COLEMAN: WE’VE EARNED IT
THE draw for the 2018 World Cup qualification campaign takes place in the Russian city of St Petersburg today at 4pm.
There are 141 countries involved.
The 52 European countries will be split into seven groups of six teams and two groups of five teams.
England, along with France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Holland, will be in a group of six teams at the request of UEFA in order to maximise television income.
Hosts Russia will qualify automatically.
The winners of each group will qualify for Russia 2018, while the eight best group runners-up will take part in a play-off in November 2017. Seeding pots for the draw:
Germany, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Romania, England, Wales, Spain, Croatia.
Slovakia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Iceland, Denmark, BosniaHerzegovina.
Ukraine, CHRIS COLEMAN has hit back at the critics who claim his Wales side do not deserve to be among the World Cup’s top seeds.
Gareth Bale and the rest of Coleman’s Dragons are ranked at an all-time high of 10th in the world – above Spain, Italy and France. And their stunning triumph over Belgium put them on the brink of qualifying for Euro 2016.
That victory means Wales, who were 116th in the FIFA rankings four years ago, will be in the top pot when the qualification draw is made in St Petersburg today.
Wales have qualified for a major tournament only once, in 1958. But
Brazilian star Hulk was a shock withdrawal from today’s draw – just days after insisting racist abuse is rife in Russia.
The Zenit St Petersburg ace was due to be a draw assistant but FIFA bosses claimed his manager Andre Villas-Boas pulled the plug on his appearance as his team has a game tomorrow.
Russia’s World Cup chief Alexei Sorokin said: “Hulk was pleased to participate but we found out the coach – purely for sporting reasons – wanted him replaced.”
But last night a spokesman for former Chelsea and Tottenham boss Villas-Boas declined to confirm he was behind the withdrawal.
At the start of the week Hulk revealed he has repeatedly faced monkey chants in Russia.
He said: “If (racism) happens in the World Cup, it will be really gross and really ugly. Usually it happens Coleman has told his players to embrace the moment and show that “little old Wales” can handle life among the heavyweights.
“We are now a player on the world stage,” said the Wales manager (right).
“We have to stop thinking of ourselves as little old Wales. It takes time to climb those rankings, especially when you consider just how far down we were.
“That Belgian side we beat were second in the world, so I don’t think anyone can say we do not deserve to be where we are. It is a big turnaround. We have chipped when Russian clubs play and it doesn’t come out to the world and the world doesn’t know about this.
“I must say that almost every game I see this happening. I used to get angry, but now I see this doesn’t help, so I just send a kiss to our fans and try not to get angry.”
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said: “Hulk would go down in history, but Villas-Boas does not want it. He probably wants to win the Champions League and to make history in another way.” FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke yesterday revealed he is leaving the crisis-hit governing body.
Valcke insists he has done nothing wrong but expects to follow president Sepp Blatter out of the door after the February elections.
FIFA will also hold a crisis meeting with their major sponsors next month in a bid to stop them pulling the plug on their partnerships.
Valcke added: “The current situation does not help to finalise any new agreements.” away at it over the last couple of years and we have to keep doing that.
“We can say we have not achieved anything yet, but we have in fact achieved quite a bit and we should enjoy it.”
Reading forward Hal Robson-Kanu said: “We started from the abyss and to get where we are now is an absolute credit. We’re focused on doing something special.
“Being top seeds for the World Cup draw is an absolute honour.”