I have a feeling that however the US gets out of their group, they'll end up with an easier first knockout round than Holland 2022.
The Japanese men could of beat Belgium and Croatia tbh. They did what they were asked to do. The women won in 2011 already. They 3-0'd the eventual winners Spain in the group stage in 2023.
North Korea did Asia proud in 1966, beating Italy and putting 3 past Portugal in the knockout stage (conceding 5 in the process).
100% (Alejandro Moreno's accent). USA has been as far as the semifinal (1930 3rd place). Now it's to be decided whether Mexico or USA is allowed to go further. Mexico will for sure get to the quarterfinals too and break that curse.
I think 9 spots is okay for CAF. I would maybe reduce AFC and CONCACAF to 7 and 5 spots apiece, and add two more spots for UEFA. And the OFC playoff rep could be replaced by a team from UEFA so that UEFA could have a max of 19 teams in the 48-team field.
https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments...ek-to-go-before-first-phase-ticket-sales-open Even when clear - they are vague. Great way of saying dynamic pricing, without actually saying dynamic pricing. No actual fixed price list.
Not that Holland was such a killer draw either. But yeah, obviously with twice as many teams making the KO round, the draws should be a lot easier. The fact that we're already thinking beyond the group stage for a team at the level of the US kinda says it all.
de Jong, Van Dijk, Depay, Gakpo, Blind, Dumfries. That was a pretty good lineup, especially if you start with a center forward, who's really a number 10, and hasn't played a minute of football in over a month.
Absolutely crucial game about to start in UEFA Group A: Germany hosting top-of-the-table Northern Ireland! If Northern Ireland can win they'll be red hot favourites to win the group and qualify automatically.
A reminder that brief highlights of all UEFA organised games including the European Qualifiers are available on the UEFA tv app.
The European format for the qualifiers gives Underdogs better chances to qualify in my opinion. 6 games in a period of two months (not in all of the groups). Some favourites are struggling and under pressure like Germany, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands. Could be some huge matchups in the Playoffs.