"FIFA said the construction of the stadium was complete and the venue was operational but the necessary certification processes took longer than expected and the stadium was unable to host test events" The bribes are taking a bit longer to wire than expected.
Very embarrassing. Here is the FIFA release. No other new 40K ground is available yet for Qatar 2022? What about Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah? That one was opened in May this year.
only Al Janoub - I hope not that place though, as it's kinda in the middle of nowhere, you have to take the metro, then a shuttle bus, and there's really not much in that area. Khalifa is centrally located next to a mall, Aspire Park, the torch tower, etc... only thing is that it's a multi-purpose stadium so you're farther away from the pitch than at Al Janoub. Anyhoo, I'm sure someone's head is gonna roll about Education City. It was meant to be inaugurated by the Emir himself on National Day with the Liverpool semifinal. There were rumors about problems with the roads and parking not being ready, but anyhoo... will try to get a bit more of the inside scoop. I guess Education City Stadium will be inaugurated at the Emir Cup final or for something like that....
Liga MX officially has a scheduling issue as Monterrey progress to the final series. The final will now be held on Dec 26/29 - after Monterrey return from Doha. Ironically this time it will be most likely Club America waiting around.
Jorge Jesus said it will be very difficult to reach the final and Al Hilal it's a tough team to beat. Jorge Jesus was Al Hilal's coach before joining Flamengo.
With the opening match just three days away let's also have a look at hosts Al Sadd. Coached by Barcelona legend Xavi, Al Zaeem ("the Boss") are the most successful club in the Qatari Stars League. They are record holders in every single domestic competition. They are also the only Qatari club to have won the AFC Champions League (1989 and 2011). This year they made the semi-finals losing to eventual winners Al Hilal. Last but not least, at the 2011 CWC they achieved third place. Standout players include Gabi (formerly Atletico Madrid), Algeria's Baghdad Bounedjah, and local hero Akram Afif. It was Bounedjah's goal that lifted Algeria over Senegal in this year's Africa Cup of Nations final. It's difficult imagining Hienghène contain someone like Bounedjah for 90 minutes. The last time we had a non-Kiwi OFC representative, Papua New Guinea's Hekari United in 2010, it was a convincing 3:0 victory for UAE hosts Al Wahda. I'm going on record and predicting a scoreline favoring Al Sadd with at least a two goal cushion.
Go ahead. Nico won't ban you. Were you gonna criticise the poster's constant saying of anyhoo Anywho, does anyone have the clubs' travel plans, as to when they will take off for the ME.
In the air as we speak 🔜🇶🇦 | ¡Volamos rumbo a #ClubWC!¡Nos vemos en Doha, #Rayados! 🛫#LosRayadosAnteElMundo #ArribaElMonterrey 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/jIqbCYZ9rl— Rayados (@Rayados) December 9, 2019
Monterrey have arrived: 🏆🇶🇦| Te presentamos los mejores momentos de nuestro primer día en #ClubWC @fifacom_es ⚽️ ¡No te pierdas el #DiarioRayado! 🇲🇽🛫🛬🇶🇦 #LosRayadosAnteElMundo #ArribaElMonterrey 🔵⚪️Presentado por: @Tiendas_OXXO @CervezaTecate pic.twitter.com/EemgfugxqD— Rayados (@Rayados) December 10, 2019
wow - and they're all going through the Emiri terminal! Will see them on Saturday! Can't believe the tournament kicks off tomorrow. It's been a full two days since our last major football tournament in Qatar and I have no idea what to do. Don't think I could take it much longer...
How was attendance in the Gulf Cup final given both teams were from "blockade" countries? (i.e. Bahrain and Saudi). I see it was hosted in the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium with a mere capacity of 9,000. I imagine the venue would have been a different one had Qatar made the final?
As someone who just watched the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, I found the following snippet (found here) very interesting: Brilliant. So Hienghene double as New Caledonia's beach national team.
ahh... interesting you should ask. A great opportunity to share my homemade Gulf Cup Final video then! Well, that was kind of frustrating actually. I had tickets for the opening and final games of the original Gulf Cup tickets as it was initially a 5-team round-robin as you probably know. Then everything changed only a couple of days before and they changed the entire tournament. Oddly, enough selling only tickets for the opening group stage and not for the semifinal and final. Those were 'tactfully' not put on sale until after the group stage was over and the teams playing in those semifinals were known.. thus, Iraq vs Bahrain took place in the 9,000 seater Al Duhail Stadium, whereas Qatar took on Saudi in Al Janoub, with about 5 times the capacity. The final was, and had been slated to take place in the 45,000-seater Khalifa Stadium. However, as both semifinals took place on a Thursday evening, there were no sign whatsoever of tickets until Saturday morning, the day before the final and the game was moved to Duhail. The fanzone, which my daughter was supposed to perform in, was also cancelled. Anyhoo - then Bahrain decided to fly 12 planes full of fans (via Kuwait lol to not break the blockade) for the final and the game sold out in no time. There are quite a few Qatari / Saudis here who came along too and next thing you know you had an overfull stadium. It was probably 70% Bahrain fans. We wound up sitting in the Saudi section due to Bahrain's side being "full".
At the rate the stadiums are being delayed FIFA may have to have all the players do those weird beach free kicks in Qatar (2022).
Interesting. So Bahrain did allow its citizens to travel to Qatar. Not sure Saudi will be as lenient with theirs for the Al Hilal matches. In any case, so the Al Janoub Stadium is getting some mileage - just not with the CWC.
Yes, but only for the final match. And as I said before hilariously despite being given permission to fly direct, Bahrain opted to make their fans fly completely the opposite direction to Kuwait so as not to be a direct flight. Apparently UAE had their team do the same, while the Saudi team flew direct apparently. Prior to that it was basically Qataris, Kuwaitis, lots of Omanis and Iraqis and Yemenis in the stands. There are rumors that the blockade may be coming to and end soon. However, I reckon it'll be a slow reconciliation process, but I guess this is some sort of a start. There will be some Al Hilal fans here. There are many Qataris intermarried with Saudis and whose roots are from there. I've seen people with Al Hilal and Saudi shirts here before... it's not a illegal or this huge taboo like it is the other way around.