FIFA World Cup Qualifiers for Qatar 2022 (soccer)

Discussion in 'Sports' started by CenterField, Aug 9, 2021.

  1. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Serie A, Milan 1-0 Torino

    We played very poorly but got the win anyway; I'll take it. In the middle of this injury crisis, it's incredible that we keep winning. Lots of fighting spirit. We scored an early goal: Krunic's assist to Giroud who poached it in at 14 minutes. Then, we spent the rest of the match playing shaky, nerve-wrecking defense and not doing much more in offense.

    With the injury situation, Pioli had to rotate guys, to decrease the wear and tear. So we're down to having to use a right back like Kalulu as a left back - and he was a disaster. Tomori had to lean left to rescue him. Kalulu collected a yellow and was subbed out, Theo came in, but without game rhythm, had a discreet performance. Did have one good attempt at assisting Bennacer but unfortunately we got friendly fire, Giroud interrupted the cross (if the ball had reached Bennacer we could have scored).

    So, we had only 3 scoring opportunities - first one we scored, second one Giroud spoiled it like I said; third one, Ibra suffered a penalty in my opinion, ref didn't give it. Ibra came in late, didn't do much more than this non-called penalty.

    Who did very well: Tomori, a monster, carrying half the defense on his shoulders. They probably would have equalized if we didn't have Tomori. Tonali as usual was good, but played only one half, then Bennacer came in, I guess, another instance of rotating for less wear and tear. Kessie came back, played all 90 minutes, and immediately made an impact, all over the field. Leão this time defended better than attacked. Krunic was pretty decent. Calabria, good as usual but not as successful in offense as he often is.

    Who was serviceable: Theo, Kjaer, Romagnoli. Tatarusanu actually managed a couple of saves but as usual looked nervous and he doesn't distribute the ball well; no major mistakes, though. Bennacer, neither good nor bad. Giroud, scored the goal but didn't do anything else and spoiled Theo's attempted assist to Bennacer. Tried hard, though, and moved a lot.

    Who did very poorly: Saelemaekers was terrible. Kalulu, a disaster.

    Not enough playtime for a rating: Ibra, but his few minutes, he didn't screw up like last time (didn't score either, neither for the opponent, nor for us, LOL).

    Bottom line, we played poorly but won. We did fight like crazy so I liked the fighting spirit. Now the thing is, if we play against Rome the way we played the last two games, we'll lose.

    Still, maybe for Roma we'll have Brahim back (he is so essential!) and Theo will have more rhythm. So there is hope.
     
  2. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Great win for us on the road at Roma, 2-1. Nerve-wrecking after Theo was stupid enough to engage in a challenge that wasn't even a football move, already carrying a yellow; got sent out, actually correctly, and now he won't be available for the derby. Damn! But otherwise, we did play much better than in recent games. We didn't create too many opportunities but we capitalized on the ones we did create, and we defended well.

    Ibra was superb, back to form. I take back my premature idea that he should retire. It's just that at his age he takes a while to come back to form after an injury, but when he does, opponents beware.

    Kessie very good today. Kjaer as well. Leão, great. With Ibra, these were our four best players.

    If we beat Inter next then I'll start believing in the Scudetto. The other games today, I thought that Inter were unimpressive (didn't do much more than scoring their two goals; for the rest of the match actually Udinese played better in many stretches), and Napoli failed to impress me for the first time, had a lot of trouble to beat lowly Salernitana by the minimum score. And Juve lost! Atalanta-Lazio, a great game, arguably the best one of the Serie A season so far; 2-2.
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2021
  3. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Wow!! @Talon you'll love this: among the 30 best players in the world selected by the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics), two Americans: Winston McKennie (EUA/Juventus) and Giovanni Reyna (EUA/Borussia Dortmund)! You know, side by side with the likes of Messi, Neymar, Salah, Mbappe, Lewandowski, etc. Impressive!
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2021
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  4. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

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    That's great news. It can only be a good thing for the US to become world class at soccer.

    I can only hope that the same thing happens to US Rugby in the future.
    We're not there yet though. 104-14 loss against the All Blacks recently.

    Mind you, NZ seem to have a fantastic team at the moment. They just beat Wales 54-16 a couple of days ago.
     
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  5. Talon

    Talon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Cheers, CF! :beer:

    You bet I love to see that, and how impressive of Gio to make that list at the tender age of 18. What an amazing young man.

    Unfortunately, I just read that he's expected to miss this month's round of international competition, but Christian Pulisic was back on the field for Chelsea's Champions League match against Malmo today so that's great news. Weston appeared to be in good form for Juventus last week, too:

    USMNT REWIND: WESTON MCKENNIE WITH TWO-GOAL WEEK FOR JUVENTUS
    MICHAEL LEWISNOVEMBER 1 2021
    https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/20...ston-mckennie-with-two-goal-week-for-juventus
     
  6. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

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    https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/s...ities-over-2-million-swiss-francs-2021-11-02/
    About bloody time.
     
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  7. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yes, I saw his goals for Juventus, both games; I usually follow all games from Serie A, either the full game or the highlights. I was glad that the player who scored was Weston, but not happy that Juve scored since they are hated rivals of my Milan, haha. Well, Juve ended up losing both games 2-1 despite Weston's best efforts, so I was happy that Weston scored but glad that they lost anyway, LOL. So I hope that he continues to score for them but the opponents score even more!

    To type faster, I copied the line from the French site I was consulting and just changed "et" to "and," which is why our country was abbreviated as EUA (États-Unis d'Amérique) instead of USA, and I see now, they botched the spelling of McKennie's first name, LOL. They aren't used to seeing Americans in this kind of list!

    And I should say, Christian Pulisic and Sergiño Dest are just as impressive... but they weren't about to list 4 Americans, haha.
     
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  8. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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  9. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

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    Makes you wonder how big a bribe Qatar paid to get next year's World Cup. I'd like to see it boycotted by both teams and fans.
     
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  10. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Absolutely, that was certainly bribery. And now Gianni Infantino wants the World Cup every two years, so that there are more bids and more opportunities to collect bribes.
     
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  11. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

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    That's just a stupid idea.
    Not only would it de-value the World Cup it would end up clashing with the Euros, Olympic games and many other events.
    I can't see it happening.
     
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  12. Talon

    Talon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sadly, if Christian could stay healthy he might be on that list. I think he's the best player on the USMNT.
     
  13. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    This was a wild week for Bayern. The German Cup is always good for surprises. Bayern got itself one of those again on Wednesday loosing 5:0 against Gladbach. A total blackout.
    Even as a Bayern fan I love those humiliations, they put Bayern back down on their feeds. Which is needed every so often. Naturally it suck concerning the Cup, you loose you are out. But than Bauern had to go to Union Berlin, a very feisty team, which can pull of a win against anybody in the Bundesliga. They play an old fashioned physical football, like a bunch of Jack Russels. In my closet I always root for them.
    Bayern needed a come back real fast and they did what they had to do a solid 2:5. The 2 goals I did not like at all, they were sloppy defense.
    Today Benefica at home. Lewandowsky had 3 goals and failed in the most arrogant way with a penalty, just before halftime. Gnabry had a very nice goal and Sane a spectacular goal. Final score 5:2. Again sloppy defending and Benefica was able to score 2. I liked that Bayern never quit, the 5th goal fell in the 85th minute. Benefica has not been scored against, except in those 2 games against Bayern, 9 times, in the CL this year.
    Wolfsburg vs Salzburg that was game I really was interested in, because of 3 German rising stars from the U21.
    Ridle Baku and Lukas Nmecha and Karim Adeyemi. The first 2 play for Wolfsburg, the 3rd for Salzburg. All 3 did good. Adeyemi had 3 very good chances but could not finish. Every time he got the ball 2 players or more were instantly after him. Well he has to learn to live with it, if you are that good at scoring, live will get rough on the pitch. Baku and Nmecha, were able to strutt their stuff, both scored under the watchfull eyes of Flick. Mind you Nmecha, was the highest scorer at the U21 and scored the winning goal in the final for Germany.

    CR7, the Ever Ready Bunni, does that guy ever quit scoring. Hate him, love him. ManU was beaten, had no chance, but than there is this guy. Atalanta was the better team. But than there is that guy who walks around the field for 70 minutes, jogs for 10 and than explodes for 10 and just scores. Amazing.

    FIFA is a swamp, a billion dollar swamp. 2 million that is all, really. Peanuts, when billions are in play. Those guys just asked for a million ?

    Beggars, lock them up.
     
  14. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It will happen if Infantino can convince enough delegates that there will be a lot of bribery money for them.
     
  15. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    A lively day for the German teams in the UEFA Ch.

    Leipzig against Paris. Paris again was disappointing, all that talent and they are mostly a no show. Were is that greed on the field. Greed for money is plenty, but on the field, there is none, the greed for goals, goals, goals and more goals. Leipzig is a working mans team, just grinding it against those super teams. Great spirit and working attitude. It was fun to watch them, again against Paris. They ground them down, despite of the brilliance of the Paris players. And got themself a 2:2 draw, well deserved. Its not going to help Leipzig, they are out with just 1 point.
    Notable 2 penalties for Leipzig, 1 stopped by Dollar.
    Why does Paris disappoint me, its on the same level as Bayern, player by player, maybe a little above, but they do not have this relentless attitude, of every player, even the super stars at Bayern are going 90 minutes with the attitude to make the next score possible. Even the substitudes, the bench, has one goal in mind, to score.

    Dortmund vs Amsterdam.
    Hummels got the Red in the middle of the 30s. Than Reus scored a superb free kick goal and than Dortmund was with its back to the wall.
    At the end is was again a straight forward affair for Ajax, at 1:3 win.

    Next the Internationals, looking forward to them.
     
  16. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Gio Reyna, Sergiño Dest, Gyasi Zardes are all out for USA-Mexico on 11/12. Pulisic is back but not 90-minute fit. He will play part of the game. Joe Scally was called up for a possible debut. Ricardo Pepi and Gianluca Busio are likely to be starters (fun, fun!).

    It's regrettable that some of our best players won't be available (or fully available) for the rivalry game, so we'll start at a disadvantage, but as a matter of fact, beating Mexico is not that important. Mexico will likely win first place anyway. But there are two more spots, so, we need to beat the other teams. The second game of the international dates is Tuesday against Jamaica, and I think it is more important to win that one. If Mexico beats us but also beats everybody else, that is fine as long as we finish 2nd or 3rd.
     
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  17. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

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    Italy doing a lot better against the All Blacks.
    27mins before NZ got their first points.
    Currently 14-0 with 7 mins to half time.
     
  18. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    With Germany being qualified, Flick called up 3 players, which have not played for the team.
    Draxler from PSG has not played for several years, same for Brand from Dortmund.
    Nmecha got his very first call. I am very exited to see him play. Werner is injured, which opens the door for the kiddos in the striker position. Will be interesting to see the final line ups before each game.
     
  19. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Italy called two of my favorite Milan players, Tonali and Calabria. Verratti was not called. I guess he's injured. We need to beat Switzerland, or we'll be in trouble.
    --------
    Tomorrow, it's the Derby della Madonnina, Inter-Milan. My son thinks we won't win due to Theo's absence. He got a red card last game (his fault; it was a stupid foul). However Brahim will be back. So I'm a bit more optimistic. Brahim is a very important player for the team. So is Theo but at least, of two very important players, one is out but one is back. On the other hand, we don't have Maignan, Theo, or Ballo so our defense is depleted while Inter is 100% complete.
     
  20. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Derby della Madonnina, Inter 1-1 Milan.

    Inter scored first from the mark. That first penalty wasn't one at all. If anything, it was a foul on Kessie. He was going to the ground from being fouled and his legs went up, completely involuntarily and as a consequence of having been fouled. I can't understand why the penalty wasn't cancelled by VAR. So, their goal was irregular. Once more, shady refereeing hurts Milan.

    To cancel that, Inter then scored an own goal. 1-1 early on, and no more goals until the end.

    With our late surge in the last ten minutes, I thought we'd win and we should have won. We hit the woodwork, Ibra almost scored in a free kick, we missed other opportunities. The ball just wouldn't go in, although we deserved to score the winner.

    But all things considered, given that there was a second penalty for Inter which was legit and Tatarasanu did save it, and both Ballo and Kalulu stopped almost certain goals for Inter, and given that we were missing Theo and Maignan, I think that the result was fair. The draw kept us level in points with Napoli on top of the table (they're ahead on goal differential), given their draw against Hellas Verona earlier today, and kept us 7 points clear of 3rd-placed Inter, so overall it was a good result for us.

    After the international break, we have a difficult game against Fiorentina, but the same round, Napoli has an even more difficult game against Inter, so I'm hopeful that we will capture first place in that round.

    Forza Milan!

    ---------

    The other team I have an interest in because they are from the region my parents come from, humble Venezia who is battling relegation, surprisingly beat Roma 3-2, in a thrilling, spectacular game. This gave to Venezia a little breathing room, 3 points clear of the relegation zone (12 points, first relegation zone team has 9). This was by far Venezia's best game of the season and actually one of the best Serie A games, this season, with two lead changes (Venezia 1-0, Roma came from behind to lead 2-1, Venezia came back to win 3-2). The American kid Busio was great, avoided a goal, gave assists to two plays that almost resulted in goals, played all 90 minutes, and was a box-to-box presence. I hope Venezia continues to improve (they seem to be finally getting used to the pace and competitiveness of Serie A) and avoids relegation.

    ---------

    Now, all eyes on the Azzurri, with the essential game in Rome against Switzerland on the 12th. Then we finish the WC qualification campaign at Northern Ireland on the 15th.

    ---------

    The upcoming WC qualifiers will have two phenomenal rivalry games: USA v. Mexico, and Brazil v. Argentina. I look forward to these games.
     
  21. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    Well, the c19 shiit has hit the German Team. Suehle tested positive and 4 other players who travelled with him to Wolfsburg are quarantined, Kimmich, Gnabry, Musaila and Adeyemi. Suehle is asymptomatic, he is vaccinated. Kimmich unvaccinated and the status of the others is unknown.
    Luckily Germany is qualified and the 2 coming games are basically friendlies.
    Ridle Baku a U21 will get his chance because of the c19 shiit.

    It is not really a surprise that this happened. Bavaria is one of Germany's hot spots and has declared a medical emergency today.
     
  22. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    Well, the c19 shiit has hit the German Team. Suehle tested positive and 4 other players who travelled with him to Wolfsburg are quarantined, Kimmich, Gnabry, Musaila and Adeyemi. Suehle is asymptomatic, he is vaccinated. Kimmich unvaccinated and the status of the others is unknown.
    Luckily Germany is qualified and the 2 coming games are basically friendlies.
    Ridle Baku a U21 will get his chance because of the c19 shiit.

    It is not really a surprise that this happened. Bavaria is one of Germany's hot spots and has declared a medical emergency today.
     
  23. Talon

    Talon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Bummer. I knew Reyna was out but I didn't hear about Dest and Zardes. Another big question is how Berhalter will play Pulisic against Mexico and Jamaica. Personally, I would have him the start against Mexico and then figure out what to do with him against Jamaica.

    I'm feeling a bit queasy about our chances Friday night, but hopefully we can get a boost from the homies in Cinci. As I recall, we had everyone on the field when we beat Mexico in the Nation's League final and after beating El Tri twice over the summer they're going to be playing with a belly full of revenge. Our guys had better bring their A Games and play aggressively, and the importance of winning at home can't be overstated.

    United States vs. Mexico: World Cup qualifying clash's key players and storylines
    https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-wo...-qualifying-clashs-key-players-and-storylines
     
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  24. Talon

    Talon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sorry to hear about that, but it does sound like a good excuse to stay home and knock back a few Märzens....or some Hefeweizen. :smile:

    Speaking of which, I homebrewed a 5 gallon batch of Märzen two weeks ago, and tomorrow I might be brewing another batch of my favorite golden ale - since you live in Germany you may have heard of it:

    AHS Spring Maibock (5A) - ALL GRAIN
    https://www.austinhomebrew.com/AHS-Spring-Maibock-5A--ALL-GRAIN-Homebrew-Ingredient-Kit_p_2374.html

    The only people who make Maibock in America are home brewers and craft breweries. Since I can't find it in stores I have to brew it myself.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2021
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  25. gnoib

    gnoib Well-Known Member

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    Talon I am a Kraut who lives in Colorado, 35 years now. I love those Bocks, very lovely Biers.

    Germany Lichtenstein.
    Lichtenstein is a sparring partner at best. But than those lessor teams are always highly motivated and good for a surprise.

    My biggest surprise for the starting line up was Baku ( plays for Wolfsburg and is a U21 ). He was a emergency nominee after that C19 shiiiit
    and took Gnabry's position as a " starter " in his home stadium in Wolfsburg. Those were rather big boots to fill for a second choice and at that age. He did rather well and crowned his performance with a rather superb goal, circling the ball from 15 meters or so around everybody in the upper right corner. Just brilliant and a show of utmost confidence. The fat grin on Flick's face said about everything. First game, first goal.
    He ain't second choice anymore.
    Nmecha, came in the second half and only aluminum prevent his first goal, he hit it twice.
    Result 9:0. Gruendogan with a penalty, 2 Sane, 2 Mueller, 1 Baku, 1 Reus and 2 own goals.

    Best player Lichtenstein's goalkeeper, the shots he stopped, fantastic. It was his last game.

    Next game, Armenia in Erivan on Sunday.

    By the way Flick broke one more record, most won games as a National Coach starter and to Nill games on top of it.
    Me thinks Germany is back again.
     
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