General Soccer Discussion

#1      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
News today involving World Cup and Euro bids:

-2030 FIFA World Cup will be held across 3 continents. It will begin in South America, where the opening game of the tournament will be held in Montevideo, which hosted the 1930 final. There will also be one match held in Argentina and Paraguay before moving onto the primary hosts of the tournament which will be Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Each nation will get an automatic bid into the 48-team tournament. This also means that only member federations from Asia and Oceania will be eligible to bid for the 2034 World Cup and both Saudi Arabia and Australia have indicated that they intend to bid.
-UEFA has confirmed that the UK and Ireland will be the sole bid for Euro 2028. Turkey has withdrawn their bid and intend to focus on a joint bid with Italy to co-host Euro 2032.
 
#2      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
With this being another international break, there has been qualifying matches for Euro 2024 being held. Thus far, there have been 8 teams that have qualified for next summer's tournament in Germany after the matches held this weekend and today. Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, Scotland, Turkey, and Austria have all qualified in addition to the hosts. Could likely have two more qualify through tomorrow automatically if both Slovenia and Denmark win their matches.

The Sweden/Belgium match that was abandoned earlier today likely will not be made up as both Belgium and Austria are through from their group.
 
#4      
wettsten
IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
News today involving World Cup and Euro bids:

-2030 FIFA World Cup will be held across 3 continents. It will begin in South America, where the opening game of the tournament will be held in Montevideo, which hosted the 1930 final. There will also be one match held in Argentina and Paraguay before moving onto the primary hosts of the tournament which will be Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Each nation will get an automatic bid into the 48-team tournament. This also means that only member federations from Asia and Oceania will be eligible to bid for the 2034 World Cup and both Saudi Arabia and Australia have indicated that they intend to bid.
-UEFA has confirmed that the UK and Ireland will be the sole bid for Euro 2028. Turkey has withdrawn their bid and intend to focus on a joint bid with Italy to co-host Euro 2032.
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let's try to make this as complicated as possible. no more qualifying. every nation is eligible. matchups will be played in the most remote location for both nations. semifinals and final to be played in antarctica.
 
#5      
KBLEE
wettsten said:
let's try to make this as complicated as possible. no more qualifying. every nation is eligible. matchups will be played in the most remote location for both nations. semifinals and final to be played in antarctica.
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Bonus points if your pitch is under water or full of pot-holes.
 
#9      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
2026 World Cup final to be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. It was between that stadium and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX to determine who was going to host the final. The opening match of the tournament will be on June 11, 2026 with Mexico hosting the match at Estadio Azteca. Canada's opening match will be the next day at BMO Field in Toronto with the U.S. opening match that same day at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA.

All three of the U.S. group stage matches will be on the west coast with the first and last matches in Inglewood and the 2nd match in Seattle.

Canada's other two group stage matches will be in Vancouver. Mexico will also have its three group stage matches on their own home soil.

In order to reduce travel and account for the varying climates in each area, they have divided the venues into three regions:

-East (Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, New York/New Jersey)
-Central (Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, Houston, Dallas, Kanas City)
-West (Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles)

Teams will have a full three days of rest for nearly every match with the lone exception being the teams that play in the third-place match. Stadiums will be assigned to groups rather than individual fixtures in order to reduce travel for competing teams in the group stage though the sides that finish at the top of the group will have less demanding travel schedules than the teams that finish 2nd or 3rd in each group once they get to the knockout stage. FIFA will also look at heat and humidity readings in order to determine what time of day the matches will be held.
 
#10      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Women's World Cup to air on Netflix in 2027 and 2031. FIFA had previously unbundled the rights to the Women's World Cup for 2027 and 2031 from the rights to the Men's World Cup in the next cycle. Fox still has the rights to the Men's World Cup in 2026.
 
#12      
KBLEE
Liverpool bow out of the FA Cup to Plymouth Argyle, who are likely to be relegated from the EFL Championship. They are currently 43 places below Liverpool in the table.
 
#15      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Italian media reporting that 12 Serie A players, including Weston McKennie, are currently under investigation for illegal betting on sports other than soccer. McKennie is among the names being investigated for having played on illegal betting and poker platforms.
 
#17      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Joel Goodson said:
as a long suffering Fire fan, this would be unreal:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1912523682963931335
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200w.gif
 
#18      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Wrexham has earned promotion for a 3rd straight season after their 3:0 win today over Charlton Athletic and will be playing in the EFL Championship next season as they have clinched the 2nd automatic promotion spot from League One. First time Wrexham has played in the second division of English football since 1981-82 and they are the first team in English football history to be promoted in 3 consecutive seasons in the top 5 divisions.
 
#19      
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
Joel Goodson said:
as a long suffering Fire fan, this would be unreal:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1912523682963931335
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Sounds like there's a pretty good chance this happens now. While Inter Miami still has de Bruyne's discovery rights (MLS' version of a right-of first refusal mechanism that prevents its teams from bidding against one another for a player's services), they're at their maximum number of designated players. NYCFC and DC United have also expressed interest but Chicago is seen to be the ideal landing spot
 
#24      
MainelyIllini
I’m curious what people think about the Europa league final. Do the Spurs need this win more than Man U? I go back and forth on this. I don’t think a Spurs win will save Ange’s job but they would finally win a major. And of course Man U is desperate and needs the Champions League for next year. Thoughts?
 
#25      
Dee_4_3
MainelyIllini said:
I’m curious what people think about the Europa league final. Do the Spurs need this win more than Man U? I go back and forth on this. I don’t think a Spurs win will save Ange’s job but they would finally win a major. And of course Man U is desperate and needs the Champions League for next year. Thoughts?
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Spurs fans need it more than Man U fans since they haven't won a trophy since 2008. However, Levy and Spurs ownership don't really care about winning as long as they make money. So I'm not sure if the Spurs need it, but their fans do.
 
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