Saturday, June 2, 2018

Spain 2018 World Cup team guide: tactics, key players and expert predictions

Spain 2018 World Cup team guide: tactics, key players and expert predictions
La Roja are smiling again. After going out in the group stage at the 2014 World Cup and the defeats at Euro 2016, Spain have bounced back in the past year and head to Russia looking a little more like the side who won three successive major tournaments between 2008 and 2012. Julen Lopetegui, who took over from Vicente del Bosque after Euro 2016, has reinvigorated the team without having to start afresh.

It is extraordinary that Spain have managed to find form with the same backbone that was there at their lowest point. Eight of the players who were in the side knocked out by Italy at the European Championship played a key role in the qualification stage for Russia (David de Gea, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, David Silva and Álvaro Morata).
If the World Cup were to start tomorrow, it is most likely that seven of those would be in the starting XI, with only Morata missing out. The remaining positions would probably be taken by Koke and Thiago Alcântara (both in the squad in 2016), Dani Carvajal (who was injured), Isco and Diego Costa. In other words, the thread through the past decade remains intact in the shape of Ramos, Iniesta and Silva. That trio have been on board since winning Euro 2008 in Vienna.
Over the last year Spain have been rejuvenated while keeping the same playing style. Although Lopetegui has been flexible, the team continue to cherish one thing above all else: the ball. It’s all about the ball. Their passing style remains in place thanks to an enlightened group of midfielders: Busquets, Thiago, Iniesta, Isco and Silva.
The only point of departure is up front. David Villa and to a lesser extent Fernando Torres have been the only forwards who have settled well with the tiki-taka style. Spain have played at their best using a false forward concealed among the midfielders, whether that was Cesc Fàbregas in the past or Marco Asensio now.
Since Costa was unable to play for Atlético Madrid until January, Morata spearheaded the attack after his explosive start to the club season. But the Chelsea player seemed to lose form more or less at the time when Costa was able to reappear. Costa, however, has not managed to fit in. He has difficulty getting involved in a game that flows pass after pass. Iago Aspas and Rodrigo are better suited.
Attack is where Lopetegui still needs to fit in the final pieces of the jigsaw. The rest of the squad is as easy to recognise as those of 2008, 2010 and 2012. No revolution is required, La Roja are Spain once again, but they’ll need to prove this on the grandest stage. 
Probable starting XI

Which player is going to surprise everyone at the World Cup?
Isco, who was key in Spain’s qualifiers, will play in his first international tournament at a great time for his development. He has matured immeasurably and is a great fit for this side’s mentality with his astute decision-making. He is a top-class dribbler and very good with his final pass. On top of that hehas very good movement in the area between the midfielders and the strikers.
Which player is likely to disappoint?
With David Villa in the United States, Spain have played well without an orthodox striker. Diego Costa hasn’t quite settled and that is why he may struggle in Russia. He has found it difficult to connect with the midfielders – it seems as if Costa likes heavy metal when his team-mates prefers classical music.
What is the realistic aim for Spain at the World Cup 2018 and why?
La Roja has a squad to reach the final stages of the tournament. After the disappointments in Brazil (2014) and France (2016), the team have become competitive again. Lopetegui has kept the spine of the team and added, with great care, players such as Isco, Asensio, Lucas, Saúl, Aspas and Rodrigo. Spain can hope for the best again.

 Source:TheGuardian

Read more »
By at No comments:

World Football Cup an alternative to Fifa and a lesson in geopolitics

World Football Cup an alternative to Fifa and a lesson in geopolitics
World’s dispossessed and never-will-be nations have been brought together in a tournament hosted by a small Somali port but being played in London

The World Football Cup began in London this week with a match at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. This statement is true but may need clarification: it might sound like a report from a parallel universe in which the Fifa nobs sent their 2018 tournament to England not Russia.
The World Football Cup is not quite the actual World Cup. It is not even a consolation event for the countries temporarily locked out of the World Cup, those obscure places such as Italy, the Netherlands and the United States, who failed to qualify. It is more of a consolation prize in life.
It is for those places locked out of Fifa and, in almost every case, the international community as a whole: the world’s outcasts, the dispossessed, the not-quite nations, the once-were nations and in many cases never-will-be nations. Some are not geographical entities at all, such as Japan’s Korean minority. Some are intermittently, and almost always unhappily, in the news: like the Romany people and the Rohingya of Myanmar (neither of whom qualified).

There is also an undercurrent of humour and satire. Among the 47 members of the Confederation of International Football Associations (Conifa) are Yorkshire, admitted too late for this tournament, and Cascadia, a greenish, libertarian, un-Trumpian confection with a slight whiff of dope, covering British Columbia and the north-western states of the US.
But the overwhelming theme is tragedy. The opening match at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium was between the reigning champions, Abkhazia (a breakaway from former Soviet Georgia), and Tibet. Hardly any of the Tibetan players or supporters have even been there. Their parents and grandparents were forced into exile after China invaded their country in 1951. “These players live all over the world,” says Tenzin Kunga from the unofficial Tibetan embassy in London. “But they are all Tibetans. I have never been there myself. But I dream of Tibet, always.”
The stadium was not quite as grand as the royal name suggests. This was the home ground of non-league Enfield Town, less pretentiously known as Donkey Lane. About 300 people turned up to watch, first, Tibet bravely restrict Abkhazia to three goals and then Northern Cyprus, the Cypriot Turks, take on Karpatalya in a skilful and combative match that ended in a sending-off, a punch-up and a 1-1 draw.
The Turkish half of Cyprus, unrecognised by the world, has 32 teams in two leagues (“Not professional,” I was told, “but the players are well-paid”). They cannot even play against anyone from their protectors, Turkey, because even President Erdoğan quails before Fifa’s rules.
Karpatalya, or Carpathian Ruthenia, is a Hungarian-speaking enclave, known to historians as the shortest-lived state in history. It declared itself independent from Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 and was annexed by Hungary the next day.

It is now in Ukraine, which tries to stop the people speaking their own language. Or so their only visible supporters, two passing Hungarians, told the locals on the terraces, who were themselves the kind of affable, mildly eccentric types that somehow gravitate towards non-league grounds. They went to a football match and a geopolitics lesson broke out. The World Football Cup is like that.
It is a biennial event and this is its third rendition. There had been a predecessor body to Conifa but it collapsed in 2010. The leading lights in its revival were Per-Anders Blind, a referee (he makes the joke first – “I’m the blind ref”) who is a Sami from Swedish Lapland, and Sascha Düerkop, a German football shirt collector who, having completed the Fifa set, was working his way through the non-Fifa teams and thus had the best contacts.
Conifa has 47 members, 16 of whom qualified for this tournament which, in a strange, very Conifa way, is theoretically not taking place in London at all. The official host is Barawa, a small port in southern Somalia with its own culture and language – closer to Swahili than Somali. But Somalia’s troubles mean the Barawa FA is now based in London.
At Bromley on Thursday evening, after the official opening ceremony, the Barawans played and mashed Tamil Eelam, representing Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, who struggled on the unfamiliar artificial turf. But the parade beforehand was competitive, if haphazard. The Matabeles, who crowdfunded their journey, were notably joyful. There was a lone flagbearer from Western Sahara, which does not actually have a team here, but hey, this is Conifa. Cascadia marched behind a flagbearer wearing a bow tie and boater. “Who’s oppressing the Cascadians?” I asked him. “Anyone who harms the planet,” he replied.
There was the team from Tuvalu, the tiny Pacific island group that would be eligible for Fifa except, according to the Tuvalu FA president, Soseala Tinilau, that they do not have enough stadium or hotel capacity. Fifa membership brings money. But they need money to qualify for membership. Milo Minderbinder would understand.
But the Tibetans marched first and a plangent Tibetan band provided the pre-match entertainment. Tragedy is never far from the surface at Conifa. Tamil Eelam suffered a long and bloody civil war, as did Matabeleland. The tournament generates opposition too. A few Georgians turned up at Enfield to object to the separatist Abkhazians; the (Greek) Cypriot government wrote to Enfield council to try to thwart their Turkish neighbours.
The Chinese work more subtly to suppress Tibetan nationalism. There is one main sponsor for the tournament, the bookmakers Paddy Power, a firm that relishes the original. There would have been others, says the organiser, Paul Watson. “We were talking to several firms about sponsorship that would have totalled six figures. But at quite a late stage they each came to us and said: ‘Um, yes, but you have to take Tibet out.’ We’d underestimated the difficulty of coming up against China and the Fifa network.”
“So what did you do?” I asked.
“Obviously we refused to comply,” said Watson.
“Obviously?”
“If we haven’t got our principles, what are we?” The same as everyone else in football, one might say.

Beforehand, the Tibetans found that potential practice games in Germany suddenly dematerialised. And their UK visas, though they came through in the end, were held up for two months.
This tournament makes one think hard about what we mean by nationality as a concept, as Britain has had to do twice in the past four years, over the Scottish referendum and then Brexit. If Yorkshire really wanted independence then, in the end, it would have to have it. The same is true for Catalonia (not members of Conifa) and the Québécois (who are).
But elsewhere in the world it does not work that way. “We don’t refer to teams as countries,” says Watson. “We call them members. They are effectively identities. What links them is that their identity is expressed by their own labels and not the countries they belong to.
“Countries are often just historic flukes. One broad stroke on a map and a peace treaty a hundred years ago. Does that make a country? We don’t claim to have the answer but it’s worth asking the question.”

Blind, now Conifa’s president, admits these matters are becoming problematic. Some frivolous applications are being rejected: the North Sea fort of Sealand, once a pirate radio station, was brushed aside. “We have stopped chasing new members because we are getting applicants every month,” he says. “The latest are the Albanians living in Greece.
“Maybe we will have to change, have different categories of membership. But we are one human race and here we have a global platform for the people of the world. Football is a tool for people to express themselves because it’s a universal language.”
Conifa also offers a testbed for footballing ideas. The referees are armed with green cards as well as red and yellow ones. These are derived from black cards, as used in Gaelic sport as a halfway house: the player is sent off but can be replaced, so the team as a whole is not punished. Mark Clattenburg, the former Premier League referee, who puts himself about and will handle the final next Saturday, agreed the experiment with Paddy Power.
If top-level referees do need a third option, I would vote for summary execution myself. But perhaps it is the right course here where proximity could breed a sense of collegiality unknown to modern professionals. These players are staying together in a four-to-a-room hostel in north London. Improbable friendships may arise. Those at the most put-upon end of the spectrum may discover young men from very different places whose experiences and cultural yearnings and sense of displacement match their own.

I hope they have fun too. The presence of Paddy Power means there is even a betting market. Ellan Vannin – the Isle of Man – have been made 13-8 favourites. I quite fancy the Carpathians as a longshot. Maybe their day will come. For the second time.
Maybe, though, the world does not work that way. Ragesh Nambiar, the UK-based Tamil Eelam coach, has a sideline giving talks to schools on behalf of Amnesty. One of his riffs is to stage a mock football match where he plays the role of the most biased referee imaginable. The aim is to teach kids about the unfairness of life.


Source:The Guardian
Read more »
By at No comments:

WORLD CUP 2018: TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS OPENS UP CHEAPER TRAVEL OPTIONS FOR ENGLAND FANS

WORLD CUP 2018: TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS OPENS UP CHEAPER TRAVEL OPTIONS FOR ENGLAND FANS
England fans heading to Russia for the World Cup have an alternative to high-priced flights: a 40-hour Trans-Europe Express journey by rail from London to Moscow.

This late-notice option has come about because, from Monday, Belarus will relax its normally onerous and expensive visa rules for bona fide football supporters.

Belarus has the toughest visa rules for any European country bar Russia itself.

The Foreign Office has announced that British travellers with the right papers “will be able to enter and transit Belarus through any international border checkpoint without a visa”.

They must present a valid British passport, a match ticket and a “Fan-ID” – the identification document issued on demand to fans who have bought tickets.

The details will be cross-checked against Fifa’s ticketing database. Similar regulations are in effect at Russian frontier controls during the tournament.

The eased border rules will make it much easier. Most direct rail or road routes from the UK to Moscow run through Berlin, Warsaw and the Belarus capital, Minsk. But normally a transit visa is required in each direction. It takes a week to obtain and costs a minimum of €60 (£53).

The Belarus embassy in London also demands two blank pages in the traveller’s passport and a health insurance certificate.

For the duration of the World Cup, which ends on 15 July, fans will be able to travel through the country – and experience its modest charms – en route to Moscow.

England fans will be able to change in the Russian capital for Volgograd, where the team’s campaign kicks off against Tunisia on 18 June, and Nizhny Novgorod – venue for the Panama match on 24 June.

The final Group G game, against Belgium, takes place in Kaliningrad on 28 June. This is an exclave of Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania, and does not require a transit through Belarus.

The fastest journey from London St Pancras to Moscow’s Belorussky station takes just under 40 hours, with changes in Paris and Strasbourg, then Offenburg, Frankfurt, Gottingen and Berlin in Germany, followed by the Polish capital, Warsaw, and Wjasma in Russia.

But Mark Smith, the international rail guru who runs the Seat 61 website, recommends the Paris-Moscow Express. This Russian Railways train departs from the French capital each Thursday and arrives in Moscow on Saturday morning. Passengers sharing a four-berth sleeper pay €313 (£276) one way. Connections from London on Eurostar start at around £56, booking two weeks ahead.






So heavy is demand for flights to Moscow for the tournament that, at the time of writing, British Airways had no economy seats on Saturday 16 June, and only three premium economy spaces at £949 one-way.

A spokesperson for BA said: “We’re all behind the England football team and, with three flights a day to Moscow and one to St Petersburg, we’re excited to be the airline of choice for a huge number of football fans flying out to the World Cup.

“To make sure as many fans as possible are able to travel, we’ve added larger aircraft on these routes in June and July.

“To take advantage of our best-value deals most fans booked well ahead of time, but for those who haven’t, a very limited number of seats are still up for grabs.”

Hotel rates are also soaring for England fans. The Independent has identified rate rises of 18,000 per cent for the team’s final group match.

Belarus has this year sought to boost tourism by offering a limited five-day visa-free stay for travellers who fly in to the capital, Minsk. It uses the slogan: “Your new birthday is here”.



Source:Independent
Read more »
By at No comments:

France World Cup squad: Didier Deschamps satisfied with preparations so far after warm-up win over Italy

France World Cup squad: Didier Deschamps satisfied with preparations so far after warm-up win over Italy
France manager Didier Deschamps said he is satisfied with his side's preparations for the World Cup after beating Italy 3-1 in a friendly.

Samuel Umtiti, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele scored for Les Blues at the Allianz Riviera in Nice with Leonardo Bonucci scoring for the Italians.

But Deschamps admits his side still have some work to do before they travel to Russia.

"We conceded more situations in the second period," he said afterwards. "We have this ability to go fast and create a lot of opportunities. You have to be more efficient to get away sooner. The players demonstrated the state of mind that is needed in both games.




"A last part of preparation awaits us. I'll let them go for two days. We need to keep what this group has in terms of ambition and enthusiasm. We do not do everything perfectly, but for the moment it's satisfactory."

Italy manager Roberto Mancini was pleased with how his young side dealt with a France team tipped to do well in the World Cup.

"We made a few mistakes, but France are one of the best teams in the world right now and I am satisfied with the performance," Mancini said in quotes published by Football Italia.

"It is only natural we have to improve, but I had real hope we'd score for 2-2 at the start of the second half.

"Instead, we misplaced a pass in midfield and France scored on the counter. Our opponents deserved the victory in the end.

"I believe these games, which nobody likes to lose but we assumed could happen, will help players such as Chiesa, Berardi and Caldara to grow both physically and in terms of character. I did not see fear in their eyes before the game."

 Source:Independent
Read more »
By at No comments:

Nigeria World Cup 2018 kit: Home Nike shirt sold out in minutes as fans queue around the block

Nigeria World Cup 2018 kit: Home Nike shirt sold out in minutes as fans queue around the block
The new Nigeria home kit to be worn at the World Cup 2018 in Russia was sold out minutes after its release on Friday morning as hundreds of fans queued outside London’s NikeTown store in Oxford Street.

The kit, modelled by Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi amongst others, has been hailed as the best kit of all of those to be seen in Russia this summer, with Nike having to push the release date back earlier this week due to such high demand.

Nike had already received three million pre-order for the shirt before it officially went on sale on Friday.




And the demand is so high that the kit sold out in minutes and is now unavailable to buy on the Nike website.

The away kit is also now sold out, along with the training kit, which has a similar design to the home kit, two different types of training jackets and floral joggers.


The shirt alone is priced by Nike at £64.95 and will likely be seen for the first time in action on Saturday evening when Nigeria face England at Wembley in the first of their World Cup qualifiers.

The kit was deliberately one of the last released for the World Cup, with the Nigeria Football Federation attempting to avoid the spread of fake replicas throughout the country.
Source:Independent
Read more »
By at No comments:

World Cup 2018 fixtures: Dates and full match schedule

World Cup 2018 fixtures: Dates and full match schedule
World Cup 2018 fixtures: Full schedule and match dates 


The Russia World Cup 2018 is now under two weeks away - with the excitement building, you can start planning your summer months of football viewing.
Last December's draw put England in Group G with Belgium, Tunisia and Panama and all three of the games have been scheduled at times which will please office workers country-wide.
The full World Cup fixture schedule is below, with timings, venues and TV channels included.
All times BST. Local times are BST +2 apart from games played in Kaliningrad (+1), Samara (+3) and Ekaterinburg (+4). 

Group stages

Thursday 14 June

Russia vs Saudi Arabia (Group A) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 4pm - ITV

Friday 15 June

Egypt vs Uruguay (Group A) - Ekaterinburg - 1pm - BBC
Morocco vs Iran (Group B) - St Petersburg - 4pm - ITV
Portugal vs Spain (Group B) - Sochi - 7pm - BBC

Saturday 16 June

France vs Australia (Group C) - Kazan - 11am - BBC
Argentina vs Iceland (Group D) - Moscow (Spartak) - 2pm - ITV
Peru vs Denmark (Group C) - Saransk - 5pm - BBC
Croatia vs Nigeria (Group D) - Kaliningrad - 8pm - ITV

Sunday 17 June

Costa Rica vs Serbia (Group E) - Samara - 1pm - ITV
Germany vs Mexico (Group F) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 4pm - BBC
Brazil vs Switzerland (Group E) - Rostov-on-Don - 7pm - ITV

Monday 18 June

Sweden vs South Korea (Group F) - Nizhny Novgorod - 1pm - ITV
Belgium vs Panama (Group G) - Sochi - 4pm - BBC
Tunisia vs England (Group G) - Volgograd - 7pm - BBC

Tuesday 19 June

Colombia vs Japan (Group H) - Saransk - 1pm - BBC
Poland vs Senegal (Group H) - Moscow (Spartak) - 4pm - ITV
Russia vs Egypt (Group A) - St Petersburg - 7pm - BBC

Wednesday 20 June

Portugal vs Morocco (Group B) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 1pm - BBC
Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia (Group A) - Rostov-on-Don - 4pm - BBC
Iran vs Spain (Group B) - Kazan - 7pm - ITV

Thursday 21 June

Denmark vs Australia (Group C) - Samara - 1pm - ITV
France vs Peru (Group C) - Ekaterinburg - 4pm - ITV
Argentina vs Croatia (Group D) - Nizhny Novgorod - 7pm - BBC

Friday 22 June

Brazil vs Costa Rica (Group E) - St Petersburg - 1pm - ITV
Nigeria vs Iceland (Group D) - Volgograd - 4pm - BBC
Serbia vs Switzerland (Group E) - Kaliningrad - 7pm - BBC

Saturday 23 June

Belgium vs Tunisia (Group G) - Moscow (Spartak) - 1pm - BBC
South Korea vs Mexico (Group F) - Rostov-on-Don - 4pm - ITV
Germany v Sweden (Group F) - Sochi - 7pm - ITV

Sunday 24 June

England vs Panama (Group G) - Nizhny Novgorod - 1pm - BBC
Japan vs Senegal (Group H) - Ekaterinburg - 4pm - BBC
Poland vs Colombia (Group H) - Kazan - 7pm - ITV

Monday 25 June

Uruguay vs Russia (Group A) - Samara - 3pm - ITV
Saudi Arabia vs Egypt (Group A) - Volgograd - 3pm - ITV
Spain vs Morocco (Group B) - Kaliningrad - 7pm- BBC
Iran vs Portugal (Group B) - Saransk - 7pm - BBC

Tuesday 26 June

Denmark vs France (Group C) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 3pm - ITV
Australia vs Peru (Group C) - Sochi - 3pm - ITV
Nigeria vs Argentina (Group D) - St Petersburg - 7pm - BBC
Iceland vs Croatia (Group D) - Rostov-on-Don - 7pm - BBC

Wednesday 27 June

South Korea vs Germany (Group F) - Kazan - 3pm - BBC
Mexico vs Sweden (Group F) - Ekaterinburg - 3pm - BBC
Serbia vs Brazil (Group E) - Moscow (Spartak) - 7pm - ITV
Switzerland vs Costa Rica (Group E) - Nizhny Novgorod - 7pm - ITV

Thursday 28 June

Japan vs Poland (Group H) - Volgograd - 3pm - BBC
Senegal vs Colombia (Group H) - Samara - 3pm - BBC
England vs Belgium (Group G) - Kaliningrad - 7pm - ITV
Panama vs Tunisia (Group G) - Saransk - 7pm - ITV

Round of 16

(Matches in bold are potential England fixtures)

Saturday 30 June

Group C winner vs Group D runner-up - Kazan, 3pm (Match 50)
Group A winner vs Group B runner-up- Sochi, 7pm (Match 49)

Sunday 1 July

Group B winner vs Group A runner-up- Moscow (Luzhniki), 3pm (Match 51)
Group D winner vs Group C runner-up - Nizhny Novgorod, 7pm (Match 52)

Monday 2 July

Group E winner vs Group F runner-up - Samara, 3pm (Match 53)
Group G winner vs Group H runner-up - Rostov-on-Don, 7pm (Match 54)

Tuesday 3 July

Group F winner vs Group E runner-up - St Petersburg 3pm (Match 55)
Group H winner vs Group G runner-up - Moscow (Spartak), 7pm (Match 56)

Quarter-finals

Friday 6 July

Winner match 49 vs Winner match 50 - Nizhny Novgorod, 3pm (Match 57)
Winner match 53 vs Winner match 54 - Kazan, 7pm (Match 58)

Saturday 7 July

Winner match 55 vs Winner match 56 - Samara, 3pm (Match 60)
Winner match 51 vs Winner match 52 - Sochi, 7pm (Match 59)

Semi-finals

Tuesday 10 July

Winner match 57 vs Winner match 58 - St Petersburg, 7pm (Match 61)

Wednesday 11 July

Winner match 59 vs Winner match 60 - Moscow (Luzhniki), 7pm (Match 62)

Third place play-off

Saturday 14 July

Loser match 61 vs Loser match 62 - St Petersburg, 3pm

Final

Sunday 15 July

Moscow (Luzhniki), 4pm


Source:Telegraph
Read more »
By at No comments:

A beginner's guide to the World Cup 2018

A beginner's guide to the World Cup 2018

This World Cup everybody’s talking about. What is it, exactly?
The Fifa World Cup is an international football tournament contested by 32 nations every four years. This year’s competition kicks off on 14 June, when hosts Russia play Saudi Arabia in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. After a total of 64 matches played in 12 venues across 11 different Russian cities, the champions will be crowned in the same arena on 14 July. It is, without question, the biggest, most prestigious sporting event on the planet.
OK, so who organises it and for how long has it been “a thing”?
Fifa stands for the Féderation Internationale de Football Association and their third president Jules Rimet was the innovator behind the first World Cup, an invitational tournament contested by just 13 teams that was staged and won by Uruguay in 1930. This year’s tournament will be the 21st.


With just 32 teams taking part, an awful lot of nations must miss out. That hardly seems fair.
With the exception of Russia, who qualify automatically as hosts, the other 31 teams all had to go through a rigorous two-year qualifying process to make it this far. Fifa has 211 national association affiliates spread across six different confederations around the globe.

Did any traditionally “big” countries not make it?
England were the only “home nation” to qualify, while Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland all failed with varying degrees of predictability. The USA, the Netherlands, South American champions Chile, Africa Cup of Nations winners Cameroon and the four-times World Cup winners Italy are among the most high profile nations to miss out on qualification for Russia 2018. For many international powerhouses, qualifying is invariably little more than a formality. For others it is an incredible achievement.

Others? What others?
Iceland will contest their first World Cup finals this summer and with a population of just 335,000 are the smallest country to qualify in the history of the competition.
How will a winner be decided from those who did make the cut?
The 32 countries have already been drawn into eight groups of four teams which will be decided on a round robin basis. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stages, which is when things start to get really tense.

What happens if any of these knockout matches end in a draw?
If the sides are level after 90 minutes, they play an additional 30 minutes of extra time.
And if they’re still level?
The outcome is decided by a penalty shoot-out. There have been 26 in World Cup finals history and both Brazil (1994) and Italy (2006) have actually won finals by this very stressful method.

Who is expected to win this year’s tournament?
It’s a tough one to call. Germany are the holders and are expected to be in the shake-up again, while Brazil, France, Spain and Argentina are other former winners who many expect to do well.
Have England ever won the World Cup?
Once, in 1966 and they’re still dining out on it over 50 years later.
Tell me more ...
As tournament hosts, they beat Germany 4-2 in the final at Wembley Stadium to win the Jules Rimet Trophy.
The what now?

The Jules Rimet Trophy. It was originally called Victory but later renamed in honour of the Fifa president who dreamt up the World Cup. Brazil got to keep it after winning it for the third time in 1970, but it was stolen 13 years later and has never been returned.
So what do the winners get now?
Acclaim, medals, hero status in their homeland and a hefty financial bonus from their national Football Association. They also get presented with the Fifa World Cup trophy, which is just shy of 37 centimetres in height and weighs 6.1 kilograms. Made of 18 carat gold with a malachite base, it depicts two human figures holding up the earth. It is arguably the most iconic trophy in all of sport.
Such a popular event must generate a lot of cash. Who gets it all?
Fifa get most of it. They sold the TV rights for the last World Cup for $2.48bn and made a further $2.34bn from marketing and licensing rights. Only about 10% of the revenue it generated came from actual ticket sales.
Anything else I should know?
This year’s tournament will be the first World Cup in which Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be used to help referees avoid making potentially match-deciding mistakes when it comes to such important issues as awarding goals, penalties or doling out red cards. It will also referees avoid cases of mistaken identity, as has been known to happen from time to time.
Sounds like a good idea ...
It certainly does in theory, but many are predicting disaster once it’s put into practice. VAR has been tested in a number of tournaments around the world, often with hilarious consequences and a number of referees will arrive in Russia with no prior experience of using it. While Fifa are confident it will be a success, many doom-mongers are predicting that VAR could become the main, unwelcome talking point of Russia 2018.


Source: TheGuardian
Read more »
By at No comments: