Actually it will only make it a bit harder for Ecuador, and it will help all other teams in Conmebol, to qualify for 2026.
Literally, yes. Realistically? With Ecuador now having to get a win just to reach the starting line, and Venezuela and Bolivia unlikely to present a challenge any time soon, the path to United '26 is "be better than Paraguay".
Ecuador is lucky that CONMEBOL seems to have opted for the continuation of the single table. In a two groups of 5 format, a 3-point deduction would have been much more damaging to their chances. I wonder what kind of psychological impact the deduction will have on Ecuador though, especially if they don't win their first qualifying game or two.
I genuinely wonder how long it takes for Venezuela to debut at the World Cup with the expansion. It's only a matter of time surely...
Seriously speaking, ECU are in better shape than ageing/lite squads at BOL, CHI, PER and VEN. That's 24 points right there. More than enough to enter intercontinental playoffs in 2026.
Something that is not really clear to me: could Ecuador be punished if they take Castillo to the world cup or is he clear to -legally- play for them from here on? Does he need to get a new ecuatorian passport (with the accurate information according to CAS) in order to play?
Seriously speaking, truth is, despite age diferences of most players even till now, Ecuador playing at high altitude at their home still struggle to beat almost all the teams you mentioned. For past qualifiers, Ecuador lost at home in Quito vs. Peru, only got a draw vs. Chile in Quito, and defeated Venezuela by only one goal (while playing away against them, they got defeated). Against Bolivia, as they knew they were not going to have any advantage by playing in Quito, they played at sea level and defeated them in Guayaquil. Seriously speaking, it's doubtful they would do as good as you say so. And now, as another not non important issue, everybody knows that their official records regarding players, there are some inconsistent data in them, which means that many of their players pose serious doubts if those "official" records are true and not fake, as in the case of Castillo, which means that they will have to be extra careful, with which players they play with, in the future.
Oh, he can go to Qatar with no problem. Problem may appear only comes if he actually plays in WC, as any eventual opponent can present a fair claim over his nationality, as the TAS has already established he is actually colombian. The CAS only cleared him for the preliminary competition, which were the past qualifiers. For him, to clear up his documents, he must first complete a normal nationalization process, as up to now he is colombian.
From what I understood he doesn't need to start any naturalization process as he's already ecuadorian (their national justice already decided that) but the problem is the incorrect information in his passport. So, he would just need a new passport with the right information. I could be wrong but this how I interpreted the CAS statement.
Ecuador will qualify without much trouble even starting -3. They have big young talents still far from their ceiling (Caicedo, Hincapie, Sarmiento) so my estimation is that they can only get stronger this cycle while Peru and Chile can only be weaker this cycle (they simply don't have material of similar quality to replace their veterans). Bolivia is trash. Venezuela seems to be stuck in the same place even with Pekerman (for now). I only think Paraguay will be better given the form of Almiron and a big talent like Enciso. With 6.5 places it's almost unthinkable for me that Ecuador wouldn't make it.
That's correct. He needs a new passport with the right information. But to do so he must go through a nationalization process to change his colombian nationality given to him by birth in colombian territory, to a new nationality as being a new citizen from Ecuador, to which he is entitled after living there continuosly for more than 10 years now. A process he has never done before. In his current passport with wrong info in it, it says he was born in Ecuador, almost 3 years after his colombian birth date. If that info would've been accepted as correct by the CAS, no sanction would've been given to Ecuador in the first place. The CAS, in their ruling accepted what was claimed by Chile, that Castillo was actually born in Colombia and not in Ecuador, 3 years earlier than the date that figures in Ecuador's passport.
But how can he undergo a naturalization process if Ecuador already ruled him a citizen and AFAIK they haven't stripped him of that? (don't know if such a thing is even possible in ecuadorian law). PS I'm not good with legal terminology (much less writing in a second language) so I don't really know if this question is intelligible to you.
Well, that's one of the problems that can happen when some countries aren't so serious when it gets to the elaboration of personal documents. Sure must be one of the reasons why the USA, from foreigners intending to enter their country, asks for visas from certain countries, while at the same time other countries aren't required to do so (btw, Chile is the only South american country in this last category).
true Not true similar quality as of our older veterans, maybe true based only on personal assumptions. Truth is, there is plenty of younger players with promising future on the making currently, in both, Peru and Chile. They are on the rebuild now with Pekerman. Too soon to discard them yet Can't judge a team on only 2 players. Paraguay is lots more than that, and currently they are on the rebuild as well. That's right, it's your opinion. In my case, as up to know, despite more WC spots being in place for 2026, Conmebol qualifiers will continue being as unpredictable as they have been in the past. Only sure thing is that both Brazil and Argentina are going to finish at top, but no one from there to the last, has its number already secured.
Where are they? Surely not in the top european leagues. And it's worrying cuz the qualifiers start in 4 months, not in 2 years.
Did they change the kick off time for the opening match again? I see it's now scheduled to kickoff early evening (instead of 22h00) local time. FFS, was already making lunch plans with like a dozen people!
^ oops, nevermind. I see that it was already scheduled for 19h00 when they moved the game to the 20th. Not sure why I had assumed it was 22h00.
What do you mean? FIFA has now cleared a Colombian-born Ecuadorian to represent ECU at Qatar 2022. ECU does not need to be careful at all, after FIFA set a great precedent. All ECU needs to do is overwrite birth record archives with adulterated birth certificates, and can proceed to generate authentic Ecuadorian passports for foreign nationals. All it costs is 100K Swiss francs, and -3 pts in qualifiers for 2030 WC.
It has now been confirmed that Castillo will not form part of Ecuador’s squad in Qatar, as had been rumored in recent days. The Ecuadorians left him out of fear of potential consequences with his inclusion, avoiding any possible problems or complaints from rivals.
For a team on such a rise, Ecuador sure stumbled over the finish line in qualifying. They were also lucky to survive the joke group stage in Copa America '21.
Who knows when the opening ceremony is. At first it was meant to be one hour before kickoff, then we were told 2 hours before. I'm going to the match and opening ceremonies are usually only about a quarter of an hour long or so. Russia 2018 was about half an hour before kickoff so are we waiting almost 2 hours before kickoff and after the ceremony? Anyway, now we are hearing 5.30 pm Doha time, so 90 minutes before kickoff.... but we'll see....
Yeah, and it is not like the opening ceremony at the Olympics. The WC opening ceremonies are pretty low budget and mickey mouse by comparison. There will probably come a day when the WC opening ceremony will be a spectacular event (including a parade of the 32 48 countries involved) and held the day before the opening match but until that day arrives, I certainly wouldn't waste 90 minutes to see it.
I can't find it now but I recall there was a recent official announcement to those going to "be in your seats by 5:30". So that tells me it won't start before 5:30 pm, and will probably start well after that. Since it's a made for TV event, they need to give time for the talking heads to talk, so I'm gonna guess it starts no earlier than 5:40 but likely later. I attended both the Brazil and Russia Openers and after those vowed to never attend one again, but here I am going to this one. And I hope to be at the 2026 one as it'll be USA. The reason is IMO the show really sucks for most of us in the stands, it's a made for TV event and it costs so much extra. Maybe the people in the VIP seats right at midfield get a decent view, but with the shitty sound system (far from concert quality) and being so far away, it wasn't a great experience.