31 March 2019

If you are stalling you will lose the battle

Last Tuesday UEFA has lost a legal battle against a French club at the sporting tribunal of justice. At the second attempt, the European football organization has opened investigation at PSG because of transfers, payments and sponsorship deals. After closing it UEFA has opened a new investigation to look into the matter, however the Court of Arbitration for Sport has accepted the appeal filed by the club. The statement said that the organization took too much time to reconsider its decision from 2017 and that the team is not violating the financial fair play rule.

30 March 2019

Avoided suspension

On 12 March, at the second 90 minutes of last 16 duel in the Champions league Juventus managed to score 3 goals against Atletico Madrid and qualify for quarterfinal phase. That hat-trick was scored by Cristiano Ronaldo where in one of them were celebrated making a 'cojones' gesture towards the fans. Due to this obscene body movement last Thursday the European football organization has penalized the striker. Everyone thought that the Portuguese player would get at least a suspension form the following match / es in the competition, but at the end the 34-year-old received 'only' 20.000 euros punishment.

29 March 2019

Divided teams in three leagues

Unlike the European model, the North, Central America and Caribbean region have its own Nations league event. So far 34 teams were engaged in an overall tournament (played unfortunately only 4 rounds), but from now on these teams are going to be divided into three leagues.
Going further from this point, each one of these trio of leagues are going to have 4 groups. According to the final classification which ended this Monday morning, the strongest 12 teams are placed into league A, the middle league B has 16 teams, while representatives with lowest performance are in league C with 13 teams. Rules are clear: winners of each groups will go one league higher, whilst those teams who are fourth in their groups are going one league lower. Thus yesterday night at the ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America (USA) the draw was performed only to find out who is playing who in the following 12 groups starting from this fall:

Nations league A:

Group A: USA, Canada, Cuba.
Group B: Mexico, Panama, Bermuda.
Group C: Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique.
Group D: Costa Rica, Haiti, Curacao.

Nations league B:

Group A: French Guiana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Belize, Grenada.
Group B: El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Montserrat.
Group C: Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba.
Group D: Nicaragua, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica.

Nations league C:

Group A: Barbados, Cayman Islands, Saint Martin, United States Virgin Islands.
Group B: Bonaire, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands.
Group C: Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Anguilla.
Group D: Guadeloupe, Turks and Caicos Islands, Sint Maarten.

28 March 2019

Regretful news of a survived journalist

In 2016 the football world was in shock where nearly all members of Brazilian club Chapecoense lost their lives while travelling to the Copa Sudamericana final. At that terrible airplane tragedy 71 people were lost, while there were six survivors. One of them was the faithful supporter of the team, a journalist who had to cover that last game. Sadly, that duel was not played, and this hero stayed forever by the team until...
After winning this terrible disastrous life battle, three years later Rafael Henzel has died from a natural cause. Yesterday, the 45-year-old reporter from the television station Rio Sul, collapsed on a football pitch where he was quickly transferred to hospital. Shortly thereafter he died from heart attack.

27 March 2019

Memorable second halves from three Scandinavian teams

Armenia - Finland 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 13 (13.06) Fredrik Jensen
              0:2 77 (77.19) Pyry Soiri

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Greece 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 09 (09.02) Edin Visca
              2:0 15 (14.50) Miralem Pjanic
              2:1 64-pen (63.39) Kostas Fortouinis
              2:2 84 (84.09) Dimitrios Kolovos

- Nasty foul for a direct red card received Miralem Pjanic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) at 64 (64.19).

Malta - Spain 0:2

Scorer: 0:1 30 (30.11) Alvaro Morata
            0:2 73 (72.32) Alvaro Morata

Italy - Liechtenstein 6:0

Scorers: 1:0 17 (16.33) Stefano Sensi
              2:0 31 (31.08) Marco Verratti
              3:0 35-pen (34.37) Fabio Quagliarealla
              4:0 45+2-pen (47.13) Fabio Quagliarealla
              5:0 69 (68.55) Moise Kean
              6:0 76 (75.45) Leonardo Pavoletti

- For posing as goalkeeper on 45+1 (46.12), the defender Daniel Kaufmann (Liechtenstein) was send to the dressing room with a direct red card.

Romania - Faroe Islands 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 26 Ciprian Deac
              2:0 29 Claudiu Keseru
              3:0 32 Claudiu Keseru
              3:1 40-pen Viljormur Davidsen
              4:1 63 Geroge Puscas

Norway - Sweden 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 41 (40.31) Bjorn Johnsen
              2:0 59 (58.37) Joshua King
              2:1 69 (69.07) Viktor Claesson
              2:2 86-own goal (85.37) Havard Nordtveit
              2:3 90 (90.10) Robin Quaison
              3:3 90+6 (95.45) Ola Kamara

- Sweden had a penalty at 69 (69.05). A shot from Andreas Granqvist was superbly saved, but Viktor Claesson was able to score from the rebound two seconds later.

Republic of Ireland - Georgia 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 35 (35.01) Conor Hourihane

Switzerland - Denmark 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 19 (18.27) Remo Freuler
              2:0 66 (65.31) Granit Xhaka
              3:0 76 (75.36) Breel Embolo
              3:1 84 (83.22) Mathias Jorgensen (also known as Zanka)
              3:2 87 (87.06) Christian Gytkjaer
              3:3 90+3 (92.44) Henrik Dalsgaard

Additional information: On a very last night of European qualifiers from round two Norway, Sweden and Denmark tonight just showed why this sport is so exciting.

26 March 2019

One saved punishment

Turkey - Moldova 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 24 (23.21) Hasan Ali Kaldirim
              2:0 26 (25.22) Cenk Tosun
              3:0 53 (52.55) Cenk Tosun
              4:0 70 (69.24) Ayhan Kaan

- With a beautiful save at 53 (52.23), Alexei Koselev (Moldova) denied Burak Yilmaz to score from 11 metres.

Andorra - Albania 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 21 (20.33) Armando Sadiku
              0:2 87 (86.48) Bekim Balaj
              0:3 90+6 (95.33) Amir Abrashi

France - Iceland 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 11 (11.08) Samuel Umtiti
              2:0 67 (67.13) Olivier Giroud
              3:0 78 (77.33) Kylian Mbappe
              4:0 84 (83.38) Antoine Griezmann

Montenegro - England 1:5

Scorers: 1:0 17 (16.57) Marko Vesovic
              1:1 30 (29.52)  Michael Keane
              1:2 38 (38.00) Ross Barkley
              1:3 59 (58.35) Ross Barkley
              1:4 71 (70.26) Harry Kane
              1:5 80 (80.02) Rahem Sterling

Kosovo - Bulgaria 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 38 (38.14) Vasil Bozhikov
              1:1 61 (60.52) Arber Zeneli

Portugal - Serbia 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 07-pen (06.51) Dusan Tadic
              1:1 41 (41.07) Danilo Pereira

Luxembourg - Ukraine 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 33 (33.15) David Turpel
              1:1 39 (39.07) Viktor Tsyhankov
              1:2 90+3-own goal (92.36) Gerson Rodrigues

25 March 2019

Summer of extraordinary football events

In three months time we will watch watch two regional football championships which are going to be played on two separate continents. And yesterday finished all qualifiers for the following events:

Edition number 32 of the African Nations Cup is going to start from 21 June until 19 July. Only the new host was guaranteed the place at the tournament, while the rest 23 teams played a long eliminatory duels where, at the end, we are going to see 3 debutants: Madagascar, Mauritania and Burundi, who will be joined together with Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, Mali, Algeria, Benin, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Angola, Tunisia, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Uganda and Tanzania.

Switching continents now to North, Central America and Caribbean. Forty one teams from the region tortured themselves to get to the top 10 of the joint Nations league with only one main price in mind: participation at another exciting competition of the confederation - the Gold Cup. The fifteenth edition which is starting from 15 June, will coincide with the above mentioned tournament, however the duels would not overlap themselves (due to the big time difference between the two continents). The 2019 event is going to have even 3 hosts, couple of them are known, and these teams will participate: Haiti, Canada, Martinique, Curacao, Cuba, Jamaica, Nicaragua, El Salvador. To this list are added two newcomers: Bermuda and Guyana. And to complete the line-up, six teams who qualified directly for the championship are: Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, United States of America together with Trinidad and Tobago.

Joint Nations league finished without a stalemate

British Virgin Islands - Bonaire 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 07 Jermaine Windster
              1:1 76-pen Jamie Wilson
              1:2 88 Jermaine Windster

- Bonaire finished the match with 10 players because Rudolph Kastaneer received his second yellow at 83.

Puerto Rico - Grenada 0:2

Scorer: 0:1 27 Antonio German
            0:2 74 Antonio German

Dominican Republic - Bermuda 1:3

Scorers: 1:0 03 Enmy Pena
              1:1 14 Zeiko Lewis
              1:2 64 Nahki Wells
              1:3 74 Jonte Smith

Canada - French Guiana 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 11 Junior Hoilett
              1:1 26 Kevin Rimane
              2:1 39 Lucas Cavallini
              3:1 40 Jonathan David
              4:1 49 Lucas Cavallini

Haiti - Cuba 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 26 Duckens Nazon
              1:1 61 Luis Paradela
              2:1 87 Kevin Lafrance

Barbados - Nicaragua 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 64 Juan Barrera

Hat trick name among many scorers

Kazakhstan - Russia 0:4

Scorers: 0:1 19 (1838) Denis Cheryshev
              0:2 45+2 (46.27) Denis Cheryshev
              0:3 52 (51.45) Artem Dzyuba
              0:4 61-own goal (61.01) Abzal Beisebekov

Wales - Slovakia 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 05 (04.38) Daniel James

San Marino - Scotland 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 04 (03.37) Kenny McLean
              0:2 73 (73.05) Johnny Russell

Hungary - Croatia 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 13 (12.25) Ante Rebic
              1:1 34 (33.43) Adam Szalai
              2:1 75 (75.19) Mate Patkai

Israel - Austria 4:2

Scorers: 0:1 08 (07.35) Marko Arnautovic
              1:1 34 (33.29) Eran Zahavi
              2:1 44 (44.01) Eran Zahavi
              3:1 54 (54.05) Eran Zahavi
              4:1 65 (65.03) Moanes Dabour
              4:2 74 (74.12) Marko Arnautovic

Northern Ireland - Belarus 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 29 (29.14) Jonny Evans
              1:1 33 (32.40) Ihar Stasevich
              2:1 87 (86.28) Josh Magennis

Cyprus - Belgium 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 10 (09.42) Eden Hazard
              0:2 17 (17.14) Michhy Batshuayi

Poland - Latvia 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 76 Robert Lewandowski
              2:0 84 Kamil Glik

Netherlands - Germany 2:3

Scorers: 0:1 15 Leroy Sane
              0:2 34 Serge Gnabry
              1:2 48 Matthijs de Ligt
              2:2 63 Memphis Depay
              2:3 90 Nico Schulz

Visiting win in one single match

Democratic Republic of Congo - Liberia 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 51 (51.15) Cedric Bakambu

Zimbabwe - Congo 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 20 (19.26) Khama Billiat
              2:0 35 (35.10) Knowledge Musona

Central African Republic - Guinea 0:0

Cape Verde - Lesotho 0:0

Benin - Togo 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 12 (11.31) David Djigla
              1:1 71 (70.45) Emmanuel Adebayor
              2:1 83 (82.41) Steve Mounie

Tanzania - Uganda 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 21 (20.38) Simon Msuva
              2:0 51-pen (50.27) Rasto Nyoni
              3:0 57 (56.38) Aggrey Morris

Libya - South Africa 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 49 (48.55) Percy Tau
              1:1 65-pen (64.58) Ahmad ben Ali
              1:2 68 (67.56) Percy Tau

24 March 2019

Tiny nations continue to impress

Dominica - Bahamas 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 24 Julian Wade
              2:0 30 Travist Joseph
              3:0 34 Julian Wade
              4:0 84 Briel Thomas

Sint Maarten - Saint Martin  4:3

Scorers: 1:0 10-own goal Danilo Cocks
              1:1 11 Akim Arrondell
              2:1 22 Smally Lake
              3:1 29-pen Remsley Boelijn
              3:2 52 Danilo Cocks
              4:2 59 Smally Lake
              4:3 80-pen Wrubens Dupalus

Antigua and Barbuda - Curacao 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 01 Carl Osbourne
              1:1 37 Gervane Kastaneer
              2:1 49 Junior Benjamin

Suriname - Saint Kitts and Nevis 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 38 Stefano Rijssel
              2:0 71 Ivenzo Comvalius

Guyana - Belize 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 16-pen Neil Danns
              1:1 25 Elroy Kuylen
              2:1 43 Emery Welshman

- Woodrow West (Belize) has had a brilliant save of the penalty from Neil Danns (Guyana) on 36.

Guadeloupe - Martinique 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 63 Wesley Jobello

El Salvador - Jamaica 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 48 Nelson Bonilla
              2:0 87-own goal Damion Lowe

- Darren Mattocks was quicker than the final whistle when the Jamaican striker received a direct red card at 90.

Last duels from phase one

Georgia - Switzerland 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 56 (55.58) Steven Zuber
              0:2 80 (79.45) Denis Zakaria

Malta - Faroe Islands 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 12 (12.15) Kyrian Nwoko
              2:0 77-pen (76.40) Steve Borg
              2:1 90+7 (97.05) Jakup Ludvig Thomsen

- At 61 (61.05) Andrei Agius (Malta) committed a nasty foul in the penalty box for which he received a direct red card, but a fantastic save from Henry Bonello (Malta) denied Brandur Hendriksson (Faroe Islands) to score from 11 meters on 63 (63.12).

Gibraltar - Republic of Ireland 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 48 (48.08) Jeff Hendrick

Sweden - Romania 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 33 (32.28) Robin Quaison
              2:0 40 (39.30) Viktor Claesson
              2:1 58 (57.53) Claudiu Keseru

Liechtenstein - Greece 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 45+1 (45.46) Kostas Fortounis
              0:2 80 (79.30) Anastasios Donis

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Armenia 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 33 (32.46) Rade Krunic
              2:0 80 (79.28) Deni Milosevic
              2:1 90+3-pen (92.45) Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Spain - Norway 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 16 (15.47) Rodrigo Moreno
              1:1 65-pen (64.33) Joshua King
              2:1 71-pen (70.28) Sergio Ramos

Italy - Finland 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 07 Nicolo Barella
              2:0 74 Moise Kean

Nets were shaken at every game

Burundi - Gabon 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 75 (74.52) Cedric Amissi
              1:1 81-own goal (80.56) Omar Ngando

Cameroon - Comoros 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 37 (36.44) Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
              2:0 53 (52.28) Christian Bassogog
              3:0 88 (88.16) Clinton N'Jie

Niger - Egypt 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 47 (46.43) Mahmoud Trezeguet
              1:1 81 (81.03) Amadou Moutari

- Egyptian goalkeeper Ahmed el-Shennawi fantastically saved a penalty from the captain of Niger Souleymane Sacko on 55 (54.35). 

Zambia - Namibia 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 12 (11.56) Augustine Mulenga
              2:0 54 (54.14) Donashano Malama
              3:0 82 (81.32) Augustine Mulenga
              3:1 89 (89.07) Peter Shalulile
              4:1 90+1 (90.39) Lazarus Kambole

Guinea-Bissau - Mozambique 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 12 (11.36) Piqueti Djassi
              1:1 48 (47.52) Stanley Ratifo
              1:2 88 (88.01) Nelson Divarassone
              2:2 90+4 (93.57) Frederic Mendy

Ivory Coast - Rwanda 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 06 (06.01) Nicolas Pepe
              2:0 66 (65.37) Eric Bailly
              3:0 72 (71.35) Maxwel Cornet

Ghana - Kenya 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 82 (81.55) Caleb Ekuban

Senegal - Madagascar 2:0

Scorer: 1:0 27 (26.38) M'Baye Niang
            2:0 55 (55.17) M'Baye Niang

Mali - South Sudan 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 18 Salif Coulibaly
              2:0 28 Moussa Djenepo
              3:0 89 Adama Traore

23 March 2019

Goals continue to pour

Anguilla - United States Virgin Islands 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 15 James Mack III
              0:2 26 Bryce Pierre
              0:3 86 Aaron Dennis

Saint Lucia - Aruba 3:2

Scorers: 1:0 38 Jevick McFarlane
              1:1 53 Josua John
              2:1 63 Jevick McFarlane
              3:1 66 Lester Joseph
              3:2 90+2 Ricky Marte

- Aruba finished the game with 10 man, as Annuar Kock (90+2) was quicker to left the field than the final whistle, receiving two yellow cards.

Cayman Islands - Montserrat 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 39-pen Adrian Clifton
              1:1 49 Marks Ebanks
              1:2 66 Bradley Woods

Referee from first match indeed needs binoculars after giving such a shameful punishment

Bulgaria - Montenegro 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 50 (49.28) Stefan Mugosa
              1:1 82-pen (81.56) Todor Nedelev


- Something definitely quickly needs to be changed in this sport, so that referees are not giving such an easy and funny penalties which are not committed.

Moldova - France 1:4

Scorers: 0:1 24 Antoine Griezmann
              0:2 27 Raphael Varane
              0:3 36 Olivier Giroud
              0:4 87 Kylian Mbappe
              1:4 89 Vladimir Ambros

Portugal - Ukraine 0:0

Albania - Turkey 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 21 (20.49) Burak Yilmaz
              0:2 54 (54.03) Hakan Calhanoglu

Luxembourg - Lithuania 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 14 (13.20) Fedor Cernych
              1:1 44 (44.13) Leandro Barreiro
              2:1 55 (54.30) Gerson Rodrigues

Andorra - Iceland 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 22 (21.26) Birkir Bjarnason
              0:2 80 (79.24) Vidar Orn Kjartansson

England - Czech Republic 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 24 Raheem Sterling
              2:0 45+2-pen Harry Kane
              3:0 62 Raheem Sterling
              4:0 68 Raheem Sterling
              5:0 84-own goal Tomas Kalas

Unpopular start

Malawi - Morocco 0:0

Sudan - Equatorial Guinea 1:4

Scorers: 1:0 14 Mohamed Mokhtar
              1:1 18-pen Emilio Nsue
              1:2 36-pen Emilio Nsue
              1:3 48 Pablo Ganet
              1:4 85 Pedro Obiang

Nigeria - Seychelles 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 35-pen (34.24) Odion Ighalo
              1:1 41 (40.53) Rody Melanie
              2:1 50 (49.54) Henry Onyekuru
              3:1 90 (89.57) Moses Simon

Burkina Faso - Mauritania 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 19 (18.26) Bertrand Traore

Botswana - Angola 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 20 (20.16) Wilson Eduardo


Tunisia - Eswatini 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 21 (20.24) Syam ben Youssef
              2:0 33 (32.48) Anice Badri
              3:0 53 (52.27) Naim Sliti
              4:0 61 (60.53) Yassine Meriah

Algeria - Gambia 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 42 (41.48) Mehdi Abeid
              1:1 90+1 (91.01) Mamadou Danso (or simply Futty Danso)

22 March 2019

Wonderful opening fourth round games with full of excitements

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Bonaire 2:1


Scorers: 0:1 37 Jurven Koffy
              1:1 77 Cornelius Stewart
              2:1 79 Chevel Cunningham

- Yannick Beckman (Bonaire) received two yellow cards at 90.

British Virgin Islands - Turks and Caicos Islands 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 64 Troy Caesar
              2:0 83 Jerry Wiltshire
              2:1 86 Billy Forbes
              2:2 87 Fred Dorvil

Quickest goal scored

Kazakhstan - Scotland 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 06 (05.29) Yuriy Pertsukh
              2:0 09 (09.11) Yan Vorogovskiy
              3:0 51 (50.22) Baktiyar Zainutdinov

Cyprus - San Marino 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 19-pen (18.25) Pieros Sotiriou
              2:0 23-pen (22.48) Pieros Sotiriou
              3:0 26 (25.40) Ioannis Kousoulos
              4:0 31 (30.54) Georgios Efrem 
              5:0 55 (55.15) Konstantinos Laifis

Slovakia - Hungary 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 42 (41.56) Ondrej Duda
              2:0 84 (83.59)  Albert Rusnak

Northern Ireland - Estonia 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 55 (55.15) Niall McGinn
              2:0 74-pen (74.05) Steven Davies

Croatia - Azerbaijan 2:1


Scorers: 0:1 19 Ramil Sheydaev

              1:1 44 Borna Barisic
              2:1 79 Andrej Kramaric

Israel - Slovenia 1:1


Scorers: 0:1 47 (47.19) Andraz Sporar

              1:1 55 (54.21) Eran Zahavi


Belgium - Russia 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 14 (13.45) Youri Tielemans

              1:1 16 (15.36) Denis Cheryshev
              2:1 45-pen (44.38) Eden Hazard
              3:1 87 (87.14) Eden Hazard

- The first red card of these qualifiers was for Aleksandr Golovin (Russia) who received two yellow at 90 (89.23).

Austria - Poland 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 68 (67.53) Krzysztof Piatek

Netherlands - Belarus 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 01 (50 seconds) Memphis Depay
              2:0 21 (20.27) Georginio Wijnaldum
              3:0 55-pen (54.40) Memphis Depay
              4:0 85 (85.04) Virgil van Dijk

21 March 2019

New record was set in women football

Last Sunday 60.739 spectators have watched Atletico Madrid - Barcelona in the Primera division de la Liga Femenino (Primera division for women). In terms of fans, Wanda Metropolitano stadium have set a European record on any women league. The game from past weekend broke the record of 48.121 spectators when Athletic Bilbao played Atletico Madrid at San Mames this January.

20 March 2019

Three announced draw dates

CONCACAF and UEFA confederations have announced dates of the draw on 3 important competitions taking place at their own continent.
At the second part of this week, the North, Central America and Caribbean region are concluding the overall qualifiers of the Nations league out of which all teams have been fighting to be placed mainly in the top 10 positions. Also, the final table will be significant to determine which teams are going to be at the divided Nations league groups. As from now on, the Nations league will be split into A, B or C groups (exactly like the European model), on 06 March the confederation has set the date: all 41 member nations are going to learn their fate at Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America on 27 March. Matches of all 3 divided groups will begin from this fall, while the final is going to be in March 2020.
Those teams which are placed in the top 10 of the above mentioned Nations league, will participate at the main tournament which is going to start this summer: the Gold Cup where 6 qualified teams already awaits them. When all 16 are known, the draw for this championship which starts in June, is going to be held on 10 April in Los Angeles, United States of America. On this date we are going to find out the full schedule with the 4 groups of the fifteenth edition of Gold Cup.
Switching continents now, and for the last date we have to arrive in Europe. Four days ago the European football organization has revealed that the draw for its own regional competition is set for this fall: 30 of November in Bucharest. The Romanian capital will give the answer which 6 groups are going to be formed for the complicated EURO 2020 event.

19 March 2019

Destroying a really great event

Six regional club champions plus the host: in short this is the line-up for the Club World Cup. However, from now on money comes first instead of good football and all for the reason of why this tournament is (slowly) going to be completely wiped out.
From the beginning of the year the FIFA advisor Zvonimir Boban has announced that from 2021 this competition will be played every four years and with 24 clubs. Last Friday the president just confirmed what was said two months ago: that the Club World Cup is 'only' going to change its format. The expansion of this tournament is very 'original' explained by the adviser in January: an idea is to have 12 clubs from Europe, while the rest will be from other continents. But even if this whole thing is (somehow) Europeanized, the clubs from the old continent (European Club Association) are not satisfied and annunciate a boycott to the event.

18 March 2019

Last eliminatory games from Africa

Apart from CONCACAF region, one other continent is going to have its own official championship this summer: the African Cup of Nations. To get to the finals 23 last duels need to be played (one match is cancelled) in order to know which 24 teams are going to entertain us in Egypt from this June. Some teams are already qualified for the finals, but some needs to sweat good and next weekend play 'the game of their lives'. As always, there is little information about the exact kickoff times, but the schedule have to look like this:

22 March, Friday at 14.00 CET: Malawi - Morocco.
22 March, Friday at 16.00 CET: Nigeria - Seychelles.
22 March, Friday at 18.00 CET: Botswana - Angola.
22 March, Friday at 18.00 CET: Burkina Faso - Mauritania.
22 March, Friday at 18.00 CET: Sudan - Equatorial Guinea.
22 March, Friday at 19.15 CET: Tunisia - Eswatini.
22 March, Friday at 20.45 CET: Algeria - Gambia.

23 March, Saturday at 14.00 CET: Burundi - Gabon.
23 March, Saturday at 15.00 CET: Senegal - Madagascar.
23 March, Saturday at 16.00 CET: Cameroon - Comoros.
23 March, Saturday at 16.30 CET: Niger - Egypt.
23 March, Saturday at 17.30 CET: Guinea-Bissau - Mozambique.
23 March, Saturday at 17.30 CET: Zambia - Namibia.
23 March, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Ivory Coast - Rwanda.
23 March, Saturday at 19.00 CET: Ghana - Kenya.
23 March, Saturday at 20.00 CET: Mali - South Sudan.

24 March, Sunday at 14.00 CET: Democratic Republic of Congo - Liberia.
24 March, Sunday at 14.00 CET: Zimbabwe - Congo.
24 March, Sunday at 15.00 CET: Central African Republic - Guinea.
24 March, Sunday at 16.00 CET: Benin - Togo.
24 March, Sunday at 16.00 CET: Cape Verde - Lesotho.
24 March, Sunday at 16.00 CET: Tanzania - Uganda.
24 March, Sunday at 18.00 CET: Libya - South Africa.

Final round in the overall CONCACAF Nations league

Last matchday at the Nations league event from CONCACAF region. After completing phase 4 we will have the answer of which teams are going to play in A, B or C league. However, the first 10 teams are still catching the main prize: going to the main event this summer - CONCACAF Gold Cup. All the following matches are from the final, fourth stage, except one duel which was suspended last year.

21 March, Thursday at 20.00 CET: British Virgin Islands - Turks and Caicos Islands.
21 March, Thursday at 20.00 CET: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Bonaire.

22 March, Friday at 20.00 CET: Anguilla - United States Virgin Islands.
22 March, Friday at 23.00 CET: Saint Lucia - Aruba.
22 March, Friday at 23.30 CET: Cayman Islands - Montserrat.

23 March, Saturday at 19.30 CET: Dominica - Bahamas.
23 March, Saturday at 20.00 CET: Sint Maarten - Saint Martin.
23 March, Saturday at 23.00 CET: Antigua and Barbuda - Curacao.
23 March, Saturday at 23.30 CET: Guyana - Belize.
23 March, Saturday at 23.30 CET: Suriname - Saint Kitts and Nevis.

24 March, Sunday at 01.00 CET: Guadeloupe - Martinique.
24 March, Sunday at 03.00 CET: El Salvador - Jamaica.
24 March, Sunday at 20.00 CET: British Virgin Islands - Bonaire (play from round 3).
24 March, Sunday at 21.00 CET: Puerto Rico - Grenada.
24 March, Sunday at 22.00 CET: Dominican Republic - Bermuda.
24 March, Sunday at 23.00 CET: Canada - French Guiana.
24 March, Sunday at 23.30 CET: Haiti - Cuba.

New cycle of qualifiers

The old continent is going to start a new set of qualifiers: for the complicated EURO 2020 event. As there is / are no privileged country / countries who can qualify directly for the ending competition every member nation is going to have a good sweat, just to get to the finals. For next week are scheduled to start these (a year long) qualifiers, plus on the weekend only 10 duels are going to open from round 2.

21 March, Thursday at 16.00 CET: Kazakhstan - Scotland.
21 March, Thursday at 18.00 CET: Cyprus - San Marino.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Austria - Poland.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Belgium - Russia.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Croatia - Azerbaijan.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Israel - Slovenia.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Netherlands - Belarus.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: North Macedonia (previously known as FYRoM) - Latvia.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Northern Ireland - Estonia.
21 March, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Slovakia - Hungary.

22 March, Friday at 18.00 CET: Bulgaria - Montenegro.
22 March, Friday at 20.45 CET: Albania - Turkey.
22 March, Friday at 20.45 CET: Andorra - Iceland.
22 March, Friday at 20.45 CET: England - Czech Republic.
22 March, Friday at 20.45 CET: Luxembourg - Lithuania.
22 March, Friday at 20.45 CET: Moldova - France.
22 March, Friday at 20.45 CET: Portugal - Ukraine.

23 March, Saturday at 15.00 CET: Georgia - Switzerland.
23 March, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Gibraltar - Republic of Ireland.
23 March, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Malta - Faroe Islands.
23 March, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Sweden - Romania.
23 March, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Bosnia and Herzegovina - Armenia.
23 March, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Italy - Finland.
23 March, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Liechtenstein - Greece.
23 March, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Spain - Norway.

24 March, Sunday at 15.00 CET: Kazakhstan - Russia.
24 March, Sunday at 15.00 CET: Wales - Slovakia.
24 March, Sunday at 18.00 CET: Hungary - Croatia.
24 March, Sunday at 18.00 CET: Israel - Austria.
24 March, Sunday at 18.00 CET: San Marino - Scotland.
24 March, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Cyprus - Belgium.
24 March, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Netherlands - Germany.
24 March, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Northern Ireland - Belarus.
24 March, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Poland - Latvia.
24 March, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Slovenia - North Macedonia.

17 March 2019

Whistleblowing means nothing anymore

A hacker, who so far have revealed plenty of irregularities and corruption in football, is going to be extradited to his native country: Portugal. Living in Budapest from 2015, Rui Pinto has hacked millions of documents revealing dirty businesses in the sport. The main source of 'Football leaks' was arrested on 16 January in Hungary, while last Tuesday the court confirmed that is going to be returned to Portugal who is accusing him for 'theft of data from some institutions, including the state itself, and attempt of blackmail of investment fund Maltese Doyen'. After an rejected appeal this Thursday, his lawyer said that the 30-year-old is going to be delivered to his native country within 10 days.

16 March 2019

Last eight pairs

In total we have 8 duels which are equally divided on two competitions or in other words we have reached the quarter final stage. And to find out who is playing who, the European football organization today conducted the draw whose games are going to be played next month. Starting from quarterfinal phase all games will kick-off at the same time, and with this UEFA concludes the draws for 2018-19 season for these two events.

For the first time at the knockout phase all duels for the Champions league are going to be played on the same month. Quarterfinal matches for the first 90 minutes are 09 and 10 April, whilst 7 nights later are the return legs. The schedule for last 8 looks like this:

1. Ajax - Juventus.
2. Liverpool - Porto.
3. Tottenham - Manchester City.
4. Barcelona - Manchester United (later in the day, this duel was inverted).

30 April and 01 May are first the dates for the first semifinal games, while 07 and 08 May are the second duels. The line-up is the following:

Winner of quarterfinal 3 is going to play against the winner of quarterfinal 1.
Victory team from quarterfinal 4 will play against the victory team from quarterfinal 2.

On Saturday, 01 June the Spanish capital will stage the last game of this event. The 'home' club in Madrid is going to be the first semifinal pair who is going to play against the second semifinal pair on Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

After the really exciting drama until late last night, on Friday afternoon we had to learn who are the quarterfinal pairs for the second and most enjoyable event to watch. Unlike the previous tournament, only two nights are reserved for Europa league games: quarterfinals are going to be played on 11 and 18 April with the following schedule:

1. Napoli - Arsenal (later in the day, this pair was reversed).
2. Villarreal - Valencia.
3. Benfica - Eintracht Frankfurt.
4. Slavia Prague - Chelsea.

On 02 and 09 May are the dates for semifinals, and the line up looks like this:

Victory club of quarterfinal 1 will play against victory team of quarterfinal 2.
Quarterfinal winner 3 is going to play against quarterfinal winner 4.

On the last Wednesday in May this competition will have a new winner. Semifinal duel number 2 is going to be written as 'hosts' who is going to play against the winning club of semifinal 1 match in Baku (Azerbaijan).

15 March 2019

Unbelievable show at the capital of Czech Republic

Krasnodar - Valencia 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 85 (84.38) Magomed Shapi-Suleymanov
              1:1 90+3 (92.28) Goncalo Guedes

Red Bull Salzburg - Napoli 3:1

Scorers: 0:1 14 (13.23) Arkadiusz Milik
              1:1 24 (24.15) Moanes Dabour
              2:1 65 (64.23) Fredrik Gulbrandsen
              3:1 90+1 (90.59) Christoph Leitgeb

Dynamo Kyiv - Chelsea 0:5

Scorers: 0:1 05 (04.33) Olivier Giroud
              0:2 32 (32.17) Olivier Giroud
              0:3 45+1 (45.42) Marcos Alonso
              0:4 59 (58.45) Olivier Giroud
              0:5 78 (77.23) Callum Hudson-Odoi

Villarreal - Zenit Saint Petersburg 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 29 (28.24) Gerard Moreno
              2:0 47 (46.38) Carlos Bacca
              2:1 90 (90.13) Branislav Ivanovic

Slavia Prague - Sevilla 2:2, after extra time 4:3

Scorers: 1:0 14 (13.55) Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui

              1:1 44-pen (43.22) Wissam ben Yedder
              2:1 46-pen Tomas Soucek
              2:2 53 (53.10) Munir el Haddadi
              2:3 97 (97.11) Franco Vazquez
              3:3 102 (101.20) Mick van Buren
              4:3 119 (118.54) Ibrahim Benjamin Traore


Benfica - Dinamo Zagreb 1:0, after extra time 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 70 (70.12) Jonas Goncalves Oliveira (simply known as Jonas)
              2:0 94 (93.32) Francisco Ferreira (simply known as Ferro)
              3:0 105 (104.38) Alejandro Grimaldo

- Bad boy was Petar Stojanovic (Dinamo Zagreb) who received his second yellow card at 103 (103.00).

Additional information: Valencia, Napoli, Chelsea, Villarreal, Slavia Prague, Benfica qualified for the third knockout phase.