JamesM82

Adams trained yesterday (Tuesday 19th).

Worth remembering that Clarke played a part in making the squad and team "significantly better" (in your view) by persuading Dykes and Adams to play for Scotland.

In that scenario, Israel would finish second (and the seeding point rendered moot) if they avoid defeat in Austria. If Austria beat Israel and we finished second with our current points total, it's unlikely we would be seeded even if the Faroes stayed above Moldova.

Binning Jogi Low and replacing him with Hansi Flick has helped.

The reason the South African boycott worked is because every credible cricket and rugby playing country went along with it, with odd exceptions (rebel tours). You would need something like most of Europe boycotting a World Cup to destroy its credibility. That's been threatened as a nuclear option to stop FIFA pushing through the idea to hold it every two years.

Probably couldn't because they were up their necks in it as well. England offered 8 days before the vote (2018 and 2022 were voted on at the same time) to play Thailand in a friendly, then withdrew the offer three weeks after the vote as a) they had lost and b) Thailand didn't vote for them. The FA chairman later said it was a form of bribery. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40422817

Classifying the Australia and Israel games as full internationals is fair enough, even if it was just a wheeze to give Fergie a cap, because the Australians and Israelis themselves have counted them as such for a while (always?). The strange one is the game in Canada because it was against an "Olympic team", not their full side.

~15% (after the Faroes) https://twitter.com/We_Global/status/1448054055398428678 By getting to the playoffs we would effectively be in a cup semi-final, but we would be underdogs against most of the teams that are likely to be in the draw. That drags what would be a 25% chance if all of the teams were the same standard down to 15%. Getting seeded would help a bit - home advantage in the semi, and would mean avoiding any big hitters that might drop into 2nd (e.g. Spain) in that round.

To put it another way - we will very likely need to avoid defeat v Denmark to be seeded. The Moldova game only counts for securing second place, because they'll almost certainly finish bottom (3 points and 7 goals behind the Faroes with two games to go).

Even if he scores 100 goals this season, Ross Stewart should be ignored on the basis of the ridiculous nickname Sunderland fans seem to have given him.

I looked up Shankland's stats in Belgium to see if he might do a Jack Hendry, but it isn't looking too great so far. His team are rock bottom (one point from 9 games!) He's only played in four of them, two as a sub, and hasn't scored. He was hooked after nine minutes in their last game because they had a defender sent off already. Regarding Nisbet, Ross said at the weekend that he hasn't been training recently and they've been trying to manage him through games because he doesn't have many other options with Doidge out long-term.

or Craig Gordon last season while Hearts were in the Championship. Gordon missed their game vs Brora (LOL) because of the first batch of WCQ in March. Teams can call off league games if they have multiple players away with national teams. That often happens in EFL League One, e.g. Sheff Wed v Sunderland was supposed to be on 4 September but was postponed because of call-ups. https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc/sheffield-wednesday-v-sunderland-postponed-after-international-call-ups-3362418

Gemmill always plays with a back four. Middleton played as the central striker v Turkey.

I think that's precisely why Chelsea sent him there. Toughen him up by playing for a team that's going to lose (far) more often than not.

If Ross Stewart (5 goals so far this season) is getting considered, then Ryan Hardie (6, in the same division) should be as well.

UEFA have achieved the impossible: getting Pat Bonner to watch a game that doesn't involve Celtic. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/long-ball-tactic-cost-england-euro-2020-final-says-uefa-report-dtqnnp8g2

The first round of the playoffs is seeded (6 best runner-ups get to play at home), so it is important to win those games and to get something against Denmark.

Crap movie.

I can only recall Barrie McKay being involved in one cup final. Unless you count the Petrofac, I suppose. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36292302

Better not tell them that Ron's spent all the backup striker money on two big TVs.

Scotsman saying Boyle getting subbed was "precautionary". Aussies fly to Vietnam tomorrow for their game there on Tuesday.

He took a dull yin from a Chinese player and got subbed off a minute later holding his thigh. Clickbait journos interpreted that as a "hamstring", which sounds a lot worse. He didn't mention it in this post-match interview so I doubt it's that bad. https://www.sportingnews.com/au/football/news/socceroos-star-martin-boyle-reveals-classy-goal-tribute-in-world-cup-qualifying-win-against-china/19hy6z57oz7zx1mly5lsojh1gn

Sky said a couple of days ago that the Turkish embassy expects they will get moved down to amber this weekend. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-turkey-expects-to-be-removed-from-red-list-when-travel-rules-reviewed-later-this-week-12388876

They'll move into moaning about how Clark is third choice and never gets a cap, ala Alan Main 1998-2001