Belarus not going to Brazil but already won with this

Lithuanian-based striker would have made Zlatan proud

Dzimtry Koub scored a late equalizer for his Trakai side against Lithuania league leaders Zalgiris and took to the stands to commemorate the goal. 

Who is the biggest absentee from the World Cup this summer?

No Robinho, Kaka or Ronaldinho in the Brazil squad for this summer's showpiece - not a huge surprise, but all 3 will be missed, although they are no longer at the peak of their powers.

Who else will be missed this summer?

The easy answer is Zlatan, but we'll exclude him as Sweden didn't qualify.

Any thoughts? The early answer is Francesco Totti, although I'm still holding out hope that he makes the Italian squad.

I think I may be a bit obsessed!

Some people shouldn't comment after a shock result

Barcelona lost. They are now joint top with Atletico Madrid, with Real Madrid just 3 points behind. The Catalans have won 13 of 15. They lost a game, and it coincided with Lionel Messi not playing. Queue stupid Messi/Ronaldo comparisons, memes, drama, overreaction.

It's the end of the world for Barcelona if you read too much online. Barca are nothing without Messi, Real are still lions even when Cristiano is injured because they now have Gareth Bale.

One loss. All those World Cup winners, European Champions, league winners and some of the best players of their generation are nothing without Messi. Comparing Neymar to Bale? You deserve to be shot.

Twitter, Facebook etc, are great socila media tools, but there is a reason some people don't deserve to be heard. If you don't know anything about football, please don't comment. It just makes you look stupid.

Congrats to the Welshman on his hat-trick. Let's not forget it came against a team in the bottom 3 of La Liga. A great achievement, and hopefully he'll encourage more talent to experience football abroad.

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Liverpool and Manchester United are done, Arsenal are battling Chelsea and Manchester City for the title. This may prove to be true in January of February, but let's just enjoy a team and a player (Mr. Aaron Ramsey) playing some great stuff. City also look good and are scoring loads of goals. Both City and Arsenal are making the others look bad, but no-one in the top 8 is out of it yet - Newcastle and Southampton may not last with the big boys, but there's real competition this year, and that's something to be enjoyed.

Fulham sacked Martin Jol after their shocking display at West Ham. Some managers get a rough deal when they are fired so early in a season, but the Cottagers were awful against the Hammers. Carlton Cole scored. While the criticism around him is harsh, you know you're in trouble when he scores. West Ham could have had 6, and that's saying something for a team that has struggled to score goals all season. Fulham were lucky to get 0 - they didn't have a shot in the game that troubled the keeper.

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Bayern and PSG are both still unbeaten. I'll take the Germans lasting longer in that competition, but I'll probably enjoy watching PSG more. Zlatan makes me smile. He loves the game, and does things that you should pay money to go and see. Bayern dominate teams and make their superiority show, and they are fun to watch, but Zlatan is worth the entrance fee on his own.

Zlatan or Ronaldo - and you can't have both

So the big game tomorrow in the European playoffs for the Brazil 2014 World Cup has to be Greece v Romania. Can't wait for that one!

Then there's Portugal v Sweden. Cristiano against Zlatan. The two superstars have 48 goals between them this year, and 7 hat-tricks. With Lionel Messi injured, these two are the best two players in the game right now.

Zlatan has it all - the goals he scores are unbelievable, but his technique is phenomenal. He's such a character and has a personality that Brazil needs next summer.

Ronaldo is moody, elusive and more model than footballer. But what a footballer. He has everything, and has to be considered one of the greats of the game already - and he's only 28.

But we can't have both. Never team could win their group, although Sweden had a much tougher task after being paired with Germany. And the luck (or should we say bad luck) drew the two teams together. I wouldn't be bothered if Sweden or Portugal weren't there, but if Ronaldo and Zlatan aren't there, they will be missed.

France should beat Ukraine over two legs. They have quality at the back and in midfield, with Ukraine posing little threat in my opinion. Iceland are huge underdogs against Croatia, but they are the feel good story of European qualification. Greece and Romania is a game that doesn't excite me at all, which probably means it will be the best one. Neither team will do much in Brazil, but then I said that when Greece won the Euros in 2004!

I'm taking Sweden to win over the two legs, with Greece, Iceland and France joining them. Cristiano has it all already, and he'll sulk for a while, but then console himself with his model girlfriend, millions of dollars and addiction to sunbeds.

Of course van Persie would score; Don't rush Messi

Robin van Persie was bound to score the winner against Arsenal. It was a reminder that Manchester United are far from out of the title race, and Arsenal aren't the clear favorites for the league. Both teams will be there or thereabouts in the run up to Christmas, but much will depend on the strength of their squads when the league, cup and European games are coming thick and fast.

One player United won't be bragging about in their squad is Marouane Fellaini - if Tom Cleverly is coming on before you in a big game, you cant be that good. He doesn't fit in at Old Trafford, and I can only think that Moyes wanted him as a familiar face around the place - but he really wanted Leighton Baines, and seems to have ended up with Fellaini when he couldn't get anyone else.

Manchester City, Chelsea and Spurs are 3 teams I just can't work out. Great one week, awful the next. Spurs probably haven't been great all season, but they should be so much better. They don't create anything, and Soldado looks completely lost. Andros Townsend was the savior of England a few weeks ago, but cutting in and shooting every time you get the ball is probably the reason he wasn't offered a second month's loan spell at Leyton Orient. In the words of John Barnes, 'there's only one way to beat 'em, get round the back.' Soldado needs crosses to score, surely that's why they have all these wingers.

City are a strange team. They have no excuses (Joe Hart wasn't playing) for not beating Sunderland. Smashing Norwich by 7 doesn't mean much if you are going to allow Phil Bardsley to bully his way into the box and finish (and yes, he did finish well, I'll give him that).

Chelsea were saved by a dive to maintain Mourinho's run at home. Get Lukaku back as soon as you can/play Mata/sell Obi Mikel/get Courtouis back to replace Cech. Because no one else can understand why you haven't done these things already.

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PSG are going to win Ligue Un. Zlatan is just too good. End of.... Juventus are going to win Serie A. Not as certain on this one, but Roma are coming back down to earth after their amazing start, Napoli couldn't live with Juve yesterday, and Tevez, Pirlo, Llorente and Pogba have all the quality they need to compete in multiple competitions... Bayern Munich are too good.

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Will Barcelona miss Lionel Messi? What do you think? But they need to be patient. His hamstring injury could keep him out a few months, but they still have more than enough quality to beat the majority of teams in La Liga. Xavi, Iniesta and Neymar don't become bad players because Messi isn't there. Real Madrid will be hot on their heels now that Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema seem to be clicking, but the overall quality of the opposition in La Liga means that Barca should be able to at least keep pace until Messi's return in late-January.

There can only be one....or 4 of 8

FIFA posted the 4 games that will decide the final European qualifiers for next summer in Brazil.

With 9 places taken, the winners over two legs will take Europe's contingent up to 13.

According to the FIFA website...

Portugal - Sweden
Ukraine - France
Greece - Romania
Iceland - Croatia

Portugal (ranked 14), Greece (15), Croatia (18) and Ukraine (20) were the seeded teams while France(21), Sweden (25), Romania (29) and Iceland (46) were unseeded, based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of 17 October 2013.

The home-and-away play-off matches are due to be played on 15 November and 19 November respectively.

So, who do you fancy?

I'm taking Zlatan over Cristiano. Why? I don't know, I just think Zlatan knows it's probably his last World Cup, loves it when someone has an ego to match his, and would really enjoy sticking it to Sepp Blatter and FIFA. He knows they want/need Ronaldo at the World Cup. He's such an icon of the modern game and attracts so much interest. I'd like to see both teams go, but that's the beauty of it - it's like Highlander - there can only be 1....or 4 of 8, just doesn't sound as good!

France have the quality to beat Ukraine, but I worry about them. They are so inconsistent, but Didier Deschamps has got his team together a little and playing well. Ukraine are ok, but I don't see them winning away if they need to.

Greece against Romania is probably the lease exciting tie, but I fancy Greece, even with Gerogios Samaras in the team. 

And then there's Iceland. I don't think there's a neutral out there who doesn't want them to make their first big tournament - and it has nothing to do with Croatia. I'd like to see Eidur Gudjohnsen get there - mainly because he used to play for the national team with his Dad, and has great goal celebrations.   

Pirlo's back, Zlatan the 3rd, Moyes on watch - the Weekend preview

Italy is where the action is this weekend. Inter v Roma and Juventus v AC Milan. Roma have won 6 of 6 in Serie A, with Inter unbeaten in 4th after a surprisingly strong start to the season. Gervinho is scoring goals (which can't be true), but he is playing with Totti, who could lay chances on that even Emile Heskey couldn't miss.

Inter are a bit of a team of no-names, but it's working for them. Gone are the big stars of the Mourinho era, but Walter Mazzari is building a strong team, and Diego Milito is back to prove that he can score from more than 6 yards out - I've never seen it, but it has to happen soon.

Juve against Milan is always a good game, or at least has a great history. Van Basten, Gullit, Vialli, Baggio etc. Who can't love names like that? The memory of Baresi, Maldini, Zoff and Del Piero makes it so easy to watch - and it's always great to see Pirlo show Milan why they were fools to let him go.

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I'll be looking at how the Premier League teams deal with post-European fixtures this week. Spurs have a (relatively) tough derby with West Ham, Swansea may struggle at Southampton after playing Thursday, and 3 of the 4 Champions League entrants have tough away games. City are at home against Everton after being schlapped by Bayern Munich in the week. Bayern are the best team in Europe right now, but Everton are unbeaten in the league, scoring lots of goals and have a red-hot Romelu Lukaku.

David Moyes will be in more hot water if United lose away at Sunderland. The Black Cats are a shambles, but they played well against Liverpool for large periods of the game, and are due a result. Arsenal are the form team, with people treating Mesut Ozil like he's the second coming of Diego Maradona. They've been good, but a loss away at West Brom and Arsene Wenger will have those fickle fans on his case again. Samuel Eto'o is going to score soon. Sorry Norwich fans, but he is.

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7 from 7 for Barcelona and Atletico Madrid - who's going to buckle first. Probably Atletico, but if Barca lose when Messi is out injured, some idiot is going to say they're a one-man team. Probably Jamie Redknapp or Alexi Lalas.

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The pick of the other European games for me is Marseille against PSG. Mainly because of this quote from Zlatan on Wayne Rooney... "if he did join, he would have to get used to the fact that Zlatan scores even better goals than he does." Zlatan, in the third person, telling it how it is. Love him.

PSG have the cash, Ajaccio may rival them for craziness

France's top division starts tonight too, and it will be interesting to see if the money spent at PSG and Monaco will separate them from the other teams.

I have to admit that I'm not an expert on French football, but used to play football with a guy called Julien Laurens (@LaurenJuliens) and he's got it all covered - check him out on twitter.

But keep an eye on Edison Cavani and Zlatan - can either see those two destroying French defenses, or arguing over who has the best hair and eventually going at it like Lee Bowyer and Kieran Dyer once did.

Zlatan to Manchester United in January - you heard it here first.

Monaco signed Falcao, Moutinho, Abidal and Carvalho, so should be pretty good. No-one will be there to see it (they had an average attendance of just over 5,000 last year), and Claudio Ranieri will crack under pressure if they get close to winning anything. But I can't see it being anyone but those two teams winning the league, although Ligue Un has had 6 different winners in the last six seasons.

Check out http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8860751/Ligue-Uuuuuuun for a more in-depth breakdown.

The final part of that column points out that Ajaccio are managed by Fabrizio Ravenelli and have Adrian Mutu up front! Imagine the team talks!

Don't sweat it Zlatan, it happens to the best of us

Hug it out, and laugh at yourself

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has skinned enough defenders to know things don't always work out

Don't dive in, don't dive in

Zlatan is a fantastic talent, there's no denying that

He's not lazy, you just wish you could see him produce all the time

The Swede was the first player to score 30 goals in France's top division since 1989-90 when Jean-Pierre Papin did it. And he was mustard.

The overhead kick he scored against England in the 4-2 win was special, but think I prefer this.