The Daily Dose is our unique daily round-up of all things Spurs. Catch the e-Spurs Daily Dose each night exclusively here!Tonight's Dose written by Matt Tumminia.
Iceland’s Impossible Dream Continues, French Fight for the Finals, Romania Rumbles On and Danish Disappointment
Now that the dust has settled and the final World Cup qualification group stage matches have been completed, we can sit back and survey the scene. To start with, England and Belgium have qualified and are now in the process of booking their tickets to Brazil next summer while a few of our player’s respective home nations have qualified for the playoff round, with only a two-legged tie standing between them and the chance to rub elbows with the best footballing nations of the world. Iceland, one of the tiniest nations in Europe with a population of a little over 300,000, will be among the 8 teams fighting for the final 4 spots in the 2014 World Cup. Led by Gylfi Sigurðsson, Iceland will face an uphill battle, something that they have been used to for the entire qualification process, and will be among the unseeded sides when the draw for the playoff round takes place and will face one of four countries, the four being Portugal, the Ukraine, Croatia and Greece. Of those four, Iceland stands the best chance against the Ukraine and Croatia as the former is a very solid squad without being exceptional in any area while the latter just sacked their manager, even after he secured playoff qualification for the former Yugoslavian nation. Kudos must be given to the tiny island nation as they have already exceeded all expectations but they will be hoping for one more bit of luck, a bit of luck that may allow them to make their first major tournament final.
French Finalisation
Speaking of France, Hugo Lloris and his French compatriots will be among the unseeded nations in the aforementioned playoff round, looking to cause an upset (according to FIFA rankings) and make the finals of a major tournament for the 10th straight time. France have had a tough time with their qualification as they were drawn in a group with Spain and have had a few hiccups along the way with draws to Georgia and a narrow loss to the previously mentioned number one footballing nation, Spain, on home soil. Regardless of who they draw in the playoffs, they should be considered favourites to progress to the finals in Brazil. Speaking about the seeding and FIFA rankings, how a nation such as France will be among the unseeded in the playoff round is beyond my comprehension as over the past 10 tournaments, they have won 2 of them and made the finals in another before succumbing to the tactical brilliance of Italy. Furthermore, with the nations of Europe who have already qualified for the finals, it is also hard to imagine how nations such as Switzerland and Belgium will be among the seeded while the Netherlands and Italy are not. This whole seeding thing is completely ridiculous as, no offence to Switzerland or Belgium, the Dutch and the Italians have two of the more prestigious footballing pedigrees in the world, let alone Europe, while the Swiss and the Belgians are simply having a good couple of years. Sort it out FIFA!
Romanian Resurrection
The last time that Romania played in the finals of a major tournament was in the Euro 2006 tournament when they came in third in a group consisting of Italy, the Netherlands and France, finishing above France after securing draws against the Italians and the French. With a new generation of young players thanks to strong youth coaching, they are also among the final 8 nations who are set to fight it out for one of the final tickets to Brazil. Similar to Iceland and France, they will not be seeded and will more than likely be faced with a task of monumental proportions when the draw is made. Thanks to the leadership and backline marshaling of Vlad Chiricheş, Romania beat out other strong European countries such as Hungary and Turkey to get second place, finishing behind the Dutch. While the Romanians may seem like a pushover, people also felt that way back in 1994 when they made the quarter-finals in the World Cup, losing to Sweden on penalty kicks so needless to say, they should not be taken lightly as they are an organised team who is able to catch unsuspecting opponents on the counter.
Downtrodden Danes
Unfortunately, not all of our players were among those with successful qualifying campaigns as Christian Eriksen and his Danish teammates will not be taking part in the playoff round, missing out as they were the lowest ranked country to finish as runners up in their respective groups. Such a shame that a nation boasting such a technically superior player like Christian will be among the many that are not on the plane for South America next summer. Again, this leads to discussion of how seedings and rankings based upon a short time can alter the footballing landscape. Should the past be taken into account when a nation, who may be smaller and less prestigious, earn a high number of points in their respective group only to miss out due to rankings instead of actual points and strength of opponents? One can only wonder what the qualification process would be like if other rules came into play, rules that may make a little more sense and can easily be explained as opposed to such a convoluted method which leads to mass confusion. I will be sad to see that our young Dane and his compatriots will not be able to cause an upset or two in Brazil but as he is young, and the entire squad has a good amount of talented players, I am sure that Denmark will be in contention for the next few major tournaments. On the lighter side, at least Christian will be able to rest for next summer to make sure he is ready for the start of next year’s club campaign, one that will hopefully include Champions League matches.
Happy Birthday Boas
Finally, I want to wish a Happy Birthday to our manager and leader, André Villas-Boas. Just turning 36, he is still among the youngest to ever manage a club in Europe and I hope that he continues his career at Tottenham, bringing us back to glory and making us into the European powerhouse we should be.
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