FIFA World Cup Qualifiers for Qatar 2022 (soccer)

Special edition Ronaldo bar football table released to commemorate his move back to Man Utd.

 

Now we had the first round of the Championship Cup.
Very interesting I would say
Barcelona vs Bayern Munich 0:3.
Bayern was on a easy roll, should have done 5. Mueller got himself a Mueller goal, deflect of a Barca player, 0:1, Lew got himself 2 both came after goal post hits from Musaila and Gnarbi. It was easy cruising for Bayern, which has now a rather stable defense.
Bayern under Nagelsman is looking good.
Young Boys Basel vs Manchester United 2:1.
CR7 got the goal and than Manchester fell apart, they got a red and a extra time goal from YB. YB showed a lot of heart and won deserved.
Bruegge vs Paris 1:1.
PSG was rather unconvincing. MNM did not fire, uninspired, Messi tried, but the rest did not show up. Bruegge slopy but with a lot of heart.

Besiktas vs Dortmund 1:2
Lively game, BvB just missed to many good opportunities and has problems in its defense. They need to do better.
Haarland got his goal, but was not really that convincing at times.
Manchester City vs RB Leipzig 6:3
That was a barn burner with 9 goals. The personnel drain in Leipzig showed, especially in the defense. It will be hart for them if they can not improve their defense.

Bayern and ManC convinced. ManU and PSG very disappointing, Barca not anymore top, Leipzig not good enough, Dortmund average.

 

Liverpool 3-2 AC Milan. Despite the score line being close, the game wasn't. Liverpool had 15 corner kicks against 2 for Milan, and something like 27 shots versus 8 for Milan. We were completely outplayed and outclassed. It was rather humiliating. We brought the humiliation factor down a bit by scoring two lucky goals but the score line would have better reflected what happened in this game, with something like 5-1 for Liverpool. Maignan was our best player, and that tells you all. He stopped a penalty, He wasn't responsible for either of the goals (the first one, an own goal by Tomori, the other two, no goalie would have stopped them). Even Theo and Kessié, two of our best players, did not do well, and some others were simply horrible like Leão. It's been a long time since I last saw Milan play this poorly. It's disheartening that we took so long to get back to the Champions League, just to appear like we don't belong.

 

That was interesting yesterday.
Leipzig could not get it done, at home, despite a early lead, 1-2 vs Bruege. Dortmund squeezed out a 1:0.
Paris vs ManC, not convincing from both sides. Paris won 2:0. Huge defensive mistake lead to the first goal and than Messi had 1 single moment of brilliance, otherwise MNM were not good. Can't remember how many times ManC hit the post. Paris' goalkeeper ? lots of mistakes and brilliant saves

 

Milan got robbed. Incredibly biased ref in favor of Atletico Madrid. Managed to show Kessie a red card for two very soft fouls that he deemed worthy of a yellow while not even calling very similar fouls when Atletico players committed them, and then fabricating a penalty at the last moment to give Atletico the win (yes, the ball hit Milan's player's hand... AFTER hitting Atletico's player's hand in the same play - neither unintentional handball should have been called, but if called, why was only Milan's called when the ball actually hit the Atletico player's hand first???). While we had 11 men we were very superior to Atletico in all sectors of the game, leading 1-0 and having hit the crossbar. But then we had to play 69 minutes one man down (I'm including stoppage time in this count) understandably our game plan suffered. Disgraceful. We didn't lose to Atletico Madrid. We lost to the ref. I frankly suspect bribery; this amount of bias can't be just natural incompetence. All ref decisions went one way and one way only: Atletico's way. Pioli had an elegant but clear comment: "the ref wasn't the best man on the pitch today."

 

Quatar 2022... Always finding it funny that the countries who scream bloody murder is a woman shows a bit of an ankle or if two man holds hand, yet they'll spend days watching groomed muscular man in tight shorts and shirt...

 

I watched 2 games today, Manchester U against Villarreal and Bayern vs Kiev.
B vs K. onesided affair, Bayern dominated but was rather sloppy with its passing game in the 1. half. 2 goals by Lewe 1. half.
Penalty and nice field goal, second half and the sloppyness was gone, counter Sane to Gnarby goal. the Sane against the post and than next time with a nice shot outwitting the keeper, goal and than the final by Maxim, header. 5:0
2 games 8 goals, not bad, at all. Lisbon is next, in Lisbon and than at home.
Manu vs Villar, very fast game but it lacked the intensity on both sides till Villar made its goal and than it was a barn burner. United got back into the game with a great free kick variation, that was a hammer goal.
And than in the last second of added time CR7, boy oh boy, he is always there. 2:1 ManU

One word about Sane. The guy was very disappointing before the last round of World Cup qualifiers, since than he is on fire.
Shoots goals, does brilliant assists. Completely reborn, one could say, what a turn around he had.
Good for him and Bayern and the National Team.
In a little bit over a week we are back to the qualifiers.
Besides the German games, I want to see Mexico VS Canada, my man Road Runner alias A. Davis.

 

One more thing.
The German U21 Euro Champion coach has become the Turkish Head Coach.
New U21 Head Coach will be Antonio Di Salvo, the former assitant of Kuntz.
Most important Flick had a say, per his contract, who would be U21 coach. That is new. Under Loew there was a serious disconnect between U21 and the National A team.
With Flick the U21 will now become the feeder team for the A team. That's why it was so important for him to be one of the selectors. He needs a U21 coach, who is willing to work very close with him and his coaching team. We will see a lot of pups playing in the A team, in the future.
Flick will be working with all the U coaches to bring new talents to the front. A totally new approach to the job as National Team Head Coach.
Fun.

 

While I was watching the Columbus Crew defeat Cruz Azul in the Campeones Cup final last night I noticed that the USMNT has announced its roster for the upcoming round of CONCACAF WCQs, and there's good news and bad news.

Weston McKennie is back in, Christian Pulisic is out. Gio Reyna remains out with a hamstring injury, Gyasi Zardes who has been sidelined returns to the lineup. We'll see if young Ricardo Pepi continues his outstanding play.

The upcoming round of WCQs resume next Thursday, October 7th, and the U.S. will be facing a tough (and desperate) Jamaica squad in Austin.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 9/0), Zack Steffen(Manchester City/ENG; 23/0), Matt Turner (New England Revolution; 10/0)

DEFENDERS (10): George Bello(Atlanta United; 4/0), John Brooks(Wolfsburg/GER; 45/3), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona/ESP; 13/1), Mark McKenzie (Genk/BEL; 7/0), Shaq Moore (Tenerife/ESP; 11/1), Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 46/1), Chris Richards (Hoffenheim/GER; 3/0), Antonee Robinson (Fulham/ENG; 15/1), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United; 12/2), DeAndre Yedlin(Galatasaray/TUR; 67/0)

MIDFIELDERS (: Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids; 40/2), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig/GER; 17/1), Gianluca Busio (Venezia/ITA; 6/0), Luca de la Torre(Heracles/NED: 3/0), Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 32/, Weston McKennie (Juventus/ITA; 25/7), Yunus Musah (Valencia/ESP; 6/0), Cristian Roldan(Seattle Sounders; 28/0)

FORWARDS (6): Brenden Aaronson (Red Bull Salzburg/AUT; 10/5), Paul Arriola (D.C. United; 8/0), Matthew Hoppe (Mallorca/ESP; 5/1), Ricardo Pepi (FC Dallas; 1/1), Timothy Weah (Lille/FRA; 13/1), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew; 62/14)

Players on the 27-man roster will begin reporting to camp this Sunday. The October window will feature a home match against Jamaica in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 7 (Live on ESPN2 at 7.30 p.m. ET), an away game against Panama three days later, and a third match against Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 13 (Live on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET).

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...p-qualifiers-pulisicreyna-out-due-to-injuries

GO USA!!!

 

Why is Pulisic out? Is he injured?

 

Injury

 

Yup. He injured his ankle against Honduras (he took a lot of cheap shots in that game) and hasn't played since. It's thought that he'll continue to rest during the international break and then resume play with Chelsea.

 

That sucks.

 

Yeah, it does. He's clearly been our best player, and the entire team is noticably better when he's on the field.

 

The rev and virtual guy got suspended, because of how they handled the game. Will not change the result, but at least they reacted, better than nothing.

 

Mats Hummels will not play, Gosens and Gruendogan, injuries or recovering. Otherwise Germany will come with its top crew and looking at the Champion Ship games, they are in top form.
Especially the Bayern block, Suele, Goretzka, Kimmich, Mueller, Sane, Gnarbi, Musaila. Add Leverkusen's Julian Wirtz to the fire power.
If they can not win those 2 games, convincingly. Than they should be send to the packer.
Forgot Neuer, well he is a staple and in top form.
The Bayern player coming in from a 0:3 and a 5:0 will be hot.
I am looking forward to the plays

 

Yes, the ref got suspended from next round and won't ever be allowed to referee a Milan game again (small punishment as far as I'm concerned, but yes, better than nothing). So UEFA recognized the grave mistakes committed against us, but that won't give us our 3 points back. It's disgraceful.

Several professional refs spoke up to say the ball clearly hit Lamar's hand first and it only hit Kalulu's hand unintentionally, because Lamar's hand sent the ball to Kalulu's. "Never a penalty" they said. Refs got very suspicious of Çakir (the Turkish ref) because they said nobody would ever refuse to review the penalty on VAR at 92 minutes, such a game-altering decision. They also lamented the harsh expulsion of Kessie while exactly similar fouls committed by Atletico players weren't even called.

This MUST be bribery. Nobody is this incompetent. Refusing to review the play on VAR is for me practically proof that the ref was ill-intentioned. I think his banking accounts should be investigated for bribery.

I think that this travesty of a result (we clearly should have won that game; we were decimating Atletico before the ref started his crap) will actually disqualify us from advancing.

It is really disheartening to take so long to come back to the Champions League, and then run into a rigged game and a bribed ref.

Serie A is considering banning this ref from ever officiating a Serie A game.

So, the whole soccer world knows that we should have won and the ref unilaterally defeated us... but that doesn't change the result. It sucks. We were actually having a gorgeous performance before the ref started interfering.

 

Yes it is a travesty, but as long as there a no criminal connections are found, there is no rule to reverse the result.
It might have been that Rev and VAR do not like your team, happens, it might have been betting bribery, or nothing at all, just crappy Revs.

It sucks no matter what.

 

Maybe it was the hand of God.

 

Premier League fans got a BIG treat in yesterday's Liverpool-Manchester City match, which ended in a 2-2 draw. The game lived up to the hype, imo, and each team's best players stepped up. Both Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne scored brilliant goals and Phil Foden had a real strong game and a goal for City. On the downside, the officiating left a LOT to be desired. In the first half Foden got robbed on a foul that didn't get called and in the second James Milner should have received a second yellow card on another blatant foul that didn't get called. Had Milner gotten the red card he deserved Liverpool would have been forced to play the last 20 minutes shorthanded.

Nevertheless, the terrible officiating couldn't ruin this game...



And CONCACAF WCQs resume in three days - USA vs. Jamaica, Thursday night at 7:30pm ET, ESPN2's got the broadcast.

I'm expecting another low scoring nail-biter - these two teams have played each other tough recently, and Jamaica is desperate for a win after surprisingly failing to get one in the first round of WCQs. Our boys had better play hard and aggressive, and here's hoping for some redemption out of Weston McKennie.

PS. For the night owls, Mexico vs. Canada at 9:40pm ET. I can't make up my mind who I want to root for. If the USMNT win a draw would be a good outcome.

 

Lucky me, have MT time.

 

Only one more day till the CONCACAF WCQs resume - let the pre-game antics begin!

Who will, and who should the USMNT start vs. Jamaica?

SBI'S PROJECTED LINEUP:



SBI'S PREFERRED LINEUP:



https://sbisoccer.com/2021/10/who-will-and-who-should-the-usmnt-start-vs-jamaica-2

Gaping holes in the lineup with Pulisic and Reyna out again. We can't seem to get all hands on-deck again but Gregg Berhalter's plan to play the B-Team during the Gold Cup is looking smarter all the time.

As for subs, unless all the forwards are playing strong I'm guessing Berhalter will bring Zardes in around the 65' mark. He's been productive coming off the bench and his size is a plus late in the game when defenses are getting tired.

 

I'm sad that my Italy finally had its undefeated streak broken... Italy 1-2 Spain for the Nations League semifinal today. I watched only the first half; we were one man down and 0-2 behind by the end of the first half so I figured all was lost, and fast forwarded the second half... we did get a goal at about 85' so I watched a bit again but there was no equalizer. In first half, Insigne had the most incredible opportunity to equalize while Spain was only ahead 1-0, and he missed in spectacular fashion... alone in front of the goalie, practically like a penalty kick, and he kicked the ball wide right. This game could have developed differently if Insigne had scored. Oh well. That's what happens when we don't have a very good center forward. It's our biggest problem.

Chiesa, always a great player. Almost scored in first half (great save by Spain's goalie), and our only goal was entirely his doing; got the entire play since midfield and broke through, getting to the box face to face with the goalie... and at the last moment he passed the ball to Pellegrini who scored on an empty goal. Phenomenal assist by Chiesa. What a player. If we had a center forward as good as Chiesa is a winger, we'd be undefeatable...

Bonucci got sent out early, due to two yellows... I didn't pay much attention to what caused the first yellow but the second one did seem fair, for elbowing... so more his fault than the ref's. And of course, already behind 1-0, losing Bonucci and going down to 10 men pretty much doomed us. Bonucci had just saved a goal in fabulous fashion... then he was no longer there, and of course the team suffered the impact of losing him.

Being one man down against Spain, a team known for good midfield and dangerous offense, is a losing proposition... and we lost.

Again, I didn't see the second half (and we did get some subs, I don't know if they played well) but for what I saw in first half, Spain did deserve the win.

So, congrats Spain.

We'll play the third place match against the losers of Belgium vs. France. I'll watch, just in terms of gauging how the team does. I think given that all is lost in the Nations League, Mancini should experiment with our young players like Calabria, Tonali, Pellegrini, Kean...

 

It was a very lively game @Center Field, till Italy went a man down. Both teams could have scored anytime. Horrible mistake by the Italian goal keeper when the ball went through his hands and luckily hit the post.
Spain was very much the better team, made a very bad defensive mistake which lead to the Italian goal. It was very well played by Italy, they used the one chance they had in the second half.
Spain made the mistake to take the food of the gas pedal in the second half and they nearly payed for it. They lacked the relentless, to finish of a team. I did not like that.

Tomorrow the North American teams, I will root for Canada, because I am a great fan of the Road Runner, also know by his nick name Alfonso Davis.
I wonder who gave him that nick.

 

No team can beat Spain one man down. Bonucci was boneheaded.
Donnarumma didn't play well at all. He's rusty. He's been warming the bench at PSG. And the Milanisti booed him to death. Actually, even though I do not approve of booing a National Team player because I put country ahead of club, I can understand why.