Official 20/21 Various National Soccer Team News Thread

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by The Familia

So how are these playoffs going to run? Is a seeded team paired up against an unseeded team with the 6 winners advancing? Then the 6 remaining teams are paired up and the three winners make the world cup? Win two and you are in?

Why ask, when you can complain to the heavens, about the randomized pooling that conspired against the almighty Italians?


Seeding will happen next Friday, Nov 26
https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-wor...ayoff-showdown

[d_phaneuf]

What was the harm in waiting until after the world cup to extend Southgate?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by d_phaneuf

What was the harm in waiting until after the world cup to extend Southgate?

Probably worried that United were going to try and poach their superstar manager.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by d_phaneuf

What was the harm in waiting until after the world cup to extend Southgate?

I wonder if Villa approached him before signing Gerrard to be coach.

He did play there, and not like Villa's ownership group is lacking money.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I wonder if Villa approached him before signing Gerrard to be coach.

He did play there, and not like Villa's ownership group is lacking money.

Either way...Southgate is barely competent.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Italy and Portugal are in the same pod, so one of them is going to miss the WC.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1464268860325081091

[SuperMatt18]

Ridiculous and such a stupid set up that you have pods with the 6th and 8th ranked team in the World in the same group.

Rank the teams based on their standings and put them into groups accordingly

[GirlySports]

And Portugal would host that game against Italy if they meet.



Also they did the intercontinental draw


Asia vs South America
CONCACAF vs Oceania


That's good news where even if Canada slips to 4th, they would play New Zealand instead of possibly Japan, Australia, Chile, Uruguay etc...

[devo22]

a crap set-up for a crap WC. At least they are consistent

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by devo22

a crap set-up for a crap WC. At least they are consistent

They wanted to give merit to the Nations League. Austria are going to qualify for the World Cup this way

[devo22]

the way we've been playing, there's no way we beat Wales and Scotland/Ukraine. Not really bothered either way though, just happy when that Qatar BS is finally over.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by devo22

the way we've been playing, there's no way we beat Wales and Scotland/Ukraine. Not really bothered either way though, just happy when that Qatar BS is finally over.

You only have to peak at the right time. You could win 2 penalty shootouts!

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They wanted to give merit to the Nations League. Austria are going to qualify for the World Cup this way

But that doesn't make sense either.

Italy finished 3rd in nations league in the A pool, Portgual would technically be 5th finishing top of the non A pool winners. They weren't rewarded for Nations League performance at all.

The solution is simple. Instead of 2 groups of 6 for the draw they should have had 4 groups of 3.

Pot A: Italy, Portugal, Sweden
Pot B: Russia, Scotland, Wales
Pot C: Austria, Poland, Ukraine
Pot D: Czech Republic, Turkey, North Macedonia

[GirlySports]

They were seeded based on qualifying. Scotland was seeded 2. FIFA already get accused of seeding to protect big teams.

There should no seeds. All losers treated the same.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I wonder if Villa approached him before signing Gerrard to be coach.

He did play there, and not like Villa's ownership group is lacking money.

Thst would be fantastic

Maybe we could play our best players under a new coach

[d_phaneuf]

Italy v Portugal is getting all the hype

Wales v Scotland in Cardiff would be the real main event

[GirlySports]

So Brazil and Argentina are in Europe now.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/uefa-nat...ague-from-2024

The UEFA Nations League is set to expand to include 10 South American countries -- including Brazil and Argentina -- from the 2024 edition, according to UEFA vice-president Zbigniew Boniek.

In a move which will be seen as in clear opposition to FIFA's planned biennial World Cup, UEFA and CONMEBOL, the South American confederation, signed a renewed and extended Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday to commit to the "opening of a shared UEFA/CONMEBOL office in London and the potential organisation of a variety of football events."

It has already been confirmed that the first "Finalissima" between the winners of the UEFA European Championship and the Copa America will be held at a stadium in London on June 1, 2022, when Italy take on Argentina.

[Locke]

UEFA trying to undercut FIFA.

Let them fight!

[GirlySports]

Yeah, I like this proposal. And you know the Americans will get in on this eventually as well. A European/America's Cup hosted in the US is in the future.

I like smaller teams but the 48 team World Cup is a joke. And then bienniel? You know FIFA will put it in China and who knows where else.

The 32 team world cup since 98 has been perfect.

[GirlySports]

The Southeast Asian Cup never disappoints. This is as wild a game as you'll ever seen between Indonesia and Singapore. First leg was was 1-1 so this is a do or die 2nd leg (no away goals)