On a magic football night in Istanbul, home team Türkiye could qualify for the first time since 2002 where the proud nation finished in third. For Romania the last time they were at the World Cup was in 1998, but their absolute highlight was 4 years earlier in 1994: the last time a World Cup was held in the United States, a golden generation of Romanians made it to the quarter finals with goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea, defender Gheorge Popescu, strikers Florin Raducioiu and Viorel Moldovan, captained by the national legend Gheorghe Hagi. He is now manager of the national team which is captained by his son Ianis Hagi.
Home team Türkiye immediately took initiative. With an exceptionally talented front four the Turks laid siege around the Romanian goal and it resulted in a fairly quick 1-0, courtesy of Juventus attacking midfieler Kenan Yildiz. But Romania showed themselves surprisingly defiant and determined: the Romanians regained the initiative, the pressure resulted in Turkish defensive errors and even a penalty, which was converted by Hagi: 1-1.
And just when it seemed Türkiye took distance with two quick goals afterwards (by Baris Yilmaz and Kerem Aktürkoglu), Romania again was able to bounce back thanks to Daniel Birligea. The neutral viewer was the absolute winner with five goals in one half. Even though the Turks had the upper hand, they couldn't shake off the unexpectedly tough and resistant Romanians.
That changed in the second half: a minor injury caused Ianis Hagi to abandon the pitch relatively early and with that, the Romanians lost their captain, their conductor and their director on the pitch. The Turks on the other hand were able to press more, due to the forced tactical change on the opponent's side. Türkiye took control of the midfield, a number of possibilities came out of that and Aktürkoglu converted two of those: 5-2. After the fifth went in for Bizim Çocuklar, Türkiye brought on defender Merih demiral to lock up shop.
And so, Türkiye is finally going to the World Cup again for the first time in 24 years. Will they be able to cause an upset, the same way they did back in 2002? Much depends on the draw of course, but the Turks have an attack much to be feared.
Denmark and Ireland have in common that the absolute peak performance of both their national football (soccer) teams, lie in the late 1980s and 1990s. Denmark had a breakthrough when qualifying for the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Ireland did so four years later. Also when it comes to attendance at the UEFA EURO championships, Denmark (1984) was four years ahead of Ireland (1988). Neither qualified for UEFA EURO 1992, but the Danes were (literally) called up from their beach holidays to replace war-struck Yugoslavia and participate. To everyone's surprise, Denmark went on to win the tournament and crown themselves European champions in 1992.
Ireland has an end-tournament history that often seemed intertwined with the Dutch. During UEFA EURO 1988 a last minute goal by Wim Kieft eliminated the Irish (1-0) and saw the Netherlands progress to eventually win the tournament. At the 1990 World Cup, a lifeless draw (1-1) saw both teams get out of the group stages with Ireland making it to the quarter finals. Four years later, Ireland made it out of the group stages only to be halted by the Netherlands once more (2-0) and for UEFA EURO 1996 a play-off in qualifying between the two ended again in favour of the Dutch (2-0). Ireland would have sweet revenge though, by eliminating a star-filled Dutch team during qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.
Throughout the 21st century, both Denmark and Ireland have been on and off competitors at the big tournaments. Denmark had a stand-out peformance during the postponed UEFA EURO 2020 reaching the semi-finals, being awfully close to the finals at Wembley. But the gist of this introduction is that Denmark v Ireland promised to be game with two teams well matched against one another.
Ireland struck first blood with a once-in-a-lifetime goal by Evan Ferguson. From the right wing Chiedozie Ogbene swung in a cross and Ferguson volleyed the ball into the net from 20 metres (or 21 yards) out. The Danes did not lose their nerve and came alongside thanks to Gustav Isaksen: the ultra-rapid right winger was launched deep by targetman Rasmus Højlund and did not falter in the 1-v-1 with Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Denmark had to reset when Mikkel Damsgaard suffered an injury after half an hour. With Damsgaard, Denmark played a system which leaned between a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3 with Damsgaard hanging on the left hand side, but while his substitute Joakim Mæhle brought defensive stability, Denmark did lose its attacking sting for the remainder of the first half playing a conservative 5-3-2.
For the second half, Denmark manager Brian Riemer tried to change things round, bringing on Albert Grønbæk for right back Rasmus Kristensen. Mæhle moved to the right wing side instead and Denmark were in their traditional 4-3-3 formation again. Suddenly, the game opened up again: Isaksen scored his second in similar fashion to his first, while Troy Parrott did not waste time scoring the equalizer, as he converted a second ball from a corner kick.
Then Riemer's master stroke came: the manager took off Isaksen, the man that was responsible for two goals. Instead, he brought on Anders Dreyer and swapped Victor Froholdt for Jens Stage. The effect of these changes was that striker Rasmus Højlund no longer was the forward regista, but rather a poaching finisher: Denmark's striker scored twice, five minutes apart from each other. After that, Denmark literally 'killed' the game playing tough and aggressive, obstructing Ireland in any way they could in the final stages of the game. That resulted in three bookings for the Danes, but they succeeded in their efforts: Ireland never came close to the Danish goal anymore. Denmark won the game, thanks to some impressive changes by the manager in the second half.
Well, that's new. Brian Riemer actually being able to change things mid-game. His team literally had three match balls to qualify IRL. First against Belarus, having already beaten them 6-0 earlier in the qualifiers. Then against Scotland. And finally against Czech Republic. Denmark were arguably the better team in all three, but lacked the "killer instinct" to get it over the line. And perhaps the leadership of a qualified head coach as well. Now, I wouldn't usually praise teams for playing dirty, but Denmark have traditionally been "too nice" to other teams, whilst too often suffered for it. It pleases me that they managed to bring out their winning mentality this time. Hoping that Damsgaard's injury isn't severe. He was instrumental in the 2021 Euros, as he picked up after Eriksen...
Two teams from the same confederation could not be placed in the same group, with the exception of UEFA for which there had to be at least one but no more than two teams in each group. The confederation restriction applied to all three potential winners of the inter-confederation playoffs. FIFA also announced that, "in the interest of ensuring competitive balance", two separate pathways to the semifinals (sides of the knockout bracket) were established. Based on this, the teams ranked first (Spain) and second (Argentina) in the ranking were randomly drawn into groups in opposite pathways, as were the teams ranked third (France) and fourth (England). Therefore, if these pairs of teams were to win their groups (as all four ultimately did), they would be unable to meet until the final (as both Argentina and Spain eventually would), while all four would be unable to meet until the semifinals (which also happened, with Spain defeating France, and, then, Argentina defeating England).
Despite the procedure stating that the three co-hosts would be identified by different colored balls and placed in pre-defined positions as per the match schedule, the draw for the co-hosts was instead performed by their respective heads of government, who drew their own nations out. The draw then started with the remaining nine teams in Pot 1, which were identified by nine balls of the same color and allocated to position 1 of the group into which they were drawn. For pots 2, 3 and 4, each team's group position was determined according to a predefined allocation pattern, which was published by FIFA as a part of the draw procedures as follows:
Groups A, D, G, J
Position 2: Team from Pot 3
Position 3: Team from Pot 2
Position 4: Team from Pot 4
Groups B, E, H, K
Position 2: Team from Pot 4
Position 3: Team from Pot 3
Position 4: Team from Pot 2
Groups C, F, I, L
Position 2: Team from Pot 2
Position 3: Team from Pot 4
Position 4: Team from Pot 3
The twelve groups were formed randomly, selecting one team from each of the four pots. The three hosts' positions in the draw was predetermined – Mexico in A1, Canada in B1, and the United States in D1. Unlike previous editions, the position of unseeded teams in each group was also predetermined as opposed to being randomly drawn
I actually wanted to broadcast each and every game, but there's just no way (with Bandicam) to capture video and do screenshots at the same time... , so continuing on the same way, it is
Happy with Denmark's group. Should be doable (forgetting for a second that they failed to qualify IRL after match balls against Belarus, Scotland and Czechia).
To me, Uruguay and Türkiye were two of the major disappointments IRL. Being paired in the same group here, surely one of them has to deliver.
Wow, group E is fire!
Happy with Denmark's group. Should be doable (forgetting for a second that they failed to qualify IRL after match balls against Belarus, Scotland and Czechia).
To me, Uruguay and Türkiye were two of the major disappointments IRL. Being paired in the same group here, surely one of them has to deliver.
I wouldn't say Türkiye were playing bad, they ust couldn't convert good spells into goals. Uruguay indeed was disappointing; but that goes for almost all the South American teams. The one that made it to the final (Argentina) did it on absolute grit and a bit of favouratism. I expected more from Czechia to be honest.
Argentina still big chillin' no matter what universe
Canada should be able to make it out too
Ah, but you forget dear friend, here Argentina was drawn into Group F and the top two of that group are linked to the top two of Group C (Spain, Colombia, Norway, Ghana). So yes, easy group stage, but the potential pairings in the knock outs have no potential weaker or easier side of the schedule.
Really wanted to give an authentic feel to the games, so I made them long and (similar to the real world cup) in a relatively slow, realistic pace of the game. HERE WE GO!
Games are at Legendary level, 2x 15 minutes, creating a ca. 40 minute video on YouTube per match
I'll play the highest seeded team: so whichever team was in the higher pot during the draw
(meaning, I'll never play with pot 4 nations: no Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, Italy, Poland, Türkiye, Denmark, DR Congo, or Indonesia)
The games will be broadcasted as game captures, not too many post-edits. Apologies if that isn't to your liking, but that's how I chose to do my chise
