rosscarnie Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I just read this on Reddit, is it true? "Due to the quirks of the FIFA rating system that Scotland - even if they beat Qatar - will go down into the next lower level pot for the next FIFA competition draw, whereas if they didn't even play Qatar in this friendly then they would remain in a pot higher? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ANDYP Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Apparently it's true. Stuart regan is a f*d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Great decision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock strap Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Does not surprise me in the slightest. Typical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASTA Mick Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Money talks. It's crazy that rankings aren't considered when sorting out friendlies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flure Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 From The Herald. Qatar match could upset Scotland's World Cup ambitionsMark Walker Saturday 11 April 2015 Scottish Football Association chiefs may have scored a spectacular World Cup own goal by agreeing to play Qatar in a friendly. Scotland will face the Gulf nation at Easter Road in June before they face Ireland in a crucial Euro 2016 encounter in Dublin. But by facing Qatar, Scotland may have shot themselves in the foot when it comes to the World Cup 2018 qualifying draw in Russia in July. Scotland are currently on the brink of securing the last place in Pot Two of seeds, which would be a huge boost for Gordon Strachan's side. However, because of the complicated way FIFA's World Rankings work, by agreeing to face Qatar - a nation currently ranked 99th by world football's governing body, even a win against the oil-rich country could work against Scotland when it comes to Rankings points because of both their lowly position and being a member of the Asian Football Confederation, which isn't ranked as highly as UEFA nations. And it would mean Scotland sliding into Pot Three for the July 25 draw, which will be held in Konstantinovsky Palace in St Petersburg. If Scotland had decided not to take the fixture against Qatar - a country where an SFA delegation of chief executive Stewart Regan, president Campbell Ogilvie and vice-president Rod Petrie visited on a fact-finding mission in February - they would have known that a victory over Ireland in the Aviva Stadium would have guaranteed them a Pot Two place. The rankings are based on the last four years' results, with results in the past 12 months counting for more than those in the preceding years and points are averaged out according to the number of matches played in a year. It would mean that even a win over Qatar would affect Scotland's average points in the Rankings because of the relatively low points a win would collect. A draw or defeat to the World Cup 2022 hosts in Edinburgh would end all hopes of that Pot Two place. Respected football statistical prediction site We Global Football summed up the SFA's decision to play the friendly against Qatar by commenting: "While Scotland has been doing OK in qualifying, they've completely screwed the pooch when it comes to scheduling. "Arranging a friendly with Qatar will only hurt them further. They had a chance to get into Pot 2, but they've failed to do the things necessary to get there. Even still, if they win at Ireland and didn't play Qatar, they should have been able to get in." FIFA will use their Rankings for July 2015 to decide seeds. Pots will be split into nine teams per pot, apart for smaller pots near the bottom end of the seeding. The SFA declined to comment on the matter last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donaldo87 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I'm sure it was said elsewhere that if we win both we could still be in pot 2 if we win both games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisEDI Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 if this is true people should be sacked, inexcusable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASTA Mick Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Can we make 11 subs so it's not recognised as an official match? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrelhumper Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Farcical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShedTA Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 The SFA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastiebeastie Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Beat Qatar - which we will. Beat Ireland - which I hope we will ! Equals pot 2. Don't see the fuss. Yes its a money making friendly, but most of them are. England / USA / Brazil / Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flure Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Beat Qatar - which we will. Beat Ireland - which I hope we will ! Equals pot 2. How do you get that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jailender Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Beat Qatar - which we will. Beat Ireland - which I hope we will ! Equals pot 2. Don't see the fuss. Yes its a money making friendly, but most of them are. England / USA / Brazil / Japan. Not necessarily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASTA Mick Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Beat Qatar - which we will. Beat Ireland - which I hope we will ! Equals pot 2. Don't see the fuss. Yes its a money making friendly, but most of them are. England / USA / Brazil / Japan. It's not that simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock strap Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Beat Qatar - which we will. Beat Ireland - which I hope we will ! Equals pot 2. Don't see the fuss. Don't see the fuss ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flure Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Don't see the fuss ! Fuss, he said. Not fuzz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagtag Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Beat Qatar - which we will. Beat Ireland - which I hope we will ! Equals pot 2. Don't see the fuss. Yes its a money making friendly, but most of them are. England / USA / Brazil / Japan. You are wrong. Beat both and we are relying on other results. If we didn't play Qatar then I believe that a Draw in Dublin would put us in the same position. A win would put us in pot 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Does anyone know what results we are looking for (in other games) to get in Pot 2? Say we win both Qatar and Ireland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanpar Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 (edited) The other countries that are fighting for pot 2/3 are Denmark, Poland, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Iceland and Israel. 4 of them have friendly games in June. BiH may also play a friendly too. They were supposed to play Turkey but they never got as much money as they wanted so it got cancelled. Demark v Montenegro - 8 June Georgia v Ukraine (in Austria) - 9 June Serbia v Azerbaijan (in Austria) - 7 June Poland v Greece - 16 June (after the qualifier) The qualifiers they have are: Denmark v Serbia - 13 June Ukraine v Luxembourg - 14 June Poland v Georgia - 13 June BiH v Israel - 12 June Iceland v Czech Rep 12 June It wont help much but it would be good if Qatar beat N Ireland on the 31st of May as they will be higher ranked when we play them so will get slightly more points if we beat them in June. Edited May 21, 2015 by tartanpar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanpar Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 http://www.football-rankings.info/2015/05/2018-fifa-world-cup-seeding-uefa-10000.html?m=1 Here is the updated permutations. Looks like Poland have slipped (because they have arranged a friendly) and BiH have risen because they have cancelled theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewisEDI Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 (edited) not much between the teams in pot 3 and 2 tbh apart from france in pot 2, would be a nightmare draw regardless of the other teams we pull if we got them. Edited May 22, 2015 by LewisEDI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosscarnie Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Someone should be sacked for this, it's an absolute disgrace to hurt our chances of getting to the next WC! Who would be ultimately responsible? Regan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Someone should be sacked for this, it's an absolute disgrace to hurt our chances of getting to the next WC! Who would be ultimately responsible? Regan? My understanding is that Strachan is the one who gives the requirements of what type of game he wants to the international committee, and is the one that signs off on the game based on their findings presented to him (not to say that there is not a element of a bit of persuasion from upon high forced upon him......) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagtag Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 My understanding is that Strachan is the one who gives the requirements of what type of game he wants to the international committee, and is the one that signs off on the game based on their findings presented to him (not to say that there is not a element of a bit of persuasion from upon high forced upon him......) So Strachan says to his bosses that we need a game to warm up for Ireland, a team of similar ranking and Style. They come back with Qatar saying it was the closest they could find while they have a laugh behind his back at the big brown envelopes they all have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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