2014 World Cup Qualifying UEFA predictions: Group A

Wow, I haven't posted on this blog since the last World. Sorry about that (if anyone out there is even reading this thing). A lot of things has happened in the past two years but I'm going to keep this blog about soccer and keep my life out of it. Croatia had another disappointing Euro Cup this year. They started out very well against Ireland, was okay against Italy, but I thought they played well against the eventual champions Spain. Spain is unstoppable at this point and I see them possibly winning the World Cup again but a lot can happen in the next two years. Brazil is hosting and they have a reputation to salvage. Right now, I think a Spain-Brazil final could be very possible but I'm getting way ahead of myself. Let's start with qualifying. Here are my predictions of how group A will play out in UEFA qualifying. 1. Croatia should win this group. There only real competition is against Serbia, big rivals to say the lease. However, I am more worried about fan behavior than the actual game. Croatian fans did enough damage during Euro 2012 and this game could end up badly. Remember this and this. This kind of thing happens in every sport between the two nations but c'mon, it's a sport. Can we keep politics out of it just for the game? I'm only saying this because it screw the Croatian Soccer Federation with fines and punishment and sanctions from FIFA. The Croatian and Serbian teams haven't played on the senior level since 1999 for Euro 2000 qualifying when Serbia was still known as Yugoslavia still. Since then, the Serbian federation tried to organize a friendly with their political rivals but Stjepan Mesic, Croatian president at the time, put a stop to it. Good idea? Is it still too early for these teams to play? We'll see. 2. Serbia should take second place with not too much trouble which could qualify them depending on if they are top 8 out of the 9 second placed teams. 3. Scotland 4. Belgium 5. Wales 6. Macedonia I know some people might make comments that I put Wales above Macedonia but I looked at some of the scores from Macedonia's recent games and I see some disapointing results. A 0-0 tie against Angola and a loss against Luxembourg, one of Europe's worst national teams. I will update these predictions up until the first day of qualifying but right now I'm disappointed in Macedonia.