Qatar 2022

This is one of (if not the best) the best examples of how money is destroying everything and making people crazy.

They are clearly forcing this. It is like it is set in stone. No way to change format. No way to wait a bit more. Third of a continent is far from continuing national leagues, some leagues are just starting, no fans near the stadiums, Argentine laws don't allow full 11 on 11 training, but they have to play.

UEFA shows it also with forcing Nations League in time of difficult travel and different laws in different countries. Leagues are starting again, there are European club comps, but they had to throw in multiple travels in the middle of confusing rules, restrictions etc. to play unimportant competition to get few bucks more. They act like the world will burst in flames if they postpone or cancel competition.

I am not sad, I am disgusted.

 

How else do you expect betting houses to launder money this year?

Those games must be played, else traffickers will be disgusted as well.

 

If it were not for that Qatar won the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, I'd have been even more concerned about how Qatar won the selection in the first place.

 

???
2019 had nothing to do with how they won the bid.
Qatar were awarded the tournament twelve years in advance, December 2010.

 

If so, and this is just me talking, I don't think that should affect the way people should be "concerned about how Qatar won the selection in the first place".

 

I need my Colombian Cafetero fix. It has been way too long since I have seen them play.
Hopefully the proper protocols will be in place and they find a way to do this as safely as possible.

Waiting til March would have been bad for managers and team chemistry/morale.

 

Yeah, my understanding is the quarantine rules that you or I would have to follow don't apply for footballers because a) they are tested regularly, and b) they are supposed to stay in a bubble.

Needless to say its a little risky though and this could turn into a total mess.

 

Word on the street is Trinidad and Tobago has been suspended by FIFA.

 

Basically European nation's have assured that upon return players don't have to quarantine for 14 days. Since they are tested almost every day. A normal person isn't tested that frequently so the government entities in Europe decided to compromise on this.

 

I do not know what other South American teams are trying to plan but I do know what Colombia wants to do.

The plan is for all of the Euro based players to meet up at a single place in Europe and get tested in a bubble.
Then they all will fly to Colombia on the same charter flight in that team bubble.

Then they will play the game and afterwards travel to Chile.
Then after that game those players will then travel back to the same Euro home base. All while being tested multiple times and never leaving their bubble other than practice and games.

Sounds like good safety measures to me.

 

The lesser federations have less of a Europipool so it may not cost as much as it would for a team like Colombia.

 

There is something that I have been wondering about - the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in the Conmebol zone are set to begin in October (which I look forward to) while the ones in the Concacaf, AFC, CAF, and OFC confederations have been postponed until the spring of 2021. However, it seems to me that South America is currently the continent that is the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic while the situation in most of North America, Africa, Asia and especially in Oceania is under control, so I find it somewhat surprising that it's the South American qualifiers that have been given the green light to start in 2020. I hope everything goes smoothly!

 

A lot of it has to do with travel restrictions. That's basically what the CONCACAF president said a few weeks back in an interview. I'd imagine Asia are in a similar situation. This was also the breaking point for CONMEBOL. It was either start now or scrap this format for something else and with tv contracts in place that would have been financially devastating for some federations.

 

Tough cookies Leagues and Clubs.

South American National teams have not played in 11 months. They need to play.

There is not much anybody can do about it.

 

Exactly, if I was advising the clubs I'd tell them to chill. If clubs refuse to release players its a breach of contract players could terminate the contract and basically go anywhere for free. These are international level players they'd have no problem finding a club even in a pandemic especially considering Europe decided to play ball. MLS may be mad because rules in United States and Canada are different, but European governments have already waived the quarantine requirement for players leaving Europe for international duty. My guess is if Trump knew about this he'd waive the quarantine requirement too, but MLS with their recent political stances probably don't want to appear like they are working together with him.

 

Thank you so much for clarifying! I somewhat naïvely assumed that the health risks pertaining to COVID-19 (even though they should be somewhat minimized with the matches being played behind closed doors) are essentially the only considerations that factor in from the standpoint of FIFA.

Btw, I have to admit that I am maybe old-fashioned in the sense that I believe that playing for one's country is extra special, so a player's duty to the national team should almost always supersede one's responsibility to a club side. I hope that all the footballers playing for CONMEBOL national teams are released. That being said, I personally was in favour of cancelling the 2020-2021 UEFA Nations League given all the disruptions to the worldwide sporting calendar as a result of the pandemic.

 

I imagine the players aren't very happy with this but if executed it would be effective. Imagine being away from home for a long time and then flying back and being so close but not being allowed to see family and friends, visit your home, etc. But if they allowed that the chance would be too high that someone would catch it and possibly infect others, possibly causing a bad outbreak.

It'll be interesting to see if other countries follow this model. It should appease the clubs somewhat.

 

I'd be surprised if any club would not release a player for a world cup qualifier. Its bad business.

 

the clubs are trying to establish new general rules and i hate that. it is ok, that neftchi baku plays at fc dundalk as an constructed example, but international matches are now a problem, they say. shame on them.

 

Its a little different though. The risks probably increase quite exponentially when the 30 or so people you are closest to during your trip are random people from all corners of the globe, rather than the same 30 people you have been working closely with every other week back home.