Oh dear just watching the highlights of Canada's first goal... I'd haiti-be that goalkeeper, or who knows maybe there's a nice match-fixing paycheck waiting. That is honestly been one of the worst goalkeeping mistakes I've ever seen....
Definitely not on purpose. He clearly kicked the ball with his non-kicking foot first which caused the whiff.
September 2021 Canada vs. Honduras – Thursday, Sept. 2 United States vs. Canada – Sunday, Sept. 5 Canada vs. El Salvador – Wednesday, Sept. 8 October 2021 Mexico vs. Canada – Thurs. Oct. 7 Jamaica vs. Canada – Sunday, Oct 10 Canada vs. Panama – Wednesday, Oct. 13 November 2021 Canada vs. Costa Rica – TBD Canada vs. Mexico – TBD January-February 2022 Honduras vs. Canada – Thursday, Jan 27 Canada vs. United States – Sunday, Jan. 30 El Salvador vs. Canada – Wednesday, Feb, 2 March 2022 Costa Rica vs. Canada – Thursday, March 24 Canada vs. Jamaica – Sunday, March 27 Panama vs. Canada – Wednesday, March 30 Loving Canada's schedule
Does anybody know if Concacaf is the first confederation to have a group with exactly eight teams? CONMEBOL has had nine and ten.
I said this in November 2020 before the UEFA qualifying draw. Well, there could yet be a twist in the tale I suppose but at the moment 9 of the 10 Pot 1 teams sit atop their group, and the only one that doesn't is Portugal who are a point behind Serbia but have a game in hand.
I learned my lesson. I was convinced that at the very best 8 seeds would qualify directly. More likely only 7. I have to confess the pots were pretty accurate on that regard. The seeded teams dominate World Cup qualfying.
Only the dutch looked dodgy before the start tbh but they fired De Boer in time. Also Croatia but I knew their opponents aren't any good and would split points between themselves. Right now only Spain looks like they could fail to clinch since they will probably have to beat the swedish bus in the last game to do it and they usually have trouble against such set ups.
I think Italy might not want to get too complacent. They are only 3 points ahead of Switzerland but the Swiss have a game in hand and the two play each other in the decisive match next month. Italy are favorite, but the Swiss are not slouches. If Italy don't win that and draw, they'll need to go to Belfast to clinch which is not the easiest place either. So I think Italy still need to be looking over their shoulder at Switzerland.
Totally out of their hands now. Needed to beat Norway in the last game and they could at least have gone to the playoffs. Turkey does this a lot. They are simply way too inconsistent to qualify for tournaments regularly.
I think they've got a better chance than we think... Norway's got a 2 point lead but plays Netherlands on the final day, who many not be qualified even while Turkey plays Montenegro. Norway has a superior goal difference, but Turkey does have a home game against Gibraltar. They could still pop Norway to 2nd
I would be much rather in Norway's position. It's something different to control your destiny than being reliant on other results. Norway could even topple the Dutch if they could defeat them away on the road. Turkey will end up regretting these points dropped to Latvia and Montenegro.
And honestly with the way Turkey are playing I don't think they will win in Montenegro unless they can find that earlier form...
Yep, agreed. Although beating Gibraltar by 7-8 goals still is a big ask given how Turkey are playing. But NED can also just beat Norway too (even though a draw would probably make both teams happy).
Looked to me like the Turkish striker pulled the Latvian defender to the ground, with both falling over. He got away with it though. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. The referee looked at the VAR for about 10 seconds. He probably never considered that it was a deliberate pull-down by the offensive player.
Ukraine are such a fustrating team to watch. They play really well at times just to switch off completely in the same game. They dropped points in five matches where they had the lead. The bottom line is that even if they still make it to the playoffs they'll be unseeded which means at least one of their playoffs would be away from home.
Ecuador are a very youthful and energetic team. They just earned a very valuable away point in Colombia. Whenever I watched them they impressed me a lot. I think they'll qualify directly. Definately a team to keep an eye on. I feel they will spring one or two surprises in Qatar.
I've made up my mind. Here my list of 32 teams qualfying for Qatar 2022. I threw in some curveballs. UEFA Portugal Sweden Italy France Belgium Denmark (already qualified) Netherlands Croatia England Germany (already qualified) Spain Serbia Wales (makes it back for the first time since 1958) CONMEBOL Brazil Argentina Ecuador Uruguay Colombia CONCACAF Mexico Canada (makes it back for the first time since 1986) USA CAF Algeria Morocco Tunisia Ivory Coast Mali (debutants) AFC Qatar (hosts) Iran South Korea Saudi Arabia Australia Japan