I think one of the reasons is that in South America, being only 10 countries, they know each other very well and know how to nullify each other's best weapons, given that knowledge. In Europe, with 50+ countries, the big teams don't play each other all the time, so there's a limited knowledge of the rival. In C-BOL, even Bolivia knows how to isolate Messi. And guys like Higuain and Agüero have failed to live up to their reputation with the NT, wasting easy chances time and again, usually served in a platter by Leo.
I think a big part of Messi's Argentina issues are down to the coaches he's had. A lot of guys who just didn't know how to use him, and Diego Maradonna - this man. His current coach, Scaloni, has never previously managed a team, ever. He was Sampaoli's assistant and took over as co-caretaker when Sampaoli resigned, and then was just given the job, full-time. He's basically like Dave Sarachan, but less qualified. Messi's most successful years with Argentina were when he had competent, experienced coaches, like Alejandro Sabella and, uh, Tata Martino. Yeah, they lost three finals - but at least they made it that far. It's been a mess otherwise..
Macau is the 6th team eliminated from World Cup contention and the first to come from weird circumstances . They won the only leg of their playoff against Sri Lanka 1-0, but refused to travel for the away leg citing safety concerns after a terrorist attack in Sri Lanka. FIFA awarded Sri Lanka with an automatic 3-0 victory which gave them the playoff win
Yeah, that it excuses the USSF's incompetence, but it's comforting to remember that there are other major federations out there that are equally shambolic, if not worse. How can you fail to win any major tournament with arguably the greatest player of all time?
Right now, taking the Elo Ratings (my favorite, and the one where the FIFA Ranking will eventually end, mark my words), for the 31 teams qualifying, if we assigned berths based on such ratings, we'd have: 20 from UEFA (36%) 7 from CONMEBOL (70%) 2 from AFC (4.3%): Iran & ROK 1 from CONCACAF (2.4%): Mexico 1 from CAF (1.8%): Senegal 0 from OFC Only one country in the Top 20 is neither UEFA (13) nor C-BOL (6): Mexico, #15.
AFC Second Round Qualifying Groups Drawn: Group A: China, Syria, Philippines, Maldives, Guam Group B: Australia, Jordan, Taiwan, Kuwait, Nepal Group C: Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Cambodia Group D: Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Palestine, Yemen, Singapore Group E: Bangladesh, Oman, India, Afghanistan, Qatar Group F: Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Mongolia Group G: U.A.E., Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia Group H: South Korea, Lebanon, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka Group winners and best four runners up qualify for Round 3 and the Asian Cup (which is why Qatar is in this despite hosting in 2022). It's unclear (to me anyway) what happens if they come in first or second as far as other teams progressing to Round 3 though.
But then it wouldn't be the World Cup would it? It would then be the Best Cup. World Cup has to have some teams that aren't as good as others to involve every continent. If Uefa's say top 15 can't win it the surely those last five in the top 31 wouldn't either. Then there is the part where it's hard for confederations to raise their ratings if they only play other teams from their confederation who are rated poorly.
It's unclear to me as well. The most logical solution is for the fifth-best runner-up to take Qatar's place. But soccer confederations do weird things sometimes.
The 14 winners of those will join the top 24 African teams in round 2. Round 2 will consist of 10 groups of 4, with the group winners advancing to a playoff for Africa's 5 qualifying spots
Top 26 actually, to make 40. 10 group winners to a single playoff home/away means some strong teams will miss on Qatar.
Africa always has at least one team that should've made it, and one team that shouldn't have. Their qualifying format is extremely unforgiving. Remember how we were set to qualify in 2017 despite having a single away win all throughout the qualifiers? Yeah, that doesn't fly in CAF. One or two games of bad form or bad luck will eliminate you.
This is what will happen. The next best runner up takes the spot in the next round if Qatar qualifies as either a group winner or best runner up. Both Qatar and that team will be qualified for the next Asian Cup. If Qatar don't make the top 12 they will enter the next round of Asian Cup qualifying.
Asia kicked off Round 2 today. With the exception of Group E, the top seeded team in each group got the first matchday off. The 8 group winners plus the 4 best runner ups will advance to the next round. Group A saw both home teams lose, as Guam fell 1-0 to The Maldives and The Philippines fell 5-2 to Syria. China and Syria will likely be competing for the top 2 spots here. In Group B, Jordan conceded late, but managed to hang on to a 2-1 lead in Taipei. Kuwait rolled to a 7-0 victory at home over Nepal. The Aussies would seem to be heavy favorites here. In Group C, Iraq and Bahrain will likely be battling for second place with Iran in the group. Bahrain let 3 crucial points slip away at home when they conceded an 85th minute goal to The Iraqis. Cambodia only managed a draw at home against Hong Kong. In Group D, Uzebkistan have painfully choked away qualification in the last 2 cycles, and this time have stumbled right out of the gate. They fall 2-0 away to The Palestinians. Singapore scored a 52nd minute equalizer to earn a 2-2 draw at home against Yemen. The Saudis are favorites in this group. In Group E, The Qataris take part in this group since Asia's World Cup Qualifiers double as Asian Cup Qualifiers. They cruise 6-0 at home against Afghanistan. India lead most of the way at home against Oman, before they conceded twice in the final eight minutes for a 2-1 defeat. Massive blow to what were already slim chances. In Group F, Japan are massive favorites, though the race for second seems fairly open. Both home teams hold serve as Tajikistan picks up a 1-0 win over Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia picks up a 1-0 win over Myanmar. In Group G, Thailand would appear to be co favorites with The UAE, however they only managed a surprising scoreless draw at home against Vietnam. Indonesia blew a 2-1 lead at home to Malaysia. Malaysia scored the game winner six minutes into stoppage time. In Group H, North Korea held serve at home 2-0 over Lebanon. Turkmenistan managed to snag 3 points on the road after a 2-0 win in Sri Lanka. South Korea are likely the heavy favorites in this group.
Africa kicked off their opening round as well. 11 of the 14 opening round ties began today. Gambia vs Angola and Comoros vs Togo will begin tomorrow. Botswana vs Malawi will begin on Saturday. Ethiopia 0 - 0 Lesotho Somalia 1-0 Zimbabwe Eritrea 1-2 Namibia Burundi 1-1 Tanzania Djibouti 2-1 Eswatini Liberia 3-1 Sierra Leone (Liberia scored twice in the final 10 minutes) Sao Tome and Principe 0 - 1 Guniea-Bissau South Sudan 1 -1 Equatorial Guinea Chad 1 -3 Sudan Seychelles 0-3 Rwanda The game of the round was Somalia stunning Zimbabwe. Somalia are tied for the worst ranked team in Africa while Zimbabwe was one spot short in The FIFA Rankings from skipping this round entirely. That is Somalia's first non friendly win in 11 years, and their first World Cup Qualifying win ever. Unsurprisingly The Somali's cant host home games, so this was played in Djibouti.
Just wondered how travel was in the African Qualifying. Took the first one on the list above Lesotho to Ethiopia. 3,759 miles and 85 hours if you drive. I'm guessing they didn't go by bus. Flying might be hard on poor countries though.
I've lived on continent for 6 years+. The worst thing here is the proliferation of continental tournaments (2 AFCONs, 2 CHANs per cycle) which just reduces the allocation of money available.
Africa and N America both need to go down to one continental tournament every four years like S America and Europe.
Germany still recovering, just lost 2-4 to the Dutch in Hamburg (Euro quals). Croatia is looking like a Top 7 team right now, destroyed Slovakia 0-4 away.
Sierra Leone earns a penalty 4 minutes into stoppage time, but it gets saved. LIberia advance 3-2 on aggregate. Lesotho and Ethiopia draw in both legs, but Ethiopia gets the away goal to advance. Burundi and Tanzania saw both legs finish 1-1, and Tanzania wins 3-0 on penalties to advance. Equatorial Guinea gets a 72nd minute winner to eliminate South Sudan 2-1 on aggregate.