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Well my last AI generated blog header aged well didn't it! Shows what can happen when you make assumptions. The World Cup playoffs yesterday certainly brought some surprises not least of which was Bosnia & Herzegovina deservedly beating out the Azzurri to reach the finals of the World Cup. I watched the match yesterday and have to say that this was a deserved victory for Bosnia & Herzegovina. They fought hard for every ball, looked like scoring on multiple occasions and deservedly equalised when they did. Was very impressed with them and they will now be in Canada's group for the World Cup alongside Qatar and Switzerland. They will be Canada's opening game opponent here in Toronto on June 12th and at the risk of looking foolish by making another assumption, I suspect there will be a lot of tickets made available in the coming days on the resale market. There is a huge Italian diaspora in Toronto and around Toronto and Ontario and many of them are now likely to try and offload the tickets they paid so dearly for. Still not going to be cheap but if the Italians had qualified then the existing tickets would have increased in value even more. This defeat for the Italians also sets an enviable new record for them and for the World Cup. Apparently, this is the first time that any previous winner has failed to qualify for the tournament three times in a row. Elsewhere, the stage is now set as the final six nations in the World Cup are now decided. As mentioned, Bosnia will now go into Canada's group alongside Qatar and Switzerland. Sweden beat Poland 3-2 and will join Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia in group F. Turkey beat Kosovo 1-0 and get slotted into group D alongside USA, Paraguay and Australia while the final European qualifier Czechia, who beat Denmark on penalties last night go into Mexico's group with South Africa and South Korea. I am just glad that Scotland somehow got the job done against Denmark at Hampden and could watch this from the sidelines. We would have undoubtedly found some way not to qualify if we had needed to face some of the nations in these playoffs. The South American, Caribbean, Africa and Middle East playoffs also took place yesterday to decide the final two teams that will make up the 48 teams at WC 2026. Iraq triumphed over Bolivia to secure a spot in group I with France, Senegal and Norway. The final spot went - perhaps controversially - to DR Congo who will face off with Portugal, Uzbekistan and Colombia after defeating Jamaica 1-0 in extra time. Why controversial you ask? The Congolese progress in the competition was beset by complaints from the Nigerian federation that DRC had illegally played a number of players in their match against them and should have the scoreline revoked. This would have put Nigeria in the playoffs against Jamaica and potentially got them to the World Cup. The complaint noted that under Congolese law dual citizenship is not allowed and that between 6 and 9 of their players had played during the playoff match against them. You can read more about it here but FIFA eventually threw the complaint out and after last night it seems there is no way back, even under an appeal for the Super Eagles. https://www.withinnigeria.com/2026/03/27/nigeria-2026-world-cup-qualification-can-the-super-eagles-still-make-it-through-the-fifa-case/ For now, my attention now turns to the games in Toronto with of course an extremely watchful eye on at least three games in Boston and Miami! Canada -V- Bosnia & Herzegovina (June 12) Ghana -V- Panama (June 18) Germany -V- Ivory Coast (June 20) Panama -V- Croatia (June 24) Senegal -V- Iraq (June 26) 2nd Round game (July 3) - runners up group K -V- runners up Group L (Portugal/DRC/Uzbekistan/Colombia -V- England/Croatia/Ghana/Panama) - I predict Colombia -V- Croatia Didn't think I would have to write a blog admitting to getting it so wrong about the Italians failing to qualify, but as Greavsie used to say about footy .... "It's a funny old game". That is why this is labelled as part 1a. Part 2 is still to come :)