FoG

The 9th July sees the latest release of the FIFA World Rankings. These rankings will be used on the 25th of July to determine the Pots for the WC2018 qualifying draw. The teams will be be drawn into 9 groups based on these Pots. The 9 groups winners qualify automatically and the 8 best runners up go into a playoff. The Pots are determined by FIFA Ranking Pts, I have added some other team strength indicators in the below tables. Hover over some fields for more details. Bookie Rating is the odds of winning the WC2018 outright. Best result is calculated based on FIFA Ranking points earned (based on match result and level of competition and level of opponent). POT 1 FIFA Ranking Pts Bookie Rating Last 4 yrs W-D-L Last 4 yrs win % Best Result last 4 yrs Form Germany 1411 9/2 33-11-8 63.46% 7-1 vs Brazil L D W D W L Spain 1110 8/1 38-7-10 69.09% 1-0 vs Croatia W L W L W W Netherlands 1204 14/1 28-11-13 53.85% 5-1 vs Spain L W D W L W Belgium 1244 16/1 26-11-7 59.09% 1-0 vs Russ...

POT 1 Germany 9/2 Spain 8/1 Netherlands 14/1 Belgium 16/1 England 25/1 Portugal 33/1 Croatia 50/1 Romania 100/1 Wales 500/1 POT 2 France 10/1 Italy 16/1 Switzerland 50/1 Czech Republic 66/1 Denmark 66/1 Bosnia 66/1 Austria 100/1 Slovakia 500/1 Iceland 1000/1 POT 3 Ukraine 66/1 Poland 66/1 Sweden 66/1 Greece 66/1 Serbia 100/1 Hungary 300/1 Scotland 500/1 Albania 1000/1 N. Ireland 1000/1 POT 4 Turkey 100/1 Norway 150/1 Bulgaria 150/1 Montenegro 200/1 Israel 500/1 Ireland 500/1 Slovenia 1000/1 Faroe Islands 1000/1 Estonia 1000/1 POT 5 Finland 500/1 Macedonia 500/1 Cyprus 1000/1 Latvia 1000/1 Armenia 1000/1 Belarus 1000/1 Azerbaijan 1000/1 Lithuania 1000/1 Moldova 1000/1 POT 6 Kazakhstan 1000/1 Luxembourg 1000/1 Liechtenstei...

The situation for Euro Qualifying is straight forward now. It is beginning to appear that 2nd place is out of our grasp (Germany and Poland are playing the minnows of the group this weekend and should be able to consolidate the top two places between them now). It is a battle with Scotland for the 3rd place and hope to qualify as best 3rd place or by way of a play-off. That makes the Scottish game at the weekend a do or die affair. What of the seeding for the World Cup draw? The ranking of next month will be used to designate the pots and it will be good news for Romania, England and Croatia who all look set to make Pot 1. It could also be good news for Wales and N. Ireland who both have Pot 2 in their hands at the moment. Wales to beat Belgium would actually push them over the edge and into Pot 1. But what of Ireland.  Read  here  to see how we did have our destiny in our own hands before we failed to beat Poland at home in the last qualifier. Now, its complicated. ...