That was b/c of political instability in Haiti - Aristide had recently been overthrown (again). That was a tiebreaker game, with Miami as a neutral venue. There are certain reasons that FIFA will allow a team to play its home game elsewhere - e.g. no suitable stadium, no security guarantees, or COVID-era entry restrictions - but public health measures not allowing fans in the stadium isn't one.
Without checking, I wonder if that was the most recent WCQ in any confederation in January. It was on January 6, 2001. My birthday is January 26, which is one day before a set of three games. If USA doesn't win hosting El Salvador, it will be a bad day after my birthday.
The margin for error is going to be so thin during qualifying. 1 big call by a ref, a key injury, Covid curveballs, A run of bad luck for 2 games even... The Gold Cup showed the regional favourite won't be feared anymore. I have no confidence I could reasonably predict the final standing.
No one got blown out in June's Nations League Honduras' 3-0 loss to Mexico and 2-0 loss to Qatar plus Canada's 2-0 win over Costa Rica were the biggest blowouts of the tournament amongst the WCQ8. All other matches against the higher level competition were 1 goal games. WCQ is going to be a pickem
Are the road matches for the US going to be on TV this time or will they be buried in some pay-per-view channel like previous world cups?
CBS Sports/Paramount+ has the U.S. English language rights for all but the Mexico home game. Most will likely be on Paramount+ but CBS or CBS Sports Network might show a few. The Mexico game should definitely be available. Paramount+ should be streaming a lot of the non-USA/Mexico qualifiers as well. https://worldsoccertalk.com/2021/03...-up-to-79-concacaf-mens-world-cup-qualifiers/
And NBC Universo will provide Spanish-language broadcasts for a lot of the Central American teams (don't know how comprehensive is their deal, though). Btw, are the times on FIFA.com placeholders, or are we really going to play simultaneously each matchday?
Well the girlfriend wanted paramount+ anyway. Between this and the UEFA deal I already signed up and texted her my password.
Mexico already have their first 2 games with no spectators due to the chant. I can only dream of no fans in order to help Canada qualify. That would be great! While we’re at it, competent referees and great facilities would be nice, too.
Canada has three very tricky rivals in September. In my mind their best case scenario is 7 points. But I can also see them ending up with 2 points. Whatever they do will set the pace for the rest of qualifying and I for one want to see if they can do it. Put up or shut up time.
Wikipedia added stadiums for all the September games, and there aren't any surprises. Canada will host both games at BMO Field in Toronto. The only start times Wikipedia has are 8:00 P.M. Eastern/7:00 P.M. local for USA vs. Canada in Nashville on September 5, and 9:05 P.M. Eastern/8:05 P.M. local for both of Panama's games at Estadio Rommel Fernandez, which are vs. Costa Rica on September 2, and vs. Mexico on September 8. September 5 is a Sunday, so I'm hoping some of the games are day games. U.S. Soccer has one start time that Wikipedia doesn't have, which is 7:30 P.M. Eastern/6:30 P.M. local for USA vs. Jamaica in Austin on October 7.
It is not like Canada will guaranteed have packed houses either. For baseball they only are allowing 15K in a 53K seat stadium. So that means their small soccer stadium may only have about 7K just like Honduras unless they get a special exemption or something.
TIL @EvanJ has no influence in the halls of Miami whatsoever Looks like the TV broadcasters had their way... those early afternoon games at the Azteca were epic
Panama playing in October against Canada in Toronto at night. Oh boy. That I am penciling in as 3 points for Canada.
We could only dream of having the game somewhere in Western Canada, where there could already be a foot of snow by that time and a windchill that hurts your face to be outside.
The start times are a good thing about me moving to the Central Time Zone. There aren't WCQs or CCL games at 10:00 P.M. for me. The average start time in Eastern Time is a little earlier in October than in September.
I used to live in the Atlantic time zone, an hour ahead of Eastern time. It was awful for TV. I live in Central time zone now, its the best for TV. I’ve lived in Mountain time zone and found it too early.