Keep staying safe, everyone... (Continued from "The one-off thread about coronavirus that we hope will never need a sequel", March 2020) Once again I don't have the words to do justice to the situation, but first and foremost, deepest sympathy to those who are suffering or going through a terrible time. Many countries are in a 'second wave' of the virus, and in some places the first one never ended. So, if you have anything comforting to post, football-wise or otherwise, just put it here, I guess. (All poems welcome, of course) In football, leagues and international matches resumed to an extent in 2020. But doubt is the main unifying feeling in the world game at the moment. From other threads... And as promised, here's a loong list of women's games cancelled or postponed (PSTP) over only three days, 14-16 Nov 2020. So if you wanted to watch Ell v Fola Esch, you're out of luck. Note: Many countries are still playing - this list is mainly nations where some games were called off, for whatever reason. Eibar and Barcelona are the latest women's teams to miss a game, with positive Covid tests in the home squad.
High-tech devices may help allow more spectators in stadiums with view toward Tokyo Games (the Japan News by Yomiuri Shimbun) It’s Fugaku vs. COVID-19: How the World’s Top Supercomputer Is Shaping Our New Normal (HPC Wire) In Japan admission limits for large-scale events is 50% of capacity (it will stay that way till March 2021).Women's football -wise things doesn't look as much grim there (for the near future) as in some other places in the world. Nadeshiko League is playing on with fans watching from the stands (4k watched Urawa game last week) and Empress Cup will be no different. Japan's gov wants to held Olympics with fans in stadiums, and start of professional WE League is gonna make some good waves around the WoSo world as the league will join the hunt to attract some international stars. (btw I'm really curious to see how much Hasegawa contract will be worth - I would estimate her wage in first season of WE-L around 150k $ with fee around 400k $ to get her from Beleza)
Unless something really crazy happens worldwide with Covid-19, the Olympics will happen in some way. For the women's tournament, there's still two slots left to fill. The China-South Korea playoff and the Chile-Cameroon playoff. Both are set to happen in February.
Marta says her Covid-19 diagnosis this week is her second, worryingly. According to Maíra Nunes' article yesterday, Marta posted that she had also tested positive in June. At that time, the outbreak in Orlando forced the Pride team to withdraw from competition. In Brazil, Nunes adds, four male footballers of Palmeiras have had two diagnoses of coronavirus. (article: Elas No Ataque / Archive) Whether or not these were a separate reinfection - doctors have seen some cases of a patient catching a second genetic strain of the virus - it shows that Covid could have a longer effect and doesn't give 'immunity'. (Agência Brasil Fotografias, cc-by)
RIP Martin Perez Padron, coach at Santos Laguna in Mexico - thanks to @Nacional Tijuana for posting about that. A report also on ESPN.com Some other famous figures in football have also lost their lives because of the coronavirus - please add any others that you know of. A medic and team doctor from Cameroon, Dr Anastasie Akamba passed away last July: Ahmad Radhi was the only Iraq goalscorer in a World Cup, in the Mexico 1986 men's tournament, and a highly decorated player in his career. Fellow Iraq international and a national coach, Nadhim Shaker, also passed away a few months later. The former presidents of two major European clubs, Pape Diouf (from Senegal) and Lorenzo Sanz, were both victims of the pandemic in March 2020. In the same month, 21-year-old Spanish coach Francisco Garcia was one of Covid's youngest fatalities, having also had an unknown case of leukemia.
Thank you for taking the time to share that. So terribly sad. For some reason reminds me of Steve Bruce's comments a couple weeks ago.
Yes, what happened at Newcastle was shocking - not the worst among everything else in the world, but that players could get so sick at a club in one of the biggest sport leagues. The Fifa president's words were quite moving too, though Infantino often gets flak deservedly. Early in the pandemic he said football wasn't worth risking a life for, something we didn't hear similarly from some more powerful "leaders". Football did literally cost lives in those times - it's bleak, but important to remember why the crowds can't go back to normal. The Liverpool v Atlético game on 11 March 2020 was blamed for 41 additional deaths in Liverpool.
On a nicer note... Vaccine Many older people have had the shot now, including football figures and those respective legends of the game, Pelé and Chris Kamara. - "Chris Kamara ‘feeling great’ after getting Covid-19 jab" - "Pelé gets his first Covid vaccine shot, urges people to wear mask & maintain social distance" The UK National Health Service is asking "sensible celebrities" to help. - "Marcus Rashford named on 'sensible celebrity' list to promote Covid vaccine" (They give you a swab to test whether you're sensible enough; currently they have found 3 celebrities.)* *this is not true Uefa Women's CL: Some day, we'll look back on how soccer competitions were run during the pandemic, and think it was all totally messed-up... Think they need a new phrase to replace "The show must go on". Like, "the show mustn't go on" / "The show must go off" / "Stop the show, Covid isn't a small problem". PSG in the Champions League 2018/19 - (Granada, cc-by-sa)
Whoever writes the URLs for Time magazine is keeping it simple: https://time.com/6053596/covid-19-still-bad/ (good article, anyway. One snippet – “I love baseball and eagerly look forward to buzzing up to Philadelphia to take in a game at Citizen’s Bank Park, which is operating at full capacity. But not while the policy is that ‘Unvaccinated fans are strongly encouraged to wear their masks’”.)