World Cup 2022 Qualifiers

[filbertway]

So...do these laser pens actually have an effect. I assumed if he's looking at the ball then it's not really going to affect his vision at all... worst case he probably sees some green dots on the pitch, but is that any more off putting than thousands of people making noise and watching you?

[Detroit Blues]

Too bad, it would have been cool for the Solomon Islands to make the world cup. Looking more like the two playoffs will be

New Zealand vs Costa Rica

UAE/Australia vs Peru

[420Hashish]

23 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Watching that game with Arabic commentary. Wow, the fella barely pauses to breathe. 

Imagine understanding them. They're actually some of the best commentators in the world IMO because of how hyped up they are and how they hype everything up. Makes it way more fun to watch than some boring English ones I listen to.

Edited 30 March 2022 by 420Hashish

[Jordan]

On 29/03/2022 at 18:17, Lionator said:

The away goals rule should not apply after 90 minutes. Cameroon had 120 to score an away goal whereas Algeria only had 90.

Exactly this.

 

Also, the CAF third round was seeded, so this just defeats the entire purpose of seeding when you put the higher seed at a disadvantage.

 

2 hours ago, 420Hashish said:

Imagine understanding them. They're actually some of the best commentators in the world IMO because of how hyped up they are and how they hype everything up. Makes it way more fun to watch than some boring English ones I listen to.

I would have loved to hear hype being screamed in a foreign language than whatever we got served on ESPN+ For ALG-CMR yesterday. 
 

That game had absolutely everything you’d want, and we got one guy on commentary probably sat thousands of miles away that couldn’t sound any less interested in the ridiculous action and high stakes of that game.

 

He even said at the final whistle that they were going to penalties!

[foxes1988]

So just 3 slots left isn't it?

 

I reckon Wales, Costa Rica and Australia are the 3 to come through.

[foxes1988]

On 29/03/2022 at 17:28, Detroit Blues said:

Let me preface this by saying, you are entitled to your opinion, no matter how grumpy  and i will not hold anything against you for it. In fact, the grumpy / self deprecating nature is one of the things i appreciate most about the people of Leicester. Also, I am self aware enough to understand how arrogant a lot of this sounds. I know most American Leicester fans hate when I say optimistic stuff about American Soccer. That said, I'm not actually dumb enough to think we could beat Brazil 7-1, I was just using that as a joke/benchmark for the best possible result in football (Germany 7-1 vs Brazil in the semi-final of the 2014 world cup). 

 

I do want to debate the impact of economics on football. You say that football success has little to do with the size, economy and investment in youth development, sighting the premier league as an example. I'm baffled because, didn't England just make it to the world cup semi-final on the back of having a very good youth system subsidized by the giant money cannon that is the premier league? Haven't you noticed a substantial increase in quality and quantity, of young English players? 

 

I don't think it has little to do with success just that it certainly doesn't guarantee it.  The right strategies and foresight throughout a football community is much more important.  The right tactics played with the right players at the right tournaments against the right teams.  Also a hell of a lot of luck and fortune is required also.  This ins't like the Olympics where country's spending the most resources tend to win the medals.

 

just as an example. What did all of England's talent, money and infrastructure do to help us beat Iceland in 2016?  In theory there is no way England should lose that game.  Despite vastly outclassing Iceland in those areas we lost to them because we made poor strategic and tactically decisions and came up short against a well structured team whose country had made wholesale changes across the island.  An advantage of being a smaller nation is Top down management quite easy to do there.  Whereas in England we have the FA working for England then Premier league working in the best interest of the premier league and then the 'big 6' working in the best interest of the 'big 6'.  Trying to get top down changes through this country is very difficult when everyone is pulling in different directions.  In Iceland it wouldn't be odd for Iceland's manager at the time Largerback to suggest certain systems or positions for players at a club level but can you imagine Southgate having that sort of power/oppourtunity in England.  We have the 'Big 6' thinking they don't have enough power as it is.

 

 

On 29/03/2022 at 17:28, Detroit Blues said:

I think the same thing will happen as "soccer" becomes a bigger sport in this country. We are already seeing the fruits of the development of youth talent in this country. Some people in this thread think Pulisic, Reyna, etc. are not that great compared to the best players in the world, but nobody would debate that they are not significantly more talented the generations that came before. With less talented players, the US still managed to get out of the group in 1994, the same year MLS began. They made it to the quarterfinals of the world cup in 2002, and came damn close to beating Germany. They won the group England was in at the 2010 world cup (had to bring that up), and got out of the group of death in 2014. We can agree the US is less talented than the "best" 16 countries in the world, yet when you look at the knockout round, we typically are among the last 16 teams remaining. 

 

America has never had more players playing abroad in terms of quality and quantity. The export of American talent abroad will only ramp up as the infrastructure to develop youth talent increases. You have to remember that MLS was in its infancy when our current players were born, and many (if not most) current players did not have the benefit of being able to play in a MLS academy, as they were either not in that geographic area or the MLS academy did not exist yet. The only players who "made it" in Europe either benefited from having rich parents that could afford to finance their careers, or had a connection/passport to Europe where they could move to other areas like Germany for development. That is no longer the case, and now there is a way to professional football without having to grow up as a rich suburban kid or have some vague family connection to Europe in order to get a EU passport.

 

I do have to say that I think US ambition/arrogance/determination well just general psyche is much more suited to tournament football then our English Psyche which as other have said does seem to hinder us from time to time.  USA did well bumping portugal and Ghana in 2014 but I think our group was definitely the group of death that year.  3 former world cup winners in 1 group. Don't get me wrong I do think USA will continue to improve and get better and i do agree with an awful lot that you say.  There is no way more infrastructure and coaching wont lead to better players.

 

On 29/03/2022 at 17:28, Detroit Blues said:

So all that is tangible stuff that has already happened. Let me get into what might happen. Stick with me for awhile, because i will eventually get to the point. I am at the age where most of my friends are having kids. None of us feel comfortable letting our children play (American) football, even though most of us did growing up. The science on football is very scary. It's not even the fact that occasionally kids get massive/life threatening injuries, it is that fact that repeated impacts to the head develop CTE and have negative neurological consequences. Youth participation in American football will drastically decrease over the next 50 years, and the NFL's bubble could quite easily burst. Think of the legal liability of the NFL if current/former players create a class action lawsuit, and how much money the NFL might have to settle for. If it can be proven that the sport is too dangerous, the NFL would be put in a position to drastically alter how the game is played to make it more safe. How many fans are ready to see the violent aspects of the game go away? 

 

Think about how NFL will market to a population that no longer grows up playing the sport. The NFL also has other challenges to deal with in terms of the evolving demographics. Each NFL game is roughly 4 hours long with tons of commercial breaks. Soccer is a 90 minute game with one 15 minute halftime break. Soccer is more popular now among Millennials/Zoomers, having grown up in a more global/internet connected society. You also can't discount how big a factor the Premier League and the FIFA video game has in terms of making the sport popular among younger folks.  If i was a betting man, i would think that soccer is going to make huge inroads into the NFL (and baseball's) market share. That is part of the reason why MLS franchises have such a high value, even though their revenue is not at that level. Think about it like buying telsa stock. The growth potential is huge, which is why it is so expensive to buy into the MLS even though the revenue payoff is so little.

 

I'm not one of those whackos that think MLS will replace the NFL. That's never going to happen. But in the next 50 years, could it be the 2nd or 3rd biggest sport in the country? I think so. If that happens we would have an explosion of clubs/franchises and youth academies. My state does not have a MLS team, yet we have roughly the population of Sweden and the surface area of the UK. If soccer was remotely as popular as football we could support several professional soccer franchises. We have 3 football stadiums in this state that would be considered large in Europe (Ford Field - average attendance of 62k, Big House at the University of Michigan at 110K +, and Spartan Stadium at Michigan State University with avg attendance over 70k). Now remember that this state is only the 10th most populated state in the country. How many more clubs could the US support? What would the TV deal for MLS look like if it was drawing numbers that would compete with the NFL and the NBA? How much of that additional money would find its way towards developing American youth players? That is the part of the iceberg that is beneath the water, in terms of America's soccer potential.

 

It's not as crazy as you think  

 

Remind me to look back on this thread in 2072. 

Do you really think NFL could drop that much?  I know of the CTE issues but wont better safety procedures and policies help mitigate some of this.  I certainly hope it doesn't drop off too much as its my second favourite sport.

 

The other side to a very successful MLS  is that lots of foreign talent comes in and you have less US players playing abroad as they are comfortable playing at home on large wages (one of England's biggest problems)

Hopefully for you guys you adopt a more American or 'cartel' system among the clubs/US football association so they have more power they can spend more money on infrastructure and coaching and youth systems rather then on wages like in England.  Whether this works In football/soccer I don't know 

 

Of subject a little I find US sporting systems or at least some of them really interesting in that you'd think that the English sports would be much more 'socialist' then US and the US system be full capitalism at its finest yet when you compare NFL and Premier League its clear that the American system is much more 'Socialist' then the Premier league what with salary caps/ fixture weighting favouring weaker teams / draft order favouring weaker teams etc. Here you got the most money you like Man Utd/ Chelsea Man City you could literally buy the league.

 

Anyhow.  I wasn't particularly bashing the USA or claiming that you cannot compete with the rest of the world or anything just think there is no guarantee the US will become some big football super power that seems to be suggested quite a lot (I know that's not what you're saying).

[Guest Lcfc82]

1 hour ago, foxes1988 said:

So just 3 slots left isn't it?

 

I reckon Wales, Costa Rica and Australia are the 3 to come through.

Australia have been poor in qualifying, I’d fancy Peru to come through that one

Edited 31 March 2022 by Lcfc82

[foxes1988]

Definitely a close one.  Peru beat Australia in Russia as well didn't they so wouldn't surprise me.

[StanSP]

2 hours ago, foxes1988 said:

So just 3 slots left isn't it?

 

I reckon Wales, Costa Rica and Australia are the 3 to come through.

Wales, Costa Rica & Peru.

 

Australia aren't much special.

[Super_horns]

Pots :

 

Pot 1:
Qatar
Brazil
Belgium
France
Argentina
England
Spain
Portugal


Pot 2:
Mexico
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Uruguay
Switzerland
United States
Croatia

Pot 3:
Senegal
IR Iran
Japan
Morocco
Serbia
Poland
South Korea
Tunisia

Pot 4:
Cameroon
Canada
Ecuador
Saudi Arabia
Ghana
Wales or Scotland / Ukraine
Costa Rica or New Zealand
Peru or Australia / United Arab Emirates

 

Draw simulator:

 

https://draw.inker.one/#/wc/gs

 

Got England with Croatia, South Korea and Cameroon.

[Finnegan]

I'm not so confident. If it was at a neutral venue we'd be the underdogs I think. 

 

Three or four years ago with Rambo and Bale not running on fumes and held together by duct tape it's a different story. But now, I think Ukraine and even Scotland have a much better balanced 11 all round the park. 

 

Plus Ukraine could be a serious joker in the pack. They might forfeit, they might not be up for it at all or they might be intensely motivated and playing their hearts out for the people back home. 

 

Only thing I'm certain of is the atmosphere will be absolutely bananas before kick off. 

[Deeg67]

Could use some Qatar in that USA draw.

[Detroit Blues]

1 hour ago, foxes1988 said:

 

I don't think it has little to do with success just that it certainly doesn't guarantee it.  The right strategies and foresight throughout a football community is much more important.  The right tactics played with the right players at the right tournaments against the right teams.  Also a hell of a lot of luck and fortune is required also.  This ins't like the Olympics where country's spending the most resources tend to win the medals.

 

just as an example. What did all of England's talent, money and infrastructure do to help us beat Iceland in 2016?  In theory there is no way England should lose that game.  Despite vastly outclassing Iceland in those areas we lost to them because we made poor strategic and tactically decisions and came up short against a well structured team whose country had made wholesale changes across the island.  An advantage of being a smaller nation is Top down management quite easy to do there.  Whereas in England we have the FA working for England then Premier league working in the best interest of the premier league and then the 'big 6' working in the best interest of the 'big 6'.  Trying to get top down changes through this country is very difficult when everyone is pulling in different directions.  In Iceland it wouldn't be odd for Iceland's manager at the time Largerback to suggest certain systems or positions for players at a club level but can you imagine Southgate having that sort of power/oppourtunity in England.  We have the 'Big 6' thinking they don't have enough power as it is.

 

 

I do have to say that I think US ambition/arrogance/determination well just general psyche is much more suited to tournament football then our English Psyche which as other have said does seem to hinder us from time to time.  USA did well bumping portugal and Ghana in 2014 but I think our group was definitely the group of death that year.  3 former world cup winners in 1 group. Don't get me wrong I do think USA will continue to improve and get better and i do agree with an awful lot that you say.  There is no way more infrastructure and coaching wont lead to better players.

 

Do you really think NFL could drop that much?  I know of the CTE issues but wont better safety procedures and policies help mitigate some of this.  I certainly hope it doesn't drop off too much as its my second favourite sport.

 

The other side to a very successful MLS  is that lots of foreign talent comes in and you have less US players playing abroad as they are comfortable playing at home on large wages (one of England's biggest problems)

Hopefully for you guys you adopt a more American or 'cartel' system among the clubs/US football association so they have more power they can spend more money on infrastructure and coaching and youth systems rather then on wages like in England.  Whether this works In football/soccer I don't know 

 

Of subject a little I find US sporting systems or at least some of them really interesting in that you'd think that the English sports would be much more 'socialist' then US and the US system be full capitalism at its finest yet when you compare NFL and Premier League its clear that the American system is much more 'Socialist' then the Premier league what with salary caps/ fixture weighting favouring weaker teams / draft order favouring weaker teams etc. Here you got the most money you like Man Utd/ Chelsea Man City you could literally buy the league.

 

Anyhow.  I wasn't particularly bashing the USA or claiming that you cannot compete with the rest of the world or anything just think there is no guarantee the US will become some big football super power that seems to be suggested quite a lot (I know that's not what you're saying).

 

The data coming out about CTE is that it has less to do with concussions and getting serious head injuries (although that is still really bad for you) and it has more to do with repeated hits to the head. Every practice and every game is just slight hits to the head over and over and over.

 

CTE is being found in almost all NFL players, but the scarier thing is that it is being found in players that only competed at amateur levels. If you make it in the NFL I can understand the trade off between prematurely ageing your brain and millions of dollars. But who would make that trade off for simply playing the sport for fun? 

 

CTE can't be avoided without serious redesigns of the game. One possible, albeit paradoxical solution is to take the helmet off. The helmet makes players go into tackles head first (rather than heads up rugby tackles you see) which leads to more contact to the head, even if the helmet prevents the bigger injuries. More often than not, it gives the players the feeling of invulnerability, which makes them launch like rockets into tackles without considering how soft, squishy and delicate they're brains are

 

People are still going to play football, particularly in republican/red states where science is not used in decision making. But youth participation rates are already dropping. The more data that comes out, the less people will want their kids to take that rush when other sports are available. 

[purpleronnie]

3 minutes ago, Detroit Blues said:

 

The data coming out about CTE is that it has less to do with concussions and getting serious head injuries (although that is still really bad for you) and it has more to do with repeated hits to the head. Every practice and every game is just slight hits to the head over and over and over.

 

CTE is being found in almost all NFL players, but the scarier thing is that it is being found in players that only competed at amateur levels. If you make it in the NFL I can understand the trade off between prematurely ageing your brain and millions of dollars. But who would make that trade off for simply playing the sport for fun? 

 

CTE can't be avoided without serious redesigns of the game. One possible, albeit paradoxical solution is to take the helmet off. The helmet makes players go into tackles head first (rather than heads up rugby tackles you see) which leads to more contact to the head, even if the helmet prevents the bigger injuries. More often than not, it gives the players the feeling of invulnerability, which makes them launch like rockets into tackles without considering how soft, squishy and delicate they're brains are

 

People are still going to play football, particularly in republican/red states where science is not used in decision making. But youth participation rates are already dropping. The more data that comes out, the less people will want their kids to take that rush when other sports are available. 

I'm one of those crazy people who think soccer will overtake the NFL...it will take a few generations but i believe CTE will destroy participation.  Yes there will always be people who will still play the game knowing the dangers and there will always be people who will watch it.

 

 

[Alf Bentley]

22 hours ago, Super_horns said:

Draw simulator:

 

https://draw.inker.one/#/wc/gs

Got England with Croatia, South Korea and Cameroon.

 

I got England with Uruguay, S. Korea & NZ/Costa Rica...

Wales/Scotland/Ukraine with Qatar, USA & Morocco......reckon they'd settle for that!

Group of Death: Brazil, Germany, Poland & Cameroon.... 

[StanSP]

22 hours ago, Super_horns said:

Draw simulator:

 

https://draw.inker.one/#/wc/gs

 

38 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

I got England with Uruguay, S. Korea & NZ/Costa Rica...

Wales/Scotland/Ukraine with Qatar, USA & Morocco......reckon they'd settle for that!

Group of Death: Brazil, Germany, Poland & Cameroon.... 

I got this

 

Group C or G perhaps the most difficult there.

[Detroit Blues]

2 hours ago, StanSP said:

 

I got this

 

Group C or G perhaps the most difficult there.

Group G would be an absolutely brutal draw

 

You could convince yourself of any combination of 2 teams advancing out of group A. 

[Super_horns]

1 hour ago, Detroit Blues said:

Group G would be an absolutely brutal draw

 

You could convince yourself of any combination of 2 teams advancing out of group A. 

Be the sort Scotland get if they win through.

 

Don't they always have stinkers?

[purpleronnie]

8 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Be the sort Scotland get if they win through.

 

Don't they always have stinkers?

dunno they don't get to go very often.

[coolhandfox]

Fair play to the Danes 

 

Danish FA chief executive Jakob Jensen talking to BBC Radio 5 Live: "We do not think it was the correct decision to award Qatar with the World Cup.

 

"We want to use our voice to improve the human rights of migrant workers.

 

"We have already agreed with our commercial partners that we will not wear their logos during the World Cup and will instead promote a human rights message on our jerseys.

[Super_horns]

29 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

dunno they don't get to go very often.

That is true.

 

Anyone under 30 won't remember their last appearance at all!

 

 

A
Qatar
Netherlands
Morocco
Canada

B

England
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

England would take that as a potential 2nd round game!

 

Group C

 

Belgium
Switzerland
Iran
Ecuador

 

Group D

 

Portugal
United States
Serbia
Saudi Arabia

 

Group E

 

Brazil
Germany
South Korea
CONCACAF/OFC

Group F

 

Spain
Mexico
Senegal
AFC/CONMEBOL

Group G

 

Argentina
Croatia
Poland
Ghana

 

Group H

France
Uruguay
Tunisia
UEFA

Group C

Belgium
Switzerland
Iran
Ecuador

Group D

Portugal
United States
Serbia
Saudi Arabia

Group E

Brazil
Germany
South Korea
CONCACAF/OFC


Group F

Spain
Mexico
Senegal
AFC/CONMEBOL


Group G

Argentina
Croatia
Poland
Ghana

Group H

France
Uruguay
Tunisia
UEFA

[Nalis]

Whats the point in even doing this draw when we already know the USA are going to win it anyway?

[Brainy]

The **** does Jermaine Jenas bag these roles

[adam]

Jenas again ffs. Blokes ****ing hopless but keeps getting on everything. Great agent. 

[Guest Lcfc82]

**** me this draw is long winded, thought it was supposed to start at 5