UEFA Group I October Preview – World Cup Qualifying
Group I
Belarus took an early lead on France, and Finland thought they’d have a chance to make some noise. But it was not to be. This group is down to Spain and France. Shocker. They’re level on points and Spain has a game in hand. I’d bet the ranch on Spain qualifying directly and France heading to the play-offs.
October 11
Spain v. Belarus – Palma de Mallorca, Spain
This is the only match in Group I on the 11th. What a treat for the Spanish fans on Mallorca. Spain sending Belarus to an island in the middle of the Mediterranean is a great idea. While Spain cannot mathematically qualify for Brazil on Friday, they’ll punch their virtual ticket. Belarus is no slouch. They’re inside our top 60. I thought our predictor was being ambitious, but then I saw Spain won 4-0 in Belarus. This one is gonna get ugly as Spain creeps closer to Brazil.
Prediction: Spain by 5
October 15
France v. Finland – Paris, France
This match had so much potential to mean a lot, but unfortunately it will mean very little. France is going to finish in 2nd place, and they’ll be in the UEFA play-offs. Any points gained here will just add to their total, but they’re a lock to be in anyway. Call us crazy, but we have Finland actually ranked higher than we do France. We think this will be closer than many others do.
Prediction: Draw
Spain v. Georgia – Albacete, Spain
It’s sad that this brings to the conclusion our previews of 50 UEFA World Cup Qualifying matches. That’s a lot of games to write about. Spain plays at the same time as France, and if France does indeed draw with Finland, Spain will be through automatically. That won’t really matter here either, because Spain is going to clown Georgia and punch their
Prediction: Spain by 6
Our predictor likes Spain to finish first in all 1,000 scenarios. Take that to the bank. When Group I concludes, we expect the standings to look like this:
Our other UEFA group previews can be seen below. Thanks for reading!
UEFA Correspondent,
Cro
Here are our 2nd place Scenarios
Potential UEFA Play-Off Pots
Group A Preview (Belgium, Croatia, Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Scotland, Wales)
Group B Preview (Italy, Bulgaria, Denmark, Czech Republic, Armenia, Malta)
Group C Preview (Germany, Sweden, Austria, Republic of Ireland, Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands)
Group D Preview (Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Turkey, Estonia, Andorra)
Group E Preview (Switzerland, Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Albania, Cyprus)
Group F Preview (Russia, Portugal, Israel, Azerbaijan, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg)
Group G Preview (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Liechtenstein)
Group H Preview (England, Ukraine, Montenegro, Poland, Moldova, San Marino)