The International Break | Vital Football

The International Break

K

keith margam

Vital Football Legend
The fall out from last Saturday.
Bournemouth couldn’t score at Peterborough yet we beat Peterborough 3-0. Then Bournemouth put four past us without reply for their biggest win of the season. Football matches are so unpredictable that’s for sure. Squeezing three matches into a week then no matches for two weeks doesn’t help although it’s the same problem for all Championship teams.
Regarding the Bournemouth hammering, the result was easily predictable once we heard the team news - no changes. An ageing back three asked to play three games in seven days was a step too far.
Lessons not learnt then as the same thing happened when lowly Birmingham beat us in the last three matches in a week sequence.
Bennett on the right side of the back three was cruelly exposed for pace and we had no answer to their aggressive play and high press.
The description “defensive dawdling” from one websites match report was very apt.
Moving on, do we change our back three for the next game, with players eagerly waiting in the wings for their opportunity but going stale through lack of matches.
There’s two weeks to analyse what went wrong and put right for the next game, let’s use the time wisely.
 
The reason behind the Championship’s compact match scheduling is the World Cup Qualifiers.
During the two weeks without a league match we are able to concentrate on International football with Wales and the two matches left in the initial qualifying stages of the competition.

World Cup Qualifiers Group Stage.
The final two matches in Group E for Wales are both home ties:
Sat 13 Nov 19:45 Wales v Belarus
Tue 16 Nov 19:45 Wales v Belgium

The table:
Teams....P...GD...Pts
Belgium..6...17....16
Czech R..6....1......8
Wales.....5....0......8
Estonia...5...-7.....4
Belarus...6..-11....3

Czech Republic have one game left:
Tue 16 Nov Czech R v Estonia

The top of the group teams go through automatically, the second spot teams go to a play-off.
If Wales miss out on second spot they are already all but guaranteed a play-off place thanks to topping their group in the Nations League, but finishing second in this World Cup qualifying group could secure a more favourable draw in that knockout stage.
 
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An update on Wales situation regarding a place in the play-off’s.
Wales will now definitely qualify for a play-off spot because they are the fifth best ranked Nations League side from last year’s competition, with two play-off places given to the highest ranked sides who do not finish in the top two of their qualifying group.
This after Spain won in Greece last night, meaning Belgium, Italy, France and Spain, the four teams above them in the NL ranking have all qualified.
If they finish second in the WCQ table after the next two games they will be seeded for the play-offs.
If they finish third they will be unseeded for the play-offs.
 
The play-offs explained -
There will be three remaining slots for the World Cup Final available.
There will be 12 teams in the play-offs, split into 3 groups of 4, the winners of each group go through.
The groups of 4 teams play a single leg semi-final (24-25 March 2022), the two winners play a single leg final (28-29 March 2022)
An unseeded team would have to play the semi-final leg away from home.
 
After that excellent performance in the 5-1 demolition of Belarus last Saturday it was all on last night’s match at home to Belgium to see if Wales could clinch second spot and a home draw in the play-offs next March for World Cup qualification.
Full of confidence, Wales, in front of a vociferous capacity home crowd, more than held their own last night, drawing with Belgium 1-1 and clinching second place in Group E.
Their play-off semi-final opponents at the Cardiff Stadium will be one of either Poland, Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, Czech Rep or Turkey, and the draw will be made on 26 November.
Without captain and talisman Gareth Bale we knew it was going to be a hard match, but Wales are made of tough stuff these days.
There was a setback early doors when Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne gave Belgium the lead in the 12’ where he was given space to hit a curling shot from outside the area. Wales deservedly equalised in the 32’, Kieffer Moore with a well struck shot from a Dan James cross.
Belgium’s Thorgan Hazard hit the post in the 42’ and second half Liverpool’s young star Neco Williams almost hit the winner in the 83’ for Wales, Casteels diving full stretch to turn a swerving shot around the post with Wales looking the stronger team at the end.
The Wales team did a lap of honour at the end with home fans ecstatic after watching their team hold the FIFA World Ranked Number One team to a draw.
 
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