FIFA WC 2018 qualifiers | 4th round review

Group A:

The most interesting match of the group was between the teams of France and Sweden. Surprisingly, Forsberg opened the score after the break with a magnificent shot from a free-kick. But, France had enough time to fix the things and Dimitri Payet showed again his class, assisting and scoring to turn things around for his team. With the victory, France are topping the table with 10 points. Sweden and Holland are sharing the 2nd position with 7 points. Bulgaria can compete for the playoff position, as the Bulgarians managed to win against Belarus 1-0 at home.

Group B:

Cristiano Ronaldo was in a top form again. The Real Madrid superstar scored twice against Latvia in Portugal’s 4-1 home victory. The forward scored his second of the game with a nice scissors shot! However, Portugal need to give their best in the upcoming matches, because Switzerland are lying in the first position with 3 more points than the Portuguese. To continue with, Hungary are also close to the top. They beat Andorra 4-0 and collected 7 points, just 2 down from Portugal!

Group C:

40 years after Dieter Muller’s record for scoring a hat-trick in a player’s debut for the German national team, Serge Gnabry repeated it! The winger scored 3 goals in Germany’s smashing 8-0 victory against San Marino away from home. With the 3 points, the Mannschaft is untouchable at the top of Group C (4 victories in 4 games)! In another match of the group, The Norn Iron put on display a wonderful performance against Azerbaijan and won by 4-0! Czech Republic are back in the game, after a very important 2-1 victory against Norway at home.

Group D:

Republic of Ireland is having a wonderful qualifying campaign so far! The Green Army recorded a prestigious 1-0 victory against Austria away from home! James McClean became the hero, scoring a goal through the legs of the goalkeeper in the 47th minute of the game. While, Rep. of Ireland took all the points from their match, the Welshmen got only a point against Serbia. Maybe, the Dragons’ superstitions for the team photo before the match is not working… However, The Dragons are still unbeaten in the group, but have only won once.

Group E:

Maybe the most interesting moment of this group is the bomb, which was thrown near Robert Lewandowski. Fortunately, the Bayern Munich forward is okay and he even scored twice for his team’s 3-0 away victory against Romania. Deservedly, Poland are topping the table with 10 points, Montenegro are in second position with 7, while Denmark are third with 6 points. But, the participation at the World Cup 2018 for Poland is still not secured, because this is one of the most competitive groups, also with the teams of Romania, Armenia and Kazakhstan.

Group F:

The oldest international fixture between England and Scotland finished with an easy victory for The Three Lions (3-0). Sturridge, Lallana and Cahill (all scored after a cross) secured the 3 points for England. This victory released the pressure for Garteh Southgate and his team, because England have now collected 10 points and are still at the top of the table after 3 victories and a draw. But, Slovenia and Slovakia are waiting for England’s mistake! Both teams won their matches and are close enough to The Three Lions.

Group G:

No problems for Spain and Italy, both winning their matches 4-0. They have now collected 10 points and are sharing the first position. But, surprisingly, Israel are just 1 point down from these two giants! The Israeli recorded a very important 3-0 victory against Albania in Elbasan, but it was quite a controversial one. The referee showed 2 red cards for the Albanians and gave the visitors the right to take two penalties. The second red card was for the goalkeeper Berisha for a hit. It’s interesting that the ball was in Israel’s half, when the referee awarded them the second penalty, which was saved by the substitute goalkeeper Hoxha!

Group H:

Belgium have shown an incredible performance. If you haven’t watched their last 8-1 victory against Estonia, you must do it! A lot of backheel one-touch passes, wonderful shots, great fast attacks down the wings and so on. They should have scored more… However, that’s the real beauty of the game. That was maybe the strongest performance in the 4th round of the qualifiers. In another match from Group H, Greece “stole” a point against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Tzavellas’ screamer in the 95th minute of the game. Dzeko and Papadopoulos were sent off in the 80th minute, because of an incident near Greece’s goal. Edin Dzeko took Sokratis’ shorts off!

Group I:

Croatia, Turkey and Ukraine recorded victories in their matches. Croatia are lying in the first place of the standings with 10 points, followed by the teams of Ukraine (8 pts.), Iceland (7 pts.), Turkey (5 pts.), Finland and Kosovo (1 point).

The next qualifying round starts at 24th March 2017, so all the teams can do their stock for their performance. By the way, do Russia realize how lucky they are – they skipped the qualifying round, because they are going to host the tournament. Yes, they are really lucky, because this qualifying campaign is really a competitive one!