Latvia v England

[ElectroClaret]

Should be 3 or four tonight.
(For England, should say.)

[ClaretTony]

Goal in first minute but correctly ruled out for offside

[Buxtonclaret]

Close!
Superb move.

[jdrobbo]

Andora lead against Serbia!

[Buxtonclaret]

1 up!

[claretgimmer]

Is the Latvian manager Tuchels dad

[Rileybobs]

Kane is just an unbelievable player. Comedy that some people think he should be in the side.

[Buxtonclaret]

Good lad, Harry.

[ElectroClaret]

The Master.

[Spijed]

Kane is just an unbelievable player. Comedy that some people think he should be in the side.

The worry is that if Kane is injured the back up strikers are no where near good enough for this level, such as Watkins or Toney.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/ar ... ex8xgjp4go

[ElectroClaret]

Peno 0-3
HK again.

[Ampth7]

Really enjoying the way England have gone about their business in the last 3 games!

Latvia at utter toilet though…..

[ecc]

Serbia are winning. But they suffered a humiliating - on all levels - defeat at home against Albania. They have some good players but they just don't turn up for their country.

[Buxtonclaret]

Great 5th!

[ClaretTony]

5-0. I know it’s been easy but I like the way England have gone about it.

[Buxtonclaret]

Wonder if Tommy T will join the England fans at the end for an encore.

[dermotdermot]

I noticed that Josh Cullen isn’t in the Rep. of Ireland squad. Did he not get picked this time?

[dvalley69]

I noticed that Josh Cullen isn’t in the Rep. of Ireland squad. Did he not get picked this time?

SUSPENDED!

[Funkydrummer]

Where's the satisfaction in that game ? Only watched half an hour and called it a day.

Disruption to the domestic football season for that nonsense.

That's what it must be like for Citeh fans for over half the season's fixtures.

[karatekid]

Interesting comments regarding HK and any potential injuries. He is now 32 and isn’t going to be around forever. Who is going to step up and be England's next talisman. Is there anyone who is even remotely near his level? We’ve always been blessed with great strikers but I can’t think of one who is up and coming to replace HK in 3-4 years time.

[Rileybobs]

Where's the satisfaction in that game ? Only watched half an hour and called it a day.

Disruption to the domestic football season for that nonsense.

That's what it must be like for Citeh fans for over half the season's fixtures.

Qualified for the World Cup innit.

[boatshed bill]

Where's the satisfaction in that game ? Only watched half an hour and called it a day.

Disruption to the domestic football season for that nonsense.

That's what it must be like for Citeh fans for over half the season's fixtures.

International football qualifying rounds are bound to be like this. Seeding is basically guaranteeing qualification for the tournaments to the top nations while pretending to give opportunity to the fodder.

[Stalbansclaret]

Can someone, anyone, somehow silence that bloody awful band. It’s just such a depressing soundtrack to games that are bad enough already without a tooted version of The Great Escape theme on repeat. It’s pretty sad to still be majoring on a WW2 theme too.

[Ric_C]

Governing bodies have ruined the qualifiers. Maybe it's because England are a lot better now, but there is no jeopardy at all anymore, it's like a training session most times.

[Ampth7]

It’s refreshing to see an England squad picked on merit, form and fitness for once instead of simply choosing so called better players at bigger clubs!

I just hope Tuchel continues to do this when it comes to picking the World Cup squad so that if a Foden or a Bellingham for example aren’t fit or performing they don’t just waltz back in .

[ChorltonCharlie]

I think qualifiers have an unfair reputation. We should try and see it more like we see the FA Cup where most fans like the idea of a smaller club bloodying the nose of a bigger club. Maybe it does need a fresh outlook though. They could do yearly pyramid series of leagues to replace the qualifiers and nations league. Doing this would have a prestigious top tier, but with 3 levels of league and yearly promotion/relegation, every country could start a 2 year cycle with the possibility of qualifying. The swiss model may also have some merit, but with so many nations and a vast difference in quality, you’ll still see the top nations playing minnows 4 times in any cycle. The one positive is you may actually play 1 game against top quality opposition, but even losing this wouldn’t introduce much jeopardy if you do your job in the other games, which most top nations do.

That said, look around the qualifying groups, and the biggest nations aren’t having it all their own way. Slovakia have beaten Germany, though thrown away that advantage by losing to Northern Ireland. Sweden only 1 point from 12 in a group that looks far from daunting. Netherlands will likely miss out on auto qualification if they lose in Poland. Italy will need to beat Norway by 4 clear goals to avoid the play offs.

[Spijed]

I think qualifiers have an unfair reputation. We should try and see it more like we see the FA Cup where most fans like the idea of a smaller club bloodying the nose of a bigger club. Maybe it does need a fresh outlook though. They could do yearly pyramid series of leagues to replace the qualifiers and nations league. Doing this would have a prestigious top tier, but with 3 levels of league and yearly promotion/relegation, every country could start a 2 year cycle with the possibility of qualifying. The swiss model may also have some merit, but with so many nations and a vast difference in quality, you’ll still see the top nations playing minnows 4 times in any cycle. The one positive is you may actually play 1 game against top quality opposition, but even losing this wouldn’t introduce much jeopardy if you do your job in the other games, which most top nations do.

That said, look around the qualifying groups, and the biggest nations aren’t having it all their own way. Slovakia have beaten Germany, though thrown away that advantage by losing to Northern Ireland. Sweden only 1 point from 12 in a group that looks far from daunting. Netherlands will likely miss out on auto qualification if they lose in Poland. Italy will need to beat Norway by 4 clear goals to avoid the play offs.

I can't understand why some nations are still very poor, such as San Marino, for example.

As it's landlocked by Italy there must be enough Italian footballers at Championship/league one level who won't get into their national side, but would qualify to play for San Marino, who might fancy playing a bit of international football

[martin_p]

Governing bodies have ruined the qualifiers. Maybe it's because England are a lot better now, but there is no jeopardy at all anymore, it's like a training session most times.

Ruined the World Cup qualifiers, ruined the European cup competitions and as a result ruined the domestic cup competitions. All in the name of money of course (and keeping the big clubs happy).

[Rileybobs]

World Cup qualifiers are boring for teams like England, because they’re comfortably in the best 32 - or now 48 - teams in the world, so therefore should and usually do qualify easily. I’m guessing they’re not as boring for the smaller nations who have something to play for.

Unless you want a system whereby the best teams are intentionally disadvantaged - which would lead to a weaker World Cup - then I don’t know what the answer is.

[martin_p]

World Cup qualifiers are boring for teams like England, because they’re comfortably in the best 32 - or now 48 - teams in the world, so therefore should and usually do qualify easily. I’m guessing they’re not as boring for the smaller nations who have something to play for.

Unless you want a system whereby the best teams are intentionally disadvantaged - which would lead to a weaker World Cup - then I don’t know what the answer is.

The answer is not having a 48 team World Cup finals.

[Swizzlestick]

I can't understand why some nations are still very poor, such as San Marino, for example.

As it's landlocked by Italy there must be enough Italian footballers at Championship/league one level who won't get into their national side, but would qualify to play for San Marino, who might fancy playing a bit of international football

i would imagine the chances of having a relative from San Marino, a country with a population similar to Accrington, are pretty low.

[RicardoMontalban]

Governing bodies have ruined the qualifiers. Maybe it's because England are a lot better now, but there is no jeopardy at all anymore, it's like a training session most times.

There’s no jeopardy because FIFA have recognised that, from a financial point of view, all of their biggest markets need to be involved in the tournament. It’s seen as a disaster if an England/Netherlands/Italy stink out a qualifying campaign and miss out. Regardless of FIFA’s self appointed civilising mission through football (hmm), a major (and probably decisive) factor in expanding the competition is risk minimisation and profit maximisation.

But what we end up with is qualification campaigns like this. Look through all the European groups, there’s only really Italy that look to be making hard work of it, and they’ve won all but one.

[ClaretTony]

The answer is not having a 48 team World Cup finals.

Incredible to think it used to be a 16 team World Cup and now the numbers are just far too high.

[Socrates]

There’s no jeopardy because FIFA have recognised that, from a financial point of view, all of their biggest markets need to be involved in the tournament. It’s seen as a disaster if an England/Netherlands/Italy stink out a qualifying campaign and miss out. Regardless of FIFA’s self appointed civilising mission through football (hmm), a major (and probably decisive) factor in expanding the competition is risk minimisation and profit maximisation.

But what we end up with is qualification campaigns like this. Look through all the European groups, there’s only really Italy that look to be making hard work of it, and they’ve won all but one.

If Italy don’t qualify this time it will be the third World Cup on the spin they’ve failed to qualify.

Until beating Northern Ireland on Monday Germany were struggling too.

[RicardoMontalban]

If Italy don’t qualify this time it will be the third World Cup on the spin they’ve failed to qualify.

Until beating Northern Ireland on Monday Germany were struggling too.

Just because FIFA have made it as easy as possible, doesn’t mean there aren’t big countries capable of cocking it up.

[Rileybobs]

The answer is not having a 48 team World Cup finals.

48 teams is too many, I agree. But there wasn't a great deal more jeopardy when there were just 32 teams. 16 teams is too few, because you would either end up not giving countries from the 'lesser' footballing continents an opportunity, or you would end up with a number of the genuinely best sides in the world not qualifying.

I don't really think there is a practical way to reduce the boringness of a qualifying campaign for a team like England, because they are one of the best 4 or 5 sides in world football and therefore should comfortably qualify for the world cup.

[Pickles]

I'm all for a forty-eight nation World Cup with a good spread of countries from all over. Possibly more. It's a world cup.

[AlargeClaret]

I'm all for a forty-eight nation World Cup with a good spread of countries from all over. Possibly more. It's a world cup.

Get ready for 2030 when it’s looking like 64 teams and 6 ! host countries .

[mkmel]

And not one of those 6 host countries will be England.

No one likes us we don't care!!