TIGGER TELLS EEYORE IT WASN’T THAT BAD
Tigger was bouncing through the Hundred Acre Wood.
“Oho Eeyore!” said Tigger, “what’s this? European Qualifying a bit boring?”
“Too many meaningless matches. Mismatched teams” said Eeyore.
“Hee hee! Well just look at these three Groups!” said Tigger, bouncing off again.
European Qualifying continued
The threat of elimination hung over Wales and Ireland’s final two matches as they battled for (hopefully) a playoff place by finishing second - good stuff. They both won their penultimate matches and so met in Cardiff in their final match knowing Ireland had to win - one of them would be eliminated. Proper football.
Poor Wales - it seems inevitable in retrospect. They continued their tradition of just failing to qualify. Ireland won 1-0, continuing their tradition of producing results when they matter. Ireland go into the playoffs, Serbia having qualified for Russia 2018 as Group winners by beating Georgia 1-0. The decisive goals by McClean and Prijović were nicely taken.
Another Group with genuine jeopardy with two matches left. Poland led by three points from Montenegro and Denmark. Montenegro met Denmark in their vital, penultimate match - defeat would probably mean elimination for either team. Could the fairy tale come true for tiny Montenegro (population 625,000)? No, Denmark won 1-0 and gave an evil chuckle.
Christian Eriksen of Denmark - mwah hah hah
Poland qualified automatically as Group winners, Denmark go into the playoffs as runners-up. Montenegro are out. Boo.
England bored their way to the World Cup Finals by finishing top. Behind them Scotland, Slovakia and Slovenia all tried hard not to finish second.
Scotland defeated 10-man Slovakia with a late own goal (after a fantastic first-half save by Dubravka, Slovakia’s keeper) and had to win their last match in Slovenia to gain second and a playoff place. A neat Leigh Griffiths volley put them one up.
But Slovenia could still finish second themselves and fought back to lead 2-1. Robert Snodgrass equalised but Scotland couldn’t find the winner, and neither could Slovenia. Slovakia pipped them both to second place by beating Malta.
Robert Snodgrass - The Snodster
But none of it had mattered. Slovakia were ranked 9th of the nine runners-up, and would not go on to the playoffs. They were eliminated too. It seemed appropriate somehow.