But you have to play somewhere, right? Not getting your point (how is a neutral venue better?). It would be one thing if all NT players of CONMEBOL nations were based in Europe but you still have a significant number that aren't. So London or Paris is not any more convenient than Bogota or Santiago.
It would only be more convenient in London or Paris for the legion of foreign based players and their Euro Club teams who invest in those players. I think there will be major complaints no matter what they will do. As I said before it is all one big mess without an easy solution.
I understand where you are coming from but there would still be controversy and the feeling of an unfair advantage depending on the teams scheduled to play in front of an empty stadium. For instance if the 5th team in the standings had to play Brazil on the road with no fans early on and the 6th team had to play Brazil in front of 80K people and that was the difference in qualifying they will be pretty pissed off. That is why I believe if there are no fans for one match day there could be no fans for any match days.
haha..no idea what you’re smoking but wish I had some of it. If a vaccine is discovered early next year and domestic leagues all over the world are filling stadiums again, no chance are they still playing in empty stadiums in CONMEBOL qualifying for another 12 months just to be fair.
I am just saying it is not fair to have different teams play different schedules with different rules in the stands. No one needs to smoke anything to realize that there will be some complaining from Federations, media and fans. Heck, we saw 6th place Chile complaining when they thought Colombia and Peru came to an agreement to tie a match. Something like this would be even more of a complaint if there is a scenario where a team left out of the World Cup had a harder road schedule than the teams that qualified.
IF it is discovered it is only one hurdle. If it is distributed in an organized and efficient manner is another story. Latin America in general lacks behind many countries in vaccines and immunizations when it comes to common viruses and flus. You don't really know South America if you think it will be an easy and fast process to immunize millions in a population for a deadly virus we are still learning about. Especially one that they are expecting to come in and out seasonally like the flu.
England wins world cup 2022. Qatar is basically England "Qatar has been ruled by the House of Thani since Mohammed bin Thani signed a treaty with the British in 1868 that recognised its separate status. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971." Wikipedia 2018 croatia slavic country in slavic russia 2010 in south africa (a dutch colony) with netherlands and cruyff's barcelona (spain) 2006 italy-germany alliance 1990 italy-germany alliance The winner seems predictable to me
Top teams who have yet to win, how are they looking for 2022 ? Holland Belgium Mexico Portugal USA Nigeria Croatia Senegal Japan Colombia Switzerland I think Belgium and Portugal have the best shot.
Good point about the vaccines. WHO will definitely be put to the test. I certainly think South America could be later with opening up their stadiums than Europe, but I don't think the imbalance in the schedule will generate any complaints whatsoever. Haven't heard a single complaint on that wrt to the Bundesliga, La Liga or EPL which is experiencing the same issue. ==> For example, when the dust settles, Barca will have played 33 matches in front of their home crowd compared to 32 for Real Madrid. When a half million people die from a virus nobody will complain about that same virus forcing them to play an extra match in front of an empty stadium.
Hoping it is Colombia of course but I will just be happy with a Quarters appearance assuming we even make it. I agree with those who bring up Holland. They seem to be loaded with good young talent everywhere and are getting back their confidence after missing out on a few major tournaments. I think they might be ready by 2022 to make a very deep run and redeem themselves. Portugal and Belgium have the talent but do they have the on the field leadership? Their managers do seem to have them playing consistently enough but I think the Semis may be their ceiling. The rest of the teams there are pesky but I do not see any of them making deep runs. But there's still a long way to go before November 2022 or whenever we play this thing.
The reason we won't see much complaints from European Club matches is because it is just that... ...Club matches. There's so many of them and there is such a discrepancy between the "haves and have nots" that people pretty much know how things are going go with or without fans in the stands in most instances. And it is organized in a much better way. National Teams are a totally different animal. There are very few match dates and very few times managers have sessions with their players in the first place. With a compacted condensed schedule due to corona and behind closed doors for only some games I bet you anything that there will be some complaints by the teams, fans and media left out of the party. It is just the ways things happen in South America. There will always be voices focusing on the injustice and unfairness of how they were eliminated.
I disagree entirely. Holland's frontline is mediocre. I'm not buying the hype from a glorified friendly tournament. Portugal for example is a far more balanced team with genuine youth. Belgium is getting old but they will be primed for one last good run in 2022. Even Croatia without Modric and Rakitic will still be better than Holland IMO.
I don't see how its totally different. There are only 2 points diff b/w Barca and Madrid. We don't know how that's gonna turn out. And the races for CL spots are not unlike the races for WC qualification. The condensed schedules are what's happening with club football.
I will say they need a #9 but the guys they can put out there on the wings are not horrible. They have a good spine (I love the way de Jong plays) and their CBs are going to be deadly in their own penalty box defensively and in the other penalty box on set pieces. I think we will learn more about them in the Euro and Qualifying of course but saying the Nations League is a glorified friendly tournament is a bit of an extreme.
Holland also looked good in Euro qualifying, it wasn't just the Nations League. They look very solid on paper. Their frontline isn't soft, just soft at the striker position.
I thought you meant with what is happening between the teams left out of Champions. Not the teams that are battling for the title. I think it helps that they already played their head -to- head which is the tie breaker. So there probably won't be much complaining. Condensed meaning instead of starting in March they have to start in the Fall. Which for any tactician is not ideal.
Teams who qualified for Russia I feel may miss Qatar 2022 Peru Costa Rica Panama Egypt Tunisia Iran Iceland Russia Sweden
I think it is safe to say this is a pretty good list. Although I am not sure why you have Costa Rica there. They always seem to get up once Qualifying starts in CONCACAF and I do not see Honduras or Jamaica being better than them. I hope you are right though just cause I will be rooting for underdogs in that region. Sweden to me is one of those teams that can beat anyone on any given day but can also lose to anyone so I am on the fence about them and it all depends on the group draw.