English set to land big finals gun
ENGLAND are on course to meet old foes Germany, Argentina or Brazil at the World Cup next summer. Gareth Southgate’s men have missed out on a top seeding, meaning they will be in pot two with former World and European champions Spain. And it means they could clash with Brazil in the group stage for the first World Cup since 1970 and for the first time ever in the groups against Germany. England face both Germany and Brazil in successive friendlies at Wembley next month. Both nations, along with Argentina, have knocked the Three Lions out of the World Cup over the years – the Germans four times, Argentina twice and Brazil twice. The new FIFA rankings – used to determine the pots for the draw on December 1 – were released yesterday morning. Hosts Russia, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland and France make up the top seed. Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Spain and England are set to find themselves in the second pot while Peru, Switzerland and Italy will join them if they win their play-off ties next month. The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are due to be in the third pot if they come through the play-offs. The publication of the ranking list also confirmed the seedings for today’s European qualifying play-off draw. As expected, both Irish sides will be in the non-seeded pot which means they are on course to face one of Switzerland, Italy, Croatia and Denmark. Sweden and Greece join the Irish nations in the non-seeds pot. The two-legged ties take place between November 9-14.