31 October 2017

Sylvester Stallone in a main role

One of the best actors got himself on a banner that got him famous from a movie franchise. We all know how good Sylvester Stallone have played its role in Rocky movies, and now that name have made a little incident in Turkey.
Galatasaray - Fenerbahce, the eternal rivalry derby from the local championship played 8 days ago, and home fans spread a banner from the actor in a role of Rocky, with text underneath 'Rise. They seem big because you kneel'. On Monday Turkish officials opened investigation claiming that the banner is hiding secret message for Fethullah Gulen, who is an opposition cleric against the president of the state Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Local media is saying how the transparent is connected to speech of the cleric in which he read a song which ends with 'Rise Sakarya' (a province in northeast Turkey). While even the premier Binali Yildirim has asked to investigate the case, the club said that it will use every legal ways against those who is trying to put the name Galatasaray on a terrorist list.

30 October 2017

Reverse matches from two weeks ago

Last day in October and in first 2 days of next month will be played 36 games from leg 4 from both European league tournaments. The old continent has changed the clock to winter time and it already dictates how games are going to be played. Previous two consecutive legs we had (the most) 5 different time slots, however here, everything is back to normal except for one duel.

As 22.45 LT is very late for Champions league match to begin, one duel will start earlier on the second day. Instead, the pair in Turkey will begin from 19.00 LT and this is all because of that time change.

Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: Atletico Madrid - Qarabag.
Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: Basel - CSKA Moscow.
Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: Celtic - Bayern Munich.
Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: Manchester United - Benfica.
Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: Olympiacos - Barcelona.
Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: PSG - Anderlecht.
Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: Roma - Chelsea.
Tuesday, 31 October at 20.45 CET: Sporting Clube de Portugal - Juventus.

Wednesday, 01 November at 18.00 CET: Besiktas - Monaco.

Wednesday, 01 November at 20.45 CET: Borussia Dortmund - APOEL Nicosia.
Wednesday, 01 November at 20.45 CET: Liverpool - Maribor.
Wednesday, 01 November at 20.45 CET: Napoli - Manchester City.
Wednesday, 01 November at 20.45 CET: Porto - RasenBallsport Leipzig.
Wednesday, 01 November at 20.45 CET: Sevilla - Spartak Moscow.
Wednesday, 01 November at 20.45 CET: Shakhtar Donetsk - Feyenoord.
Wednesday, 01 November at 20.45 CET: Tottenham - Real Madrid.

Over at the Europa league everything is back to normal. Twenty four exciting matches are going to start regularly or 12 of them divided in 2 time slots.

Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: AEK - Milan.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Apollon Limassol - Atalanta.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Basaksehir - Hoffenheim.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: FC Copenhagen - Zlin.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Lokomotiv Moscow - Sheriff Tiraspol.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Ludogorets Razgrad - Braga.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Maccabi Tel Aviv - Astana.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Olympique Lyon - Everton.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Partizan - Skenderbeu.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Rijeka - Austria Vienna.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Slavia Prague - Villarreal.
Thursday, 02 November at 19.00 CET: Young Boys Bern - Dynamo Kyiv.

Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Arsenal - Crvena Zvezda.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Athletic Bilbao - Ostersunds.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Hertha - Zorya Luhansk.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Koln - BATE Borisov.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Lazio - Nice.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Real Sociedad - Vardar.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Red Bull Salzburg - Konyaspor.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Rosenborg - Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Steaua - Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Viktoria Plzen - Lugano.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Vitesse - Zulte-Waregem.
Thursday, 02 November at 21.05 CET: Vitoria de Guimaraes - Olympique Marseille.

29 October 2017

Punished clubs

While FIFA is giving money to international teams, UEFA is punishing its club members from both European league competitions. From last and this week the organization is going to collect (pretty) large amount of sum.
We begin from last week at the 'strongest' tournament where Sporting Clube de Portugal is penalized in a game against Barcelona. The Portuguese club has to deliver 31.000 euros because their spectators were 'guilty' of field invasion and blocking stairways. For the next case forbidden banner, fireworks and blocked stairways Spartak Moscow fans who were watching the game against Liverpool in Russian capital. Thus the team has to pay 33.000 euros. The away side Basel is guilty because their fans set plenty of fireworks in a match versus Manchester United. Swiss team will give 12.000 euros. PSG is penalized 2 times: once with 40.000 euros for fireworks, blocked stairways from their fans and late kick-off against Bayern Munich with additional 5.000 euros versus Celtic because French fans damaged the stadium in Scotland. However, the home side is disciplined double (10.000 euros) due to field invasion. Fireworks are the only reason why Anderlecht have to say goodbye of 7.000 euros in a match against Bayern Munich. Twenty five thousand euros have to 'donate' Besiktas because stairways were blocked and their stadium went darkness in one section as they experienced light failure. Those small incident happened against RasenBallsport Leipzig.
Over in the Europa league where BATE Borisov spectators invaded the pitch after the match against Arsenal. For those anxious fans the Belorussian team has to 'donate' 5.000 euros. Koln and Crvena Zvezda are both punished from the second leg. Poor organisation of the game, object throwing and lots of fireworks the home team have to give 30.000 euros. Meanwhile half of that amount are going to the visitors for object throwing and fireworks. Our third case in this tournament is Olympique de Marseille - Konyaspor game. Because of fireworks and those 'damn' objects on the pitch the host team will say goodbye to 14.000 euros plus closing of one section of their stadium for their next home game. And last, Rijeka has to give 40.000 euros due to lots of fireworks from Croatian fans from the match against Milan. On top of that the club is forbidden to sell tickets for their fans for next away game against AEK in leg 5 in Athens.
Disciplinary actions are in process for three more teams, but because these money are enough for now for UEFA, punishments for Everton, Roma and APOEL Nicosia will be known on 16 November.

28 October 2017

Without visiting suport

On the ninth and twelfth next month Croatia and Greece will play one of the four play off matches for the World Cup. Because this is characterized as a high risk game yesterday both associations, with presence of police officials, have decided to cancel visiting support for both duels. Tickets for the away fans in Zagreb and Athens cannot be bought nor will be opened stands for the visiting teams.

27 October 2017

Most successful and troubled club giants from Serie A

From last financial year, with 411.5 million euros, Juventus is the best and most successive club from Italian Serie A with 42.6 million euros net income. President Andrea Agnelli said these figures at a shareholders meeting this Tuesday and he specially thanked the following six players which have won six consecutive titles: Andrea Barzagli, Claudio Marchisio, Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Stephan Lichsteiner.
Five of them are still playing together, but the sixth (Leonardo Bonucci) went to a new club which has big, big difficulties. Despite having new owners, this team is still in financial trouble. Milan might be in real trouble if does not qualify for Champions league next season. According to the ex-owner Silvio Berlusconi, the club will be in big minus of 100 million euros.

26 October 2017

Drone problem

Disciplinary committee of Bosnian FA on Monday has punished Zrinjski Mostar with 7.000 convertible marks (3.569 euros). The club is accused of poor organization in a home match against Sarajevo last Saturday and their supporters used pyrotechnics and controlled a drone which was spotted over the stadium for several minutes, carrying the flag of Bosnian Croats. Local media has categorized this incident as nationalistic, scandalous and provocation. The financial fine is considered to be one of the harshest for any football club in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

25 October 2017

Travelling intercontinental expenses

Going on a trip to the other corner of the world may cost football associations very very dearly. To their rescue (always) comes the mother or in this case FIFA.
Four struggling teams from four continents, who are trying to appear in the World Cup next summer, are going to play last 180 minutes in this qualifying cycle. However, the only problem is that they have to travel very far for the return leg. Australia, Honduras, New Zealand and Peru have to play 2 crucial intercontinental play off games in space of 4 days next month. After the request of the Oceania qualifying winner, who have the biggest organizing problems for its trip to South America, the world football organization last Wednesday has decided to help this quartet with 150.000 dollars (127.477 euros) for travelling costs.

24 October 2017

Indonesian tragedy

Nine days ago one of the famous footballer in Indonesian football, Choirul Huda has died on the pitch. The Persela Lamongan goalkeeper collided with two Brazilians: his teammate Ramon Rodrigues and opposite player from the Padang team Marcelo Sacramento. After the hit, the 38 year old was taken urgently to hospital, where, unfortunately, he died.

23 October 2017

Footballing businessman

Numerous footballers slowly are turning into businesses. One of them is Ahmed Musa who is investing in lots of working projects with real estate. However, last Thursday from Africa came the news that the 25 year old Nigerian striker opened a gas station under the brand 'Myca-07'. This second object is located in Kano, which is approximately 5 hours from his birth place. First clients were served by the star himself.


22 October 2017

Suspension of a federation

We will not see clubs on international level from Pakistan in quite some time, because last Wednesday FIFA has suspended its football federation. Main reason is that third parties have interfered with the work of the association. Thus, the organization will not benefit from various programmes and any other association is forbidden to contact Pakistan FF.

21 October 2017

Pairs and schedule for second European World Cup qualifying round

The old continent has come to the last hurdle for World Cup event. Eight matches are still awaiting to be played and over six days we are going to learn last European quartet which will appear at the competition next year. From 8 second best teams in their groups this Tuesday were drawn 4 pairs who will play 2 games.

09 November at 20.45 CET: Northern Ireland - Switzerland.
12 November at 18.00 CET: Switzerland - Northern Ireland.

09 November at 20.45 CET: Croatia - Greece.
12 November at 20.45 CET: Greece - Croatia.

11 November at 20.45 CET: Denmark - Republic of Ireland.
14 November at 20.45 CET: Republic of Ireland - Denmark.

10 November at 20.45 CET: Sweden - Italy.
13 November at 20.45 CET: Italy - Sweden.

20 October 2017

Force of nature disrupted one match

Astana - Maccabi Tel Aviv 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 33-pen Patrick Twumasi
              2:0 42 Patrick Twumasi
              3:0 47 Junior Kabananga
              4:0 52 Junior Kabananga

BATE Borisov - Koln 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 54 Aleksey Rios

Crvena Zvezda - Arsenal 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 85 Olivier Giroud

Hapoel Beer Sheva - Steaua 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 70 Harlem-Eddy Gnohere
              0:2 75 Harlem-Eddy Gnohere
              1:2 87 Isaac Cuenca

Konyaspor - Red Bull Salzburg 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 05 Fredrik Gulbrandsen
              0:2 79 Munas Dabbur

Lugano - Viktoria Plzen 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 63 Mattia Bottani
              2:0 69 Carlinhos
              2:1 76 Michael Krmencik
              3:1 88 Alexander Gerndt
              3:2 89 Marek Bakos

Olympique Marseille - Vitoria de Guimaraes 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 16 Rafael Martins
              1:1 28 Lucas Ocampos
              2:1 75 Maxime Lopez

Ostersunds - Athletic Bilbao 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 14 Aritz Aduriz
              1:1 51 Alhaji Gero
              2:1 64 Curtis Edwards
              2:2 89 Inaki Williams

Zenit Saint Petersburg - Rosenborg 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 01 Emiliano Rigoni
              2:0 68 Emiliano Rigoni
              3:0 74 Emiliano Rigoni
              3:1 88 Andre Helland

Zorya Luhansk - Hertha 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 42 Silas
              1:1 56 Davie Selke
              2:1 79 Oleksandr Svatok

Zulte-Waregem - Vitesse 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 23-own goal Guram Kashia
              1:1 26 Thomas Bruns

Atalanta - Apollon Limassol 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 11 Josip Ilicic
              1:1 59 Andre Schembri
              2:1 64 Andrea Petagna
              3:1 66 Remo Freuler

Austria Vienna - Rijeka 1:3

Scorers: 0:1 21 Mario Gavranovic
              0:2 30 Mario Gavranovic
              1:2 89 Kevin Friesenbichler
              1:3 90+2 Zoran Kvrzic

Braga - Ludogorets Razgrad 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 25 Cosmin Moti
              0:2 56-own goal Raul Michel Melo da Silva

Dynamo Kyiv - Young Boys Bern 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 17 Roger Assale
              1:1 34 Dieumerci Mbokani
              1:2 39 Roger Assale
              2:2 48 Mykola Morozyuk

Hoffenheim - Basaksehir 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 52 Benjamini Hubner
              2:0 58 Nadiem Amiri
              3:0 75 Nico Schulz
              3:1 90+3 Stefano Napoleoni

Sheriff Tiraspol - Lokomotiv Moscow 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 17 Anton Miranchuk
              1:1 30 Ziguy Badibanga

Skenderbeu - Partizan 0:0

Villarreal - Slavia Prague 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 18 Tomas Necid
              0:2 29 Danny
              1:2 41 Manuel Trigueros
              2:2 43 Carlos Bacca

Zlin - FC Copenhagen 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 11 Dame Diop
              1:1 19 Peter Ankersen

Additional information: Game in Czech Republic was delayed for more than 15 minutes at the second half due to heavy fog.

19 October 2017

Disappointing first game

Qarabag - Atletico Madrid 0:0

Anderlecht - PSG 0:4

Scorers: 0:1 03 Kylian Mbappe
              0:2 43 Edinson Cavani
              0:3 65 Neymar
              0:4 88 Angel di Maria

CSKA Moscow - Basel 0:2


Scorers: 0:1 29 Taulant Xhaka
              0:2 90 Dimitri Oberlin

Juventus - Sporting Clube de Portugal 2:1


Scorers: 0:1 12-own goal Alex Sandro
              1:1 28 Miralem Pjanic
              2:1 84 Mario Mandzukic

Barcelona - Olympiacos 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 18-own goal Dimitrios Nikolaou
              2:0 61 Lionel Messi
              3:0 64 Lucas Digne
              3:1 89 Dimitrios Nikolaou

Bayern Munich - Celtic 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 17 Thomas Muller
              2:0 29 Joshua Kimmich
              3:0 51 Mats Hummels

Benfica - Manchester United 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 64 Marcus Rashford

18 October 2017

Merseyside club counted to seven as guests

Maribor - Liverpool 0:7

Scorers: 0:1 04 Roberto Firmino
              0:2 12 Philippe Coutinho
              0:3 19 Mohamed Salah
              0:4 39 Mohamed Salah
              0:5 54 Roberto Firmino
              0:6 86 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

              0:7 90 Trent Alexander-Arnold

APOEL Nicosia - Borussia Dortmund 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 61 Mickael Pote
              1:1 67 Sokratis

Monaco - Besiktas 1:2


Scorers: 1:0 29 Radamel Falcao
              1:1 33 Cenk Tosun
              1:2 54 Cenk Tosun

Feyenoord - Shakhtar Donetsk 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 07 Steven Berghuis
              1:1 24-pen Bernard
              1:2 53 Bernard

Real Madrid - Tottenham 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 27-own goal Raphael Varane
              1:1 42-pen Cristiano Ronaldo

Spartak Moscow - Sevilla 5:1

Scorers: 1:0 17 Quincy Promes
              1:1 30 Simon Kjaer
              2:1 58 Lorenzo Melgarejo
              3:1 67 Denis Glushakov
              4:1 74 Luiz Adriano
              5:1 89 Quincy Promes

RasenBallsport Leipzig - Porto 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 08 Willi Orban
              1:1 18 Vincent Aboubakar
              2:1 37 Emil Forsberg
              3:1 40 Jean-Kevin Augustin
              3:2 44 Ivan Marcano

17 October 2017

Full schedule for last tournament

Seven continental club champions have found out full schedule for the last official tournament of the year. Last Monday in United Arab Emirates completed the draw for the Club World Cup which is going to be played this December..
We only know so far that local champions Al Jazira play Ackland City, the Oceania Champions league winners at the opening game. The winner of that duel will take on the Asian champions. Whoever is lucky and have knowledge in this match in the semi-finals they will meet the UEFA Champions league winners and giants Real Madrid.
The other quarter-final pair is CF Pachuca versus the African champions. Victory team from this game will challenge Copa Libertadores champions for the final spot.

16 October 2017

Halfway point

After the excitement of World Cup qualifiers we are back to club football. In the penultimate full week in October both European leagues (Eurocups) are going to play games leg number 3. Like previous time, this leg will also give us 5 different time slots in total. When the matches will finish we might get clear picture of which (early) teams will continue in the knockout round next year.

Whenever group stage starts, at the 'strongest' competition there are always equal games to be played over two days. On the last day, one duel will start earlier than the other seven.

Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: APOEL Nicosia - Borussia Dortmund.
Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: Feyenoord - Shakhtar Donetsk.
Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: Manchester City - Napoli.
Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: Maribor - Liverpool.
Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: Monaco - Besiktas.
Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: RasenBallsport Leipzig - Porto.
Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: Real Madrid - Tottenham.
Tuesday, 17 October at 20.45 CET: Spartak Moscow - Sevilla.

Wednesday, 18 October at 18.00 CET: Qarabag - Atletico Madrid.

Wednesday, 18 October at 20.45 CET: Anderlecht - PSG.
Wednesday, 18 October at 20.45 CET: Barcelona - Olympiacos.
Wednesday, 18 October at 20.45 CET: Bayern Munich - Celtic.
Wednesday, 18 October at 20.45 CET: Benfica - Manchester United.
Wednesday, 18 October at 20.45 CET: Chelsea - Roma.
Wednesday, 18 October at 20.45 CET: CSKA Moscow - Basel.
Wednesday, 18 October at 20.45 CET: Juventus - Sporting Clube de Portugal.

On the penultimate weekday, football will be played from the afternoon until late in the evening. So choose your match you want to watch, one after the other, sit back and enjoy the magical moments at the Europa league.

Thursday, 19 October at 17.00 CET: Astana - Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: BATE Borisov - Koln.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Crvena Zvezda - Arsenal.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Hapoel Beer Sheva - Steaua.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Konyaspor - Red Bull Salzburg.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Lugano - Viktoria Plzen.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Nice - Lazio.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Olympique Marseille - Vitoria de Guimaraes.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Ostersunds - Athletic Bilbao.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Vardar - Real Sociedad.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Zenit Saint Petersburg - Rosenborg.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Zorya Luhansk - Hertha.
Thursday, 19 October at 19.00 CET: Zulte-Waregem - Vitesse.

Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Atalanta - Apollon Limassol.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Austria Vienna - Rijeka.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Braga - Ludogorets Razgrad.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Dynamo Kyiv - Young Bous Bern.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Everton - Olympique Lyon.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Hoffenheim - Basaksehir.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Milan - AEK.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Sheriff Tiraspol - Lokomotiv Moscow.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Skenderbeu - Partizan.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Villarreal - Slavia Prague.
Thursday, 19 October at 21.05 CET: Zlin - FC Copenhagen.

15 October 2017

Very, very rare punishment

For many years the world football organization has penalized mainly smaller European associations, but at the beginning of last week they turned the page.
In fact it is a very unusual punishment which you cannot see this in everyday sports newspapers: in an official match Germany have been fined with a 32.000 Swiss francs in a game against Czech Republic. Almost 200 of their spectators chanted Nazi slogans who also insulted their own player Timo Werner which he scored the first goal. Their opponents have to pay 5.000 Swiss francs.
In the long World Cup qualifying black list for last month are also written: Argentina with 65.000 Swiss francs, Panama 50.000, Chile has to deliver 35.000 Swiss francs, Hungary and Ecuador 20.000 each, Brazil and Mexico has to pay 10.000 Swiss francs each. 
IR Iran had some incidents in a match against Syria, and Ukraine is sanctioned due to behavior of its supporters versus Turkey. Both Asian and the European team have to deliver 45.000 Swiss francs each. In a match with Argentina, Uruguay is disciplined with 25.000 Swiss francs due to discriminatory behavior from their fans.
After all payments are received, cash box in FIFA undoubtedly will only get bigger and bigger...

14 October 2017

Ex football master became president of his country

One of the best footballer Liberia had to offer from now on will be named as Mister president. Although all results are not yet confirmed and counted George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (known to us as George Weah) is already leading in 11 out of 15 counties and for sure will beat his opponent and vice president Joseph Boakai. The senator and Congress for democratic change candidate has to receive more than 50 percent of the votes and so far he got 39.6.
Thus the 51 year old former best football player in the world will serve presidency for the next six years, succeeding Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

13 October 2017

Allocation of teams for the new competition

Over in Europe, meaningless friendly games from now on will be less and less and from next year is going to be down to a minimum. From September new tournament is going to start and matches will count as official ones. Yesterday the European football organization explained how the UEFA Nations league will work and divided 55 member nations in 4 different leagues, according to coefficient of the countries thus far.
In alphabetical order we begin with the strongest, league A which consist of 12 teams: Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. In this category we will have 4 groups of 3 teams. Four teams that will finish at the bottom in their group will be relegated into league B.
Speaking of this letter here are also 12 teams which will be divided in the same scenario as the previous one. Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales. Four teams which will record only losses will be transferred into league C.
Fifteen nations comprise league number 3. One group will have 3 teams and 3 groups will have 4. Here are: Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Romania, Scotland, Serbia and Slovenia. Four teams that are lazy will say bye-bye to this company and from next time are going to compete into the lowest, weakest league.
And that weakest league will have one member more. D is going to be made of 4 groups out of 4 teams and here are put: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Faroe Islands, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova and San Marino. As we do not have league E, the fourth placed teams will hold its status in this lowest league.
All 4 group winners from each league will go into the play-off in March 2020. If one of those countries did not qualify for the European championship in the same year, this will be like a backdoor to enter the event. Lausanne is going to host the show for group phase draw on 24 January.

11 October 2017

Four wins out of four for the hosts means confirmed place at Asian Cup 2019

India - Macau 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 27 Rowllin Borges
              1:1 36 Nicholas Tarrao
              2:1 60 Sunil Chhetri
              3:1 70-own goal Lam Ka-Seng
              4:1 90+1 Jeje Lalpekhlua

No more hexagonal

Trinidad and Tobago - United States of America 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 17-own goal Omar Gonzalez
              2:0 36 Alvin Jones
              2:1 47 Christian Pulisic

Panama - Costa Rica 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 36 Johan Venegas
              1:1 52 Gabriel Torres
              2:1 87 Roman Torres

Honduras - Mexico 3:2

Scorers: 0:1 16 Oribe Peralta
              1:1 34 Alberth Elis
              1:2 39 Carlos Vela
              2:2 54-own goal Gullermo Ochoa
              3:2 60 Romell Quioto

Additional information: Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama are going to the World Cup next year. Fourth placed team at the hexagonal tournament, Honduras have another and last chance to join the show, but they have to travel to the other side of the planet and play Australia as part of the intercontinental playoff.

Sixteen goals with one hat-trick marked last leg

Brazil - Chile 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 54 Paulinho
              2:0 56 Gabriel Jesus
              3:0 90+3 Gabriel Jesus

Paraguay - Venezuela 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 84 Yangel Herrera

Ecuador - Argentina 1:3

Scorers: 1:0 01 (38 seconds) Romario Ibarra
              1:1 12 Lionel Messi
              1:2 20 Lionel Messi
              1:3 62 Lionel Messi

Uruguay - Bolivia 4:2

Scorers: 0:1 23-own goal Gaston Silva
              1:1 39 Martin Caceres
              2:1 41 Edinson Cavani
              3:1 60 Luis Suarez
              4:1 75 Luis Suarez
              4:2 79-own goal Diego Godin

Peru - Colombia 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 55 James Rodriguez
              1:1 76 Paolo Guerrero

Additional information: We will see the following quartet from CONMEBOL region at World Cup next year who occupied first 4 places in the table: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia. Fifth Peru is going to play additional two matches with Oceania winner - New Zealand.

Farewell to European group stages

Belgium - Cyprus 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 12 Eden Hazard
              2:0 51 Thorgan Hazard
              3:0 62-pen Eden Hazard
              4:0 78 Romelu Lukaku

Estonia - Bosnia and Herzegovina 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 48 Izet Hajrovic
              1:1 75 Ilja Antonov
              1:2 83 Izet Hajrovic

France - Belarus 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 27 Antoine Griezmann
              2:0 32 Olivier Giroud
              2:1 44 Anton Saroka

Greece - Gibraltar 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 32 Vasilios Torosidis
              2:0 60 Konstantinos Mitroglou
              3:0 62 Konstantinos Mitroglou
              4:0 78 Giannis Gianniotas

Hungary - Faroe Islands 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 81 Daniel Bode

Latvia - Andorra 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 11 Davis Ikaunieks
              2:0 19 Valerijs Sabala
              3:0 59 Valerijs Sabala
              4:0 62 Igors Tarasovs

Luxembourg - Bulgaria 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 03 Olivier Thill
              1:1 67 Ivaylo Chochev

Netherlands - Sweden 2:0

Scorer: 1:0 16-pen Arjen Robben
            2:0 39 Arjen Robben

Portugal - Switzerland 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 41-own goal Johan Djourou
              2:0 56 Andre Silva

Additional information: With tonight all European groups are concluded. Last trio that automatically joins World Cup next summer are group winners from A, B, H: France, Portugal, Belgium. Meanwhile, three teams are given another chance to qualify for the finals: Sweden, Switzerland, Greece. Which opponents it will be in the playoff we are going to find out on 17 October at 14.00 CET.

Plenty of beautiful goals to choose from

Afghanistan - Jordan 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 14-own goal Mohannad al Souliman
              1:1 39 Monther Abu Amara
              1:2 43-pen Odai al Saify
              2:2 64 Haroon Fakhruddin
              3:2 80 Khaibar Amani
              3:3 86 Mohannad al Souliman

Chinese Taipei - Bahrain 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 18-pen Ismaeel Abdulatif
              1:1 90 Chen Po-Liang 
              2:1 90+3 Chu-En-Le

Turkmenistan - Singapore 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 18 Vahyt Orazsahedov
              1:1 26 Irfan Fandi
              2:1 90+2 Vahyt Orazsahedov

Hong Kong - Malaysia 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 43 Jordi Tarres
              2:0 48 Jaimes McKee

Vietnam - Cambodia 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 12 Dinh Thanh Trung
              2:0 56 Nguyen van Quyet
              3:0 59 Nguyen Anh Duc
              4:0 76 Nguyen Cong Phuong
              5:0 90+2 Mac Hong Quan

Myanmar - Kyrgyzstan 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 08-pen Anton Zelyanuhin
              0:2 49 Viktor Maier
              1:2 52 Aung Thu
              2:2 90+2 Kyaw Ko Ko

Tajikistan - Nepal 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 20-pen Davronov Nuriddin
              2:0 60-pen Parvizjon Umarboev
              3:0 87-pen Manuchekhr Dzhalilov

Palestine - Bhutan 10:0

Scorers: 1:0 04 Abdallatif al Bahdari
              2:0 06 Abdallah Jaber
              3:0 22 Tamer Seyam
              4:0 29 Sameh Maraaba
              5:0 39 Abdallatif al Bahdari
              6:0 43 Abdallatif al Bahdari
              7:0 48-pen Khaled Salem
              8:0 60 Mohammed Natour
              9:0 62 Jonathan Cantillana
             10:0 69 Jonathan Cantillana

Lebanon - North Korea 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 21 Hilal al Helwe
              2:0 25 Hassan Maatouk
              3:0 49 Samir Ayass
              4:0 77 Ali Hamam
              5:0 90 Rabih Ataya

Yemen - Philippines 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 63 Tawfik Ali
              1:1 89 Mike Ott

Maldives - Oman 1:3

Scorers: 0:1 14 Khalid Khalifa al Hajri
              0:2 19-own goal Ali Amdhan
              1:2 23 Ali Fasir
              1:3 57 Ahmed Mubarak

10 October 2017

Socceroos goes into last playoff after extra time

Australia - Syria 1:1, after extra time: 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 06 Omar al Somah
              1:1 13 Tim Cahill
              2:1 109 Tim Cahill

Additional information: After long and hard battle with 3:2 on aggregate, Australia will play two intercontinental additional matches with fourth placed team of the CONCACAF region next month.

This is a strength from the old continent: most goals given by some teams was two

Albania - Italy 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 73 Antonio Candreva

Finland - Turkey 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 56 Cenk Tosun
              1:1 75 Paulus Arajuuri
              1:2 83 Cenk Tosun
              2:2 88 Joel Pohjanpalo

Iceland - Kosovo 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 40 Gylfi Sigurdsson
              2:0 68 Johann Gudmundsson

Israel - Spain 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 76 Asier Illarramendi

Moldova - Austria 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 68 Louis Schaub

Serbia - Georgia 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 73 Aleksandar Prijovic

Ukraine - Croatia 0:2

Scorer: 0:1 62 Andrej Kramaric
            0:2 70 Andrej Kramaric

Wales - Republic of Ireland 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 57 James McClean

Additional information: Congratulations to Serbia, Spain and Iceland who won groups D, G and I, which are going to Russia next year. However, everything was decided tonight for second placed teams. Although there are 9 more duels remaining, in a separate table with 12 points Slovakia is already the worst team from all 9 runners-up and is out of play. As from Monday night: Republic of Ireland, Italy and Croatia can still go to World Cup through play-off games.

09 October 2017

Home team secured its ticket to Russia with last second punishment

Egypt - Congo 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 62 Mohamed Salah
              1:1 87 Arnold Bouka Moutou
              2:1 90+4-pen Mohamed Salah

Goal in every game

Denmark - Romania 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 59-pen Christian Eriksen
              1:1 88 Ciprian Ioan Deac

Kazakhstan - Armenia 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 26 Henrikh Mkhitaryan
              1:1 61 Baurzhan Turysbek

Lithuania - England 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 27-pen Harry Kane

Poland - Montenegro 4:2

Scorers: 1:0 06 Krzysztof Maczynski
              2:0 16 Kamil Grosicki
              2:1 78 Stefan Mugosa
              2:2 82 Zarko Tomasevic
              3:2 85 Robert Lewandowski
              4:2 87-own goal Filip Stojkovic

Slovakia - Malta 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 33 Adam Nemec
              2:0 62 Adam Nemec
              3:0 69 Ondrej Duda

Slovenia - Scotland 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 32 Leigh Griffiths
              1:1 52 Roman Bezjak
              2:1 71 Roman Bezjak
              2:2 87 Robert Snodgrass

Czech Republic - San Marino 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 08 Michael Krmencik
              2:0 23 Michael Krmencik
              3:0 26 Jan Kopic
              4:0 71 Filip Novak
              5:0 83 Vaclav Kadlec

Germany - Azerbaijan 5:1

Scorers: 1:0 08 Leon Goretzka
              1:1 33 Ramil Sheydaev
              2:1 54 Sandro Wagner
              3:1 64 Antonio Rudiger
              4:1 66 Leon Goretzka
              5:1 81 Emre Can

Norway - Northern Ireland 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 70-own goal Chris Brunt

Additional information: Tonight we have learned first 3 direct travelers for next years World Cup show piece event in Russia who are the winners from groups C, E and F: Germany, Poland and England. On the waiting list are second placed teams: Northern Ireland, Denmark and Slovakia.

08 October 2017

Hosts saved valuable, World Cup point in stoppage time

Costa Rica - Honduras 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 66 Eddie Hernandez
              1:1 90+5 Kendall Waston

Lots of turnarounds at Grbavica stadium

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Belgium 3:4

Scorers: 0:1 03 Thomas Meunier
              1:1 30 Haris Medunjanin
              2:1 39 Edin Visca
              2:2 59 Michy Batshuayi
              2:3 68 Jan Vertonghen
              3:3 81 Dario Dumic
              3:4 83 Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco

Faroe Islands - Latvia 0:0

Gibraltar - Estonia 0:6

Scorers: 0:1 09 Siim Luts
              0:2 30 Mattias Kait
              0:3 37 Sergei Zenjov
              0:4 51 Joonas Tamm
              0:5 65 Joonas Tamm
              0:6 76 Joonas Tamm

Sweden - Luxembourg 8:0

Scorers: 1:0 10-pen Andreas Granqvist
              2:0 18 Marcus Berg
              3:0 37 Marcus Berg
              4:0 53 Marcus Berg
              5:0 60 Mikael Lustig
              6:0 67-pen Andreas Granqvist
              7:0 71 Marcus Berg
              8:0 76 Ola Toivonen

Andorra - Portugal 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 62 Cristiano Ronaldo
              0:2 85 Andre Silva

Belarus - Netherlands 1:3

Scorers: 0:1 24 Davy Propper
              1:1 54 Maksim Volodjko
              1:2 84-pen Arjen Robben
              1:3 90+2 Memphis Depay

Bulgaria - France 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 03 Blaise Matuidi

Cyprus - Greece 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 17 Pieros Sotiriou
              1:1 24 Konstantinos Mitroglou
              1:2 26 Alexandros Tziolis

Switzerland - Hungary 5:2

Scorers: 1:0 18 Granit Xhaka
              2:0 20 Fabian Frei
              3:0 42 Steven Zuber
              4:0 48 Steven Zuber
              4:1 58 Richard Guzmics
              5:1 83 Stephan Lichtsteiner
              5:2 88 Roland Ugrai

A day without penalties and some fantastic goals scored

South Africa - Burkina Faso 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 01 Percy Tau
              2:0 33 Themba Zwane
              3:0 45+1 Sibusiso Vilakazi
              3:1 86 Alain Traore

Uganda - Ghana 0:0

Cameroon - Algeria 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 25 Clinton N'Jie
              2:0 88 Franck Pangop Tchidjui

Nigeria - Zambia 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 73 Alex Iwobi

Libya - Democratic Republic of Congo 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 50 Cedric Bakambu
              1:1 68 Elmutasem al Musrati
              1:2 74 Wilfred Moke

Guinea - Tunisia 1:4

Scorers: 0:1 37 Naby Keita
              1:1 45+3 Youssef Msakni
              1:2 74 Youssef Msakni
              1:3 83 Mihamed ben Amor
              1:4 90+5 Youssef Msakni

Cape Verde - Senegal 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 82 Diafra Sakho
              0:2 90+2 Cheikh N'Doye

Morocco - Gabon 3:0

Scorer: 1:0 38 Khalid Boutaib
            2:0 55 Khalid Boutaib
            3:0 71 Khalid Boutaib