I know, and you're right... but they both ought to count their lucky stars to have someone of that caliber to interplay with. Messi isn't strictly a table-setter, he's far more of a finisher than Dybala; Dybala is more brilliant about setting things up out of the midfield and has better topspeed, if not quickness. They both have astonishing passing touch. Similar games? Sure, but obviously neither is so one-dimensional that they can't adjust to find complementary positioning on any given possession.Dybala has expressed frustration about playing with Messi- not sure how much of that is personal or just the similarity of their games.
beIN SPORTS has the English-language rights to the Trinidad and Tobago versus USA game on Tuesday night, which means that none of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers will be shown live on beIN SPORTS. Instead, one match will be shown on beIN SPORTS en Espanol (Ecuador-Argentina), but beIN SPORTS en Espanol will be running “multi” coverage where they’ll be showing Ecuador-Argentina but will jump around to the other four CONMEBOL games whenever anything newsworthy happens.Any idea how television is handling the Tuesday night onslaught of matches? None are in the US or Mexico, so BeIn should have the rights to all 3 Concacaf matches and all 5 Conmebol matches, which are all essentially being played at the same time.
I don't think Argentina need to worry about defending the wings too much. They aren't giving up goals, but they're not scoring them which is the issue. Mercado is stout enough to be a CB and he's really a FB, so one side of the D is covered. Otamendi is fast enough to cover the other. I'd like to know if Di Maria went out with injury or if it was tactical.Leaving Dybala out of a must-win is malpractice, for sure. He's been on a tear, and in my view he may already be a top 10 player in the world. Correa I think is more arguable, his form for Atleti hasn't been great lately.
The problem I see with your lineup is width at the back, you're giving up sideline runs and crosses all match long. Di Maria ain't tracking back to help, that's for sure.
Wales wins 1-0; Ireland now needs to do likewise vs Moldova, and then win in Cardiff, to make the playoffs. A draw vs Moldova would mean Ireland would need a 5-goal win to leap Wales. Wales has only give up as many as 2 goals once in their 9 WCQ matches (2-2 @ Austria).- Wales is underway at (eliminated) Georgia. A win preserves their runner-up position; anything else and Ireland could leapfrog them. The two face off against each other on Monday in Cardiff, probably for a playoff spot.
Slight correction on this - South Africa is in last place with 4 points because their win over Senegal was annulled because the ref was found to have fixed the match. Senegal playing at Cape Verde are playing right now.Nigeria has qualified for the WC with their win over Zambia. They cruised in a tough group that included three of CAF's five entrants in the 2014 WC. Cameroon and Algeria are out for 2018.
Group D is nutty. South Africa just beat Burkina Faso to jump from last place to first place. They may slide back to second depending on the outcome of the Cape Verde-Senegal game. It's entirely possible that all four teams will have a shot at winning the group heading into the final round of matches.
It’s a replay of the fixed match. Not ideal, but also may not mean anything if Senegal maintain their position.edit: kinda weird, just looked it up and Senegal/SA (11/10 and 11/14) play their two matches after Cape Verde and Burkina Faso (11/6) are completely done. Has to be some reason for that, I thought they'd play two games the same day as normal and then SA and Senegal do their replay at the end.
Just gotta feel bad for the Honduran team, I mean, they're such nice guys, you want to see that rewarded...Kendall Waston's goal to tie Honduras and clinch qualification for Costa Rica:
It's crazy that they've done this and lost one of their best players (Aron Jóhannsson) from the current pool.Cool article about Iceland’s 20 year plan:
https://sports.yahoo.com/iceland-becomes-smallest-nation-ever-qualify-world-cup-204839186.html
That article is good, but its key information is pulled from this 2016 Guardian article, which is much longer, more thoroughly-researched, and which I found to be much better-written. It was written before the Euros, but nothing about it is stale. Here is Sunil Gulati's task, summed up neatly:Cool article about Iceland’s 20 year plan:
The rest of the article adds meat to that description and justification to those causal claims. It's fascinating for anyone who wants to see how simple the path to a better system would be, but for all the other competing interests the rest of our countries must wrangle with. And then you think about the ways in which we simply waste money and time. For someone who grew up playing youth soccer in MA in the 80s as what was little more than "supervised energy expenditure for kids", it was pretty revelatory. How could "facilities, coaching, proximity to schools, and ease-of-access for all kids" be so complicated? In a land with far better weather, far more grass, far more disposable income?“My theory on why we are achieving is that nowhere in the world do as many kids get to practise as much per week for as long with a qualified coach in such good conditions." -- Dadi Rafnsson [coach at Breidablik FC, the top club team in Iceland]
There are reports of pools of water on the pitch. Have you seen this? I guess the weather calls for rain right up to the start of the match as well.Friendly reminder that CONMEBOL qualifiers will all be at 7:20pm EST tonight. Brazil is the only team officially in, but I believe Uruguay can finish no lower than 5th (the CONMEBOL-New Zealand playoff spot). They also play Bolivia who is sitting 9th out of 10.
The table as it stands now (goal differential):
Brazil - 38
Uruguay - 28 (10)
Chile - 26 (2)
Colombia - 26 (2)
Peru - 25 (1, has goals scored as a tie-breaker over Argentina 26-16)
Argentina - 25 (1)
Paraguay - 24 (-5)
In third, Chile looks to be in a good spot as they will play a likely sub-optimal Brazil team, but they need points to be safe. Colombia and Peru play each other in what will be an awesome match, since both teams will likely go for the win to avoid depending on Argentina dropping points. That could change if the match is still even heading towards the finals 15-20 minutes. Argentina head to Quito (Altitude 9,350 ft.) in what amounts to a must-win match. Argentina could sneak into a top-5 spot with a draw and Colombia win or Peru win by 2 goals or more. Paraguay play cellar-dwellers Venezuela and need a win to keep any hope alive. This will be riveting, nerve-wracking, and I will certainly be a mess all evening.
VAMOS ARGENTINA CARAJO!
The fate of teams in UEFA and especially CAF relies far too much on farcical FIFA rankings that determine seeding pots. In UEFA the second place playoff is a safety valve for situations when Italy is Pot 2 and is paired with Spain while Romania and Wales are Pot 1, but it's still not a great system. I don't think 2018 is an especially great example of this with Slovakia (who aren't very good), but the "worst 2nd place finisher" is often a victim of the draw, too - tougher opponents from the lower pots result in a harder strength of schedule and lower point total as more countries beat up on each other.CAF is atrocious.
How would you improve UEFA? Make it more like Asia? I don’t really see the issue with it given all the teams.
Leaving aside that UEFA should have 16 bids and CONMEBOL at least 6, arguably 7:CAF is atrocious.
How would you improve UEFA? Make it more like Asia? I don’t really see the issue with it given all the teams.