Excuse? Clearly, its a joke. Everyone including fans from EVERY nation in the region know how CONCACAF, CONCACAF does things.
International football is chaotic. In a region with many small and poor countries it is even more chaotic. I find the US fans moaning about it tiresome.
Yeah, I thought you were just joking too. Anyway, I guess the discussion probably ran its course. It is the Qatar thread after all (not US NT).
From a global perspective: It's just Concacaf and Conmebol aiming to resume WCQ in October, right? Anyone else? (UEFA won't start until March, of course, and the AFC have closed up shop for the year)
Technically UEFA is "starting" in September as Nations League results do have direct implications for WCQ. J
With only 6 Matchdays this round and 2 in the final round CAF isn't starting back up until late May 2021. There matchday schedule looks like this... Matchday 1-2 May/June 2021 Matchday 3-4 August/September 2021 Matchday 5-6 October 2021 African Final round 2 Matchdays (unclear if they are doing this in November 2021 or March 2022 or a combination of both) 2021 AFCON is now 2022 AFCON and will be played January/February 2022
Which raises the question, how? Because the earlier rounds have to be done before June so that the Octagonal can begin...
Indeed, it would appear that international breaks are probably not a good idea in the current environment. Prolongs the club season, increases travel, forces people to hang-out in a random large group and gives players more free time to get into trouble. Not a good combination.
Yeah, although I think CONMEBOL has less to worry about that other confederations since they only have 10 members. I mean if (when) it gets to the point where they must begrudgingly go from the single-table format to 2 groups of 5 then suddenly they have ample time to complete their qualifiers. They can start in June and still have time to play friendlies in late-2021 and early-2022.
It's now official: Update on the Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 https://t.co/5OK6XtibM6Actualización sobre los clasificatorios de Concacaf para la Copa Mundial de la FIFA Catar 2022 https://t.co/Pwn7zpXQxJ pic.twitter.com/tNNuiTqqDe— Concacaf (@Concacaf) September 8, 2020 Concacaf WCQ is postponed until 2021.
Another video to share... this one is from the newly built Education City Stadium. This stadium was meant to go for the Club World Cup final last year but didn't quite meet the ready standards, but is open for games now. This is the 3rd fully completed stadium for WC 2022 now functioning after Khalifa Stadium + Al Janoub in Al Wakra. Three down, 5 more to go...
This article (in Portuguese) hits on an explanation for Concacaf and Conmebol's different decision-making so far: Conmebol negotiates its WCQ TV contracts centrally, and thus has a strong incentive to do everything possible (including the first couple matchdays with local teams) to preserve the 10-team league format, while Concacaf leaves TV contracts up to each Fed.
Since the 2012 EURO, UEFA has been selling audiovisual rights for NL, WC and EURO preliminary games centrally; I didn't realise CONMEBOL did it too.
Ha ha... well, they've only opened one small section of the stadium to fans and you can only sit one per every three seats, must keep mask on at all times, etc, etc... but yeah in general it's neven exactly going to be the eternal Belgrade derby here....
I m hearing rumblings that CONMEBOL is close to postponing yet again. Looks like more and more likely for 2 Groups of 5 Starting next year if I had to bet. (I hope I am wrong though.)
Surely they, and everyone outside UEFA, has to. UEFA seems to be a bit like North American/Australia etc domestic competitions - they can bubble "enough" to keep the tournaments limping along with the occasional 3rd-string side when they hit a problem. Everyone else is going to hit too many quarantine problems trying to get teams to meet internationally for a while. And, outside of the rich countries, it is going to be hard to justify the costs of risking outbreaks. J
Hearing CONMEBOL is doing everything possible to play in October and November. They are holding out hope. A couple options go forward as planned, neutral South American location for October matches bubble style, neutral Europe location for October matches bubble style, postponement only if FIFA can promise them winow this upcoming January. Possible South American Bubble Locations: Fortaleza, Rio de Janiero, Montevideo, Asuncion Possible Europe Bubble Locations:: Lisbon, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Berlin