Rating

[wanderer]

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.

Way it was explained to me is there is a committee at the SFA who's job is to sort out and arrange all games.... when it comes to friendlies Strachan goes to them with his criteria..... home/away game....training camp....v a top nation, v a nation similar to us, v a nation from Eastern Europe, v a diddy nation etc etc etc etc.... they then go out and put the word around that we are looking for a game, then come back with what they have found..... they present their findings to Strachan who then picks the team he wants.... after this they go back and sort the money out between the two FA's... if a deal can not be reached, then they go to the next team....and then go back to Strachan with all the details of the match.

So Strachan will be one who signed off on this (and given the other nations that were rumored for this game (Azerbaijan were tipped at one point) seems to be nations ranked roughly the same in the world rankings).

Suspected for a while now that Strachan does not really care much for the world rankings, and us being in pot 2 or 3 is not all that important to him, as his attitude is you are only as good as your last game.

[LewisEDI]

i guess there is no transparency regarding what we are actually getting out of hosting this game from the Qataris (apart from a game of football). I heard that we wanted to play the game at Pittodrie but Qatar didn't want the game played in Aberdeen, probably because they want to stay at the Balmoral and Qatar Airways fly out of Edinburgh, might explain why it took so long to be announced. I wonder how much whisky will be getting smuggled back on the sly.

Edited May 22, 2015 by LewisEDI

[Goozay]

There is still the "luck of the draw". Just cause we make it into pot 2 doesn't guarantee we'll get an easy group.

That said, it hardly a surprise that the SFA have bawsed this up.

[ParisInAKilt]

Is there a possibility of all the games we could have got none offered what we wanted ranking wise? No doubt not helped by waiting too long to arrange a game.

We need a game before Ireland, that a given and probably the most important thing but it would be typical if we finished 3rd and got someone like France as 2nd seed

[Flure]

Fpr what it's worth, the chap who has produced the rankings linked to above, categorically says that the game V Qatar absolutely did not destine us for Pot 3.

[Caledonian Craig]

I was reading something interesting the other day on a site (can't remember where). Apparently the Palestine FA have lodged a letter of complaint to FIFA asking for them to ban Israel from the federation. Their gripe is that Israel have committed the cardinal sin of meddling with affairs outwith their boundaries by preventing Palestine players from playing in certain teams or something like that. I just wonder if anything came of this how that would affect things?

[Robroysboy]

From The Herald.

Qatar match could upset Scotland's World Cup ambitions

Mark 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.

[McDange]

As soon as this was discovered, the Qatar game should have been postponed / cancelled. Any fine that would have occurred would have been worth it not to jeopardise our chances of getting into Pot 2.

Sheer incompetence again from the SFA!

[tartanpar]

We could just make a couple of extra subs so the game wont be counted by FIFA....

[rosscarnie]

We could just make a couple of extra subs so the game wont be counted by FIFA....

How does this work?

[girvanTA]

Closed doors game

[Lion Rampant]

How does this work?

With a friendly you're allowed a pre-determined number of subs.

If you make more than this number then FIFA relegate the game to a "B" status as far as I know. May be wrong though.

[thewelk]

it would be typical if we finished 3rd and got someone like France as 2nd seed

Yeah, but it would make the inevitable season ticket more valuable.

[EIFA10]

With a friendly you're allowed a pre-determined number of subs.

If you make more than this number then FIFA relegate the game to a "B" status as far as I know. May be wrong though.

It happened to Belgium last year, after they beat Luxembourg 5-1...

http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/5444791

However, making more than the 6 permitted substitutions is obviously seen by FIFA as an advantage. If we make 7 substitutions and lose the game, there is a precedence for the game to still stand. South Africa beat Spain 1-0 in 2013. Spain made 7 substitutions, but FIFA ruled that it should remain an A international, citing "South Africa shall not suffer any negative consequences on its part for adhering to the agreed conditions"

[Eastiebeastie]

So regardless or results v Ireland and Qatar, it is unclear if we will be pot 2 or 3. Win both and its most likely pot 2, lose or draw 1 and its likely pot 3.

However we need a friendly. Anya for example will not have played in 6 weeks b4 Dublin and Mulgrew/ Hutton / Robertson / Naismith have had fleeting sub appearances only in months. So its agreed we need a game !

I accept the opposition is weaker than most would like, and lower down the rankings may impact on our provisional World Cup draw rating, but the final say on who we play is with WGS. Perhaps a few folk should send him a wee note expressing their feelings ?

Quite a few want someones head for this. Strachans is it ????????????

WGS clearly views preparation for Ireland as his priority and who are we to argue. The last time we had a competative June fixture, he led us to a victory against Croatia, a team world ranked 4, away from home, so I am happy with Qatar if he is. They beat Slovenia and Algeria in their last 2 games, so it should be competative.

However, he clearly wants a game with minimal risk, the ability to give players a run out and try the odd experiment, without the worry of a defeat and a dent in morale.

Quite a few nations are playing teams with similar gaps in ranking points. We have 62 between ourselves and Qatar. England play Ireland with 46 places between them.

Plus we could still get pot 2 and be given a rotten group. Ireland were seeded 2 and were hardly celebrating getting us Poland and Germany. We only won 1 game out of 4 versus teams in pots 5 & 6 last time.

Time for a chill pill all round methinks.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Eastiebeastie

[Caledonian Craig]

So regardless or results v Ireland and Qatar, it is unclear if we will be pot 2 or 3. Win both and its most likely pot 2, lose or draw 1 and its likely pot 3.

However we need a friendly. Anya for example will not have played in 6 weeks b4 Dublin and Mulgrew/ Hutton / Robertson / Naismith have had fleeting sub appearances only in months. So its agreed we need a game !

I accept the opposition is weaker than most would like, and lower down the rankings may impact on our provisional World Cup draw rating, but the final say on who we play is with WGS. Perhaps a few folk should send him a wee note expressing their feelings ?

Quite a few want someones head for this. Strachans is it ????????????

WGS clearly views preparation for Ireland as his priority and who are we to argue. The last time we had a competative June fixture, he led us to a victory against Croatia, a team world ranked 4, away from home, so I am happy with Qatar if he is. They beat Slovenia and Algeria in their last 2 games, so it should be competative.

However, he clearly wants a game with minimal risk, the ability to give players a run out and try the odd experiment, without the worry of a defeat and a dent in morale.

Quite a few nations are playing teams with similar gaps in ranking points. We have 62 between ourselves and Qatar. England play Ireland with 46 places between them.

Plus we could still get pot 2 and be given a rotten group. Ireland were seeded 2 and were hardly celebrating getting us Poland and Germany. We only won 1 game out of 4 versus teams in pots 5 & 6 last time.

Time for a chill pill all round methinks.

This hits the nail on the head.