Okay...maybe its more like a cold, or a slight cough even.
Its that time of year again, when the club season that we have waited so long for is stopped, only a few weeks after it started for the international break. It seems like the summer of 2014 is so far away, well it kind of is, but the qualification process is quite a lengthy one, and I have to admit the long drawn out process actually does get me super excited for when the time actually comes. The first round of games are over, and there were some surprises, but honestly the results were pretty standard for me. Except of course for CONCACAF. Ohhhh its too difficult for me to even write that the U.S. lost to Jamaica (a game that wasn't even broadcast in this country, but alas, I could go on about the subject of the absence of soccer in America for days...so I wont) and that Mexico of course won. I'll never give up on my boys in red, white, and blue however and there still is one more day of games to go.
But the most interesting conference in qualification is most definitely UEFA, just because the sheer volume of the games. The game that I watched that day was Italy v Bulgaria, with the commentary in spanish because again, thats what I have to do in this country if I want to watch soccer, but I didn't need to know what was being said to know that it wasn't good. I do know some spanish, so I got some things here and there, they talked for a while about the Mafia and the match fixing in Italy, so thats great...not. My Azzuri were pretty sub par, especially against a team like Bulgaria who they should have beaten. Throughout the first half the Bulgarians had a majority of the possession and scored first leaving the Azzuri trailing for about 5 minutes when they equalized. Things were looking up when Osvaldo scored again before the half was over, but the Bulgarians equalized a few minuted into the second half and Italy was forced to settle with a draw. The other threat in group 2, the Czech Republic also drew against Denmark so currently Armenia, yes, Armenia is at the top of the group with 3 points. But this is of course the beginning of qualification so the stronger teams in this group, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Denmark will still have time to gather up more points.
Other than the draws in group 2, most of the other teams that you would expect to win in UEFA qualifying did. England thrashed Maldova 5-0, which lets be serious they really needed this win so I say good for them! I also have to add that Bosnia-Herzegovina scored 8 against a side from Liechtenstein that could only muscle up 1. I saw the clips from this game and they were pretty awesome! Goals from all over the place! Including a hat trick from Manchester City's Edin Dzeko. All of the heavy hitters, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, and even Ireland and Russia all won their games. The team that I want to keep my eye on throughout qualification this time around is definitely Belgium, who also won. In a few years they really are going to be a force to be reckoned with, but their team now is still pretty awesome. Most notably my favorite, Eden Hazard, obviously, he is like a breath of fresh air at Chelsea! He's made a huge impact since his arrival this summer and things can only get better. Keeping on the Chelsea theme, Lukaku also plays for Belgium, he is still pretty young, but he is the future both for Chelsea and for Belgium. The Belgians also have plenty of other Premier League heavy hitters like the head underneath the awesome head of hair that is Fellaini from Everton, and Vincent Kompany from Manchester City. I'm so excited to see what these guys are going to do, especially when some of the tougher games roll around. Though I'm pretty sure they won't get much grief from a group that includes Macedonia, Wales, and Scotland. The real threats are probably gonna be Croatia and definitely Serbia.
The most surprising result from CONMEBOL would probably be the (I don't want to say it but I have to) embarrassing 4-0 loss Uruguay suffered at the hands of Colombia. Uruguay is one of my favorite teams in this conference, Luiz Suarez, Diego Forlan, and Edison Cavani are some of my favorite players but even they were no match for Colombia and the I just came out of nowhere it seems to blow everyone's mind Falcao. He scored in the 2nd minute, and early goals like that always start the opposing team off kind of shaky, trust me I know. He pretty much embarrassed Chelsea in the same way at the UEFA Super Cup. But honestly, as I was sitting there in disbelief as he just scored goal after goal I realized that they were just amazing. The kind of goals that even though they're against your favorite team, when you see them you just smile and say, wow that was just incredible. Though he claims that he's going to stay at Atletico, I think that the big clubs are going to pay some huge bucks for a talent like that. And for Colombia in qualifying, sometimes it just takes one person to completely change a team, and the fact that they beat the defending Copa America champions 4-0, well I think CONMEBOL could have another big player on their hands. Even though they're currently in the middle of the CONMEBOL table, this huge Falcao ego boost is obviously pushing this team in the right direction.
And this was only day one!!
There are going to be so many more stories and upsets from qualifying, however at the end of this week, we'll be finished with the WC qualifying and back to club play (YAYYYY!!!) There are a bunch of games tomorrow too, and a whole day of watching soccer seems like a pretty perfect day to me. May your days be as beautiful as the game we all love so much! Ciao!
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