Seeded in play-offs: Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Wales.
Unseeded in play-offs: Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria, Czechia.
Despite them having won away to Germany in these qualifiers (!), everyone's gonna want North Macedonia out of those.
But they're all much of a muchness. Turkey away would've been tough - but Turkey at home really isn't. What the Czechs do at the Euros, they never do at the WC.
Austria looked great v Italy at the Euros but haven't really since. Poland are very decent but invariably flatter to deceive. And Ukraine are crap.
None of those opponents should hold any real fears for Scotland or Wales - except maybe the Czechs.
And more broadly:
- England one of the best sides in the world
- Scotland beat the European semi-finalists and improving beyond imagination
- Wales with a chance to reach their third major tournament in 4 attempts after reaching none since 1958
- NI hold the European Champions
I don't think there's been another time in my life when the home nations were all this good.
Really really remarkable stuff. The dinosaurs, the "we don't have anything to learn from Johnny Foreigner" yeomen, have suddenly all caught up! 👏👏👏
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3. England: a semi-final then a final means... The rest of the world will be talking about us and have us down as a major contender. A young side and squad with so much emerging talent. And the tournament's being played mid-season - England won't be tired. That could be decisive.
4. Brazil: solid, reliable... but they have no X-factor, nothing to make the difference in tight knockout games. And a stat: Brazil have not beaten a single European side in a World Cup knockout match since 2002.
They've gone through the 'hard to beat' phase and developed such a superb sense of teamship. Now they're moving on to something more: as befits Clarke's approach to the game. He's a genuinely enlightened coach.
3. That win last night was huge. They'd've had very little chance of qualifying as an unseeded team. They have every chance now - but obviously, need to avoid the Italy or Portugal sections.
But they've improved so much that even against them, they wouldn't have no chance.
Yes folks, what a BRILLIANT idea it would be to deny these students support, advice, help of any kind... and stigmatise them instead, because your ideology is more important than their lives and their bodies.
Lots of students are in sex work of some sort. That's a reality. You can either deny that reality or deal with it in a supportive, compassionate way.
If you don't like it, bring back maintenance grants. But I bet most of those condemning have constantly voted for tuition fees.
Constantly voted for massive student debt. Then you wonder why stuff like this happens?
Prostitution is legal in Uruguay - which helps keep those who do it a lot safer. Those involved in it pay into the tax system and receive social security and healthcare. That's a good thing.