It will also be the new design of a new roller coaster built in the desert. It will then be disassembled and given as charity to those less fortunate who do not have ugly looking emblems or roller coasters.
CNL will have a bigger impact on your FIFA ranking now that those games have been upgraded to an I-factor of 25 (instead of 15). This allows for more movement in the rankings. As a reminder: seeding for WC2022 qualis will be based on the June 2020 ranking. For the FIFA Men’s World Ranking, all 2019-2020 Concacaf Nations League matches will be granted a coefficient score which corresponds to qualification matches to a Confederations final competition - CNL
Well, they did just make them qualification matches to a Confederations final competition, so it seems justified. J
Kind of interesting but Qatar are having to play through the semi-final round of their own world cup qualifiers as it doubles as qualifiers for the Asian Cup in 2023. Don't know if that's every happened before but today they face India, and I guess India coming to Qatar is a bit like when Mexico comes to play in the US - match sold out! I've never seen that before for a Qatar WCQ! https://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/a...s-sold-out-for-Qatar-vs-India-Asian-qualifier
You mean the World Cup, right? Just to be sure, now that the US actually do have to qualify for the Gold Cup (finally!).
oh really???!!! I didn't realize this but yes you are right... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_CONCACAF_Gold_Cup That's different. Anyway on a side, Qatar drew 0-0 with India in today's match in Doha. A good result for India I guess... they certainly celebrated as if they'd won the World Cup. Qatar's first big test will come vs Oman next month
That's interesting. It looks like automatic qualification for Gold Cups for the US, Canada, and Mexico actually ended from the 2019 edition onwards and there wasn't even an automatic host spot, which means the US could technically have missed out on the 2019 Gold Cup despite being hosts . Also worth noting is that CONCACAF has not yet announced a host for 2021, suggesting they might actually be considering taking at least some portions of the tournament outside the US. Technically, they did this in 2019, too, but it was just a pair of double-headers. I suspect they want something slightly more adventurous this time around.
knowing Concacaf they won't even need to hold a Gold Cup... just give the trophy to whoever has the highest FIFA ranking.... sheesh, they're doing it for the qualifiers already....
Also complicates things for the other teams if Qatar win their group. If they do, there is a chance that no team from their group goes on to the next round as Qatar's spot will be taken by the 5th best second place team, not the runner up in their group. Qatar may want to win the group and qualify for the Asian Cup that way and then concentrate on good friendly matches, rather than go through another round of Asian Cup qualifying. As host, there should be no shortage of good teams wanting to take a scouting trip to Qatar for a friendly.
I've got to say - as a general set-up to qualify for the Gold Cup and provide meaningful matches for smaller Concacaf teams the system that they are now using seems pretty good - although you sort of wonder what the point of the Nations League finals are other than to try and force another USA/Mexico match. J
My hope is that the presence of Nations league fixtures will alleviate any absurd desires on CONCACAF's part to try to keep the US and Mexico playing each other in WCQ even after the expansion. If that's the thought process, I think I can live with it.
Boycotting the tournament. As for the sponsors it depends. Several of them are as unhappy as fans are but can’t exactly pull out contractually.
For me that means I'm not going. As I've only ever been to one world cup its not that big a sacrifice. However I'll still be watching and will get to qualifiers that happen near me (except for the next one, can't see the point in driving 3 hours to Canberra on weeknight then three hours back at this stage of the qualifiers).
I've already got my tix. But the whole "I'm not going to the finals" sounds really silly when people probably wouldn't go for a whole lot of reasons. Almost like "I'm so woke I'm not going to buy a Lamborghini in protest against Italian arms sales to Saudi Arabia - not because I lost all my money betting on illegal back street hobo fights." J
Yes, or the games, the ads at said games, etc... Still couldn’t tell you who won 2018 as I boycotted that ill gotten nest of corruption as well.
OT I know: but is anybody else sensing a strategy of making the Nations League the new Confed championship, and the World Cup biennial; and probably 64 teams if they are already planning 48, 48 screams stop gap, just as I'm sure 24 screamed stopgap in '94. The World Cup is such a brilliant event they get away with everything they try but they will go too far, they are slowly squeezing out all the innocence and joy, I'm looking forward to Qatar in the same way I look forward to the Grand National or a heavyweight title fight, its sleazy but just so compelling.
only boycott that would make sense would be the one done by the biggest worlds football powers, but they can't agree on anything anyway. I am not going there nor buying any merchandise or simmilar, but I am definitely going to watch it. It is the world cup in the end!