I have to say... I'm a bit gutted there'll be no Premiership or Championship football on this weekend because of the international break for the world cup qualifyers. I spose you gotta fit the qualifiers in somewhere, but its just quite annoying really, because every time I start getting into the season and excited about the next round of games, there's always a break for internationals the next week.
What's worse is that all of the qualifying games will be played on Friday night for some weird reason- there'll be a massive void during Saturday afternoon that I will be faced with the task of filling. In an attempt to make the usual 'weekend preview' days, Thursday and Friday, a bit more interesting I thought I'd have a look at who are playing who in the World Cup qualifying campaigns.
England vs. San Marino
The only thing in my mind that makes me think this game could be kept to within 2 or 3 goals is that this will be most San Marino players' biggest game of their life, they'll have nothing to lose and there could be an underlying feeling in the England camp that they only have to turn up to win. That said, there's also probably an element of truth in that as well- La Serenissima (the San Marino team nickname, meaning "the most serene") are 207th in the FIFA World Rankings and have lost their last 45 matches, their last result was a 1-0 victory over Lichenstein in April 2004 and I've got a funny feeling this will make it defeat number 46. I'll be generous to the Sammarinese and say 6-0 to England.
Wales vs. Scotland
I've got a feeling this could be quite a high-scoring game, simply because a draw would be absolutely neither team so both sides have no option but to go for it. Craig Levein would be a fool to play 4-5-1 again, especially with Kenny Miller as the lone striker rather than Steven Fletcher. He has to change that for this game. Wales haven't shown much promise in the opening games of their group, losing at home to Belgium and then 5-1 in Serbia.
There's certainly a case of 'nothing to lose' for both teams but whatever happens in Cardiff on Friday I don't think either will be getting a flight to Brazil come 2014. Belgium, Croatia and Serbia are all nations developing rapidly within the football world and I'd fully expect it to be two of those teams that qualify from the group so the chances are this game could prove to be irrelevant. Will say 2 each, Fletcher to get on the scoresheet and Bale to continue his tradition of Justin Bieber-themed goal celebrations.
Rep of Ireland vs. Germany
You really don't know who to mark in this German team. They've got so many attacking options, they're arguably the best international team in the world I've when it comes to direct, decisive, high-tempo attacking play; once Mario Gomez returns to that team from injury, they could prove to become quite a force. Die Mannshaft (German for "the team" ,my understanding of it being to have an element of manliness) would do well to remember Robbie Keane's late equaliser in the 2002 World Cup, but I don't think complacency will be an issue for the Germans, it never is, they've got great mental strength so I'll go for a comfortable Germany win. I'll say 3-0.
Well that's your lot for this week- decided to just cover the British teams, otherwise knowing me I'd be up all night covering all 24 matches in the different qualifying groups. It's a shame the Prem won't be on, it shall be sorely missed, but the build-up to the big games on the 20th and 21st will begin next week.
In the meantime, you can follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/_thescore
As always, feel free to leave a comment on the blog; am always interested to hear what your thoughts are.
Otherwise, I shall see you next week.
Cheers
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