Compared to the other Pot A teams, absolutely you want to be in Group A compared to the other groups who will be headed by the likes of Belgium, France, England, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and possibly Germany.akm91 said:I don't know about that. They had a decent showing during Gold Cup this past year.ThunderCougarFalconBird said:
With Qatar being A1, it sounds like the best place to be drawn is Group A by a long shot. What a joke.
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Yeah they've definitely focused on getting a team ready and haven't looked bad. They'll be better than South Africa was in 2010.akm91 said:I don't know about that. They had a decent showing during Gold Cup this past year.ThunderCougarFalconBird said:
With Qatar being A1, it sounds like the best place to be drawn is Group A by a long shot. What a joke.
They are also kinda known for getting naturalized players on their squad. Looking at their last called up squad and 9 of 23 players were from outside Qatar.
I think I will take my chances with team that had "decent showing in Gold Cup" being my #1 in pod over England, France, Germany, Brazil, Belgium or Argentina.akm91 said:I don't know about that. They had a decent showing during Gold Cup this past year.ThunderCougarFalconBird said:
With Qatar being A1, it sounds like the best place to be drawn is Group A by a long shot. What a joke.
I thought FIFA was at least making a show of making an effort at curbing this where there was no realistic tie to the confederation. Our GerMericans at least have an American parent and were frequently born US citizens. But the Qataris were just handing passports to Brazilians and putting them up in condos in Doha.wangus12 said:
They are also kinda known for getting naturalized players on their squad. Looking at their last called up squad and 9 of 23 players were from outside Qatar.
Yeah naturalized citizens is the path that can lead to most room for issues.ThunderCougarFalconBird said:I thought FIFA was at least making a show of making an effort at curbing this where there was no realistic tie to the confederation. Our GerMericans at least have an American parent and were frequently born US citizens. But the Qataris were just handing passports to Brazilians and putting them up in condos in Doha.wangus12 said:
They are also kinda known for getting naturalized players on their squad. Looking at their last called up squad and 9 of 23 players were from outside Qatar.
ThunderCougarFalconBird said:I thought FIFA was at least making a show of making an effort at curbing this where there was no realistic tie to the confederation. Our GerMericans at least have an American parent and were frequently born US citizens. But the Qataris were just handing passports to Brazilians and putting them up in condos in Doha.wangus12 said:
They are also kinda known for getting naturalized players on their squad. Looking at their last called up squad and 9 of 23 players were from outside Qatar.
Yeah, if it wasn't the Qatar fed doing this, I'm sure it'd be more frowned upon. Qatar basically has been given carte blanche to do as they'd like since they won hosting rights.
jeffk said:
Yeah, if it wasn't the Qatar fed doing this, I'm sure it'd be more frowned upon. Qatar basically has been given carte blanche to do as they'd like since theywonPAID FOR hosting rights.
Aren't all the host nations teams in pod 1? My point was, Qatar is better than most non-traditional soccer power host nations in the past.Aston94 said:I think I will take my chances with team that had "decent showing in Gold Cup" being my #1 in pod over England, France, Germany, Brazil, Belgium or Argentina.akm91 said:I don't know about that. They had a decent showing during Gold Cup this past year.ThunderCougarFalconBird said:
With Qatar being A1, it sounds like the best place to be drawn is Group A by a long shot. What a joke.
"And liberals, being liberals, will double down on failure." - dedgod
Having lived in Germany in my youth I am a German national team fan. But also obviously first and foremost a USMNT fan for national soccer teams.
The North Macedonia - Italy result is not being talked about enough IMHO especially as it relates to the s*** the USMNT had to endure for being in CONCACAF and the 2017 2-1 loss to T&T. Italy also failed to qualify for that WC also, and when so many non-soccer fans were given me/USMNT s*** for not qualifying they were always surprised when I told them neither Italy or Chile qualified, it happens. That is not excusing the USMNT performance that game, which I thought was dreadful.
Italy was put in this position as the could not win a murderers row Group of Death of Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. For UEFA, there are FIFTY-FIVE (55!) members of UEFA , 50% of which don't even rank in the FIFA top 50, a full 1/4 to 1/3 don't even rank in the FIFA top 100.
To qualify for the 2022 WC, four time WC Champion Germany had to run the gauntlet of North Macedonia, Romania, Armenia, Iceland, and Liechtenstein (total population 40K)..... that is a f'ing joke. At least in CONCACAF the US and Mexico and a few other bigger/better teams automatically advance / bye to the final round / hexagonal.
If CONCACAF did it the way UEFA does, we would not even play Mexico or Costa Rica, we MIGHT play one of Jamaica, Honduras or El Salvador, but the rest of our qualifying match would be against Belize, Curacao, Haiti, Dominican Republic, maybe a really tough game vs. Guatemala.
As a USMNT or Mexico fan you should realize that the CONCACAF qualifying is actually very difficult. There are MULTIPLE groups from the UEFA qualifying that the USMNT would have easily won outright IMHO.
The North Macedonia - Italy result is not being talked about enough IMHO especially as it relates to the s*** the USMNT had to endure for being in CONCACAF and the 2017 2-1 loss to T&T. Italy also failed to qualify for that WC also, and when so many non-soccer fans were given me/USMNT s*** for not qualifying they were always surprised when I told them neither Italy or Chile qualified, it happens. That is not excusing the USMNT performance that game, which I thought was dreadful.
Italy was put in this position as the could not win a murderers row Group of Death of Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. For UEFA, there are FIFTY-FIVE (55!) members of UEFA , 50% of which don't even rank in the FIFA top 50, a full 1/4 to 1/3 don't even rank in the FIFA top 100.
To qualify for the 2022 WC, four time WC Champion Germany had to run the gauntlet of North Macedonia, Romania, Armenia, Iceland, and Liechtenstein (total population 40K)..... that is a f'ing joke. At least in CONCACAF the US and Mexico and a few other bigger/better teams automatically advance / bye to the final round / hexagonal.
If CONCACAF did it the way UEFA does, we would not even play Mexico or Costa Rica, we MIGHT play one of Jamaica, Honduras or El Salvador, but the rest of our qualifying match would be against Belize, Curacao, Haiti, Dominican Republic, maybe a really tough game vs. Guatemala.
As a USMNT or Mexico fan you should realize that the CONCACAF qualifying is actually very difficult. There are MULTIPLE groups from the UEFA qualifying that the USMNT would have easily won outright IMHO.
Jarrin' Jay said:
Having lived in Germany in my youth I am a German national team fan. But also obviously first and foremost a USMNT fan for national soccer teams.
The North Macedonia - Italy result is not being talked about enough IMHO especially as it relates to the s*** the USMNT had to endure for being in CONCACAF and the 2017 2-1 loss to T&T. Italy also failed to qualify for that WC also, and when so many non-soccer fans were given me/USMNT s*** for not qualifying they were always surprised when I told them neither Italy or Chile qualified, it happens. That is not excusing the USMNT performance that game, which I thought was dreadful.
Italy was put in this position as the could not win a murderers row Group of Death of Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. For UEFA, there are FIFTY-FIVE (55!) members of UEFA , 50% of which don't even rank in the FIFA top 50, a full 1/4 to 1/3 don't even rank in the FIFA top 100.
To qualify for the 2022 WC, four time WC Champion Germany had to run the gauntlet of North Macedonia, Romania, Armenia, Iceland, and Liechtenstein (total population 40K)..... that is a f'ing joke. At least in CONCACAF the US and Mexico and a few other bigger/better teams automatically advance / bye to the final round / hexagonal.
If CONCACAF did it the way UEFA does, we would not even play Mexico or Costa Rica, we MIGHT play one of Jamaica, Honduras or El Salvador, but the rest of our qualifying match would be against Belize, Curacao, Haiti, Dominican Republic, maybe a really tough game vs. Guatemala.
As a USMNT or Mexico fan you should realize that the CONCACAF qualifying is actually very difficult. There are MULTIPLE groups from the UEFA qualifying that the USMNT would have easily won outright IMHO.
Don't forget the Dutch missed 18 as well
And l of that is well said.
akm91 said:Aren't all the host nations teams in pod 1? My point was, Qatar is better than most non-traditional soccer power host nations in the past.Aston94 said:I think I will take my chances with team that had "decent showing in Gold Cup" being my #1 in pod over England, France, Germany, Brazil, Belgium or Argentina.akm91 said:I don't know about that. They had a decent showing during Gold Cup this past year.ThunderCougarFalconBird said:
With Qatar being A1, it sounds like the best place to be drawn is Group A by a long shot. What a joke.
So South Africa? Your point is they are better than South Africa?
They aren't better than Japan/S Korea were at the time. They aren't better than USMNT was at the time. Who are they better than?
They have never been to a World Cup and now are 1A position.
ThunderCougarFalconBird said:
With Qatar being A1, it sounds like the best place to be drawn is Group A by a long shot. What a joke.
I think South Africa is the only home team to not get out of the group stage. Home field advantage goes a long way but they need a kind draw.
I mean I hate Qatar as much as they next guy but I have no problem with host nation(s) getting an automatic 1 seed regardless of their football heritage.
It's fun when the host country without a great history makes a small surprise run:
USA '94
Japan and Korea '02
USA '94
Japan and Korea '02
Exactly.
If not for Thomas Dooley, we would have essentially Qatar'ed our way into the 94 WC. From a footballing standpoint, in 1994, we were pretty much where Qatar is now.
If not for Thomas Dooley, we would have essentially Qatar'ed our way into the 94 WC. From a footballing standpoint, in 1994, we were pretty much where Qatar is now.
Well, to be fair, we made the '90 & '98 World Cups, and our '94 team was a very veteran and seasoned team. Nothing like the Qatar, nor South African teams…
All I'm saying is that we made the 90 WC by the skin of our teeth (for the first time in 40 years) and promptly finished last in the 90 WC (or close to it). That's not exactly a big improvement on never having qualified before hosting a WC.
And I just realized it was Caligiuri not Dooley.
And I just realized it was Caligiuri not Dooley.
Oh! If you had said Paul Caligiuri I'd have understood. Yeah, Paul's goal in T&T was HUGE for USA soccer, and laid the foundations for the next 3 World Cups…
Yeah my bad. I blame old age.
nm
Maybe. There was serious talk from FIFA about pulling the World Cup from USA.Dre_00 said:
Exactly.
If not for Thomas Dooley, we would have essentially Qatar'ed our way into the 94 WC. From a footballing standpoint, in 1994, we were pretty much where Qatar is now.
Are there enough ethnic male Qataris to fill a stadium or will they conscript Asian slaves to cheer for the team?Dre_00 said:ThunderCougarFalconBird said:
With Qatar being A1, it sounds like the best place to be drawn is Group A by a long shot. What a joke.
I think South Africa is the only home team to not get out of the group stage. Home field advantage goes a long way but they need a kind draw.
Tomorrow's games (winner qualifies for WC):
Portugal v. N. Macedonia (Porto, 1:45pm CST, ESPN2)
Poland v. Sweden (Warsaw, 1:45pm CST, ESPN+)
Wales awaits the winner of the Ukraine/Scotland game that is to be played in June, assuming that Ukraine is still a sovereign nation by then.
Portugal v. N. Macedonia (Porto, 1:45pm CST, ESPN2)
Poland v. Sweden (Warsaw, 1:45pm CST, ESPN+)
Wales awaits the winner of the Ukraine/Scotland game that is to be played in June, assuming that Ukraine is still a sovereign nation by then.
I'll definitely be watching that Poland game. It would be a shame for Lewy to miss out on the World Cup but also a shame for Sweden to miss out. They're always good.
Both games 0-0 at the 30 min mark. Is everyone playing defensive/not to lose? I am not able to watch either..
Portugal just scored. Ronaldo to Fernandes. Man U connection.
Forca Portugal!
Poland up on Sweden via Lewandowski PK
Lewandowski! Love it for the Bayern manThunder18 said:
Poland up on Sweden via Lewandowski PK
Portugal cruising. Fernandes again. Nice goal.
Looks like it's gonna be Portugal…
I'd much rather see Sweden in the World Cup. Poland sucks in tournaments and I just like the way Sweden plays.
Aaaaaannnnndd Poland up 2-0 now 72nd minute.
Happy for Lewandowski, but was rooting for Sweden
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