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World Cup 2022 Thread

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Sean Miller Fan

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Oct 30, 2001
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Figured I'd start a new one, mostly for non-USMNT WC discussion.

First 2 items to go over:

- FIFA scheduled the Oceania Tournament in Qatar OUTSIDE of the International dates. NZ is ticked off because most of their players play in the lower leagues in Europe and teams don't have to release them. It would be funny AF for Fiji or Vanuatu or someone like that to win that tournament and beat Panama to make the WC. Talk about an opportunity. These amateur "beer league" players from these Pacific islands have a semi-realistic chance of making the World Cup.

- FIFA is only making teams release players on November 14 for the WC, which starts November 21. This was something that hasn't really been discussed much but with the Winter World Cup, these players arent going to get to train much together and probably not get to play a Friendly. They usually get a month or so in a regular World Cup. Would it have bankrupted Qatar to put roofs on their stadiums and had it in June?

MLS Cup was moved way up from mid-December to November 5 to accommodate. I would guess the USMNT opens WC Camp around October 21 with the MLS-based players, which might give them a very slight advantage.
 
Also, didn't realize Italy and Portugal were drawn together in the playoff. Crazy that either Ronaldo or the Euro champs will miss the WC and for Italy, that would be 2 in a row. They should have had 4 pots. 1 through 3 in Pot A, 4 through 6 n Pot B, 7 through 9 in Pot C, and 10 through 12 in Pot D. Then drawn 1 team from each pot to a Semifinal Path. This would have ensured #6 Italy wasn't drawn with #8 Portugal (FIFA World Rankings)

Semifinals Path A
Austria @ Wales
Ukraine @ Scotland

Path B
Poland @ Russia
Czech Republic at Sweden

Path C
North Macedonia @ Italy
Turkey @ Portugal
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
FIFA scheduled the Oceania Tournament in Qatar OUTSIDE of the International dates. NZ is ticked off because most of their players play in the lower leagues in Europe and teams don't have to release them. It would be funny AF for Fiji or Vanuatu or someone like that to win that tournament and beat Panama to make the WC. Talk about an opportunity. These amateur "beer league" players from these Pacific islands have a semi-realistic chance of making the World Cup.
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That isn't entirely true. The Oceania tournament STARTS outside the international dates, but the last three games (of a potential five) are all inside the window. And the second game for New Zealand is on the Monday when the window opens, so any players playing on a Saturday in a lower level European league will easily be able to be in Qatar for a Monday night game, although that's obviously not ideal. So those guys will, for the most part, miss one game. Assuming that their teams don't release them a game early.

A game against Papua New Guinea. To put Papua New Guinea into a CONCACAF perspective, they are ranked just behind Barbados and just ahead of Bermuda in the current FIFA rankings.

If New Zealand can't finish at least second in a group of Papua New Guinea, Fiji and New Caladonia, even if they have to play their first game short handed, to advance to the semi-finals then they really don't have much room to complain.
 
Joe the Panther Fan said:
That isn't entirely true. The Oceania tournament STARTS outside the international dates, but the last three games (of a potential five) are all inside the window. And the second game for New Zealand is on the Monday when the window opens, so any players playing on a Saturday in a lower level European league will easily be able to be in Qatar for a Monday night game, although that's obviously not ideal. So those guys will, for the most part, miss one game. Assuming that their teams don't release them a game early.

A game against Papua New Guinea. To put Papua New Guinea into a CONCACAF perspective, they are ranked just behind Barbados and just ahead of Bermuda in the current FIFA rankings.

If New Zealand can't finish at least second in a group of Papua New Guinea, Fiji and New Caladonia, even if they have to play their first game short handed, to advance to the semi-finals then they really don't have much room to complain.
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Yea I should have looked that up but I did check the schedule before you posted but AFTER I read an article with the NZ coach crying about it. You are correct. If they cannot beat islander rec teams with 2nd or 3rd or 4th tier players, they do not deserve to go. Those islander teams are probably an NCAA D3 level if that. Not sure they'd win the PA West Under 30 league.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
Yea I should have looked that up but I did check the schedule before you posted but AFTER I read an article with the NZ coach crying about it.
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The other thing is that if the players go to their clubs and ask to be released a week early so they can play in a World Cup qualifier I would guess that a lot of those guys will be allowed to go. Maybe not all of them, and I get that having to ask isn't ideal in the first place, but most guys will probably be allowed to leave if they actually ask to do so.
 
Joe the Panther Fan said:
The other thing is that if the players go to their clubs and ask to be released a week early so they can play in a World Cup qualifier I would guess that a lot of those guys will be allowed to go. Maybe not all of them, and I get that having to ask isn't ideal in the first place, but most guys will probably be allowed to leave if they actually ask to do so.
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Possibly but if they're a starter and I'm the Sporting Director, I tell them they can beat the rec teams without them.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
Possibly but if they're a starter and I'm the Sporting Director, I tell them they can beat the rec teams without them.
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But it depends on more than that. For instance if a team is battling at the top of the table then players will be a lot less likely to even ask to be released early, let alone be allowed to. But if the team is sitting in the middle of the table with little hope of changing that then players will be a lot more likely to ask and teams will be a lot more likely to allow them to leave.
 
🇷🇺 hosts 🇵🇱 on March 24 with the winner hosting the 🇸🇪 🇨🇿 winner for the WC bid. I wonder if UEFA would pull the games out of Moscow. That would be a bigger blow to Russia than losing the CL final.

Also, how stupid is it for these UEFA playoffs that an unseeded team can potentially host a final over a seeded team. I don't understand the logic.

🇵🇹 and 🇮🇹 are the 2 seeded teams in their bracket. They host 🇹🇷 and 🇲🇰 respectively. Common logic would indicate that if unseeded 🇹🇷 beats 🇵🇹 then 🇮🇹 would host the final. But nope, the 🇵🇹 🇹🇷 winner hosts the final no matter what.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
🇷🇺 hosts 🇵🇱 on March 24 with the winner hosting the 🇸🇪 🇨🇿 winner for the WC bid. I wonder if UEFA would pull the games out of Moscow. That would be a bigger blow to Russia than losing the CL final.

Also, how stupid is it for these UEFA playoffs that an unseeded team can potentially host a final over a seeded team. I don't understand the logic.

🇵🇹 and 🇮🇹 are the 2 seeded teams in their bracket. They host 🇹🇷 and 🇲🇰 respectively. Common logic would indicate that if unseeded 🇹🇷 beats 🇵🇹 then 🇮🇹 would host the final. But nope, the 🇵🇹 🇹🇷 winner hosts the final no matter what.
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My head hurts from this.
 
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Fk_Pitt said:
My head hurts from this.
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Maybe I got carried away a bit with the flags.

Poland announced it will not play in Moscow. And should Russia win, the Sweden/Czech Republic winner will also not play in Moscow according to their federations. Will be interesting to see what UEFA does. Beyond using it as a punishment to Russia, I would think player safety has to be accounted for as technically, you could say that Russia, being that it is at war, is prone to an attack on its own soil.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
Maybe I got carried away a bit with the flags.

Poland announced it will not play in Moscow. And should Russia win, the Sweden/Czech Republic winner will also not play in Moscow according to their federations. Will be interesting to see what UEFA does. Beyond using it as a punishment to Russia, I would think player safety has to be accounted for as technically, you could say that Russia, being that it is at war, is prone to an attack on its own soil.
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Yeah I just don’t find it interesting because I never expect FIFA to do the right thing. They’re more likely to move the game to Kiev.
 
Fk_Pitt said:
Yeah I just don’t find it interesting because I never expect FIFA to do the right thing. They’re more likely to move the game to Kiev.
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Its UEFA. I cant imagine them allowing a game to take place in Moscow.

Speaking of moving games, I remember back in 2014, the US had an important March friendly vs Ukraine in Donetsk but the game had to be moved to Cyprus. Really weird setting in a empty HS-like stadium.
 
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@Fk_Pitt

what do you think about Abramovich stepping aside and giving stewardship to the bird of trustees?

no offense but eff him, 50/50 chance he is boys with Putin.
 
sjerzpitt2 said:
@Fk_Pitt

what do you think about Abramovich stepping aside and giving stewardship to the bird of trustees?

no offense but eff him, 50/50 chance he is boys with Putin.
Click to expand...
I think he is boys with Putin. He is an oligarch that helped put Putin in power years ago. Now, I am not responsible for the actions of my friends, and neither is Roman. I follow the club and think Roman is one of the most charitable men I know of. So I can’t imagine him approving of Putins crimes against humanity. But I also don’t see him condemning Putin because he has family and assets to protect. I am uneasy with him being the owner of my club, but what can I do? He is a citizen of Israel now so maybe I should just view him as a Jew and not a Russian? Lol.

one other thing. When I was in London in December, my daughter and I took the underground to Stamford Bridge to take the stadium and museum tour. When we got off the train, we found ourselves in a sea of people and had a hard time navigating toward the direction of the stadium. It was like match day with so many people, although everything was roped off for crowd control and there were police everywhere helping with crowd control. We didn’t know what was going on. Finally we found out that there was a vaccine drive going on and Roman had offered up the bridge as a site for free vaccinations. That’s the kind of stuff Roman did. He also did things for health care workers during the initial stages of the pandemic.

You and I know and appreciate Ruben Loftus Cheek as a player. Well maybe you don’t. Lol. But the reason why he wasn’t good at Fulham on loan was because he was coming off that heinous Achilles injury he obtained in that useless Friendly in New England. That friendly was the work of Roman and Kraft to raise awareness for racism and antisemitism. It might have ruined RLC’s career progression, but the match was for a good cause. That’s the kind of owner Roman is.
 
Fk_Pitt said:
I think he is boys with Putin. He is an oligarch that helped put Putin in power years ago. Now, I am not responsible for the actions of my friends, and neither is Roman. I follow the club and think Roman is one of the most charitable men I know of. So I can’t imagine him approving of Putins crimes against humanity. But I also don’t see him condemning Putin because he has family and assets to protect. I am uneasy with him being the owner of my club, but what can I do? He is a citizen of Israel now so maybe I should just view him as a Jew and not a Russian? Lol.

one other thing. When I was in London in December, my daughter and I took the underground to Stamford Bridge to take the stadium and museum tour. When we got off the train, we found ourselves in a sea of people and had a hard time navigating toward the direction of the stadium. It was like match day with so many people, although everything was roped off for crowd control and there were police everywhere helping with crowd control. We didn’t know what was going on. Finally we found out that there was a vaccine drive going on and Roman had offered up the bridge as a site for free vaccinations. That’s the kind of stuff Roman did. He also did things for health care workers during the initial stages of the pandemic.

You and I know and appreciate Ruben Loftus Cheek as a player. Well maybe you don’t. Lol. But the reason why he wasn’t good at Fulham on loan was because he was coming off that heinous Achilles injury he obtained in that useless Friendly in New England. That friendly was the work of Roman and Kraft to raise awareness for racism and antisemitism. It might have ruined RLC’s career progression, but the match was for a good cause. That’s the kind of owner Roman is.
Click to expand...

It is easy to be charitable when you were literally handeded billions.
 
Fk_Pitt said:
Word is that Ukraine has asked Roman Abramovich to participate in peace negotiations and he has obliged. He is a Ukrainian jew just like the Ukrainian President.
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That is good. This is why you need to start squeezing the oligarchs.

Also, Russia has been thrown out of World Cup qualifying. I can see the viewpoint that those guys have nothing to do with Putin's war but they and their fans are somewhat complicit in allowing a dictator to rule their country. They have to take their country in their own hands.
 
Sean Miller Fan said:
Also, Russia has been thrown out of World Cup qualifying. I can see the viewpoint that those guys have nothing to do with Putin's war but they and their fans are somewhat complicit in allowing a dictator to rule their country. They have to take their country in their own hands.
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Yeah not their fault but gotta squeeze the people to kill the dictator. There’s a phrase for that which escapes me.
 
Fk_Pitt said:
Yeah not their fault but gotta squeeze the people to kill the dictator. There’s a phrase for that which escapes me.
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Also, CSKA Moscow is kicked out of Europa League. Russians need to step up and make some hard sacrifices. Its ridiculous in this day and age for a Judeo-Christian country to be ruled by a ruthless dictator.

I don't like Poland getting a bye to the final though. They couldn't move the next best team in?

I'll be rooting hard for Ukraine. They have a doable draw. At Scotland then at Wales or Austria. I like all those teams, well, except Austria, nothing against them. Just a fan of the UK teams through I think its unfair that 1 country can qualify 2-3 teams for the WC and Euros
 
🇵🇪 vs 🇦🇺
Monday at 2
FS1

🇨🇷 vs 🇳🇿
Tuesday at 2
FS2

Last 2 spots for Qatar to be decided
 
Costa Rica wins intercontinental playoff and will be 4th Concacaf team in the World Cup.
 
How many players on this poster can you name?

I’m at 19

and I’m struggling as to who that aguero looking dude in the light blue shirt on the far left is. Anyone know?

 
His teeth are offsides, his teeth are oooooofsiiiiiiiides....Luis Suarez, his teeth are offsides...
 
anon_d97v9o3a8b6xr said:
The problem with the poster is that Neymar is standing up. He typically spends 75% of the WC rolling around on the pitch.
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I donated to him personally through the wounded warrior program. Him and that little twat Jackie Grealish.
How they’ve managed to continue living after their numerous fatal wounds and near death experiences is an inspiration to me.
 
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sjerzpitt2 said:
I donated to him personally through the wounded warrior program. Him and that little twat Jackie Grealish.
How they’ve managed to continue living after their numerous fatal wounds and near death experiences is an inspiration to me.
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I’ve mentioned it before, but the Grealish haircut makes his antics all that worse for me. It’s just so weak, and when he gets clipped on his foot and clutches his calf like he was impaled with a pike I feel like fighting him.
 
BFo8 said:
I’ve mentioned it before, but the Grealish haircut makes his antics all that worse for me. It’s just so weak, and when he gets clipped on his foot and clutches his calf like he was impaled with a pike I feel like fighting him.
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For me, my deep hatred of this prick goes back further than Man City.

In the 2018 playoff final, he cracked Tom Cairney with a nasty studs up tackle to Cairney's outside ankle, should have been red carded...but instead got a yellow. Then the little twat later in the match draw's a red card by practically emulating that he was shot in the chest. Yeah studs were high and it caught him but this asshole got preferential treatment.

So that, his dumb hair, his dumb socks that go low calf high...and I hate him. He is a slightly above average player that has a superb agent that swooned Man City into paying $100 million for.
 
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sjerzpitt2 said:
For me, my deep hatred of this prick goes back further than Man City.

In the 2018 playoff final, he cracked Tom Cairney with a nasty studs up tackle to Cairney's outside ankle, should have been red carded...but instead got a yellow. Then the little twat later in the match draw's a red card by practically emulating that he was shot in the chest. Yeah studs were high and it caught him but this asshole got preferential treatment.

So that, his dumb hair, his dumb socks that go low calf high...and I hate him. He is a slightly above average player that has a superb agent that swooned Man City into paying $100 million for.
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I am a city fan, and I hate him. Dude has flashes, but more often than not is doing something giving him the first name of f’ing.
 
PeetWeet2 said:
I am a city fan, and I hate him. Dude has flashes, but more often than not is doing something giving him the first name of f’ing.
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I want to puke every time I hear Chelsea is interested in Sterling. Please no! Am I right?

now, I would be for Jesus coming over from Man City.
 
Fk_Pitt said:
I want to puke every time I hear Chelsea is interested in Sterling. Please no! Am I right?

now, I would be for Jesus coming over from Man City.
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No, Sterling will be a great addition to just about any team. Super fast. Really good dribbler. Really good passer and sense of timing and placement of his runs. Used to be a bad finisher, but this part of his game has greatly improved. It is still a weakness, but much less of one than it was in the past. Jesus would also be a good addition, and would be missed less than Sterling by City. Now put him with Mohammad and Moses and you will truly have a divine midfield.
 
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