Qatar 2022

[YHallSaint]

14 breakaway goals I heard

I mean they were unlucky, if the goal wasn’t wrongly disallowed at 7 they had a chance

[Robin.Hood]

Was just female fans in the stadium also

[SlipperyP]

Thailand 1-1 UAE HT

Thailand all over them, hit the post and the bar.  Their goalie is flapping at everything.  UAE go up the park on 46min and first chance score from header, closest player to him was about 5 yards, Scottish style of marking.

Hope the heads don't go down as UAE are here for the taken, if Thailand can put some chances away.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by SlipperyP

[SlipperyP]

FT Thailand 2-1 UAE

Deserved win over a team 48 places higher in the rankings and go top of the table. The scoreline is very kind to UAE, not impressed by them one bit.  Topped off by their captain getting subbed, not been happy with the manager (some Dutch guy, with a shirt and trousers, trainers and NO SOCKS), gave his armband to the sub coming on, then he gave it to someone, who threw it back at him on the ground, guys standing with the armband looking to see who would take it. No takers, so put it on himself, ball got passed to him and he nearly score with his first touch.

Next up Malaysia & Vietnam both away in Nov 

[Sir Tarmo Kink]

India draw with Bangladesh but both still sit below Afghanistan and Oman. Is this definitely a football group?

[senorsoupe]

Due to CONCACAF's new qualifying format for the 2022 world cup, the 6 best teams in the federation according to the FIFA world rankings will get a good chance to qualify, everyone else will be lucky to get into a playoff, Canada are currently have the 7th best ranking among CONCACAF teams so realistically we need to beat the Yanks at least once among the two nations cup games coming up, the first being tonight in Toronto

[BFTD]

Due to CONCACAF's new qualifying format for the 2022 world cup, the 6 best teams in the federation according to the FIFA world rankings will get a good chance to qualify, everyone else will be lucky to get into a playoff, Canada are currently have the 7th best ranking among CONCACAF teams so realistically we need to beat the Yanks at least once among the two nations cup games coming up, the first being tonight in Toronto

I hadn't heard about this. Sounds like a big sack of shit.

[HibeeJibee]

It's pretty scandalous. Everyone outside "top 6" playing a groupstage, then 3 knockout rounds, to get 1 playoff place for 1 playoff place! Not even using LofN or groups to decide "top 6".


EDIT: This may have been announced some time ago, but I see FIFA have confirmed there will be no autumn international windows in 2022, except a double-header in late September; but June 2022 will be a quadruple-header i.e. upto 4 games.

Furthermore - players will only be released from clubs 7 days before WC 2022 starts.

https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/international-match-calendar-2018-2024.pdf?cloudid=p3ywicffz0zxeaomaajh

Edited October 15, 2019 by HibeeJibee

[senorsoupe]

The CONCACAF qualifying is indeed a big steaming pile of horse manure.  Essentially Mexico and the US didn't want to play an extra round so they lobbied CONCACAF to make it easier for them, the offshoot is that any team outside this "Top 6" has virtually no chance of making it to Qatar.  

Here is the state of play for the rankings as of now (the top 10), the cut-off is June 2020.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by senorsoupe

[Guest JTS98]

8 hours ago, SlipperyP said:

FT Thailand 2-1 UAE

Deserved win over a team 48 places higher in the rankings and go top of the table. The scoreline is very kind to UAE, not impressed by them one bit.  Topped off by their captain getting subbed, not been happy with the manager (some Dutch guy, with a shirt and trousers, trainers and NO SOCKS), gave his armband to the sub coming on, then he gave it to someone, who threw it back at him on the ground, guys standing with the armband looking to see who would take it. No takers, so put it on himself, ball got passed to him and he nearly score with his first touch.

Next up Malaysia & Vietnam both away in Nov 

The coach is Bert Van Marwijk.  Coached Holland to the World Cup final.

Interesting result, certainly. Thought UAE looked shaky against Malaysia and were lucky that Malaysia missed so many chances early on or they could easily have lost here.

Group looking fun now. I'll be going to the Malaysia - Thailand game. Intae these durty sexpat enablers!

[charger29]

The CONCACAF qualifying is indeed a big steaming pile of horse manure.  Essentially Mexico and the US didn't want to play an extra round so they lobbied CONCACAF to make it easier for them, the offshoot is that any team outside this "Top 6" has virtually no chance of making it to Qatar.  

Here is the state of play for the rankings as of now (the top 10), the cut-off is June 2020.

 

What matches are played between now and June 2020? End of the nations league, including the finals, and some friendlies?

 

Canada will be 6th in the rankings after their win last night (according to one of the ranking simulation sites anyway) but don't seem to have any future fixtures listed in flashscore.

 

Edit: I think Canada will be 6th anyway. The draw between Curacao and Costa Rica seemed to be a perfect result for them.

[senorsoupe]

1 hour ago, charger29 said:

What matches are played between now and June 2020? End of the nations league, including the finals, and some friendlies?

 

Canada will be 6th in the rankings after their win last night (according to one of the ranking simulation sites anyway) but don't seem to have any future fixtures listed in flashscore.

 

Edit: I think Canada will be 6th anyway. The draw between Curacao and Costa Rica seemed to be a perfect result for them.

Last night's win was huge for our ranking points, and judging on both sides performances there is no reason why we can't go beat them again in Orlando when we play them in November.  After that for competitive matches there is the semi-finals and finals of the Nations League which take place next June, my understanding is that it is after those games that the rankings will be tabulated to get in to the Hex  

[GNU_Linux]

The CONCACAF qualifying is indeed a big steaming pile of horse manure.  Essentially Mexico and the US didn't want to play an extra round so they lobbied CONCACAF to make it easier for them, the offshoot is that any team outside this "Top 6" has virtually no chance of making it to Qatar.  
Here is the state of play for the rankings as of now (the top 10), the cut-off is June 2020.

 

Reminds me a bit of the re-jig they did with the CONCACAF Champions League & the club CONCACAF League which is give USA/Mexico all the things & screw the rest. Suppose at least Canada now has two spots for club competitions.

[Marten]

18 hours ago, senorsoupe said:

The CONCACAF qualifying is indeed a big steaming pile of horse manure.  Essentially Mexico and the US didn't want to play an extra round so they lobbied CONCACAF to make it easier for them, the offshoot is that any team outside this "Top 6" has virtually no chance of making it to Qatar.  

Here is the state of play for the rankings as of now (the top 10), the cut-off is June 2020.

 

I know, whoever came up with that should be banned from football forever. What an awful structure.

Personally, I'm looking out for Curaçao's results as I have some links to the country. They have improved greatly over recent years so I was hoping that they'd finally have a decent chance to reach the Hexagonal. Now they are just below 6th. Reaching 6th will mean a place in the Hexagonal and a decent chance of qualifying for the World Cup, coming 7th or 8th (and the differences aren't big!) means playing a group of 4 and then 5 knockout rounds, including an intercontinental play-off, to be able to qualify for the World Cup.

Especially for nations who will just fall outside of the top 6 this will be very harsh. And that just because USA & Mexico don't want to play a round before the Hexagonal... (and even with that in mind a better system could be found!)

It should only be a one-off as from 2026 more spots will be available (plus extra spots for having hosts in 2026), but this is ludicrous.

[senorsoupe]

20 minutes ago, Marten said:

I know, whoever came up with that should be banned from football forever. What an awful structure.

Personally, I'm looking out for Curaçao's results as I have some links to the country. They have improved greatly over recent years so I was hoping that they'd finally have a decent chance to reach the Hexagonal. Now they are just below 6th. Reaching 6th will mean a place in the Hexagonal and a decent chance of qualifying for the World Cup, coming 7th or 8th (and the differences aren't big!) means playing a group of 4 and then 5 knockout rounds, including an intercontinental play-off, to be able to qualify for the World Cup.

Especially for nations who will just fall outside of the top 6 this will be very harsh. And that just because USA & Mexico don't want to play a round before the Hexagonal... (and even with that in mind a better system could be found!)

It should only be a one-off as from 2026 more spots will be available (plus extra spots for having hosts in 2026), but this is ludicrous.

One positive is that from what I saw this push to get qualifying done with may bite  the US in the arse.  They were rank bad last night, defenders slow and clumsy, midfielders and forwards completely disjointed and unable to create.  They have some younger players that need time to develop so they may not have time in a rushed Hex.  

[HibeeJibee]

If they didn't want them playing more than 10 or 12 games could they not have had 4 groups of 4 (with top 2 progressing) followed by 2 groups of 4 with winners qualifying and runners-up playing off? What about 2 groups of 6 with winners qualifying and runners-up playing-off?

Are they just heavily reliant on Mexico and USA meeting in qualifying? What about 2 groups of 4 (top 2 progressing) - or alternatively 4 groups of 4 (winners progressing) - followed by 1 group of 4 (top 3 qualifying and bottom to intercontinentals)?

Anyone missing-out on #1-6 are stuffed... must win groupstage then 4 consecutive playoff rounds.

Edited October 16, 2019 by HibeeJibee

[BFTD]

I'm sure the US and Mexico both having incredibly embarrassing qualifying campaigns in the past decade has nothing whatsoever to do with this anti-competitive bollocks.

Well done to Curacao, though. Hope they and Canada fluke their way into the Big 6 and utterly horse the p***ks.

[HibeeJibee]

It doesn't really make it easier for USA or Mexico in that sense... you would always have expected them to come through to Hexagonal from a preceding groupstage. Since the Hexagonal began for WC 1998 both have always done so and only Mexico for '98, '02 and '10 didn't top their pool in the process.

It's objectionable to arbitrarily separate off #1-6 in this way as no-one else can play their way into Hexagonal.

[Bully Wee Villa]

It's a load of bollocks. Always nice to see new teams in the World Cup. This is just self-preservation by the usual suspects. 

[Marten]

17 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

I'm sure the US and Mexico both having incredibly embarrassing qualifying campaigns in the past decade has nothing whatsoever to do with this anti-competitive bollocks.

Well done to Curacao, though. Hope they and Canada fluke their way into the Big 6 and utterly horse the p***ks.

It's not just about chances of qualification either. Curacao will be realistic enough to realise that even if they make the Hexagonal, they won't be favourites to finish in the top 4. But for a developing footballing nation like Curacao the experience of hosting the USA, Mexico and the other big Concacaf nations in their tiny country will be massive.