Fans from 21 countries explain why they will be staying at home next summer. Holland were unlucky, Italy were mismanaged and Mongolia were a disaster
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Five points out of a possible 18 from our games against Belgium, Greece and Cyprus proved fatal. Greece’s late equaliser in Piraeus set the tone. A lifeless goalless draw in the controversial reverse fixture in Zenica didn’t help, but our play-off hopes ended after we squandered a 2-0 lead against Cyprus in Nicosia. The 4-3 home defeat to an already qualified Belgium on that awful pitch in Grbavica ended any hopes we had of pipping Greece in second.
The coach, Mehmed Bazdarevic, proved to be tactically out of his depth in big games, with our 4-0 defeat away to Belgium painful to watch for all those who remember our fearless approach to such fixtures under Ciro Blazevic almost a decade ago. The absence of Everton midfielder Muhamed Besic through injury robbed the team of much needed midfield steel, while problems in defence persisted throughout qualifying.
The departure of Bazdarevic is a good start, but many of the problems begin at the top with the unpopular football association. The national team finds itself at the crossroads much like it did back in 2007, but there is hope that some emerging youngsters will push on and become vital first-team members. Emir Spahic and Vedad Ibisevic are gone, while Edin Dzeko, Senad Lulic, Haris Medunjanin and Sejad Salihovic are on the wrong side of 30. With the expansion of the Euros to 24 teams, failure to qualify for the 2020 tournament would be considered a disaster for a national team that evokes much hope in a deeply divided nation. Damir Kulas
Canada
Getting drawn in a fairly tough group that included Mexico and Honduras in the Concacaf fourth round proved fatal. We only picked up one point away, a draw in El Salvador, which was never going to be enough.
We just aren’t very good. The team is improving but it’s still a very weak squad. Soccer is becoming more popular in Canada, but still can’t compete with hockey. It’s often seen as a sport for kids, especially girls. This is probably why our women’s national team is quite good, but our men’s team is poor. There needs to be continued growth in the sport’s popularity and commitment to youth development. There’s no hope of us ever making the World Cup unless we host it. Phil
Chile
With four games left we were well on course, but we didn’t pick up a single point from their games against Paraguay in Santiago and Bolivia in La Paz. Four points was a minimum requirement from those games, but instead we managed to lose to Bolivia away for the first time since 2000. The elimination was official after we lost 3-0 to Brazil, but the damage had been done.
A lot of arguments can be made about our failure, but the departure of coach Jorge Sampaoli clearly jeopardised our chances. His replacement, Juan Antonio Pizzi, managed to win the Copa América Centenario in 2016 but the team had clearly lost its chemistry. We struggled to get anything against the teams below us in the standings and Alexis Sánchez’s head seemed to be elsewhere.
A lot needs to change if we are to get back to where we were. The domestic league system, which has two tournaments a year, must go and never come back. Our U-17 and U-20 teams have struggled since 2007, so changes must be made to ensure our best young players are given the chance to play some first-team football. Roberto Rivas
Alexis Sanchez will have next summer off after failing to make it to Russia.
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Alexis Sánchez will have next summer off after failing to make it to Russia.
DR Congo
The World Cup qualifying campaign was going very well for DR Congo, up until the last three games. We currently have our golden generation and, for once, it looked very possible that we would qualify. We were leading the Group A table, with Tunisia on our heels. We then lost 2-1 to Tunisia away in August, a result that sent them top. No need to panic though as we still had to play them at home the following week. We were 2-0 up with 13 minutes to go but two late goals gave Tunisia a draw.
We definitely missed the injured Yannick Bolasie. Our very successful coach Florent Ibenge has said he will leave. Hopefully the next coach can get more discipline and mental toughness from the players. Had we avoided the meltdown at home to Tunisia, there would still be big celebrations happening right now in Kinshasa. Instead the 44-year wait for a World Cup appearance goes on and our golden generation is in danger of missing out completely. Dini Dimpengi
Ghana
The Black Stars showed some terrible home form. No win in three home games is unacceptable and is the reason we will be staying at home next summer. Egypt were just far more consistent. Our football association and the past minister of sports have been feuding for a long time now and that led to a slashing of funding for the national team. Our stars are ageing and we are quickly losing the spine of the team. We also have too many players who are completely out of form, both for their clubs and for their country. We need new committed and dedicated talent and, at the very least, the football association and ministry of sports need to cooperate. Kwadwo Amaniampong
Greece
After the disaster of Euro 2016 qualifying there wasn’t much belief in the team, so not qualifying for the World Cup was in no way a disaster. There was definitely some progress and some talented youngsters added to the core of the team. Anastasios Donis, Dimitris Kourbelis and Panagiotis Retsos showed real promise for the future. Ultimately we will be missing out on next summer’s tournament because of problems creating chances, lack of depth, an over reliance on veterans that are past it and highly questionable decisions and tactics from the German coach Michael Skibbe. It all went wrong against Estonia, where our lack of ideas showed big time. And I never want to witness anything like the first leg against Croatia ever again. We need to stick together. Apostolos Karantonis
If we have to pinpoint one particular event, then it has to be the atrocious 2-0 defeat in Sofia against a poor Bulgaria side in March. In the end we finished on the exact same points total as eventual runners-up Sweden, who knocked Italy out in the play-offs. It’s easy to see where that one point should have come from. We’ve fallen from grace horribly since the 2010 World Cup final and the semi-final appearance in Brazil four years later. Weak performances, bad luck, off-field unrest and no clear successors to the generation that reached those heights have all conspired to the fall of the once great Oranje.
Replacing Guus Hiddink with Danny Blind raised some eyebrows. Blind failed to guide Holland to the 2016 Euros, but still hung on to his job and start the mission of qualifying for the World Cup. Then came that game in Sofia and he was a goner four games into the campaign. It was the worst Oranje match in recent memory. Advocaat took over with Holland in fourth in the group and, despite winning the last three matches, we missed out on the play-offs.
While we don’t deserve to be going to Russia, there was some incredible bad luck along the way. Bas Dost scored a perfectly good winner in the away match in Sweden. For reasons only known to the ref, that goal was disallowed. Had that goal stood, Holland would have finished as runners-up. Hugo Lloris, one of the best goalkeepers in the world, gifted Sweden the winner against France with a totally uncharacteristic blunder in extra time. Luxemburg, who had held France to an historic 0-0 draw only a month before, were thrashed 8-0 in Sweden, a record international win for the Swedes that meant Holland couldn’t catch up on goal difference.
We need to start from scratch, from the youth teams onwards, and focus more on the physical side of modern day football. Arjen Robben has already said he has played his last international match; Robin van Persie and Wesley Sneijder won’t be far behind. Ronald Koeman is available as coach and has always said he’d like to take the job one day. We’re at rock-bottom, so he has nothing to lose. Peter Leijsten
Honduras
We were badly found out in the second leg of our play-off in Australia after a disappointing goalless draw in the home tie. Head coach Jorge Luis Pinto lost his head, accusing Australia of spying on training with a drone before the second leg at a time when we really needed to focus on what we were going to do on the pitch. It’s incredible that we finished above USA in qualifying, but still haven’t made it to Russia. There were plenty of bad moments in the qualifying rounds but the 3-2 win over Mexico to get into the final play-off round is the one highlight. Sadly it just wasn’t enough. Nuno Esposito
Honduras players look dejected after their play-off defeat in Sydney.
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Honduras players look dejected after their play-off defeat in Sydney. Photograph: Jonny Weeks for the Guardian
Hungary
We were up against it from the start after a goalless draw away to the Faroe Islands in our first game. We always knew we would need to cause some upsets against Portugal or Switzerland to have a chance but the optimism we felt after going to Euro 2016 – our first major tournament since 1986 – proved unjustified. We lost all four games against Portugal and Switzerland, and embarrassed ourselves with an away defeat to Andorra in June. The heroes from 2016, including freshly sacked manager Bernd Storck, are almost all gone and the upcoming friendly against Costa Rica will be boycotted by major supporters’ groups.
Our academies still fail to produce players who are up to the standards of Europe’s strongest leagues and the players with genuine top-level experience such as Zoltan Gera, Gabor Kiraly or Roland Juhász are either retired or coming towards the end of their careers. Meanwhile, the more promising young “stars” from Euro 2016, such as Laszlo Kleinheisler and Adam Nagy, have regressed since the tournament. Bernd Storck never had the popular support of his predecessor, Pal Dardai, and a few bad results were enough for the unity and the positivity to disappear from the supporter base. That might be the most disappointing part of it all. Andras
Indonesia
Well, we’re basically banned by Fifa from playing any international matches, so our campaign was over before it even even started. Our football federation’s awful organisation and league dualism, which ended up with government intervention and therefore a Fifa sanction, is totally embarrassing. But we’re hopeless anyway, even without the sanction, so we wouldn’t be in any danger of making the tournament. Risanda Adhi Pratama
Italy
It hasn’t gone right since the beginning but we somehow managed to keep afloat due to the really poor level of the other teams in the Group G, aside from Spain, of course. The 3-0 loss in Madrid was a dramatic turning point. After that, the inadequacies Gian Piero Ventura had desperately been trying to hide came to the surface.
Our football association is led by incompetent officials who are keen to bow to top clubs’ demands and are unable to craft a long-term plan. The choice of Ventura as manager was the outcome of these logics. Ventura has always been a minor player among Italian coaches and his main flaw was a stubborn adherence to his old-school tactical creed. The way he used Lorenzo Insigne only sparingly and called up someone as good as Jorginho for the last play-off match only was criminal. His lack of charisma compared to his predecessor Antonio Conte also worked against him. There was mutiny in the ranks between senior players such as Daniele De Rossi, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini and the management. It was never going to end well.
I hope that this “apocalypse” will bring a shockwave to the football power system, starting from its elites – the federation and possibly Serie A – to strike a new deal for the next generations of Italian players. It would also be nice to do so without Carlo Tavecchio’s infamous racist jokes. Antonio Chiaese
It was a sad end to Gianluigi Buffon’s Italy career as Italy failed to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1958
It all started and ended in the first round of the AFC World Cup qualifiers, when we lost 5-1 to Timor-Leste over two legs back in March of 2015. So we’ve had plenty of time to come to terms with our failure! The only thing we proved throughout the campaign was that we remain one of the worst football teams in the world. Being 197th in Fifa’s rankings seem generous at times. Dalai Saruul
New Zealand
We were only properly tested in the two legs against Peru and, having failed to take advantage in our home leg, it was always going to be tough in Lima. And so it proved. But if our poor performances in the Confederations Cup this summer were anything to go by, we wouldn’t have been pulling up any trees next summer either. Aside from Chris Wood and Winston Reid, we are very average – and we have very little chance of improving. There is only so much you can do when the biggest tests in the OFC qualifying rounds are New Caledonia and Solomon Islands. Matthew Long
Northern Ireland
Michael O’Neill’s men were only second best to world champions Germany in the qualifying group. That is about as much anyone could have hoped for. However, the confident, astute and convincing performances shown in the group games seemed very much a distant memory in the first leg of the play-off against Switzerland.
The players had looked self-assured in front of their home crowd but that composure went missing when it mattered, with the direct, long-ball approach being neutralised by an energetic and dominant Swiss team. And then there was that penalty decision. It proved to be the difference between the teams over the two legs after a well earned goalless draw in the second leg. The fans have been left wondering: “What if?”
O’Neill really gets the maximum out of his players, which is admirable. The only fault from the campaign would be the setup in the first game against Switzerland, where they were over-reliant on the long ball and paid too much respect to the visitors.
No changes have to be made for the future. Things should stay the same. This was a another fantastic effort by a team that has consistently overachieved against quality opposition in the last four years. We remain a perfect example of teamwork, passion and getting the maximum out of a football team. Matt Reilly
Stuart Dallas reflects on his side’s play-off defeat against Switzerland.
Our results back in September are why we failed to qualify automatically. The 1-1 draw in Georgia and the 1-0 home defeat to Serbia cost us hugely. We were outplayed in both legs of the play-off against Denmark. We only came away with a clean sheet in the first leg because of a man-of-the-match display by goalkeeper Darren Randolph. O’Neill’s pragmatic approach of results over style has ultimately failed.
The football has been turgid at times, which hasn’t exactly endeared O’Neill to Irish supporters. Furthermore, failing to beat Serbia, Wales or Austria at home meant automatic qualification was near enough impossible. Although, I have a degree of sympathy. We were pretty solid defensively, but we lacked the firepower in the final third. Qualification was going to prove difficult with players such as Daryl Murphy and Shane Long leading the line. Both give maximum effort but they simply aren’t good enough for international football.
The style of football has to change. With O’Neill, you know what to expect: a team that is disciplined and hard to beat. I’d like to see fresh ideas. Scoring 12 goals in 10 matches against teams including Austria, Georgia and Moldova was seriously underwhelming. Dante Clarke
Will Martin O’Neill continue as Republic of Ireland manager?
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Will Martin O’Neill continue as Republic of Ireland manager? Photograph: Niall Carson/PA
Scotland
After a miserable start, including a dire home draw with Lithuania, it looked as if Gordon Strachan had no chance of taking Scotland to Russia but the matches in 2017 gave us hope. In hindsight, our heartbreaking 2-2 draw against the Auld Enemy is probably the moment that hope disappeared. But things really fell apart in the second half of our final game in Slovenia, when we threw away a 1-0 lead in yet another glorious failure.
Stubbornness is a key flaw of Strachan’s. His failure to start Scottish based players – specifically Leigh Griffiths, Callum McGregor and John McGinn – instead of the likes of Chris Martin turned out to be vital. As soon as the Scottish Premiership players became regulars, the team improved. The final game in Slovenia showed he couldn’t adapt to the situation and his bizarre substitutions – such as taking off our most attacking threat for a midfielder immediately after conceding an equaliser – were the beginning of the end for him.
We have quality players. Centre-half is an issue but Kieran Tierney looks like he could slot in there. Hopefully, Callum McGregor and Stuart Armstrong could continue their development and a few more youngsters such as Oliver Burke and Ryan Gauld can start making their marks in the Scotland squad. The SFA need to get the right manager – and nationality shouldn’t be an issue. Michael O’Neill is a favourite among the Tartan Army and getting him would give Scotland a fantastic chance of playing at Hampden at Euro 2020. Alex Marr
Gordon Strachan comforts Leigh Griffiths after defeat in Slovenia put an end to Scotland’s World Cup dream
Trinidad and Tobago
We were never going to trouble the World Cup after losing our first two games in the fifth qualifying round, and ended up with eight defeats in 10 games. Stephen Hart was fired as coach but it mattered very little. The tinkering of a clueless administration along with a lack of support for the existing coach meant it was always going to be tough. It’s disappointing because I felt we had a real chance of qualifying this time. The current administration needs to be shown the door. They’ve proven incapable of running soccer in the country, but more emphasis has to be placed on player development on a national scale. P Bayne
Turkey
Early signs were very troubling. The qualifying bonus saga between the Turkish Football Federation and the team’s senior players that erupted in France during Euro 2016 dragged on for ages and impacted the morale in the squad and support for the national team. The public support for the Ay-Yildizlilar was at an all-time low and when Iceland effectively knocked us out by humiliating us in front of an uncharacteristically timid home crowd in Eskisehir back in October. Nobody seemed to care.
The federation needs to sit down and decide on a system of play for all the national sides, from the U15s up to the senior side. Younger players such as Enes Unal, Cengiz Under, Caglar Soyuncu, Berke Ozer and Yusuf Yazici need to be given opportunities. It’s time for the next generation to show what they can do. Ozgur Celtikci
United States
The US team has been having problems for many years but we have finally paid for our complacency. In 2006 qualifying, the US needed a late goal against Panama to draw the game 1-1. In 2010 qualifying, away defeats to to both Costa Rica and Mexico had our entire World Cup campaign in jeopardy. And four years ago, after a loss to Jamaica in the second round, a must-win situation was created in the following match, during which a loss would have all but doomed their campaign. This problem has been around for many cycles and only now have we finally paid for it.
There are many reasons for the collapse during qualifying. Defending was poor. Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey were used despite being well past their prime. We were slow and lethargic in away fixtures. There was a lack of preparation and integration of younger players in the squad who could have executed the high-pressing gameplan much better than tried and tested players who were out of form.
The problems were not seen until the team had lost their first two matches and couldn’t afford any more mistakes. Had Emerson Hyndman, Weston McKinnie, Matt Miazga, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Omar Gonzalez and Carlos Dos Santos been integrated into the squad sooner the US would never have been in such a bad situation. Major changes are needed to the US youth system to produce more players like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Josh Sargent. Maz
Michael Bradley and Christian Pulisic in the aftermath of the decisive loss against Trinidad and Tobago
There was a hangover from the Euros, which led to a slow start and a little bit of complacency but also a few injuries along the way didn’t help. Overall, we were very close to qualifying for two tournaments in a row and the disappointment across Wales shows how far we’ve come in the last four years. Maybe bringing in youngsters such as Ben Woodburn earlier would have helped.
Injuries to Gareth Bale and Joe Allen were also crucial. Some of the stalwarts such as Andy King and Sam Vokes will slowly make way for the youngsters, but I am optimistic for the 2020 Euros. It’s important that, if Chris Coleman goes, the progress made under his leadership continues and we don’t lose any momentum. Tim Radnor