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Post by squirrel on Jun 12, 2024 14:01:32 GMT -6
The 2026 tournament is now less than 2 years away with Mexico starting things off on June 11, 2026. The US will play their first game 2 years from today at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. FIFA has announced a more detailed version of the match schedule and a number of the knockout round host sites: digitalhub.fifa.com/m/1be9ce37eb98fcc5/original/FWC26-Match-Schedule_English.pdf(Yes, some of this information was previously known) Administratively, they are going to keep teams in "regions" (east/central/west) to minimize the amount of travel any team would need to do during the group stage (to prevent a team from having to play group stage games in NY, Mexico and Vancouver as an extreme example. The US will be in the west, Mexico the central, and Canada also the west - although they will crossover into the eastern section for one match in Toronto. The 3 hosts will also play 2 of their 3 matches at the same site: SoFi for the US, Stadio Azteca for Mexcio, and Vancouver's BC Place for Canada. The 3 host sites are guaranteed to play all their group matches on their home soil. The US will play their other match at Seattle's Lumen Field. If the US finish 1st or 2nd in their group (assigned Group D), they would play in Santa Clara (if 1st in group) or Arlington, Texas (if 2nd) for the Knockout Stage. If they advance as the third-place team in their group, they could then play in Foxborough, East Rutherford, or Kansas City, depending on the draw. The seeded path for the US would be: Santa Clara (R32), Seattle (R16), Inglewood (QF), Arlington (SF) to the Final in East Rutherford. The second-place path would be: Arlington (R32), Atlanta (R16), Kansas City (QF), Atlanta (SF) to the Final in East Rutherford. Possible Knockout Meetups between host countries: R32: Mexico vs. Canada in East Rutherford if both finish runner-up in group; USA vs. Canada in Santa Clara if US win group and Canada advances as third-place finisher, pending draw R16: USA/Canada vs. Mexico in Seattle; Mexico/Canada vs. USA in Philadelphia QF: USA vs. Mexico in Foxborough; USA vs. Canada in Kansas City SF: USA/Canada vs. Mexico in Atlanta; USA/Mexico vs. Canada in Arlington If they all advance as first-place finishers in their group, Canada and Mexico would be on the bottom half of the bracket and not meet until the semifinal in Atlanta. |
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Post by squirrel on Jun 12, 2024 14:13:06 GMT -6
In addition to the more detailed schedule, FIFA announced the first round of potential team camp base host sites (just the sites, not who will occupy them), while FIFA plans to add more as their site review continues. 9 (counting Fort Worth) of the 16 cities announced are not hosting matches, while 8 cities or metro areas (I grouped Fort Worth in with Dallas, who had 3 in Dallas proper and a 4th counting Fort Worth) that are hosting matches have been approved for 15 sites among them. Green Bay and Lambeau Field was perhaps a surprise:
Atlanta (2 sites)
Chattanooga
Cincinnati
Dallas/Fort Worth (4 sites)
Green Bay
Guadalajara
Indianapolis
Irvine
Kansas City (3 sites)
Louisville
Mexico City (2 sites)
Monterrey
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City (2 sites)
San Antonio
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Post by SFP on Jun 12, 2024 14:13:11 GMT -6
Hoping they can tactically improve to get out of their group. They may not get out of their group at Copa America.
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Post by squirrel on Jun 12, 2024 19:24:35 GMT -6
Hoping they can tactically improve to get out of their group. They may not get out of their group at Copa America. Right now they wouldn't qualify out of Oceania. |
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Post by squirrel on Jun 27, 2024 8:04:34 GMT -6
The Asia Third Round draw is out today: 18 teams in 3 groups of 6. Asia gets 8 guaranteed spots, and 1 team will enter the inter-confederation playoffs. From this round, the top 2 teams from each group (6 total) will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup. The 3rd and 4th place finishers from each group will advance to the Fourth Round, where the 6 teams will be split into 2 groups of 3, who will play a single round-robin and the winner in each side securing the last 2 guaranteed spots for the Asia zone. The runners-up from the Fourth Round will play a two-legged playoff for the Fifth Round, which will determine their entrant into the inter-confederation playoff.
Asia Third Round Draw
Group A
Iran
Qatar
Uzbekistan
UAE
Kyrgystan
North Korea
Group B
South Korea
Iraq
Jordan
Oman
Palestine
Kuwait
Group C
Japan
Australia
Saudi Arabia
Bahrain
China
Indonesia
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Post by squirrel on Jun 27, 2024 8:37:07 GMT -6
This is old news, and I haven't really been paying too much attention to future World Cups beyond 2026, but aye yay yay, 2030 appears to be a cluster.
It looks like Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will be primary hosts with Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay hosting special "Anniversary" Matches in their home countries to commemorate the Centennial of the first World Cup held in 1930 in Uruguay. The Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay was built specifically for the 1930 World Cup and will host the tournament's opening match.
To facilitate the special matches, the 3 South American teams are guarunteed automatic bids, joining all 3 hosts to claim 6 of the 48 available spots.
Everything is pending an official FIFA membership vote in December, but FIFA has already determined that the Euro bid is the only wholly suitable bid for the entire tournament, with the exception of the selected South American entrants (who were a competing bid). This decision also may have been intentional to help pave the way for 2034.
With the FIFA rule that a confederation must wait until the third subsequent tournament before it could host. With North America hosting in 2026, Europe and Africa (Morocco) and South America all hosting in 2030), bidding was restricted to Asia (Qatar last hosted in 2022) and Oceania. The bidding was also fast-tracked, allowing for only 25 calendar days (October 5-October 31, 2023) to submit bids, when Saudi Arabia was a serious contender for 2030, and could easily and quickly re-draft its proposal, while others would really have to scramble to organize and plan, and then still put together a proposal.
So if both of those tournaments and hosts hold, then 2038 would then mean North America would again be eligible to host, alongside Oceania, the way this could all play out would almost guarantee an Australia-New Zealand-which poses an interesting conundrum: Australia is technically a member of Asia, so FIFA would have to issue either an exemption or Australia may have to temporarily re-align back into the OFC (something they have done on 2 previous ocassions).
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Post by squirrel on Jun 27, 2024 8:55:20 GMT -6
South America is already about 1/3 of the way through their qualification. The top 6 finishers automatically qualify and the 7th place finisher (out of 10 teams) will advance to the inter-confederation playoff.
Also, prior to qualification began, Ecuador was docked 3 points for falsifying birth documents for its player, Byron Castillo, who was purportedly born in Colombia. Chile challenged his eligibility during the 2022 World Cup cycle, which FIFA ruled in favor of Castillo and Ecuador. Subsequently more information made it clear that documents were fabricated and likely falsified.
South America table (through 6 of 18 matches)
Argentina 15
Uruguay 13
Colombia 12
Venezuela 9
Ecuador 8
Brazil 7
------------Auto qualify cutoff
Paraguay 5
------------Inter-Confederation Playoff cutoff
Chile 5
Bolivia 3
Peru 2
Brazil and Peru struggling are the big surprises here. Peru was an entrant in the 2018 World Cup and had 6 of its 10 all-time caps leaders and 2 of its top 10 goal-scorers active.
Venezuela, especially alongside their early Copa America performances appear to be a South American side on the rise.
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Post by squirrel on Jun 27, 2024 9:12:00 GMT -6
7 points from 6 matches for Brazil is something - AND they were underwhelming against Costa Rica who is on the wane a bit themselves. And 6 of those points came in the first 2 matches.
In Brazil's 2026 push:
2 wins (Bolivia and Peru, first two matches)
1 draw (Venezuela)
3 losses (Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina)
Brazil has frequently started slow in qualifying (and often still finish atop the qualifying table) and by no means are they in danger of falling out, but it is still an interesting trend to watch.
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Post by SFP on Jun 27, 2024 12:17:57 GMT -6
This Brazil team just doesn't have that finisher. That is the unusual part. They usually have 2-3 guys. They need Neymar to be healthy heading into the rest of the qualifying rounds or it will be a struggle. Perhaps that young guy who we've not seen play in the Copa is that guy.
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Post by squirrel on Jul 11, 2024 9:58:24 GMT -6
UEFA will likely hold their draw after their Nations League league stage wraps in November. As they are assured 16 bids, their new adopted format will be to have 12 groups of 4 or 5 teams. Each group winner will automatically qualify, while the 12 runners-up and the 4 best ranked teams from the 2024-25 Nations League that otherwise have not finished 1 or 2 in their WC qualification group, will participate in a playoff to determine the last 4 bids.
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Post by squirrel on Jul 11, 2024 18:54:56 GMT -6
Wales has hired Craig Bellamy as their new manager.
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Post by SFP on Aug 2, 2024 15:30:10 GMT -6
We need a Coach/National Team Director today! The current state of our team is subpar. The USWNT made a great hire. Why can't our men get out of their own way.
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Post by squirrel on Sept 5, 2024 8:04:14 GMT -6
First real big day outside of South America in qualifying sees Australia lose at home to Bahrain 1:0 on an own goal, and Japan thrash China 7:0 in early Asia zone matches. Korea was also held to a draw with Palestine.
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Post by SFP on Sept 5, 2024 17:23:48 GMT -6
S. Korea must be regressing. Can't imagine how we'd react if we lost to a team so much lower in ranking at home. Lucky for them there's a lot more games for them to qualify.
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Post by panthergrad2011 on Sept 5, 2024 18:29:17 GMT -6
Squirrel clearly burying the lede about what San Marino did in Nations League today.
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Post by squirrel on Sept 10, 2024 13:33:41 GMT -6
Squirrel clearly burying the lede about what San Marino did in Nations League today. While that was a big deal - it also was inevitable in the Nations League that they would get a win sooner rather than later. |
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Post by squirrel on Nov 19, 2024 14:46:26 GMT -6
San Marino completed the sweep of Liechtenstein and will promote to League C of the next UEFA Nations League.
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Post by SFP on Nov 19, 2024 20:58:16 GMT -6
San Marino completed the sweep of Liechtenstein and will promote to League C of the next UEFA Nations League. Do you understand this whole League qualifying thing works in Europe? I'm just going to wait until the end to see who qualifies. |
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Post by squirrel on Nov 20, 2024 10:17:43 GMT -6
San Marino completed the sweep of Liechtenstein and will promote to League C of the next UEFA Nations League. Do you understand this whole League qualifying thing works in Europe? I'm just going to wait until the end to see who qualifies. Yes - so, Europe gets 16 guaranteed slots. There will be a 12-group group stage (draw will be on December 13). The 12 winners will automatically qualify. The 12 second-place group finishers will be joined by the top 4 Nations League group winners (based on the NL ranking following the conclusion of the current event), that otherwise haven't finished in the top 2 of their WC qualification group. Those 16 teams will be drawn into four 4-team mini-tournaments to determine the final 4 entrants from Europe to the 2026 WC. |
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Post by SFP on Nov 20, 2024 13:37:52 GMT -6
Thanks squirrel. I knew I could count on you to simplify what I was reading. I still see Spain as the team to beat if all their guys stay healthy. They're deep and very very good. From the Americas I like Argentina, Uruguay and Columbia, especially if James Rodriguez plays at the level he played this summer. I have zero idea what's happening with that Brazilian squad. I'm hoping Poch gets the USMNT to play at the next level. The last two matches looked like he's got them playing lose but effective.
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