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Tag: 2022 World Cup

  • Super Eagles arrive in Cape Verde for 2022 World Cup qualifier

    Super Eagles arrive in Cape Verde for 2022 World Cup qualifier

    Players of the senior men’s national football team and their officials on Monday arrived in Cape Verde bubbling with enthusiasm, ahead of Tuesday’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying match.

    The Super Eagles players and officials arrived at the Amilcar Cabral International Airport at about 10.30 a.m.

    Their arrival was confirmed on the team’s official Facebook page.

    “We have landed in Sao Vincente, Cape Verde! GAME On…” a statement on the Super Eagles official Facebook page read.

    The team was however unable to arrive at their earlier designated airport at Sao Vincente, venue of the match, as the airport was closed down.

    “We have arrived Cape Verde! However, we are currently at the Amilcar Cabral International Airport as we couldn’t land in Sao Vincente where the match will be played because the Cesária Évora Airport had closed.

    “We’re still here and will take off from here soon. It’s just an hour flight. Thanks for your support always!” an earlier statement read.

    The Super Eagles began their 2022 World Cup race on a winning note after defeating visiting Lone Stars of Liberia 2-0 in Lagos on Friday.

    They will face the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde on Tuesday.

    The Gernot Rohr-led team currently lead the Group C table with three points, two points above hosts Cape Verde who played out a 1-1 draw against Central Africa Republic (CAR) on Thursday.

    The Nigerian team is however depleted ahead of playing away to Cape Verde due to COVID-19 red-alert UK restrictions on the Island country.

    Rohr will not have the services of all the Britain-based players, including Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho.

    The former Manchester City forward was “Man of the Match” against Liberia and scored the match’s two goals.

    Others who would not be available for Tuesday’s tie include defenders Leon Balogun (Glasgow Rangers) and William Ekong (Watford FC).

    The rest are midfielders Oghenekaro Etebo (Watford FC), Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City), Joseph Ayodele-Aribo (Glasgow Rangers), and striker Alex Iwobi (Everton FC).

    The team had their final training session on Sunday morning before taking off to Cape Verde.

    Tuesday’s match will hold at the 5,000-capacity Estádio Municipal Adérito Sena in Mindelo, from 2 p.m. Nigerian time.

  • 2022 W/C qualifier: Cape Verde to play Nigeria without home fans

    2022 W/C qualifier: Cape Verde to play Nigeria without home fans

    Cape Verde will host the the Super Eagles of Nigeria in their second Group C 2022 World Cup qualifier without the home fans due to the Coronavirus.

    According to Noticia do Norte, a publication in Cape Verde, the country’s FA received a communication from CAF, stating that they would have to face the Eagles without fans.

    Cape Verde is one of the West African countries badly affected by Covid-19.

    And in adherence to FIFA’s Covid-19 protocols, fans will not be allowed into the Stadium.

    Cape Verde will hope to record their first win of the qualifiers after holding Central African Republic to a 1-1 draw in their first game.

    On their part, the Eagles kicked off with a 2-0 win against Liberia at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Friday.

    A first half brace from Kelechi Iheanacho secured the win for the three-time African champions.

    This is the first time the Eagles will take on Cape Verde in a competitive game.

  • Liberia arrive Lagos for 2022 World Cup qualifier against Super Eagles

    Liberia arrive Lagos for 2022 World Cup qualifier against Super Eagles

    The Lone Star of Liberia have arrived Lagos ahead of Friday’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

    Head coach Peter Butler has now drawn up a 23-man squad with his namesake (Peter) Wilson the new inclusion following the little bit of skepticism that was expressed by Kpah Sherman to initially withdraw because of concentrated domestic fixtures.

    Mohammed Kamara who scored for Hataspor at the weekend got in on Wednesday morning alongside midfield player Abu Kamara.

    The 11 players onboard Air Cote D’Ivore from Monrovia to Lagos met Marcus Macauley, Allen Njei, Oscar Dorley, Peter Wilson, and Terrence Tisdell in Lagos to complete the listing to 18 on the ground.

    They are only awaiting the arrival of five more players who should be in Lagos before noon.

    The players are Kpah Sherman, Ashley Williams, Jeremy Singbeh, Prince Balde, and David Tweh.

    Nigeria and Liberia renew their rivalry dated back to 1975 on Friday inside Teslim Balogun Stadium.

    Nigeria have won nine of 14 meetings with latest coming in a 6-1 drubbing of the Lone Star in 2012.

    Liberia have won three including a famous 2-1 win at the SKD in July 2001.

  • Results of 2022 World Cup Qualifiers Europe Zone

    Results of 2022 World Cup Qualifiers Europe Zone

    Following are the results of Match Day 1 fixtures in the Europe Zone Qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, played on Wednesday:

    Belgium 3-1 Wales

    Turkey4-2 Netherlands

    Portugal 1-0 Azerbaijan

    Serbia 3-2 Republic of Ireland

    Finland 2-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina

    France 1-1 Ukraine

    Estonia 2-6 Czech Republic

    Gibraltar 0-3 Norway

    Latvia 1-2 Montenegro

    Cyprus 0-0 Slovakia

    Malta 1-3 Russia

    Slovenia 1-0 Croatia

  • Why I signed for Chelsea, Thiago Silva reveals

    Why I signed for Chelsea, Thiago Silva reveals

    Chelsea defender Thiago Silva admits the decision to move to the London giants was motivated by the 2022 World Cup.

    Silva, 36, intends to be fully fit and in shape for the Qatar tournament.

    He told the club’s website: “Yes. First, I have this ambition to continue producing good performances here at Chelsea. I chose this club to keep playing at a very, very high level. Of course my ambition is to keep working hard to play at the next World Cup. It will be a World Cup very special, different to all the others.

    “I hope to have the possibility of going there, but for now I have to keep working at this level and continue winning qualifying matches for the Selecao to even qualify for the World Cup! People talk about the World Cup this, the World Cup that, but first you have to qualify.

    “That’s my main ambition, to continue playing with my team-mates and winning matches to qualify and then, of course, prepare ourselves and try to bring back the big trophy to Brazil.”

  • Premier League begins planning for 2022 World Cup

    Premier League players could face the prospect of playing games nine days before the start of the 2022 winter World Cup in Qatar.

    Draft plans have been shared between clubs outlining the Premier League schedule around the tournament, being held from 21 November to 18 December.

    Fixtures could take place on 12 November and resume on 26 December, eight days after the final.

    The season would also kick off one week earlier and finish a week later.

    It means that there would be only six weekends without Premier League games.

    The issue will be discussed at the next Premier League shareholders’ meeting in November.

    It is understood that Championship games will not take place during the World Cup, but the break for the second tier might not be as long as in the Premier League.

    Leagues One and Two will continue during the tournament.

    Any such proposals would clash with national associations’ plans, given they usually allow several weeks for their players to prepare for the tournament.

    A winter break will be introduced to the Premier League for the first time this season in order to give players a rest.

    But it has been suggested that will be scrapped in the 2022-23 season, raising questions about player fatigue.

    Uefa has said a decision on the scheduling of that season’s Champions League and Europa League will not be made until 2021.

  • 2022 World Cup should be expanded if possible – Infantino

    FIFA should if possible increase the size of the football World Cup in Qatar in 2022 to 48 from 32 teams, the global governing body’s president Gianni Infantino has said.

    Last month, Infantino said a majority of national football federations were in favour of expanding the tournament and a decision was expected ahead of the qualifying draw in March.

    Infantino, speaking at a sports conference on Wednesday, also said FIFA was seeing whether it would be possible for some of Qatar’s Gulf neighbours to host some of the matches.

    He said last month that it would be “difficult” to stage an expanded tournament in Qatar alone.

    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt launched a diplomatic and trade boycott of Qatar in June 2017 which has complicated the prospect of sharing the tournament.

    The countries accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism.

    However, the tiny but wealthy Arab nation has since denied this.

    FIFA voted in 2017 to increase the size of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, starting from 2026.

    But, since then, Infantino has been mulling the possibility of bringing the change forward to 2022.

    “If you think it’s a good thing to have 48 teams in the World Cup, why not try four years before. That’s why we are analyzing whether it’s possible to have 48 teams already in 2022,” Infantino said.

    “The World Cup will take place in Qatar with 32 teams. Obviously, if we can increase it to 48 teams and make the world happy, we should try it.”

    Qatar said it would not take a final decision on the tournament expansion until it has seen details of a feasibility study from FIFA.

    The study is expected to discuss aspects of scheduling, the number of required venues, training sites, and how many games per day would be played under an expanded format.

    Qatar has moved ahead with ambitious plan to scale up infrastructure ahead of the 2022 tournament that includes $6 billion to $8 billion on eight stadiums and sporting facilities.

    “If we can accommodate some of the neighboring countries in the gulf region, which are very close by, to host a few games in the World Cup this could be very beneficial for the region and the entire world,” Infantino added.

    “There is tension in this particular region and it’s up to their respective leaders to deal with that. But maybe it’s easier to talk about a joint football project than more complicated things.

    “If it can help all the people in the Gulf and all the countries in the world develop football and bring a positive message to the world about football, then you should give it a try.”

  • FIFA confirms dates for 2022 World Cup in Qatar

    FIFA confirms dates for 2022 World Cup in Qatar

    The FIFA World Cup in Russia is still not over and the football’s governing body has revealed the dates of the next FIFA World Cup that will take place in Qatar, four years from now.

    FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed the dates for the FIFA 2022 World Cup and will be played in less than a month time in 2022 between November 21 and December 18 of the same year.

    “The World Cup in 2022 will be played from November 21 to December 18: the idea is to involve 48 teams,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said at a Press conference.

    32 teams or more. “We have agreements and a contract with Qatar.

    “For now, anything is possible. With 48 teams, many ‘regional’ tensions would be solved, “FIFA president Gianni Infantino added.