International Week Reviewed!!!

What a week of football, now time to catch your breath and get ready for the Premier Leagues return.

But what actually happened?

South American WCQ
Last Friday saw Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay all seal their place at WC26. All that was left to decide was who would be in the Inter-Confeds. Venezuela, the only SA nation never to qualify, held a point lead over Bolivia. Venezuela faced Colombia in the wee hours this morning in quite an amazing game. Within 12 minutes Venezuela were 2-1 up before Luis Suarez (no, not that one) netted FOUR times. Despite pulling it back to 5-3, Venezuelan hopes of winning ended with a sixth Colombian goal.
Up in Bolivia a first half injury time penalty was enough to beat Brazil and win that inter-confed place.

Brazils defeat was their SIXTH in the qualification process, matching their worst. It was also the least amount of games they have won since the process went to a single league (8). On the plus side, last time they lost 6 times in qualification was for the 2002 World Cup and they won that...


African WCQ
In the end only Tunisia booked their place alongside Morocco for the 26WC. However, big results for Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Algeria and Ghana have them all very close to qualification with 2 games to go.

CONCACAF WCQ
With the big 3 hosting and qualified, there are lots of opportunities for unfancied nations from this region. 3 direct qualification and 2 inter-confed spots mean the 12 teams have a lot to play for.
Suriname, with a strong Dutch influence, got a great draw against fancied Panama before beating El Salvador to put them in front in group A.
Steve McLarens Jamaica have had the perfect start, beating fellow island nations Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago. Curacao picked up 4 points from the same two opponents.
Honduras lead group C after beating Nicaragua and drawing with Haiti - who also drew with Costa Rica.


Europe WCQ
Still very early days, but the big shock was Slovakia beating Germany 2-0. With just 4 teams in this group there isn't a lot of room for error - but the Germans do have the guarantee of a play-off place.
Sweden had a difficult start and are already 5 points off Switzerland in group B, while Scotland have had a strong start in a competitive group C - the draw with Denmark being the notable result.
France, Spain and Portugal all got off to 100% starts - with a play-off place already guaranteed from the Nations League that looks unlikely to be taken.
The 5 team groups are starting to take shape and the Netherlands went level on points with Poland in Group G with a game in hand.
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria are level in Group H, though the Austrians have played a game less.
North Macedonia lead Belgium and Wales by a point in J, but Belgium are a game in hand.
England are close to qualification in K, 7 points clear of Albania. Croatia have a game in hand over Czechia, who they sit level on 12 points with.

One of the stories of UEFA qualifying is the Norway start. An 11-1 win over Moldova yesterday showcased their attacking talent, with Haaland hitting 5 and Aasgaard getting 4 despite only playing 25 minutes. This adds to 4 wins from their first 4 games, including the very important 3-0 over Italy. The Italians are 6 points behind with a game in hand, and now Norway have a massive +21 goal difference in comparison to the +5 of Italy.

Norway have appeared in 3 World Cups - France 38, USA 94, France 98 - so for fans of patterns a second US WC would do nicely. Also, in US94 they had Haaland and Sorloth - the fathers of current stars Haaland and, well, Sorloth.




Next months Internationals will see the conclusion of Africa's direct qualification groups and the Asian 4th round - two groups of 3, winners qualify for the World Cup and the runners-up play-off for the Inter-confed place. We should also see a few European nations seal qualification and the CONCACAF tables may look clearer as to who is heading up to USA, Mexico and Canada.