Board 8 > June 01-14: World Cup Qualifying and CONCACAF Nations League

(+) Yeah! (+)

2022 World Cup Qualifying
June 01, 2022: Scotland vs. Ukraine
June 05, 2022: Wales vs. June 01, 2022 Winner
June 07, 2022: United Arab Emirates vs. Australia
June 13, 2022: Peru vs. June 07, 2022 Winner
June 14, 2022: Costa Rica vs. New Zealand

USA International Friendies
June 01, 2022: USA vs. Morocco
June 05, 2022: USA vs. Uruguay

CONCACAF Nations League
It is split up in 3 different match windows:
#1: June 2022 [Group Stage First Half]
#2: March 2023 [Group Stage Second Half]
#3: June 2023 [Knockout Stage]

In this first match window, total games played by each nation will be 2 or 3, depending on the draw position in each group.

Group A
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Mexico
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Jamaica
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Suriname

Group B
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Costa Rica
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Panama
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Martinique

Group C
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Canada
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Honduras
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Curacao

Group D
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD United States
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD El Salvador
00P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Grenada

June 02, 2022:
Panama vs. Costa Rica

June 03, 2022:
Curacao vs. Honduras

June 04, 2022:
Suriname vs. Jamaica
El Salvador vs. Grenada

June 05, 2022
Costa Rica vs. Martinique

June 06, 2022:
Honduras vs. Curacao

June 07, 2022:
Jamaica vs. Suriname
Grenada vs. El Salvador

June 09, 2022
Panama vs. Martinique
Canada vs. Curacao

June 10, 2022:
United States vs. Grenada

June 11, 2022:
Mexico vs. Suriname

June 12, 2022:
Martinique vs. Panama

June 13, 2022:
Honduras vs. Canada

June 14, 2022:
Jamaica vs. Mexico
El Salvador vs. United States

Definitely keeping an eye on qualifiers

Tomorrow's game with Ukraine vs. Scotland is going to be interesting!

I'll probably watch the friendly between USA and Morocco as well.

Finallisima is also tomorrow.

Europe has Nations League as well. We drew France in both that and the WC and the WC last time >_>

Current World Cup Qualification List [29]:
AFC [5.50.5*]
Host Nation: Qatar
Round 3 Group A 1st Place: Iran
Round 3 Group A 2nd Place: South Korea
Round 3 Group B 1st Place: Saudi Arabia
Round 3 Group B 2nd Place: Japan
AFC vs. CONMEBOL Playoff: (U.A.E or Australia)*
CAF [5]
Round 3 Fixture A: Senegal
Round 3 Fixture B: Cameroon
Round 3 Fixture C: Ghana
Round 3 Fixture D: Morocco
Round 3 Fixture E: Tunisia
CONCACAF [3.50.5*]
Round 3 Octagonal 1st Place: Canada
Round 3 Octagonal 2nd Place: Mexico
Round 3 Octagonal 3rd Place: United States
CONCACAF vs. OFC Playoff: Costa Rica*
CONMEBOL [4.50.5*]
Group Stage 1st Place: Brazil
Group Stage 2nd Place: Argentina
Group Stage 3rd Place: Uruguay
Group Stage 4th Place: Ecuador
AFC vs. CONMEBOL Playoff: Peru*
OFC [0.50.5*]
CONCACAF vs. OFC Playoff: New Zealand*
UEFA [12+1*]
Round 1 Group A: Serbia
Round 1 Group B: Spain
Round 1 Group C: Switzerland
Round 1 Group D: France
Round 1 Group E: Belgium
Round 1 Group F: Denmark
Round 1 Group G: Netherlands
Round 1 Group H: Croatia
Round 1 Group I: England
Round 1 Group J: Germany
Round 2 Path A: (Ukraine or Scotland or Wales)*
Round 2 Path B: Poland
Round 2 Path C: Portugal

Today's matches:

World Cup Qualifying: Ukraine vs. Scotland

International Friendly: United States vs. Morocco

Final: Ukraine 3 - 1 Scotland

During the majority of the match, Scotland looked really flat, and only really came to life towards the end of the game. Too little too late as the saying goes? Pretty much.

2022 World Cup Qualifying
June 01, 2022: Scotland 1 - 3 Ukraine
June 05, 2022: Wales vs. Ukraine
June 07, 2022: United Arab Emirates vs. Australia
June 13, 2022: Peru vs. June 07, 2022 Winner
June 14, 2022: Costa Rica vs. New Zealand

A slight adjustment can be made to this, crossing Scotland off the UEFA list:

Current World Cup Qualification List [29]:
AFC [5.50.5*]
Host Nation: Qatar
Round 3 Group A 1st Place: Iran
Round 3 Group A 2nd Place: South Korea
Round 3 Group B 1st Place: Saudi Arabia
Round 3 Group B 2nd Place: Japan
AFC vs. CONMEBOL Playoff: (U.A.E. or Australia)*
CAF [5]
Round 3 Fixture A: Senegal
Round 3 Fixture B: Cameroon
Round 3 Fixture C: Ghana
Round 3 Fixture D: Morocco
Round 3 Fixture E: Tunisia
CONCACAF [3.50.5*]
Round 3 Octagonal 1st Place: Canada
Round 3 Octagonal 2nd Place: Mexico
Round 3 Octagonal 3rd Place: United States
CONCACAF vs. OFC Playoff: Costa Rica*
CONMEBOL [4.50.5*]
Group Stage 1st Place: Brazil
Group Stage 2nd Place: Argentina
Group Stage 3rd Place: Uruguay
Group Stage 4th Place: Ecuador
AFC vs. CONMEBOL Playoff: Peru*
OFC [0.50.5*]
CONCACAF vs. OFC Playoff: New Zealand*
UEFA [12+1*]
Round 1 Group A: Serbia
Round 1 Group B: Spain
Round 1 Group C: Switzerland
Round 1 Group D: France
Round 1 Group E: Belgium
Round 1 Group F: Denmark
Round 1 Group G: Netherlands
Round 1 Group H: Croatia
Round 1 Group I: England
Round 1 Group J: Germany
Round 2 Path A: (Ukraine or Wales)*
Round 2 Path B: Poland
Round 2 Path C: Portugal

Argentina completely humiliated Italy.

Chiellini's last ever international has him taken off in the break for getting torn apart by Argentina's offensive. Didn't expect him to be on the full game, but it would've been nice to have him substituted while the crowd could cheer him off.

I hate being the villain against the plucky little team with the inspiring story, especially if that team is probably better than us. I'd really have preferred playing Scotland, and I think Scotland are probably the weaker team too.

Was hoping to see Scotland qualify for the World Cup. Guess i'll have to settle for Wales now despite not liking them. Nothing against Ukraine or anything but i don't wanna be stuck in a world cup group with them. England, the US and Iran are all gonna be made to look like bad guys if we dump them out in the group stage.

Final: United States 3 - 0 Morocco

Morocco had a tough game tonight. Even after being awarded a penalty shot late in the second half, the kick was high enough to deflect off the upper cross bar and away from the net.

Meanwhile, USA had a quite a performance, taking a 2 - 0 by half time, and converting on an awarded penalty to go up 3 - 0 for the rest of the game.

Panama vs. Costa Rica

Today, Costa Rica plays one of two games in the Nations League before taking on New Zealand for the world cup spot on the 14th.

I find it funny everyone is saying how fresh the players will be for this World Cup because it's in the middle of the season. But non of the players are getting a summer break because they're playing matches for most of it.

CONCACAF Nations League

Group A
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Mexico
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Jamaica
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Suriname

Group B
3P 1W 0D 0L 02GF 00GA +2GD Panama
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Martinique
0P 0W 0D 1L 00GF 02GA -2GD Costa Rica

Group C
3P 1W 0D 0L 01GF 00GA +1GD Honduras
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Canada
0P 0W 0D 1L 00GF 01GA -1GD Curacao

Group D
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD United States
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD El Salvador
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Grenada

June 02, 2022:
Panama 2 - 0 Costa Rica

Hopefully Costa Rica doesn't have that same showing against New Zealand on June 14, otherwise they will be out of the world cup. A bit surprising, but, it's only one game. Even USA lost to Canada in the previous edition of the Nations League group stage.

June 03, 2022:
Curacao 0 - 1 Honduras

Honduras gets their first win in a long time. In World Cup qualifying, they got blanked on wins, going:

0W-4D-10L

A really tough go, so, congratulations to Honduras to break free from that tough stretch.

Two games today:

June 04, 2022:
Suriname vs. Jamaica
El Salvador vs. Grenada

ctesjbuvf posted...

Europe has Nations League as well. We drew France in both that and the WC and the WC last time >_>

But started out beating them at their homeground, after being down, woo!

You always have to take matches outside of major tournaments with a grain of salt.

"Even USA lost to Canada"

uhhh

Why can't we send our A team to friendlies in Europe instead of this Nations League thing?

The World Cup being moved to Winter has really messed everything up. Everyone in Europe and North America is being forced to play Nations League games instead of trying to get some experience against other nations. They've effectively said you've got this Summer to finalise your WC squads and then a week before it starts to make them gel.

Not Dave, USA lost 0-2 against Canada in their second game of the 2019-2020 edition of the Nations League, finishing the group stage with a record of 3W-0D-1L. Canada had the same record, but USA advanced to the Knockout Stage with a higher Goal Differential: +12 vs. +6.

CONCACAF Nations League

A = Advance to Knock Stage
Q = Qualified for 2023 Gold Cup
R = Regulated to League B+Preliminary 2023 Gold Cup Round

Group A
1P 0W 1D 0L 01GF 01GA +0GD Jamaica
1P 0W 1D 0L 01GF 01GA +0GD Suriname
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Mexico

Group B
3P 1W 0D 0L 02GF 00GA +2GD Panama
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Martinique
0P 0W 0D 1L 00GF 02GA -2GD Costa Rica

Group C
3P 1W 0D 0L 01GF 00GA +1GD Honduras
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Canada
0P 0W 0D 1L 00GF 01GA -1GD Curacao

Group D
3P 1W 0D 0L 03GF 01GA +2GD El Salvador
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD United States
0P 0W 0D 1L 01GF 03GA -2GD Grenada

June 04, 2022:
Suriname 1 - 1 Jamaica
El Salvador 3 - 1 Grenada

Today's Games:

World Cup Qualifying
June 05, 2022: Wales vs. Ukraine

CONCACAF Nations League
Costa Rica vs. Martinique

International Friendly
United States vs. Uruguay

I'm absolutely shitting it for tonight. Not been back to Wales for a few years and I'm missing it badly for this one, Cardiff is gonna be absolutely bonkers. Looking forward to crying in a few hours regardless of the result.

Feel really bad for that Ukraine player who scored the own goal that ultimately gave Wales the win.

2022 World Cup Qualifying
June 01, 2022: Scotland 1 - 3 Ukraine
June 05, 2022: Wales 1 - 0 Ukraine
June 07, 2022: United Arab Emirates vs. Australia
June 13, 2022: Peru vs. June 07, 2022 Winner
June 14, 2022: Costa Rica vs. New Zealand

Despite all of the pressure by Ukraine, that one Own Goal proved to be fatal, and game winning for Wales.

I never thought I'd see us qualify for a World Cup in my life. Euro 2016 was one of the few bright spots in a horrible few years for me and I still don't know if that beats this. Almost seventy fucking years since we got to a World Cup. We were dragged through that game by a bloke from my hometown and my club. Couldn't be prouder and I just wish my dad could see it. Cymru am byth.

Current World Cup Qualification List [30]:
AFC [5.50.5*]
Host Nation: Qatar
Round 3 Group A 1st Place: Iran
Round 3 Group A 2nd Place: South Korea
Round 3 Group B 1st Place: Saudi Arabia
Round 3 Group B 2nd Place: Japan
AFC vs. CONMEBOL Playoff: (U.A.E. or Australia)*
CAF [5]
Round 3 Fixture A: Senegal
Round 3 Fixture B: Cameroon
Round 3 Fixture C: Ghana
Round 3 Fixture D: Morocco
Round 3 Fixture E: Tunisia
CONCACAF [3.50.5*]
Round 3 Octagonal 1st Place: Canada
Round 3 Octagonal 2nd Place: Mexico
Round 3 Octagonal 3rd Place: United States
CONCACAF vs. OFC Playoff: Costa Rica*
CONMEBOL [4.50.5*]
Group Stage 1st Place: Brazil
Group Stage 2nd Place: Argentina
Group Stage 3rd Place: Uruguay
Group Stage 4th Place: Ecuador
AFC vs. CONMEBOL Playoff: Peru*
OFC [0.50.5*]
CONCACAF vs. OFC Playoff: New Zealand*
UEFA [13]
Round 1 Group A: Serbia
Round 1 Group B: Spain
Round 1 Group C: Switzerland
Round 1 Group D: France
Round 1 Group E: Belgium
Round 1 Group F: Denmark
Round 1 Group G: Netherlands
Round 1 Group H: Croatia
Round 1 Group I: England
Round 1 Group J: Germany
Round 2 Path A: Wales
Round 2 Path B: Poland
Round 2 Path C: Portugal

Group B for the World Cup is complete:

Game 1:
England vs. Iran
United States vs. Wales

Game 2:
England vs. United States
Wales vs. Iran

Game 3:
Wales vs. England
Iran vs. United States

Hope Wales beats the U.S. in Game 1 there, would rather they make R16 and would also create more hype for the Game 2 matchups & the Game 3 geopolitical grudge matches

The group is looking incredibly interesting and i don't think England winning it is as cut and dry as all the experts seem to think. I'll be shocked if that last game in the group with Wales is a dead rubber.

Group B could be pretty unpredictable. Wales could potentially give USA more issues than they think.

International Friendly Result:
United States 0 - 0 Uruguay

Both sides showed danger throughout the match, and Uruguay could of put the game away in the waning seconds of the game, but, kicked a bit too much to the right of the net.

There was some confusion over substitutions, where the Uruguay team thought there was no limit on subs, as they took one more than was allowed.

CONCACAF Nations League

A = Advance to Knock Stage
Q = Qualified for 2023 Gold Cup
R = Regulated to League B+Preliminary 2023 Gold Cup Round

Group A
1P 0W 1D 0L 01GF 01GA +0GD Jamaica
1P 0W 1D 0L 01GF 01GA +0GD Suriname
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Mexico

Group B
3P 1W 0D 0L 02GF 00GA +2GD Panama
3P 1W 0D 1L 02GF 02GA +0GD Costa Rica
0P 0W 0D 1L 00GF 02GA -2GD Martinique

Group C
3P 1W 0D 0L 01GF 00GA +1GD Honduras
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Canada
0P 0W 0D 1L 00GF 01GA -1GD Curacao

Group D
3P 1W 0D 0L 03GF 01GA +2GD El Salvador
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD United States
0P 0W 0D 1L 01GF 03GA -2GD Grenada

June 05, 2022:
Costa Rica 2 - 0 Martinique

Costa Rica breaks even on Goal Differential and picks up a win after losing to Panama in Game 1. Up next is World Cup Qualifying on June 14 against New Zealand.

Tomorrow's match is:
Honduras vs. Curacao

Can Honduras pick up a second win and move up to 6 points in the group? We shall see.

Sweet

Have tickets for England's first two games and Wales'. Was gonna pass on the Wales ones if they had lost last night.

Yeah XIII_rocks, Wales pulled it off, and only their second appearance in the World Cup since 1958. 64 years is a long time to qualify!

So, what would happen in 1958? Looking it up, the group stage had Wales Draw 3 consecutive times:
Hungary 1 - 1 Wales
Mexico 1 - 1 Wales
Sweden 0 - 0 Wales

Because the goal differential rule was not implemented then, Wales and Hungary played a playoff match to determine second place, and advancement to the Knockout Stage. There, Wales would win:
Wales 2 - 1 Hungary

The Knockout Stage would end Wales run however:
Brazil 1 - 0 Wales

[Also, on a side note, wins counted as 2 points in the Group Stage instead of 3.]

The 1958 Group Wales was in had the following results:

5P 2W 1D 0L 5GF 1GA Sweden
3P 0W 3D 0L 2GF 2GA Wales
3P 1W 1D 1L 6GF 3GA Hungary
1P 0W 1D 2L 1GF 8GA Mexico

Once again, Goal Differential did not matter.

CONCACAF Nations League

A = Advance to Knock Stage
Q = Qualified for 2023 Gold Cup
R = Regulated to League B+Preliminary 2023 Gold Cup Round

Group A
1P 0W 1D 0L 01GF 01GA +0GD Jamaica
1P 0W 1D 0L 01GF 01GA +0GD Suriname
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Mexico

Group B
3P 1W 0D 0L 02GF 00GA +2GD Panama
3P 1W 0D 1L 02GF 02GA +0GD Costa Rica
0P 0W 0D 1L 00GF 02GA -2GD Martinique

Group C
3P 1W 0D 1L 02GF 02GA +0GD Honduras
3P 1W 0D 1L 02GF 02GA +0GD Curacao
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD Canada

Group D
3P 1W 0D 0L 03GF 01GA +2GD El Salvador
0P 0W 0D 0L 00GF 00GA +0GD United States
0P 0W 0D 1L 01GF 03GA -2GD Grenada

June 06, 2022:
Honduras 1 - 2 Curacao

Curacao gets a win and levels with Honduras on points and goal differential.

Today's games:

World Cup Qualifying
United Arab Emirates vs. Australia

CONCACAF Nations League
Grenada vs. El Salvador
Jamaica vs. Suriname

What happened to Honduras? They use to be in the tier with Costa Rica right below Mexico/United States and now they have fallen back into the pack.

I'm not sure why Honduras has suffered such a decline. Between the World Cup Qualifiers and the 2 Nations League matches, only recording 1 win out of 16 games is concerning.

I think a lot of the countries outside of Europe that are in that 'not quite good enough to qualify' camp will have a bit more of a spring in their step during the next WC cycle. They've given that many places away you pretty much only need a half decent team to qualify in most regions.

Nations League going great so far, leading the group 6-3-1-1 having only played away matches.

shane15 posted...

I think a lot of the countries outside of Europe that are in that 'not quite good enough to qualify' camp will have a bit more of a spring in their step during the next WC cycle. They've given that many places away you pretty much only need a half decent team to qualify in most regions.

I mean, 2026 will be a 48 team tournament, that's almost a quarter of all national teams, no doubt there will be a drop in quality.

I do think Europe should have been given more spots. Remove one from Asia and CONCACAF and give it to Europe. Also give Europe a spot to compete in the play-offs.

Europe has been completely screwed over. It'll be just as hard to qualify in 4 years as it is now. I agree Asia and North America don't deserve 6 spots each either. South America is kinda stupid as well but at least they do have a bit more quality. That extra mini tournament at the end is basically giving South America a 7th spot as the rest of the competition will be incredibly weak.

I feel one of the reasons why there's a play-off tournament is because it would look bad to give South America seven quotas for ten teams, even if the quality is there.

The worst South Americans team is leagues better than the bad teams in every other continent. It definitely makes sense to represent them more, but the allocations is not exactly something there exists a perfect solution to.

Yeah I understand they really want to put the "World" in World Cup and give lots of countries a shot, but realistically the 17th team in UEFA is going to be better than the (vast?) majority of non-CONMEBOL qualifiers. It's a tough break, for sure.

I wonder if Australia will try to get moved out of AFC and back to OFC now that there's the guaranteed spot and only New Zealand in their way there, lol... well, not that qualifying out of the AFC with the expanded slots would be an issue for them either.