The full schedule of venues for WC 2014 was released yesterday. Here's the link to an article (in Portuguese, but you can figure out the graphics easily) with the dates, venues, and even a bracket: Click here - scroll all the way down to graphic at the bottom. That article also contains a slideshow with all the stadiums. As expected, the opener will be at the new Corinthians stadium in São Paulo, and the final will be at the Maracanã in Rio. They said they'd try to keep the groups based more-or-less regionally because of the huge distances between some venues, but it's a mixed bag. There's less travel for some teams than others. Team E1, for example, will have a lot miles in the air. But team H1 will have very reasonable travel. One amusing tidbit is that the stadium in the city of São Paulo will be referred to by FIFA as the "Arena São Paulo". FIFA is entitled to re-name the stadiums during the WC. That's part of your sell-out agreement with FIFA to get a WC. The stadium is the new venue being built for Corinthians, whose fans hate São Paulo FC. So, it's just sort of annoying to Corinthians fans to have their new awesome stadium referred to as "Arena São Paulo". Yes, it's the name of the city and state, but, as a famous local soccer commentator points out, Corinthians fans' only complaint about the city of São Paulo is that it's not named Corinthians. They also announced the venues and schedule for the Confederations Cup in 2013. The city of Porto Alegre, which is President Dilma Rousseff's hometown and political base, was not included. That's widely viewed as part of her feud with Ricardo Teixeira, the president of the CBF (the Brazilian soccer federation). She's said publicly that she thinks he's a crook and every time she sees him he reminds her of the corrupt oligarchs in Brazilian society whom she's been fighting all her life. The federal government just initiated an investigation against Teixeira for money laundering and tax evasion. There isn't much he can do to Dilma, but taking the Confederations Cup away from her town is viewed as his petty effort to embarass her. But they couldn't take the WC from Porto Alegre. And, if things go well, Teixeira's plutocratic ass will be in jail, or at least in court.
Btw, Grant Wahl just tweeted that sources are telling SI that Fox won the English-language rights to broadcast WC 2018 and WC 2022, and that Telemundo won those rights for the Spanish-language broadcasts. If true, that's potentially a huge deal. We can complain about some things ESPN does, but they have very high production values and, more importantly, really do define what's important in sports in the US. You sorta have to be on ESPN to matter in US sports. Perhaps that won't be the case as much by then as NBC expands its presence in cable sports, but it's the case now. Let's also see if FSC and MunDos get picked up on more systems across the country.
Wow! I'm very surprised by this. I really expected it to be a fight between ESPN/ABC and NBC. I wouldn't have been surprised if NBC got both parts since they own Telemundo. New blood in both languages.
Fox has butchered the UEFA Champions League and Univision owns Telefutura, Galavision, and Univision all of which are available over the air with the exception of Galavision which is basic cable. We may end up paying to see the World Cup since Mun2 is not available on basic cable and neither is Fox Soccer or Fox Soccer Plus. I can't even get Fox Soccer Plus, which I want, because Comcast doesn't carry it. This may end up being a horrible scenario that can hold our soccer culture back a decade. As for the Sao Stadium thing. I guess that's like England winning the bid for the World Cup and Old Trafford being renamed City of Manchester Stadium or Machester City Stadium. I know this is impossible since Old Trafford doesn't have a marketing deal with anybody but still...it would piss people off.
Of course that is the current channel situation. We still have 7 years until 2018 World Cup. Channel access and distribution could change a lot by then.
I don't like both decisions. 1) announcers on Fox sucks. They don't even know what they're talking about. 2) Telemundo is so crappy too. I even forgot that channel existed. Univision has the better picture and commentating
Matchday 4 of Round 3 for Asia: Friday, November 11 Tajikistan v. Japan 3:00 am United Arab Emirates v. South Korea 6:45 am Uzbekistan v. North Korea 7:00 am Oman v. Australia 8:00 am Iraq v. China 8:15 am Kuwait v. Lebanon 8:30 am Jordan v. Singapore 9:00 am Bahrain v. Iran 9:30 am Qatar v. Indonesia 10:00 am Saudi Arabia v. Thailand 10:30 am Matchday 5 is on Tuesday, November 15.
CONMEBOL Matchday 3 schedule: Friday, November 11 Argentina v. Bolivia 2:00 pm Colombia v. Venezuela 6:00 pm Uruguay v. Chile 4:00 pm Paraguay v. Ecuador 6:00 pm BYE: Peru
Africa qualifying begins: The 24 lowest ranked African teams have been drawn into home-and-away match-ups over the next few days. The 12 winners will join the 28 highest ranked teams that got a bye through the first round. Those 40 teams will be placed into 10 groups of 4 teams. The 10 winners of those groups will be drawn into home-and-away match-ups to determine the 5 World Cup qualifiers. Round 1, 1st leg: Friday, November 11 Sao Tome & Principe v. Congo 9:00 am Djibouti v. Namibia 6:00 am Comoros v. Mozambique 6:00 am Eritrea v. Rwanda 6:30 am Equatorial Guinea v. Madagascar 9:00 am Chad v. Tanzania 9:00 am Guinea-Bissau v. Togo 10:00 am Seychelles v. Kenya 7:00 am Swaziland v. Congo DR 11:00 am Lesotho v. Burundi 12:00 pm Saturday, November 12 Somalia v. Ethiopia 6:45 am Advanced: Liberia Mauritius had been drawn against Liberia in this round but withdrew from qualifying.
You lost all credibility there. Here's 29 pages of complaints (started by me) about the Univision/Telefutura narrator/commentator during the 2011 Copa America. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1770635&highlight=fiore
I love seeing these smaller countries in these federations-you never know what will happen. What was the deal with this?
Lack of money apparently. http://www.examiner.co.uk/views-and-blogs/columnists/2011/11/11/pete-barrow-yet-another-example-of-the-sepp-tic-tank-86081-29756682/
Results of Matchday 4 of Round 3 for Asia: Friday, November 11 Tajikistan 0-4 Japan United Arab Emirates 0-2 South Korea Uzbekistan 1-0 North Korea Oman 1-0 Australia Iraq 1-0 China Kuwait 0-1 Lebanon Jordan 2-0 Singapore Bahrain 1-1 Iran Qatar 4-0 Indonesia Saudi Arabia 3-0 Thailand Standings: Top two from each group advance. Group A Code: [COLOR="Green"]Jordan 12 pts +8[/COLOR] Iraq 9 pts +2 --------------------- China PR 3 pts -2 [COLOR="Red"]Singapore 0 pts -8[/COLOR] Group B Code: S. Korea 10 pts +9 Lebanon 7 pts -3 ---------------------- Kuwait 5 pts +0 [COLOR="Red"]U.A.E. 0 pts -6[/COLOR] Group C Code: [COLOR="Green"]Japan 10 pts +13[/COLOR] [COLOR="Green"]Uzbekistan 10 pts +3[/COLOR] ------------------ [COLOR="Red"]North Korea 3 pts -2[/COLOR] [COLOR="Red"]Tajikistan 0 pts -14[/COLOR] Group D Code: Australia 9 pts +5 Saudi Arabia 5 pts +1 ---------------- Thailand 4 pts -1 Oman 4 pts -5 Group E Code: Iran 8 pts +9 Qatar 8 pts +5 ---------------- Bahrain 5 pts -4 [COLOR="Red"]Indonesia 0 pts -10[/COLOR] 3 teams have clinched advancement. 5 teams are eliminated. Clinch with a win on Tuesday: South Korea, Australia Clinch with at least a tie on Tuesday: Iraq There are a few others than can clinch with specific results.
Just fyi - ESPN Deportes Radio is carrying Argentina x Bolivia right now. Also, just for grins, if you want to see the status of the stadium projects for 2014, then click here and scroll to the bottom. There's a map of Brazil and if you click on the sites, you get a graphic with a percentage complete for each project and a current pic of the site.
Some nice looking stadiums. As long as you keep looking to the left. BTW, those are much more spread out around the country than I had realized. It will be interesting to see how they schedule groups.
I have a link to the group scheduling in this post. The scheduling will mean very long travel for some teams, but very convenient travel for others. It's not well balanced at all. My understanding from listening to Brazilian soccer podcasts is that the CBF urged regional scheduling, but FIFA didn't listen. I don't know how much of that is just the CBF making excuses, but the possibility that some teams would be traveling far more than other teams has been widely discussed since the beginning. They should've gone with regional scheduling for each group. The stadiums will get built on time. Things just work like that there. Toward the end, there'll be a flurry of acitivty, with extra crews working continuously. The more serious concern is airport capacity. The country's airports are something of a national embarassment. They just don't have the capacity to meet demand and there's not enough being done in time for 2014. So, if your team is traveling significant distances, you may need to look at flights as soon as possible. But keep in mind that traveling among the cities in the South (Porto Alegre, Curitiba) and Southeast (Sao Paulo, Rio, Belo Horizonte) is easy by bus. Traveling among those cities is not a huge transportation concern. The concern is when you have to fly out of those cities to the Northeast (Salvador, Recife, etc.) or to the likes of Manaus or Cuiaba. Those are long distances and you'll need to fly.
Africa first leg results: Friday, November 11 Sao Tome & Principe 0-5 Congo Djibouti 0-4 Namibia Comoros 0-1 Mozambique Eritrea 1-1 Rwanda Equatorial Guinea 2-0 Madagascar Chad 1-2 Tanzania Guinea-Bissau 1-1 Togo Seychelles 0-3 Kenya Swaziland 1-3 Congo DR Lesotho 1-0 Burundi Saturday, November 12 Somalia v. Ethiopia 6:45 am Advanced: Liberia The 2nd legs are: Tuesday, November 15 Madagascar v. Equatorial Guinea 5:30 am Kenya v. Seychelles 7:00 am Tanzania v. Chad 7:00 am Rwanda v. Eritrea 7:30 am Burundi v. Lesotho 7:30 am Congo DR v. Swaziland 8:30 am Togo v. Guinea-Bissau 9:30 am Mozambique v. Comoros 11:00 am Namibia v. Djibouti 12:00 pm Congo v. Sao Tome e Principe 3:30 pm Wednesday, November 16 Ethiopia v. Somalia 7:00 am
They're that behind?! Wow. What about the Confed Cup? Well I guess for now that's the least of their worries since they may not even finish by World Cup time. I know you're Brazilian and all, Mr. Anderson, but a part of me wants Brazil to completely buckle so the U.S. gets a crack at it. I'm sorry.
I have had a soft spot for the Iraqi National Team since their Asian Cup winning run. I would've loved for them to go to Brazil, but that isn't going to happen. You would expect China to have a more competitive team. I guess the age of the Communist strong sports teams is over.
.... haiti got the boot, off a late goal, apparently the gk for them had a ball fly right through his hands. so...... US Guatemala Jamaica Antigua I wanted Haiti so badly, for that epic road trip..... Oh yeah, and T&T got bounced. No more racks from Warner did them in.
No offense taken. I'm a card-carrying gringo now. Anyway, I don't think Brazil buckles. The stadiums will be fine, although things will indeed be very tight for the Confeds Cup. But I they'll get done. Not to generalize too much, but, well, you know, in some places, the way things work is that things don't get finished until they absolutely have to be finished. In fact, a couple additional cities have been told that they'll probably get added to the Confeds schedule if they hurry up and get their stadiums done sooner. Oh, and remember the injured owl that was kicked by a player on the field in Colombia earlier this year? Well, here's some more owl action from the Colombia x Venezuela game: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pV-sR7ZACw"]owl eating rat in the metropolitan stadium barranquilla Colombia - YouTube[/ame]