All right folks, it’s time to see this through for the last nine World Cup qualification spots.

AFC-CONCACAF Playoff
Australia and Honduras will rack up some frequent flyer miles. The first leg will take place November 10th in San Pedro Sula, then the squads will face each other again in Sydney five days later. The winner on cumulative goals will advance, with the away goals rule applying. (The away goals rule is essentially a first tiebreaker: if the cumulative score is a draw, then the team that scored more away goals wins.)

CONMEBOL-OFC Playoff
Not to be outdone, Peru will fly to New Zealand, with the first match taking place on November 11th, and the return four days later in Lima. The same rules apply.

CAF
Nigeria and Egypt have already qualified out of Africa, so that leaves three groups to be decided.

Group A
On the next matchday, November 11th, Tunisia will advance if they win or draw against Libya, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo loses to draws against Guinea.

Group C
Morocco and Ivory Coast play each other on November 11th. Ahead by a point, Morocco can advance with a win or draw, but Ivory Coast can only advance with a win.

Group D
Group D is the wackiest for sure, since the original Senegal-South Africa match is being replayed due to South Africa using an ineligible player. That replay will happen on November 10th in South Africa, and then the teams will meet again four days later in Dakar. Senegal leads the rest of the group by two points, so they will clinch if they defeat South Africa on Friday. Any other result means the group will still be wide open, and we’ll update this post once we know more.

UEFA
And so the last four spots will be contested by eight European teams. Let’s take a quick look. As with the other playoffs, these are two-legged ties where the cumulative results matter, with the away goals rule applying.

• Northern Ireland and Switzerland will playoff on November 9th and 12th
• Croatia and Greece will playoff on November 9th and 12th.
• Sweden and Italy will playoff on November 10th and 13th.
• Denmark and Ireland will playoff on November 11th and 14th.

That’s pretty much it! By this time next week, the field will be completely set.

Okay, probably not the worst, but it’s certainly up there. Enough said.

Let’s review this past international break.

Qualified: Nigeria, Egypt, Honduras, Costa Rica, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, France, Portugal, Germany, Serbia, Poland, England, Spain, Belgium, and Iceland.

Eliminated: Syria, Mali, Gabon, Zambia, Ghana, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Austria, Wales, Montenegro, Slovakia, Scotland, Slovenia, Albania, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, and Ukraine.

There are now 20 teams competing for the 9 remaining spots. The status of all teams page has been updated. We’ll take a look at the scenarios for Africa and preview the UEFA and inter-confederation playoffs in a couple of weeks.

And we’re back with a look at the remaining games in this international break. 13 teams are now qualified, with 44 teams still in the running. At least 9 more will be qualified by Wednesday.

I don’t make any claim these scenarios are comprehensive, but they are all in one place.

UEFA 10/9 Update
These are the final scenarios:

• France will qualify directly if they defeat Belarus.
• France will qualify directly if Sweden loses to the Netherlands.
• Sweden will qualify directly if they defeat the Netherlands and France loses to or draws with Belarus.
• Sweden will clinch at least a play-off spot if they do not lose to the Netherlands or lose by less than 7 goals.
• The Netherlands will clinch second place in Group A and a play-off spot if they defeat Sweden by at least 7 goals.
• Switzerland will qualify directly if they do not lose to Portugal. Otherwise, they will qualify for the play-off.
• Portugal will qualify directly if they defeat Switzerland. Otherwise, they will qualify for the play-off.
• Greece will qualify for the play-off if they defeat Gibraltar, or if they draw or lose to Gibraltar and Bosnia and Herzegovina fails to defeat Estonia. Otherwise, Slovakia will qualify for the play-off.

AFC

This one’s easy. Syria and Australia drew Syria’s “home” leg 1-1, here’s the matrix of scenarios for the return leg:

• Australia advances with any win or a 0-0 draw.
• Syria advances with a win or draw in which each side scores 2 goals or more.
• If the score after 90 minutes is 1-1, then there will be 30 minutes of extra time. If the score is still 1-1 after the 30 minutes, then a penalty shootout will determine who advances. If there is an outright winner after extra time, then the winner advances. If there is any other draw then Syria will advance on away goals.

CAF

Africa doesn’t play again until November, so we’ll cover those scenarios then, but we’ll salute Nigeria for qualifying and saying aloha to Zambia, Gabon, and Mali. [possibly also Uganda and Ghana if Egypt wins]

CONCACAF

Costa Rica qualified with a 1-1 draw with Honduras. Here’s the scenarios going into Tuesday.

The United States will:

• Qualify directly for the World Cup with a win at Trinidad and Tobago.
• Qualify directly for the World Cup with a draw and if either Panama fails to defeat Costa Rica by 7 goals or Honduras fails to defeat Mexico by 12 goals.
• Qualify directly for the World Cup with a loss to Trinidad and Tobago if both Panama and Honduras lose to or draw with Costa Rica and Mexico, respectively.
• Clinch fourth place and a place in the inter-confederation playoff if they draw Trinidad and Tobago and just one of Panama or Honduras win by enough to make up the differences in goal differential.
• Clinch fourth place and a place in the inter-confederation playoff if they lose to Trinidad and Tobago and just one of Panama or Honduras wins their respective matches.

The fates of Panama and Honduras are more intertwined. Panama’s goal differential is much better (-2 versus -7) so they have an advantage in any scenario where they wind up tied on points, like they currently are. As seen above, both are hindered by their goal differentials when tying the United States due to the US’s +5 goal differential. For both, if they win and the United States draws, then it will come down to goal differential. Either will be eliminated with a loss unless both of them lose. If they both draw, then Panama will clinch fourth place and Honduras will be eliminated.

CONMEBOL

Strap in because this one’s nuts, folks. After Thursday night, six teams are in the running for the last three spots available out of South America. A quick summary of the teams still in the running:

• Uruguay is all but in. They have 28 points and a plus +10 goal differential. Even if they lose, barring some catastrophe they cannot finish worse than the inter-confederation playoff spot (5th place).
• Chile eliminated Ecuador and picked up 3 crucial points in the process. They now have 26 points, a +2 goal differential, and are ahead of Colombia on goals scored.
• Colombia is in fourth place with 26 points, +2 goals, and behind Chile due to goals scored.
• Peru is in fifth after earning a huge draw at Argentina, sitting on 25 points and a +1 goal differential. They are ahead of Argentina on goals scored.
• If the competition ended today, Argentina would not make the World Cup. They are in sixth place with 25 points and a +1 goal differential. They are behind Peru due to goals scored.
• Paraguay has 24 points but a potential anchor due to their -5 goal differential.

All of the games on Tuesday will kickoff at 5:30 PM Eastern. Let’s go through the scenarios, such as I can. I’m going to do this by team, but as you might guess from the above, this gets very complicated, very fast. Even though there is an enormous block of text below, I probably have come nowhere close to enumerating all the possibilities.

Uruguay
Uruguay has the easiest scenarios. With any win or draw over Bolivia, they get into the World Cup. The game is in Montevideo and is the second worst team in the table. They should be able to get at least a point. However, if they lose, then for them to even wind up in 5th place (and thus the inter-confederation playoff) the following would have to happen:

• Chile defeats Brazil
• There is a result in the Colombia-Peru game
• Argentina defeats Ecuador, and Uruguay loses by a bad enough margin to erase their 9 goal difference in terms of goal differential.

Chile
If Chile defeats Brazil, they are in. However, that’s easier said than done. Brazil have won all their matches at home in this qualification cycle, and their only loss came to Chile two years ago in Santiago. However, if Chile draws then things start to get weird, fast. With a draw, Chile ends up with 27 points. If there is a result in the Colombia-Peru game, then the winner will have 29 points. If Argentina defeats Ecuador, then they will have 28 points. If Paraguay defeats Ecuador, then they will have 27 points, however Paraguay would need to win by at least 7 goals to make up the goal difference, so Chile has the advantage there. If there is a draw in the Colombia-Peru game, then it may come down to how many goals Chile and Colombia scored in their matches, since Chile is currently prevailing on the goals scored tiebreaker. (They currently have a 6 goal advantage.) If only one of the above scenarios comes to fruition, then Chile will qualify for the World Cup. If two of them occur, then Chile will finish in 5th place. If three or more occur, then Chile will be eliminated.

If Chile loses, they can still qualify outright if Colombia defeats Peru, Ecuador defeats Argentina, and Paraguay doesn’t defeat Venezuela. They will be eliminated outright in the following scenarios:

• Colombia draws Peru, Argentina defeats Ecuador, and Paraguay defeats Venezuela
• Colombia defeats Peru, Argentina defeats Ecuador, and Paraguay defeats Venezeula
• Peru defeats Colombia, Argentina defeats Ecuador, and Paraguay defeats Venezeula

In every other case, it would go to tiebreakers in various combinations of 4th, 5th, and 6th place:

• If Colombia daws Peru, Argentina draws Ecuador, and Parguay defeats Venezuela, then there will be a 3-way tie for 5th between Chile, Peru, and Argentina. In this scenario, Argentina’s goal difference would remain at +1, as would Peru’s. If Chile loses by one goal, then their goal difference would be +1 and they could probably prevail over Argentina on goals scored (where they lead by 10), but run into trouble with Peru, with whom they are currently level on goals scored. If Chile loses by more than one goal or Colombia-Peru score 1 goal or more each, then they would be eliminated.
• If Colombia draws Peru, Argentina draws Ecuador, and Paraguay doesn’t defeat Venezuela, then the tiebreaker described above would be for 4th place and 5th place. If Argentina loses to Ecuador, then the tiebreaker would involve just Peru and Chile and would decide 4th and 5th place.
• If Colombia defeats Peru, Argentina draws Ecuador, and Paraguay defeats Venezuela, then Chile and Argentina would be tied for 5th at 26 points. If Chile loses by one goal, they probably prevail on goals scored (see above), but if they lose by more than one goal then they are eliminated. If Paraguay doesn’t defeat Venezuela, then the tiebreaker will decide 4th and 5th place.
• If Peru defeats Colombia, then it will come down to whose loss is worse, since Colombia and Peru currently both have a +2 goal differential. If they lose by the same margin, then it will come down who scored more goals. Otherwise, the above scenarios apply.

Colombia
If Colombia defeats Peru, then they will qualify for the World Cup. Colombia is also in good shape if they draw Peru. They are only eliminated outright if they draw and Chile win or draw (and Colombia doesn’t score more goals than them in the process) along with Argentina winning and Paraguay winning by at least 7 goals. If they draw and either Argentina or Paraguay fail to win or draw, they will qualify. If they draw and Argentina draws, then Colombia will prevail on goal differential and qualify. If they draw and Argentina wins, then that would knock them down to 5th.

If Colombia loses, then they cannot finish higher than 5th. If Argentina or Paraguay win, then Colombia would be eliminated. If Argentina draws, then Colombia would need to lose by more than 2 goals to be eliminated. If they lose by one goal, then Argentina would need to make up the difference in goals scored (currently 20 versus 16).

Peru
If Peru defeats Colombia, they are in. The game is in Lima, so they should have at least a slight advantage. If Peru draws Colombia, then it depends on what Argentina and Paraguay do. If either of them win, then Peru is eliminated. If either of them draw, then Peru is in good shape due to its tiebreaker advantages over Argentina (10 more goals scored) and Paraguay (+1 versus -5 goal differential). If Peru loses to Colombia, then they would be eliminated if Argentina wins or draws or if Paraguay wins. Also, if Peru loses and Argentina loses, then it would depend on how badly each lost, with the starting point being the tiebreakers previously mentioned.

Argentina
Argentina and the world’s best player currently sit in sixth place and in a heap of trouble. If they win, then it will depend on what the teams above them do, though they are at least assured 5th place.

• If Chile and Colombia/Peru win, then the best Argentina can do with a win.
• If Chile draws or loses or if Colombia-Peru draw, then Argentina will qualify.

If Argentina draws Ecuador (and the game is on the road), they will wind up with 26 points. If Chile wins or draws, and Colombia-Peru is a draw, then Argentina will be eliminated unless they score a barrage of goals (but somehow still draw). If Colombia defeats Peru and Chile wins or draws, then Argentina will finish 5th. If Colombia defeats Peru and Chile loses, then Argentina could potentially make up their goal differential deficit with Chile if Chile loses by at least two goals. The same applies if Peru defeats Colombia. If Chile also loses, then Argentina could finish as high as fourth, but if Chile and Colombia do not lose by multiple goals then Argentina will be eliminated. If Argentina draws and Paraguay wins, then they will be eliminated.

If Argentina loses to Ecuador, then they will be eliminated.

Paraguay
Paraguay can only get in with a win over Venezuela, and even then they need at least one of Chile, Colombia/Peru, or Argentina to lose. Paraguay’s -5 goal differential will be a major issue, because while Venezuela have conceded the most goals it’s still unlikely they’d lose 6-0. Paraguay can qualify directly if Chile loses, Argentina loses or draws, and Colombia-Peru ends in a draw. They can also wind up in 5th if Chile draws and there is a draw in Colombia-Peru, and if Argentina loses or draws.

Summary

• Uruguay is almost certainly in and cannot finish worse than 5th, even if they lose to Bolivia.
• Chile is in if they defeat Brazil, very likely in if they draw, and holding on for dear life if they lose, but probably in 5th place.
• Colombia is in if they defeat Peru, and very very likely in if they draw, and praying neither Argentina or Paraguay win if they lose.
• Peru is in if they defeat Colombia, but on shaky ground if they draw, since Argentina could then pass them if they draw. If they draw, they cannot do better than 5th.
• If Argentina picks up a win in Quito, then they are assured of at least 5th place, and in if Chile loses or draws and Colombia-Peru is a draw. If Argentina draws then they really need Peru to lose to Colombia.
• Paraguay needs to win and score a boatload of goals.

UEFA

Group A
France is assured of at least a place in the second round, but they can still qualify directly with a win over Belarus at home. They will also qualify with a draw and if Sweden loses to the Netherlands. If Sweden draws the Dutch, then a French loss would be trouble since Sweden has a better goal differential (+19 versus +11). France can also qualify directly with a draw and if Sweden does not defeat the Netherlands. Sweden can qualify directly if they defeat the Netherlands and France draws or loses to Belarus.

Sweden can only be eliminated if they lose to Netherlands by at least 13 goals, which would also clinch second place for the Dutch. We’d have to wait for other group results to come in to see if the Dutch would clinch a place in the second round.

Group B
Switzerland is currently topping the group with 27 points with Portugal behind at 24. Both are assured of a place in the second round. Conveniently, Portugal also gets Switzerland at home in the final game of the first round and has an advantage already in goal differential. Therefore, if Portugal wins they will qualify directly, and with any other result Switzerland will qualify directly.

Group C
Group C is done, with Germany clinching the group. Northern Ireland has also clinched second place, and will clinch a place in the playoff with a win or draw over Norway. Whether they can get in with a loss depends on action in the other groups.

Group D
Austria was eliminated, leaving Serbia with 18 points, Wales with 17 points, and Ireland with 16 points. Wales and Ireland will play each other, and Serbia will play Georgia. On the next matchday, October 9th:

• Serbia will qualify directly for the World Cup with a win over Georgia.
• Serbia will qualify directly for the World Cup with a draw with Georgia and if Wales and Ireland draw each other.
• Wales will qualify directly for the World Cup with a win over Ireland and a Serbia draw with or loss to Georgia. Serbia would clinch second place in this scenario.
• Ireland will qualify directly for the World Cup with a win over Wales and a Serbia loss to Georgia.
• Wales will cinch second place with a win over or a draw with Ireland.
• Ireland will clinch second place with a win over Wales.

Whether the second place team in this group moves to the second round depends on the results in other groups.

Group E
Poland is on top with 22 points, and if they do not qualify outright they are assured of second place and a spot in the Second Round. Denmark and Montenegro have 19 and 16 points, respectively. On the next matchday, October 8th:

• Poland will qualify directly for the World Cup with a win over or draw with Montenegro.
• Denmark will qualify directly for the World Cup with a win over Romania and a Poland loss to Montenegro.
• Montenegro will clinch second place with a win over Poland and if Denmark loses to Romania.
• Denmark will clinch second place with win over or draw with Romania.

Group F
England defeated Slovenia to qualify outright, so it is a three-way battle for second between Scotland, Slovakia, and Slovenia with 17, 15, and 14 points, respectively. If Scotland wins at Slovenia, then they will clinch second place. If Scotland draws and Slovakia defeats Malta (hint: that’s incredibly likely, especially at home) then Slovakia will prevail on goal difference (+7 to Scotland’s +5). Slovenia can only qualify if they defeat Scotland and Slovakia loses to or draws with Malta (hint: that’s not very likely).

Group G
This group is done. Spain clinched qualification and Albania was eliminated, leaving Italy in second place and waiting to see if they’ll qualify for the second round.

Group H
Belgium qualified back in September. Greece will clinch second place with a win over Gibraltar, which is, well, which is very, very likely. (Gibraltar has lost all of their games and has a -40 goal differential.) If they somehow draw, then Bosnia and Herzegovina could clinch second place with a win over Estonia, and would clinch outright if the impossible occurs and Greece manages to lose at home to a tiny peninsula with a population of 33,000.

Group I
Iceland will qualify directly for the World Cup with a win over Kosovo, which is pretty likely. If they draw or lose to Kosovo, they can do no worse than second place and are assured of making the Second Round. Croatia and Ukraine are tied on 17 points and play each other, so it’s pretty straightforward. Whoever wins will also have a better goal differential than Iceland, so the winner would qualify directly for the World Cup if Iceland draws or loses to Kosovo. If they draw, then Croatia will clinch second place.

AFC

In Asia, we’re now in the fourth round, a home-and-home set between Syria and Australia. (Or, more correctly, a home-and-Syria’s-home-away-from-home, Malaysia.) The first leg will take place in Malaysia on the 5th, while the return leg will be in Sydney on the 10th. The winner will be determined by who scores more goals on aggregate. If the teams draw after the end of 90 minutes in the second game, the winner will be determined by who scored more goals on their away legs. If that is also a draw, then 30 minutes of extra time will be played with the away goals rule still applicable, followed by a penalty shootout if the match is still tied.

Suffice it to say, we can only really talk scenarios for the second match. The winner of the fixture will advance to an inter-confederation playoff against a team from CONCACAF.

CAF

In Group A, Guinea and Libya have already been eliminated and Tunisia is ahead of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 3 points.

• On October 7th, Tunisia will advance to the 2018 World Cup with a win or draw over Guinea and a DR Congo draw or loss to Libya. 

In Group B, Cameroon and Algeria have already been eliminated, and Nigeria is ahead of Zambia by 3 points.

• On October 7th, Nigeria will advance to the 2018 World Cup with a win over Zambia.

In Group C, no teams have been eliminated as of yet. The Ivory Coast leads with 7 points, followed by Morocco with 6 points, Gabon with 5 points ,and Mali with 2 points. No team can clinch in the coming international window, so we’ll have to wait until November to see who comes out of the group. However, if Mali loses to the Ivory Coast, they will be eliminated. Also, if the Ivory Coast defeats Mali, Gabon will be eliminated if they lose to or draw with Morocco, and Morocco will be eliminated with a loss.

Group D is in a bit of chaos right now, as FIFA ordered the November 2016 match between South Africa and Senegal to be replayed due to a match fixing referee (who subsequently banned for life). The original result had South Africa winning 2-1. Group leaders Burkina Faso have filed a case with the Court for Arbitration in Sport to have the replay not happen and the original result restored. It’s hard to blame them, as the original result was a pretty big upset as Senegal is the power in the group, and the replayed match could make a difference. As a result, it’s hard to really say with any certainty what will happen on the next matchday in this group.

In Group E, Congo have been eliminated. The rest of the group consists of Egypt at 9 points, Uganda at 7 points, and Ghana at 5 points.

• On October 7th, Ghana will be eliminated if they lose to Uganda.
• On October 8th, Ghana will be eliminated if Egypt defeats Congo.
• On October 8th, Egypt will advance to the 2018 World Cup with a win over Congo and any Uganda draw with or loss to Ghana.

CONCACAF

The Fifth Round, also known as the Hexagonal, features six teams playing a double round-robin. Mexico lead the table with 18 points and a guaranteed finish in the top three spots, and thus are in the World Cup. Behind them are Costa Rica, on 15 points and a guarantee to finish in the top four, which means either the World Cup or the inter-confederation playoff against a team from the AFC. In third place are Panama on 10 points, followed by the United States with 9. Honduras also has 9 points but also a -7 goal differential. Trinidad and Tobago are in last place with just 3 points, but they are not technically eliminated yet.

The next matchday for all teams is October 6th. On that day:

• Costa Rica will qualify for the 2018 World Cup with any win or draw against Honduras.
• Panama will qualify for the 2018 World Cup with a win over the United States.
• Trinidad and Tobago will be eliminated with any draw or loss to Mexico, or if both the United States and Honduras win or draw with Panama and Costa Rica, respectively. 

CONMEBOL

There’s still a lot at play in South America because, as previously noted, the second through eighth placed teams are within seven points of each other, and three of those teams won’t qualify. It’s probably just easiest to look at the actual table instead of trying to describe it. The next matchday is October 5th, and on that day:

• Uruguay will qualify for the 2018 World Cup if they defeat Venezuela and Argentina and Peru draw against each other.
• Ecuador will be eliminated if they lose to Chile.
• Paraguay will be eliminated if they lose to Colombia and Argentina and Peru draw against each other.

For everything else, tune back in after Saturday.

UEFA

There’s 54 teams in 6 groups, so let’s just cut to the chase.

Group A
France and Sweden lead the pack with 17 and 16 points, respectively, followed by the Netherlands and Bulgaria with 13 and 12 points. Luxembourg and Belarus have been eliminated. On the next matchday, October 7th:

• France will qualify directly for the 2018 World Cup with a win over Bulgaria and a Sweden loss to Luxembourg.
• Bulgaria will be eliminated if they lose to France.
• Bulgaria will be eliminated if they draw with France and Sweden defeats or draws with Luxembourg.
• The Netherlands will be eliminated if they lose to Belarus and Sweden defeats or draws with Luxembourg.

Group B
In Group B, everyone except Switzerland and Portugal have been eliminated. Switzerland currently leads 24 points to 21. On the next matchday, October 7th:

• Switzerland will qualify directly for the 2018 World Cup with a win over Hungary and a Portugal draw or loss to Andorra.

Suffice it to say, this one’s probably going to come down to the match in Lisbon on the 10th. Again, check back after Saturday.

Group C
In Group C, it’s pretty much Germany looking to wrap things up. On the next matchday, October 5th:

• Germany will qualify directly for the World Cup with any win or draw over Northern Ireland.

Note that Northern Ireland will not neccessarily be eliminated, as they can qualify for the UEFA Second Round featuring the top 8 second placed teams from all the groups. Again, tune after Saturday.

Group D
Group D features Serbia in first place with 18 points and a guarantee they can’t finish worst than second. Wales is currently in second place with 14 points, followed by Ireland with 13 points and Austria with 9 points. Georgia and Moldova have been eliminated. On the next matchday, October 6th:

• Serbia will qualify directly for the World Cup if they defeat Austria.
• Serbia will qualify directly for the World Cup if they draw Austria along with a Wales draw or loss to Georgia and an Ireland draw or loss to Moldova.
• Austria will be eliminated if they lose to or draw with Serbia, or if Wales defeats Georgia and Ireland defeats Moldova.
• Ireland will be eliminated if they lose to Moldova and if Wales defeats Georgia.

Group E
Group E features three teams still in play: Poland with 19 points, followed by Montenegro and Denmark with 16 points. On the next matchday, October 5th:

• Poland will qualify directly to the 2018 World Cup if they defeat Armenia and Denmark and Montenegro draw.

Group F
Group F features England on 20 points, Slovakia on 15, and then Slovenia and Scotland on 14. Lithuania and Malta have already been eliminated. On the next matchday, October 5th:

• England will qualify directly for the World Cup with a win over Slovenia.
• England will qualify directly for the World Cup if they draw Slovenia and Slovakia loses to or draws with Scotland.
• Scotland will be eliminated if they lose to Slovakia.
• Slovenia will be eliminated if they lose to England and Slovakia defeats Scotland.

Group G
Group G features Spain with 22 points, Italy with 19 points, and Albania on 13 points. Israel, Macedonia, and Liechtenstein have been eliminated. On the next matchday, October 6th:

• Spain will qualify directly for the World Cup if they defeat Albania and Italy loses to or draws with Macedonia.
• Albania will be eliminated if they lose to Spain, or if they draw with Spain and Italy defeats Macedonia.

Group H
In Group H, Belgium has already secured first place in the group. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, and Cyprus are vying for second place, with 14, 13, and 10 points respectively. Estonia and Gibraltar have been eliminated. On the next matchday, October 7th:

• Cyprus will be eliminated if they lose to Greece, or if they draw with Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina defeat or draw Belgium.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina will secure second place if they defeat Belgium and Cyprus defeats Greece.

Group I
Group I is wide open. Croatia and Iceland are tied on 16 points, followed by Turkey and Ukraine with 14 points. Finland and Kosovo have been eliminated. On the next matchday, October 6th:

• Turkey will be eliminated if they lose to Iceland and Croatia defeats Finland. Ukraine would also be defeated in this case if they fail to defeat Kosovo.

And that’s about it. I hope to put up another post on Sunday with the final scenarios. Stay tuned!

And we’re back! The September phase of 2018 World Cup qualifying just completed, so we’re entering the home stretch. In this edition, we’ll review the events of the past week, and then in a separate post we’ll talk about qualification scenarios entering the final matches.

First, let’s congratulate those who just punched their ticket to Russia: Japan, Mexico, Belgium, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.

Next, our condolences to the countries that were eliminated: Gibraltar, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Andorra, Libya, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Hungary, Belarus, Romania, Armenia, Norway, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Guinea, Estonia, Israel, Solomon Islands, Venezuela, Bolivia, Congo, Cameroon, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, China, and Uzbekistan.

We start, as usual, in Asia.

AFC

The AFC Third Round concluded, with four teams qualifying, six being eliminated, and another two moving on to a playoff. In Group A, Iran and South Korea topped the group, with Syria eking out Uzbekistan on goal differential. On the one hand, Uzbekistan couldn’t punch a goal at home against South Korea, but on the other this is the second qualification cycle in which the Uzbeks have come up short. (In 2014, they made the playoff round, which was tied 2-2 after both legs, necessitating penalty kicks. After nine rounds, Jordan prevailed 9-8.) China also finished only a point behind Syria and Uzbekistan, which is by far their best result since making the 2002 World Cup. 2022 hosts Qatar went out with a whimper, finishing last in the group and dropping their last two matches to Syria and China.

In Group B, the three that were expected to finish in the top three finished in the top three, but perhaps not in the order expected: Japan won the group with 20 points, but Saudi Arabia and Australia finished with 19, with the Saudis prevailing on goal differential.

Thus, Syria and Australia will play two matches in October to determine who gets to play the fourth-placed team from CONCACAF. Who will that be? Well, read on.

CAF

African qualifying resumed after a nine-month hiatus, and it was a doozy. We’ll cover each of the five groups.

In Group A, the bottom two teams were eliminated. Group leaders Tunisia and DR Congo played each other twice, with Tunisia coming out ahead with 4 points to DR Congo’s 1. They’ll each go on the road in October and then return home in November. If Tunisia can hold serve, they’ll punch their ticket to the World Cup.

Group B saw the highest-rated team in Africa at the time of the draw get eliminated, as Algeria only has 1 point through four matches. Instead, it’ll be either Nigeria or Zambia, with Nigeria currently up by 3 points. Nigeria gets Zambia at home in October, so they can clinch qualification with a win.

Group C is a bit tighter, with the Ivory Coast holding a one-point lead over Morocco and a two point lead over Gabon. This group will likely come down to the Ivory Coast’s home game against Morocco in November.

Group D is the most competitive group in Africa, with Burkina Faso and Cape Verde tied on six points, and Senegal right behind with five. However, there was even more drama introduced recently when South Africa’s 2-1 win over Senegal was annulled in a recent decision due to the referee having been banned due to “unlawful influence” of the result. The upshot of which is that the match will have be replayed in November, so if Senegal can’t clinch before then, they’ll have one last chance to do so, unless Burkina Faso or Cape Verde win both of their upcoming qualifiers. Either way, no one can clinch this group before November.

In Group E, the headline isn’t that Egypt is on nine points and topping the group, it’s that Ghana has only five points. Egypt gets a home match against last-place Congo in October, while Ghaha has to go on the road to Uganda, likely needing a win and an Egypt loss or tie to stay alive.

CONCACAF

Sigh. Things had gone well so far this year for the US national team: a 6-0 drubbing of Honduras, points on the road at Panama and Mexico, and a Gold Cup win. Relatively speaking, we’d been rolling, the shame of the losses last November nearly erased. Then we couldn’t do anything offensive against Costa Rica in New Jersey and lost 2-0. For the first 84 minutes in San Pedro Sula, it looked like disaster was the order of the day. A loss would make it very hard for the US to qualify directly and even making a fourth place finish questionable. Then this happened:
And thus, our bacon was saved. At least for now.

Mexico qualified and is leading the table with 18 points. Costa Rica nearly qualified, but their 1-1 draw at home against Mexico prevented them from sealing the deal. Panama is in third with 10 points after beating last place Trinidad and Tobago, which enabled them to pass the US, who are now in fourth with 9 points. Honduras also has nine points, but the US is still ahead on goal differential.

Overall, the main surprising result was Costa Rica’s 2-0 win over the US. This makes for plenty of drama in the final set of qualifiers to be played next month, which we’ll discuss further as get closer.

CONMEBOL

There will be no greater casualty of World Cup expansion than the loss of the South American qualifiers. I’ve talked about this before, but there is a certain elegance in its simplicity. 10 teams play a double round-robin (so 18 matches). The top four teams qualify, while the fifth place team also will probably qualify, just they have to go to New Zealand first. You, as a wisecracking American sports fan, may note that half the teams will qualify, just like in the NHL and NBA’s diluted playoffs. And you’d be correct. Except that World Cup bids aren’t really distributed fairly, because if they were South America would probably have more bids. This article covers the intensity in better depth, but the upshot is that six of the top 20 teams in the world are in South America per FIFA’s Rankings, which is better than any of the highest ranked African or Asian teams.

While order may seem restored at first, with Brazil at the top of the table 10 points clear of the next closest team, Uruguay. And yes, that’s the case. But seven point is all that separates the second place team and the eight placed team, Ecuador. The current Copa America champions, Chile, are in sixth, which means if the qualification ended today they wouldn’t be in the World Cup. The best player in the world might have to fly to New Zealand to see his team through. Venezuela and Bolivia are eliminated, but that doesn’t mean they’re just laying down. Venezuela forced third placed Colombia into a 0-0 draw at home, and then went on the road and were actually leading 1-0 over Argentina before conceding an own goal for a 1-1 draw. Bolivia? Yeah, they lost on the road at Peru, but all they did after that was beat the continental champions Chile 1-0 at home. Like I said, these two teams have already been eliminated.

In other words, unless you’re Brazil in this cycle, nothing is easy. We’ll talk scenarios in a few weeks.

OFC

New Zealand formalized their advancement to the inter-confederation playoffs by thumping the Solomon Islands 8-3. They’ll play the fifth placed team from South America in November.

UEFA

The wheat started to separate from the chaff a little bit in Europe, but no one other Belgium clinched. Let’s go over the groups real quick-like, and we’ll talk shop on what the remaining teams need to do in a couple of weeks.

•  In Group A, group leaders Sweden and France faltered a bit. Sweden lost 3-2 to Bulgaria on the road, and France somehow couldn’t produce a goal at home against Luxenbourg, which has to be somewhere up there on the all-time list of international soccer upsets. Nonetheless, time is running out for the Dutch, who lost 4-0 on the road to France. Three points behind Sweden, they no longer control their own destiny going into the final two matches.
• In Group B, Switzerland leads Portugal by three points, with all other teams eliminated. Provided nothing unexpected happens, Switzerland’s trip to Portugal will be the deciding contest.
• Group C is all but decided, with Germany and Northern Ireland advancing, and the Germans five points clear of the Irish.
• In Group D, Serbia is certain to advance, but Wales and Ireland lurk four and five points behind, respectively. Most likely, Wales and Ireland will be playing off for the second place spot in Cardiff.
• What’s going on in Group E? Well, a lot. Poland, Montenegro, and Demark are on 19, 16, and 16 points. Montenegro probably controls its own destiny the most, since it will get to play both of its competitors in October. Nonetheless, the Poles still control their own destiny.
• In Group F, England is probably secure, sitting on a five point advantage over Slovakia with two matches to play. Right behind Slovakia and tied on 14 points are Slovenia and Scotland.
• Group G remains Spain, Italy, and then everyone else. Spain emphasized the point by beating Italy 3-0 in Madrid, which means that the group is almost certainly going to finish in that order.
• In Group H, Belgium qualified, so that leaves Bosnia and Herzegovina up a point over Greece and four points above Cyprus for the possible playoff spot.
• And then there’s the Group of Chaos, Group I. Croatia and Iceland are tied on 16 points, but Croatia has the goal differential tiebreaker. Turkey and Ukraine are right behind with 14 points, and for those two you need to go the goals scored tie breaker. These teams all held serve at home in the last set of matches, which means that just about anything can happen in October.

That’s it for now. The list of teams should be updated soon, most likely by the time you read this. Soon, we’ll look ahead to what will be final chance for the rest of the field. Until then, stay tuned!