BIG RIGHT-BACK SELECTION HEADACHE FOR SOUTHGATE

The EUROS 2021 is just around the corner and countries have already started releasing their squad’s lists ahead of the competition starting in a few weeks. The UEFA EUROS is not only a competition that every participating nation will try to win, it is also one that helps them in making their decision on player selections ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022 which will hold next year in Qatar.

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The likes of France and Belgium have already released their full squad’s list for the EUROS but other countries, including England, have not been able to make up their minds about their final lists yet. A huge factor that has led to England boss Gareth Southgate not being able to prepare his final squad is the huge selection problem he has in selecting his right-backs for the competition. The manager has a wealth of talent in several areas in the team, but one of the most notable areas where he has a tough decision to make is the right-back position.
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RONALDO SAYS 2022 WORLD CUP WILL BE HIS LAST

Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that the 2022 FIFA World Cup which will be played in Qatar next year will be the last of the tournament he will be appearing in as he continues to age. The attacker is now 35 years of age and although he continues to put in sublime performances and is still scoring crucial goals for both his club side and his Portugal national team for a player his age, he has admitted that time is no longer on his side and will not play at the next World Cup.

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Ronaldo has been a star performer for so many years and has operated at the top level for any team he has played for. He has also accomplished a great deal of achievements in his playing career and has continued to age like fine wine. At the last World Cup he played in for Portugal, he played in one of the most exciting games of the tournament and also made headlines, scoring a hat-trick against Spain in a thrilling 3-3 draw between the two European heavyweights.
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KLOPP SAYS TRENT HAS NOTHING TO PROVE

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that his right-back Trent-Alexander Arnold has nothing to prove to anybody, including England head coach Gareth Southgate. Arnold was recently dropped by the Three Lions boss over his poor form and it attracted a lot of opinions from a couple of football pundits, with some supporting the decision while others were against it.

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Southgate decided against calling up Arnold for England’s World Cup Qualifying games that were played last month, a decision Jurgen Klopp was seriously unhappy with. Arnold’s Liverpool teammate James Milner also showed support for the young defender and claimed that the right-back is still young and deserves to be given some time off whenever he makes a little mistake or goes out of form temporarily.
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ROY KEANE RIPS INTO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND PLAYERS AFTER SHOCK DEFEAT

Manchester United legend Roy Keane has given a damming assessment of the current crop of players playing for the Republic Of Ireland, insisting that they are not good enough and that they either need to improve or be replaced by players who are more hungry to play for the country. The words are coming after the country suffered a shock defeat against Luxembourg on their home turf, something Keane described as unacceptable.

Stephen Kenny’s side played their opening World Cup Qualifying game and it ended in defeat – a 3-2 loss to Serbia on Wednesday. They then approached their second Group A fixture with a mindset of going for a win but unfortunately suffered a consecutive defeat, leaving their qualification hopes in shambles. Gershon Rodrigues scored a deciding late goal to hand his country Luxembourg a much-needed victory over Ireland in Dublin, something almost no one was expecting to happen.
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CAN ENGLAND SURVIVE POLAND THREAT

England manager Gareth Southgate and his players have a lot of work to do if they want to secure an automatic spot from their group ahead of the World Cup 2022 in Qatar next year. The draw for the UEFA section of World Cup 2022 qualifiers was held some months ago and the big threat on paper for the Three Lions of England would be red-hotBayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and his Polish national team. England are in Group I of the European qualifiers of World Cup 2022 with Poland and only one team can secure qualification for the World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar automatically from the group. Apart from England and Poland, the other countries in Group I are Hungary, San Marino, Albania and Andorra.

Gareth Southgate is the England manager and the ex-Aston Villa centre back has the responsibility of leading the 1966 champions to another World Cup tournament. Southgate was the manager when England finished fourth at the last edition in Russia. Gareth Southgate knows all about Poland national team skipper Robert Lewandowski and his exploits at club level with Bayern Munich. Lewandowski has been the main man for the all conqueringBayern team who won six trophies in the space of eight months between last year and this year.

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FIFA AND AFC POSTPONE ASIAN QUALIFIERS FOR 2022 WORLD CUP DUE TO COVID-19

According to confirmation from trusted sources, the world football governing body FIFA has decided to team up with AFC to postpone the Asian Qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup due to the restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was made after Asia’s Member Associations, the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA officials held a meeting. The upcoming Asian Qualifiers have now been postponed, as well as the AFC Cup China 2023.

The match schedule has now been released for the 7th and 8th matchdays of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2. The fixtures have now been rescheduled to hold on the 25th of March and the 30th of March 2021 respectively. The schedule is as follows:
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2022 WORLD CUP TO BE PLAYED IN FULL STADIUMS – QATAR

The organizers of the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 have continued to work at a faster pace as they try to ensure that everything is out in place and set ahead of the tournament kicking off next year. The latest development is that the matches that will be played at the World Cup will be played in full Stadiums even as the world continues to contain the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

The organizers of the Olympics tournament to be held in Tokyo have also insisted that they will go ahead with the tournament even though the virus is yet to be conquered. And with experts intervening and raising questions about the safety and security surrounding the event holding, new reports are now circulating that the tournament may end up not holding anymore.
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2022 FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR TO FEATURE FEMALE COMMENTATORS

The forthcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar football tournament that will be starting next year is not even underway yet but has attracted a whole lot of preparations. Starting from the organizers in the hosting country Qatar, down to the players of the countries that will be participating, and of course, the fans as well, there have been loads of preparations ongoing and there is still more to come.

The latest development that has surfaced is the news that there will be female commentators who will oversee the commentary at the World Cup next year. This is the first time in the history of football that it will be announced that commentaries will be handled by females at a major World Cup tournament since the inception of the competition.
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FIFA SET TO TEST CONCUSSION SUBSTITUTE

World football’s governing body, FIFA will test the new concussion substitute rule at the 2021 FIFA World Club Cup tournament in Qatar next month. Qatar are the World Cup 2022 hosts and the nation would also be playing host to the 2021 FIFA World Club Cup tournament which is scheduled to take place from February 1 to 10, 2021. FIFA announced that the new concussion substitute rule would be trialed at the upcoming World Club Cup tournament last week Friday.


The concussion substitute rule was made to protect the players and it is to prevent the second blow to the head of a player who has already been concussed. The use of concussion substitutes was approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) saddled with the responsibility of making the rules as far as football is concerned. The said rule was approved in December 2020.
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QATAR 2022: LOW CAN’T AFFORD MISTAKE

 

German national team boss Joachim Low is sitting on the knife edge as far as his job is concerned after a disappointing campaign in the UEFA Nations League this year. Joachim Low and his German players were beaten very well in their last game in the competition and that result has led to calls for Low to lose his job with many German football enthusiasts believing that his time as the German national football team manager has run its full course. Low and his players were beaten 6-0 by hosts Spain in their last UEFA Nations League match as the Spaniards piped them to qualification for the UEFA Nations League finals.


A draw away to Spain would have seen Germany qualify for the UEFA Nations League finals. Instead, the Germans went on to lose scandalously to their opponents as the country suffered their worst defeat since they started playing professional football. Continue reading “QATAR 2022: LOW CAN’T AFFORD MISTAKE”