yet making the break into the senior side; and they've got a second highly talented generation starting to break in to fill out the team around the Xhaka / Shaqiri / RiRo / Schar age group. They need some tactical tweaks and for their youths to come on strong, but that could be a fun team at the euros with something like:

Embolo - Oberlin
Zuber/RiRo - Edimilson - Zakaria - Widmer/Shaq
Xhaka
RiRo* - Schär* - Elvedi
Sommer

*Akanji / Bamert

​

With the right coach that's a squad that could be very tidy with the ball and just lethal on counters...as Sommer is the best sweeper keeper in the world; the back three options are all skilled & mobile (with Elvedi, Schär & Bamert also being very smart); both Xhaka & Zakaria can launch counter attacks from anywhere; and they'd have pace for days up front.

Nevermind what the first arrivers of the Lorenzo Gonzalez, Nishan Burkart, Yannick Toure, Andi Zeqiri || Izer Aliu, Filip Ugrinic, Vasilije Janjicic, Karim Bertelli || Jordan Lotomba, Cendrim Kameraj || Cedric Zesiger, Marco Corradi, Eray Cümart || Philipp Köhn, Lars Hunn; generation might provide them in 2020 & moving forward.

PS - They split their matches with Portugal, so this mediocre team was able to split the points with the defending European Champions the same way they did against the eventual world champions in SA. They won't win, but they are tough little team that can prevent some contender from winning.

Yeah, and they call them Switzerland