That's a secondary market site. However it may connect back to FIFA on the back end since FIFA has also become their own black market given people can resell tickets at any price on their platform. Plus they take 15% fee off the buyer and 15% off the seller. What you're looking at are the people who bought early before games were defined and are trying to make money. AFAIK FIFA are also doing surge/demand pricing on tickets. So I don't think there is a set face value price. It's what they did with the Club World Cup. They are fuking over fans every which way possible. Having said that, I think only hospitality tickets are on sale right now. I think on Dec 11th is when we start seeing regular ticket sales and their prices. I haven't bothered looking at the process so I may not be completely correct.
Militão out 3 to 4 months. Bad news... but if he recovers properly, at least he'll be rested for the World Cup?
Zenit played their last game of the year this weekend. Luiz Henrique and Gérson scored, Gérson got the best match rating, and his best since moving there, though it was against a mid-table team. The Russian league breaks for Winter, and their next match is March 1. The international break is March 23. That means they will be playing the week before the list is due to FIFA and probably just 2 weeks before the convocação. We'll see if that affects Luiz Henrique, Douglas Santos (hopefully back from injury) and even Gérson's chance at a call-up.
Vini's form worries me a lot. Without Mbappe to bump heads with, and with a chance to make a point, he was awful yesterday. With the highlight being messing up an easy pass to Rodrygo on 2 v 1 trying to serve it on a platter too much. In the last presser Carlo lost a bit of patience with Neymar questions but when he also mentioned Vini in his answer, I wonder if he was sending him a message as well due to his poor form. Rodrygo had a good game and scored ... but his form is very inconsistent.
I suppose the hope is that: 1- We have enough players fit, and enough of the right players fit. 2- From May 25 to Jun 13 (first match) is enough time for Ancelotti to turn players' moods/attitudes around and get them playing fcollectively. But there's still a long way to go. Xabi Alonso might not be the coach at Real next week, who knows. We still need to work on breaking opposing defenses down. Who knows how much of that we'll really get to do in March friendlies. I just hope injury wise we don't lose anyone long-term. Our central defense is amazing but made of glass. Right now Militão, Gabriel and Alex are out, as well as Bremer. Let's hope they're at least able to play in March... and we still need to figure out full-backs, backup mids and forwards... Yeah, it's a lot.
I've heard some scattered commentary in Brazil that Vini should be benched in favor of Martinelli. This seems crazy to me but after Vini's lack of good form this year for Madrid and his mediocre play for Brazil generally, this may not seem like such an outlandish move.
I think people are still too stuck on Vini as a left-winger. I think the first choice for Ancelotti in March, if everyone's available, might be Vini in the middle and Raphinha on the left (Estêvão on the right). Then the question is, do we use a 9 alongside Vini, a 10 like Matheus Cunha or Rodrygo as a 10? Or a third midfielder? Against France and Croatia, I'd bet on a third mid. But, to go back to what you said, I think it's a good sign that Vini isn't such a unanimous choice. If anyone can bench him it's Ancelotti. The demand to play him in 2022 ended up pushing Tite to make him an unquestionable starter, when what we need is the right piece for each puzzle, not the same thing every time.
Speaking of players made of glass... Gabriel Jesus played his first minutes in almost a whole year yesterday. He came in with almost 30 mins left and with Arsenal already up 3x0. He had 3 shots and hit the post once. Get ready for pundits to ask if he should be our number 9... that or remind us he scored 0 goals in 2 World Cups. Probably 50/50.
I posted this in the World Cup Draw thread, but I'm adding it here because it's about planning for next year: Interview with Rodrigo Caetano after the schedule was released: Apresentação for the World Cup will be on May 25th. (No word on the date of the convocação or when the list needs to be sent to FIFA. Based on the International break dates, I think the preliminary list will be due around May 10th.) They will train in Granja Comary and there will be a farewell friendly before the end of May, with another World Cup team. No specific country was mentioned, but he did say it would not be a stronger team (like the March friendlies, or the other one he mentioned later). This team would stop in Brazil ahead of their trip to the US (or Mexico or Canada) for the friendly. I could see this being New Zealand or Australia, but they play on the West Coast and stopping in Brazil first would be a big detour. So in the end my guess is Cabo Verde or another African team playing on the East coast would be more likely. After that, they will go to their concentração location and stay their for the whole group phase. They are planning a friendly on June 6 or 7 and Norway is their first choice opponent. This week they will visit and re-evaluate some of the locations that they already checked out as possible basecamps. They then send a list of 5 choices to FIFA (by Tuesday, December 9) and by December 14 FIFA will indicate which one they are to use (FIFA picks based on priority among teams, in case some teams choose the same place). Some dates for context: Official first day of the International break: June 1 Last Brasileirão match before the break: TBD Ligue 1 final match: May 16 Serie A, La Liga, Premier League final match: May 24 Champions League final: May 30 We can expect Brazilian players to be released in time for the apresentação even if CBF stretches the league past the break. Players in Europe will probably be a day or two late due to travel (except players in France since it ends early). Anyone involved in the Champions League final will probably go straight to the US and miss the Granja Comary portion of the training.
Also, some updates, but nothing final, in this report about where Brazil will stay during the World Cup, plus more about the March friendlies: https://ge.globo.com/futebol/seleca...-iorque-como-casa-na-copa-veja-detalhes.ghtml Brazil has submitted their list to FIFA and the number one choice is in New York City. The concern was that, because France also play in New York, they might be want that spot (FIFA distributes them based on ranking). But, reportedly, France is looking at Boston as their home base. Of the other teams that outrank Brazil (and could be given preference) Spain and Argentina do not play anywhere near New York. England does have a match in New York, but they open in Dallas, then play Boston. No mention of them in the article and whether they would stay in New York, but that seems unlikely. As for the friendlies: Brazil will stay in Orlando and travel for the Boston match against France. The only reason these matches have not been officially announced is that time of the matches is still being agreed on, as they want to satisfy both sides when it comes to TV broadcast times.
I don’t like Vini in the middle either. His decision making and finishing is poor. I said last year he should probably be bench.
Flick had Raphinha playing in the middle yesterday with Rashford as left wing. While he did score 2 goals, Raphinha isn't as good as his usual role a bit more advanced. But I think he'd be better than Vinicius in that role. If everyone is healthy, we might get a glimpse of what Carlo is thinking in the next friendlies.
The March friendlies have been confirmed for: Thursday, March 26 vs. France in Boston Tuesday, March 31 vs. Croatia in Orlando Times still TBC https://ge.globo.com/futebol/seleca...como-base-na-data-fifa-veja-programacao.ghtml Apresentação is Monday, March 23, so there will only really be two full training sessions before the first match.