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Assou-Ekotto was away on the break and Rafael clipped his heel. His first yellow being a bad tackle might also have had something to do with it.It was one of those challenges where you hope the ref keeps it in his pocket, but there is no way you can complain about getting the card.
He complained. Rooney complained. The commentators felt it was harsh. I feel it was harsh. So, yes. I can complain.
He figures to play.But barring injury, I'd be suprised if he didn't- the players and FAs are all aware that these internationals are huge business and a way of spreading the sport to markets like ours where they're weak(er).
Wow. That seems like a good fit- would be great to see more of him, and he'd get to join with a pretty lethal attacking group.
There's some bad news for Sunderland though - Darren Bent demanded a transfer and is likely going to Aston Villa
Getting £24m for Bent doesn't exactly sound like bad news.
very true.funny- I recently heard that sunderland was looking at a forward or two, and I was kinda confused given that they have Bent, Gyan and Wellbeck all in pretty good form. this makes sense.
) CONCACAF qualifying that loses the hexagonal and goes with:
No new official news on this front as far as I know.What a shame though to lose the USA/MEX qualifying games as those are great games. It's worth noting that both UEFA and COMEBOL get to see match-ups of the big teams on a regular basis (EUROs for UEFA and WC Qualification and Copa America for COMEBOL). Hell even Africa has a pretty big tourney (African Cup of Nations).I guess the upside is that CONCACAF thinks that this will force the Gold Cup to get big. Or that Copa America will expand a bit (and the US will actually send a first-rate team).The new (though according to Andres Cantor's twitter feed to be finalized tomorrow) CONCACAF qualifying that loses the hexagonal and goes with:8 groups of 4 (after 3 minnows are winnowed out) with the top 2 advancing to...4 groups of 4 with again 2 advancing to...2 groups of 4. If we get 4, the top 2 in each group would go to Brazil. If we get 3.5, the two group winners would advance, the 2 second place teams would play with the winner getting the 3rd spot and the loser going into the inter-confederation playoff for the other spot.It has the effect of giving more cames to the Carribean teams while keeping the overall load on the big boys (18 games) the same. Since it seems likely that they would reseed after each stage, the US and Mexico would almost certainly not meet in qualifying (only in the unlikely even that they both fell into the 2nd-place team playoff deal).-QG
From a purely US stand point, this new possible plan is horrendous.*US lose a marquee game, one that US Soccer badly needs for business purposes*US lose a marquee game, one that the fans love*If CONCACAF stays at 3.5 or less places, I think the likelihood of the US ending up in do or die home and home is significantly increased over the old Hexagonal.oiNo new official news on this front as far as I know.What a shame though to lose the USA/MEX qualifying games as those are great games. It's worth noting that both UEFA and COMEBOL get to see match-ups of the big teams on a regular basis (EUROs for UEFA and WC Qualification and Copa America for COMEBOL). Hell even Africa has a pretty big tourney (African Cup of Nations).I guess the upside is that CONCACAF thinks that this will force the Gold Cup to get big. Or that Copa America will expand a bit (and the US will actually send a first-rate team).The new (though according to Andres Cantor's twitter feed to be finalized tomorrow) CONCACAF qualifying that loses the hexagonal and goes with:8 groups of 4 (after 3 minnows are winnowed out) with the top 2 advancing to...4 groups of 4 with again 2 advancing to...2 groups of 4. If we get 4, the top 2 in each group would go to Brazil. If we get 3.5, the two group winners would advance, the 2 second place teams would play with the winner getting the 3rd spot and the loser going into the inter-confederation playoff for the other spot.It has the effect of giving more cames to the Carribean teams while keeping the overall load on the big boys (18 games) the same. Since it seems likely that they would reseed after each stage, the US and Mexico would almost certainly not meet in qualifying (only in the unlikely even that they both fell into the 2nd-place team playoff deal).-QG
As it stands now, their is no English language TV coverage for the upcoming game against Chile. Luckily Telefutura will be showing the game. Also ESPN3 will be showing the game online/There is no announced tv coverage yet for the Egypt game in any language.US Soccer is stating that ESPN2 will show the Argie game and the the ESPN Networks will be showing the Paraguay game (I guess that could mean ESPN Classic but not sure).
Exactly - people whose first reaction to this is "we don't play Mexico anymore, we'll never miss the cup now!" fail to take into account the MUCH smaller margin of error in having to win a 6 game round robin vs finishing top 3 in a 10 gamer. Now one bad result (and it wasnt that long ago that we were dropping home Q's to teams like Honduras) can put the entire campaign in jeopardy.From a purely US stand point, this new possible plan is horrendous.*US lose a marquee game, one that US Soccer badly needs for business purposes*US lose a marquee game, one that the fans love*If CONCACAF stays at 3.5 or less places, I think the likelihood of the US ending up in do or die home and home is significantly increased over the old Hexagonal.oiNo new official news on this front as far as I know.What a shame though to lose the USA/MEX qualifying games as those are great games. It's worth noting that both UEFA and COMEBOL get to see match-ups of the big teams on a regular basis (EUROs for UEFA and WC Qualification and Copa America for COMEBOL). Hell even Africa has a pretty big tourney (African Cup of Nations).I guess the upside is that CONCACAF thinks that this will force the Gold Cup to get big. Or that Copa America will expand a bit (and the US will actually send a first-rate team).The new (though according to Andres Cantor's twitter feed to be finalized tomorrow
yup. this is not good. I will certainly feel much better about this if CONCACAF can miraculously get the other .5 slot.Exactly - people whose first reaction to this is "we don't play Mexico anymore, we'll never miss the cup now!" fail to take into account the MUCH smaller margin of error in a 6 game round robin vs 10. Now one bad result (and it wasnt that long ago that we were dropping home Q's to teams like Honduras) can put the entire campaign in jeopardy.From a purely US stand point, this new possible plan is horrendous.*US lose a marquee game, one that US Soccer badly needs for business purposes*US lose a marquee game, one that the fans love*If CONCACAF stays at 3.5 or less places, I think the likelihood of the US ending up in do or die home and home is significantly increased over the old Hexagonal.oiNo new official news on this front as far as I know.What a shame though to lose the USA/MEX qualifying games as those are great games. It's worth noting that both UEFA and COMEBOL get to see match-ups of the big teams on a regular basis (EUROs for UEFA and WC Qualification and Copa America for COMEBOL). Hell even Africa has a pretty big tourney (African Cup of Nations).I guess the upside is that CONCACAF thinks that this will force the Gold Cup to get big. Or that Copa America will expand a bit (and the US will actually send a first-rate team).The new (though according to Andres Cantor's twitter feed to be finalized tomorrow
Part of me wonders if part of Jack Warner's price for voting for the Russia and/or Qatar World Cup over the US was getting the extra 0.5 spot, but I'm sure all it really took was a briefcase full of small unmarked bills.yup. this is not good. I will certainly feel much better about this if CONCACAF can miraculously get the other .5 slot.Exactly - people whose first reaction to this is "we don't play Mexico anymore, we'll never miss the cup now!" fail to take into account the MUCH smaller margin of error in a 6 game round robin vs 10. Now one bad result (and it wasnt that long ago that we were dropping home Q's to teams like Honduras) can put the entire campaign in jeopardy.From a purely US stand point, this new possible plan is horrendous.*US lose a marquee game, one that US Soccer badly needs for business purposes*US lose a marquee game, one that the fans love*If CONCACAF stays at 3.5 or less places, I think the likelihood of the US ending up in do or die home and home is significantly increased over the old Hexagonal.oiNo new official news on this front as far as I know.What a shame though to lose the USA/MEX qualifying games as those are great games. It's worth noting that both UEFA and COMEBOL get to see match-ups of the big teams on a regular basis (EUROs for UEFA and WC Qualification and Copa America for COMEBOL). Hell even Africa has a pretty big tourney (African Cup of Nations).I guess the upside is that CONCACAF thinks that this will force the Gold Cup to get big. Or that Copa America will expand a bit (and the US will actually send a first-rate team).The new (though according to Andres Cantor's twitter feed to be finalized tomorrow
Welbeck is on loan from MUFC
I know. And he's playing for Sunderland at least for this season. I honestly don't think these most of these teams are looking much past the year or maybe two at this point.
Nobody else thinks this is just Warner making some noise so it looks like he's actually doing something? I don't see the .5 spot happening, and certainly not because Warner wants it to, or at least is telling the press he wants it to. You know the other federations are fighting hard for that 1/2 spot too.I know we talked a lot about the new WCQ format when it was first announced, and we all agreed IIRC about Andy's points above. Now that we finally reached a point where WCQ was almost assured, the wrinkle appears limiting any slip-ups. And god forbid we actually DO get the Mexico game... that only means that one of US or Mexico flubbed it and both are at risk.
Being in this confederation, though, we really should never fail to qualify anyway. I agree that it looks a lot better if the 4th spot is added and the specter of up to 2 do-or-die playoffs goes away. Whichever group gets Costa Rica in that final round is going to be a scramble, of course, but still if we can't beat the teams in our region (aside from Mexico) most of the time are we really worthy?2/3 of the confederation being done after at most 4 games seems a bit weak to me
. I mean even San Marino and Andorra get their 8 or 10 games. The 4x4x4 system would help in that regard. Perhaps having the last round as an octagonal would be a compromise, except that would pack in way too many games (26 instead of 18 for qualifying). -QG
Damn... we talk about this every cycle, but I never remember how it goes down- that .5 playoff rotates in some manner, but I can't recall how. Does it have to do with previous WC showing for the region? Purely random?
Well considering it is FIFA, they likely make it up as they go.God knows how much money would have to change hands for the extra slot. I would love CONCACAF to get the extra .5 slot but who ever gets it, it should come from Africa. They have WAY too many slots for how they have performed.
No no no. FIFA has a very strict formula for how it works. I have no idea how you guys keep acting like this is anything but totally impartial. It's just math.Step 1: decide what result will beStep 2: build formula to achieve desired resultThis is the same method scientists use around the globe....right?Well considering it is FIFA, they likely make it up as they go.God knows how much money would have to change hands for the extra slot. I would love CONCACAF to get the extra .5 slot but who ever gets it, it should come from Africa. They have WAY too many slots for how they have performed.Damn... we talk about this every cycle, but I never remember how it goes down- that .5 playoff rotates in some manner, but I can't recall how. Does it have to do with previous WC showing for the region? Purely random?Well if the noise could get us New Zea... er I mean the Oceania qualifierin the playoff instead of CONMEBOL that would be an improvement over the current situation.-QG
Step 0: Hold out hands to get as much money as possible "For the good of the game"No no no. FIFA has a very strict formula for how it works. I have no idea how you guys keep acting like this is anything but totally impartial. It's just math.Step 1: decide what result will beStep 2: build formula to achieve desired resultThis is the same method scientists use around the globe....right?Well considering it is FIFA, they likely make it up as they go.God knows how much money would have to change hands for the extra slot. I would love CONCACAF to get the extra .5 slot but who ever gets it, it should come from Africa. They have WAY too many slots for how they have performed.Damn... we talk about this every cycle, but I never remember how it goes down- that .5 playoff rotates in some manner, but I can't recall how. Does it have to do with previous WC showing for the region? Purely random?Well if the noise could get us New Zea... er I mean the Oceania qualifierin the playoff instead of CONMEBOL that would be an improvement over the current situation.-QG
Whiner.
It makes my soul hurt because it's true.
It's spelled w-i-n-n-e-r.
Good for Sunderland. That's highway robbery for a player like Bent.
Wow. That's a ridiculous sum of money for a player of that caliber.
BTW, that was £24m, not $. I don't think he'll perform at that clip going forward and this will be looked at as a mistake by AV.
I honestly don't see how it won't be. Darren Bent is a terrific player, but £24m? Come on? He's even 26. It's not like they are even buying a young kid who may develop more. For reference, here are a few other transfer fees this year.Dzeko, £27m
The fee is £18M with another £6M in potential add-ons. I thought one of the reasons Martin O'Neill left was because management wouldn't give him a transfer budget last summer. Oh well, desperate times call for desperate measures.Timing isn't the best for Sunderland with Welbeck due for a minor knee operation but it's hard to pass up selling an asset at peak value.
oops.1-1 in the ManCity game
