31 August 2021

Admitting his guilt

Former president of the Salvadoran football federation confessed of receiving bribery last Monday. At 2012 Reynaldo Vasquez appropriate 350.000 dollars (296.614 euros) and put it in his pocket from marketing agency Media world who in return they gained rights for World Cup qualifying games (at that time). Because it was so nice of him (finally) to admit his greed, now the 65-year-old could face from 33 of up to 41 months in jail. The verdict will be decided on 16 December.

30 August 2021

Eight instead of six

North, Central America and the Caribbean is the second and last region who is starting with the final round. The old format with six teams was abandoned and for the first time (from these World Cup eliminations and onwards) two more are added, which means eight teams are in the single group, that desperately wants to occupy the first 3 positions in March 2022 (who goes directly to the big event) while the fourth will have to torture themselves a little bit more just to get there.

03 September, Friday at 02.05 CET: Canada - Honduras.
03 September, Friday at 03.05 CET: Panama - Costa Rica.
03 September, Friday at 04.00 CET: Mexico - Jamaica.
03 September, Friday at 04.05 CET: El Salvador - United States of America.

05 September, Sunday at 00.00 CET: Jamaica - Panama.
05 September, Sunday at 01.00 CET: Costa Rica - Mexico.
05 September, Sunday at 01.00 CET: El Salvador - Honduras.

Unusual schedule ahead

One of the interesting region of these World Cup qualifiers is definitely from South America (without doubt). Matchnight number 09 is going to be whole completed next week, and then (on the weekend) we are officially going backwards to matchnight 06 (because of the health problems caused back in June).

02 September, Thursday at 22.00 CET: Bolivia - Colombia.
02 September, Thursday at 23.00 CET: Ecuador - Paraguay.

03 September, Friday at 02.00 CET: Venezuela - Argentina.
03 September, Friday at 03.00 CET: Chile - Brazil.
03 September, Friday at 03.00 CET: Peru - Uruguay.

05 September, Sunday at 21.00 CET: Brazil - Argentina.
05 September, Sunday at 23.00 CET: Ecuador - Chile.

Last phase begins

At round number three in Asia remained the best 12 teams who are divided in 2 groups. On the first match night one duel is forced to play outside its borders (for precaution only), while another is having an unusual kick-off time (the official commencing).

02 September, Thursday at 12.14 CET: Japan - Oman.
02 September, Thursday at 13.00 CET: South Korea - Iraq.
02 September, Thursday at 18.00 CET: Islamic Republic of Iran - Syria.
02 September, Thursday at 18.45 CET: United Arab Emirates - Lebanon.
02 September, Thursday at 20.00 CET: Australia - People's Republic of China (playing in Doha, Qatar).
02 September, Thursday at 20.00 CET: Saudi Arabia - Vietnam.

Two matches completes within five nights

On the European continent some teams will be in action two times. Fifty games are in front of us with 12 and 13 pairs played on each 4 nights.

01 September, Wednesday at 18.00 CET: Kazakhstan - Ukraine.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Denmark - Scotland.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Faroe islands - Israel.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: France - Bosnia and Herzegovina.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Latvia - Gibraltar.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Luxembourg - Azerbaijan.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Malta - Cyprus.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Moldova - Austria.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Norway - Netherlands.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Portugal - Republic of Ireland.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Russia - Croatia.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Slovenia - Slovakia.
01 September, Wednesday at 20.45 CET: Turkey - Montenegro.

02 September, Thursday at 18.00 CET: Georgia - Kosovo.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Andorra - San Marino.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Czech Republic - Belorussia.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Estonia - Belgium.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Hungary - England.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Iceland - Romania.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Italy - Bulgaria.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Liechtenstein - Germany.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Lithuania - Northern Ireland.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: North Macedonia - Armenia.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Poland - Albania.
02 September, Thursday at 20.45 CET: Sweden - Spain.

04 September, Saturday at 15.00 CET: Finland - Kazakhstan.
04 September, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Cyprus - Russia.
04 September, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Latvia - Norway.
04 September, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Republic of Ireland - Azerbaijan.
04 September, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Serbia - Luxembourg.
04 September, Saturday at 18.00 CET: Slovenia - Malta.
04 September, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Faroe islands - Denmark.
04 September, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Gibraltar - Turkey.
04 September, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Israel - Austria.
04 September, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Netherlands - Montenegro.
04 September, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Scotland - Moldova.
04 September, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Slovakia - Croatia.
04 September, Saturday at 20.45 CET: Ukraine - France.

05 September, Sunday at 15.00 CET: Belarus - Wales.
05 September, Sunday at 18.00 CET: Albania - Hungary.
05 September, Sunday at 18.00 CET: Bulgaria - Lithuania.
05 September, Sunday at 18.00 CET: England - Andorra.
05 September, Sunday at 18.00 CET: Iceland - North Macedonia.
05 September, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Belgium - Czech Republic.
05 September, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Germany - Armenia.
05 September, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Kosovo - Greece.
05 September, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Romania - Liechtenstein.
05 September, Sunday at 20.45 CET: San Marino - Poland.
05 September, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Spain - Georgia.
05 September, Sunday at 20.45 CET: Switzerland - Italy.

Back after a long time

From club we are turning onto the international team plays where five regions are going to resume their path towards the World Cup that is commencing next year.

Last match from this confederation was on 10 September 2019. Nearly 2 years later Africa is going to commence with its second round: 40 teams are equally divided in 10 groups who are going to hunt only first place. Whole matchnight one will be finished and part of the second begins on the weekend.

01 September, Wednesday at 15.00 CET: Central African Republic - Cape verde.
01 September, Wednesday at 18.00 CET: Guinea-Bissau - Guinea.
01 September, Wednesday at 18.00 CET: Senegal - Togo.
01 September, Wednesday at 21.00 CET: Libya - Gabon.
01 September, Wednesday at 21.00 CET: Mali - Rwanda.

02 September, Thursday at 15.00 CET: Democratic Republic of Congo - Tanzania.
02 September, Thursday at 15.00 CET: Kenya - Uganda.
02 September, Thursday at 18.00 CET: Madagascar - Benin.
02 September, Thursday at 18.00 CET: Namibia - Congo.
02 September, Thursday at 18.00 CET: Niger - Burkina faso.
02 September, Thursday at 21.00 CET: Algeria - Djibouti.
02 September, Thursday at 21.00 CET: Egypt - Angola.
02 September, Thursday at 21.00 CET: Morocco - Sudan.

03 September, Friday at 15.00 CET: Mozambique - Ivory coast.
03 September, Friday at 15.00 CET: Zimbabwe - South Africa.
03 September, Friday at 18.00 CET: Mauritania - Zambia.
03 September, Friday at 18.00 CET: Nigeria - Liberia.
03 September, Friday at 21.00 CET: Cameroon - Malawi.
03 September, Friday at 21.00 CET: Ghana - Ethiopia.
03 September, Friday at 21.00 CET: Tunisia - Equatorial Guinea.

05 September, Sunday at 15.00 CET: Rwanda - Kenya.
05 September, Sunday at 18.00 CET: Togo - Namibia.
05 September, Sunday at 21.00 CET: Gabon - Egypt.

29 August 2021

Punished for refusing to play

Everyone knows the story of how game number 147 from the TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations qualifiers have ended. Out of the third try finally, Sierra leone and Benin have completed the saga in the middle of June at neutral venue. In order not to be repetitive, the reason behind the postponement was of course the epidemic situation.
For this case / duel the two above mentioned teams have been accused each other and even appealed at Court of Arbitration for sport. Benin went a little bit further on the matter when even asked compensation from their rivals, however the tribunal said that it is up to the confederation of what will do next. And the decision was given on 22 August: the wanted recompense is fully dismissed and their opponents (Sierra leone) is penalized with 5.000 dollars (4.274 euros) for failure to honour sportsmanship on that game.

28 August 2021

Identical group names with various clubs in it

Yesterday and today was the draw for all three European club international tournaments. In just over 19 hours 96 clubs came out from the little balls who were equally divided in 24 groups.

Of course the first draw was on Thursday where the the official start of Champions league was revealed for the new season. Part number two (the group duels) commences on 16 September, and everything has to finish on 09 December.

Group A: Manchester city, PSG, RasenBallsport Leipzig, Club Brugge.

Group B: Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, Milan.

Group C: Sporting, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Besiktas.

Group D: Inter, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sheriff.

Group E: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Benfica, Dynamo Kyiv.

Group F: Villarreal, Manchester united, Atalanta, Young boys Bern.

Group G: Lille, Sevilla, Red bull Salzburg, Wolfsburg.

Group H: Chelsea, Juventus, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Malmo.

Dates for the second in significance together with the third and debut tournament begins on the same night: at 16 September is matchnight one and the group completion is on 09 December. The following 16 are filled with 4 clubs each, for:

Europa league...

Group A: Olympique Lyonnais, Glasgow rangers, Sparta Praha, Brondby. 

Group B: Monaco, PSV, Real Sociedad, Sturm.

Group C: Napoli, Leicester, Spartak Moscow, Legia.

Group D: Olympiacos, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahce, Antwerp.

Group E: Lazio, Lokomotiv Moscow, Olympique de Marseille, Galatasaray.

Group F: Braga, Crvena zvezda, Ludogorets, Midtjylland.

Group G: Bayer Leverkusen, Celtic, Betis, Ferencvaros.

Group H: Dinamo Zagreb, Genk, West Ham, Rapid Wien.

...and Conference league.

Group A: LASK, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Alashkert, HJK.

Group B: Gent, Partizan, Flora, Anorthosis.

Group C: Roma, Zorya, CSKA Sofia, Bodo/Glimt.

Group D: AZ, Cluj, Jablonec, Randers.

Group E: Slavia Praha, Feyenoord, Union Berlin, Maccabi Haifa.

Group F: Kobenhavn, PAOK, Slovan Bratislava, Lincoln red imps.

Group G: Tottenham, Rennais, Vitesse, Mura.

Group H: Basel, Qarabag, Kairat, Omonia.

27 August 2021

So long, summer club qualifiers

Conference league 2021-22 season, qualifying phase 4 (last or play-off round), leg 2 (single night):

Kairat - Fola 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 12 (11.51) Artur Shushenachev
               2:0 28 (27.26) Vagner Silva de Souza (known as Vagner Love)
               3:0 35 (35.17) Artur Shushenachev
               3:1 43 (42.57) Mirza Mustafic

Lincoln red imps - Riga 1:1, 3:1 after 30 additional minutes

Scorers: 0:1 19 Yuri Vakulko
               1:1 32-pen Liam Walker
               2:1 105 Roy Chipolina
               3:1 120+1 Kian Ronan

Bodo/Glimt - Zalgiris 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 62 Ola Solbakken

Zilina - Jablonec 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 29 Dominik Plestil
               0:2 85 Antonin Vanicek
               0:3 88 Tomas Cvancara

Vitesse - Anderlecht 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 03 (03.07) Maximilian Wittek
               2:0 48 (48.03) Maximilian Wittek
               2:1 80 (79.54) Lior Refaelov

CSKA Sofia - Viktoria 2:0, 3:0 after extra time

Scorers: 1:0 06 (05.48) Graham Carey
               2:0 63 (62.47) Georgi Yomov
               3:0 119 (118.38) Jurgen Mattheij

- Jordy Caicedo (CSKA Sofia) has left the pitch at 111 (110.45) because of two yellow cards.

Maccabi Haifa - Neftci 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 19 (18.48) Sun Menahem
               2:0 45+1 (46.11) Omer Atzili
               3:0 52-pen (51.57) Dolev Haziza
               4:0 68 (68.08) Mohammad abu Fani

Anorthosis - Hapoel Be'er Sheva 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 12 (11.41) Kostakis Artymatas
               1:1 42 (42.13) Itay Shechter
               2:1 61-pen (61.16) Lazaros Christodoulopoulos
               3:1 69 (68.16) Lazaros Christodoulopoulos

- The visitors ended this match with nine footballers, and both of them received up to two yellow cards. First to wave goodbye was Elton Acolatse on 44 (44.14), while at 90+6 Danilo Moreno Asprilla joined him in the dressing room.

Hammarby - Basel 2:0, after additional 30 minutes 3:1, on penalties: 3-4

Scorers: 1:0 47 Jon Gudni Fjoluson
               2:0 53 Jon Gudni Fjoluson
               3:0 100 Akinkunmi Amoo
               3:1 109-pen Arthur Cabral

Roma - Trabzonspor 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 20 (19.41) Bryan Cristante
               2:0 65 (64.54) Nicolo Zaniolo
               3:0 84 (83.21) Stephan el Shaarawy

Rosenborg - Rennais 1:3

Scorers: 0:1 05 (04.47) Romain del Castillo
               0:2 40 (40.05) Nayef Aguerd
               1:2 67-pen (67.17) Stefano Vecchia
               1:3 81 (80.28) Matthis Abline

Elfsborg - Feyenoord 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 42 (41.42) Johan Larsson
               2:0 49 (48.57) Alexander Bernhardsson
               2:1 60 (60.14) Guus Til
               3:1 77 (76.39) Marokhy Ndione

Kobenhavn - Sivasspor 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 24 (23.54) Jens Stage
               2:0 39 (38.54) Mohamed Daramy
               3:0 57 (56.23) Lukas Lerager
               4:0 62 (61.48) Pep Biel
               5:0 75 (75.11) Rasmus Hojlund

Maccabi Tel Aviv - Shakhter 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 18 (17.27) Idan Nacmias
               2:0 40 (39.34) Dan Glazer

Gent - Rakow 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 45 Tarik Tissoudali
               2:0 69 Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe
               3:0 72 Julien de Sart

Saint Johnstone - LASK 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 71 (71.04) Husein Balic
               0:2 84-pen (83.50) Marko Raguz

- Direct red cards for two home players were for: at 75 (75.01) David Wotherspoon and Shaun Rooney on 83 (82.56).

Union Berlin - KuPS 0:0

Aberdeen - Qarabag 1:3

Scorers: 0:1 07 (07.04) Toral Bayramov
               0:2 17 (17.02) Kady Malinowski
               0:3 72 (71.33) Abdellah Zoubir
               1:3 90+2-pen (91.45) Lewis Ferguson

Shamrock rovers - Flora 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 57 (56.55) Rauno Sappinen

Tottenham - Pacos de Ferreira 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 09 (08.26) Harry Kane
               2:0 34 (33.54) Harry Kane
               3:0 70 (69.29) Giovani lo Celso

Partizan - Santa Clara 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 25-pen (24.28) Ricardo Gomes
               2:0 27 (26.36) Sinisa Sanicanin

Additional information 1: from this fall in the group stage we are going to see the following clubs: Kairat, Lincoln red imps, Bodo/Glimt, Jablonec, Vitesse, CSKA Sofia, Maccabi Haifa, Anorthosis, Basel, Roma, Rennais, Feyenoord, Kobenhavn, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Gent, LASK, Union Berlin, Qarabag, Flora, Tottenham and Partizan.

Europa league 2021-22 season, qualifying stage 4 (play-off or last phase), leg 2 (single night):

Alashkert - Glasgow rangers 0:0

- On 39 (38.55) James Santos das Neves received his second yellow card.

HJK - Fenerbahce 2:5

Scorers: 0:1 10 (10.14) Enner Valencia
               0:2 14 (13.22) Enner Valencia
               1:2 27 (26.41) Roope Riski
               1:3 52 (51.31) Enner Valencia
               2:3 87 (87.09) Riku Riski
               2:4 90+1 (90.59) Fatih Sanliturk
               2:5 90+3-own goal (93.13) Matti Peltola

Zorya - Rapid Wien 2:3

Scorers: 0:1 09 Marco Grull
               0:2 14 Leo Greiml
               1:2 39 Oleksandr Hladkyy
               1:3 68 Taxiarchis Fountas
               2:3 87-pen Shahab Zahedi

- Shahab Zahedi did not convert the second punishment for Zorya at 89.

Galatasaray - Randers 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 10 (10.20) Marvin Egho
               1:1 48 (47.29) Patrick van Aanholt
               2:1 58-own goal (58.19) Frederik Lauenborg

AZ - Celtic 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 03 (03.01) Kyogo Furuhashi
               1:1 06 (05.31) Zakaria Aboukhlal
               2:1 25-own goal (25.16) Carl Starfelt

Cluj - Crvena zvezda 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 04-pen (03.55) Aleksandar Katai
               1:1 34 (33.40) Gabriel Debeljuh
               1:2 53 (52.39) Milan Pavkov

- Ciprian Deac (Cluj) did not convert a punishment on 62 (62.10) as it was perfectly saved.
- For two yellow cards at 78 Jonathan Rodriguez (Cluj) has departed from the game.

Slovan Bratislava - Olympiacos 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 33 (32.31) Youssef el Arabi
               1:1 41 (40.55) Ezekiel Henty
               1:2 54 (53.25) Henry Onyekuru
               2:2 61 (61.03) Andre Green

- Vernon de Marco received a direct red card, thus Slovan Bratislava from 26 (25.25) played with 10 men.

Legia - Slavia Praha 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 45 (44.22) Ubong Ekpai
               1:1 58 (58.16) Mahir Emreli
               2:1 69 (69.03) Mahir Emreli

- The visitors from 03 (02.41) were weakened because Tomas Holes picked up a direct red card.

Antwerp - Omonia 2:0, on penalties: 3-2

Scorers: 1:0 28 (27.21) Koji Miyoshi
               2:0 84 (83.49) Pieter Gerkens

Sturm - Mura 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 38 (38.07) Otar Kiteishvili
               2:0 66 (65.39) Jakob Jantscher

- At 54 (53.38) Matic Marusko (Mura) managed to won second yellow card that automatically changed the colour to red.

Additional information 2: Glasgow rangers, Fenerbahce, Rapid Wien, Galatasaray, Celtic, Crvena zvezda, Olympiacos, Legia, Antwerp together with Sturm will play again in the group stage next month.

26 August 2021

Joy at additional minutes

Champions League 2021-22 season, elimination round 4 (play-off or last stage), leg 2 (night 2 of 2):

Sheriff - Dinamo Zagreb 0:0

Shakhtar Donetsk - Monaco 1:2, 2:2 after extra time

Scorers: 0:1 18 Wissam Ben Yedder
               0:2 39 Wissam Ben Yedder
               1:2 74 Marlos Romero Bonfim
               2:2 114-own goal Ruben Aguilar

Brondby - Red bull Salzburg 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 03 (03.19) Benjamin Sheshko
               0:2 09 (09.14) Brenden Aaronson
               1:2 62 (61.36) Andreas Maxso

Additional information: we are going to see again Sheriff (debut appearance), Shakhtar Donetsk together with Red bull Salzburg who entered the group stage of the tournament from September, while also next month in Europa league are transferred their opponents.

25 August 2021

Heroic achievement after scoreless result

Champions League 2021-22 season, elimination round 4 (play-off or last stage), leg 2 (night 1 of 2):

Ferencvaros - Young boys Bern 2:3

Scorers: 0:1 04 (03.55) Cedric Zesiger
               1:1 18 (17.21) Henry Wingo
               2:1 27 (26.35) Ryan Mmaee
               2:2 55 (55.07) Christian Fassnacht
               2:3 90+3 (92.25) Felix Mambimbi

- Aissa Laidouni waved goodbye from the game due to two yellow cards that turned automatically red on 63 (63.02).
- Young boys Bern had an 11 metre punishment at 71 (71.15), but the shot from Jordan Siebatcheu was perfectly saved.

PSV - Benfica 0:0

- From 32 (31.58) Benfica played with 10 players because Lucas Verissimo got his second yellow card.

Ludogorets - Malmo 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 09 (09.11) Anton Nedyalkov
               1:1 42 (41.28) Veljko Birmancevic
               2:1 60-pen (59.54) Pieros Sotiriou

Additional information: all guests (with various fates) have qualified for the group stage of the competition, while one step lower (also in the group stage) goes the rest of the clubs.

24 August 2021

Club that is no longer among us

The following club was established 1929 (exact date is not known) and stopped its existence on 21 August 2021. On the 92 years-old traditional history, Chievo had variations of up and downs and was playing in each four divisions of its country, but the best success was from 2001-02 until 2018-19 season where for full 16 years this team was competing in Serie A (except 2007-08 when they were in Serie B). However, one of the greatest accomplishments were in 2002-03 together with 2006-07 when the collective appeared at the international club competition scene (participating in qualifying matches).
After being relegated to second division due to bankruptcy this July, the club desperately needed to find sponsors and solved all financial difficulties just to register for the new football season and because of it they were thrown back to where it all started (Serie D). Because of the 24 August deadline approached fast and an unsuccessful attempt to attract new investment last Saturday it was announced that the Italian club from Verona was officially extinguished.

23 August 2021

Fighting to enter groups

We have come towards the last elimination matches before teams can join the group stage. At the last full week of this month the fate of 76 clubs will be decided where surely each one of them are going to fight until their final strength while some are going to be transferred in different competitions (this does not apply to the overall losers for the third one, because whoever is out, is going to sit home and watch it from television / media). There is no doubt that many games will go into extra time or even penalties (as the visiting goals rule is suspended) because of the high importance from the following 38 pairs who are divided into:

Champions league...
Tuesday, 24 August at 21.00 CET: Ferencvaros - Young boys Bern.
Tuesday, 24 August at 21.00 CET: Ludogorets - Malmo.
Tuesday, 24 August at 21.00 CET: PSV - Benfica.

Wednesday, 25 August at 21.00 CET: Brondby - Red bull Salzburg.
Wednesday, 25 August at 21.00 CET: Dinamo Zagreb - Sheriff.
Wednesday, 25 August at 21.00 CET: Shakhtar Donetsk - Monaco.

...Conference league...
Thursday, 26 August at 16.00 CET: Kairat - Fola.
Thursday, 26 August at 18.00 CET: Bodo/Glimt - Zalgiris.
Thursday, 26 August at 18.00 CET: Lincoln red imps - Riga.
Thursday, 26 August at 18.00 CET: Zilina - Jablonec.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Anorthosis - Hapoel Be'er Sheva.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: CSKA Sofia - Viktoria.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Elfsborg - Feyenoord.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Hammarby - Basel.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Kobenhavn - Sivasspor.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Maccabi Haifa - Neftci.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Roma - Trabzonspor.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Rosenborg - Rennais.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.00 CET: Vitesse - Anderlecht.
Thursday, 26 August at 19.30 CET: Maccabi Tel Aviv - Shakhter.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.00 CET: Gent - Rakow.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.00 CET: Rijeka - PAOK.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.00 CET: Saint Johnstone - LASK.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.15 CET: Union Berlin - KuPS.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.45 CET: Aberdeen - Qarabag.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.45 CET: Shamrock rovers - Flora.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.45 CET: Tottenham - Pacos de Ferreira.
Thursday, 26 August at 21.00 CET: Partizan - Santa Clara.

...and Europa league.
Thursday, 26 August at 17.00 CET: Alashkert - Glasgow rangers.
Thursday, 26 August at 18.00 CET: HJK - Fenerbahce.
Thursday, 26 August at 18.30 CET: Zorya - Rapid Wien.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.00 CET: Galatasaray - Randers.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.15 CET: AZ - Celtic.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.30 CET: Cluj - Crvena zvezda.
Thursday, 26 August at 20.45 CET: Slovan Bratislava - Olympiacos.
Thursday, 26 August at 21.00 CET: Antwerp - Omonia.
Thursday, 26 August at 21.00 CET: Legia - Slavia Praha.
Thursday, 26 August at 21.00 CET: Sturm - Mura.

22 August 2021

News about a qualifying event

After June, September is the next month where plenty of elimination duels for the World Cup 2022 continues, but with little bit of changes that were announced from last week.
On 12 August the South American organization revealed that all 10 countries of its region will play three rounds beginning in 12 nights from now. However, the schedule is going to be altered: stages 09, 06 and 10 are going to resume at 02, 05 and 09 September.
In the Asian part one game is forced to be staged on neutral venue because of the well known health situation. Yesterday the confederation has discovered that the capital of Qatar, Doha will pretend to pose as a hospitality country between People's Republic of China and Japan on night 07 of the following month from round three of group B.
Each of the above modification can be seen on the website of both confederations. Games from the other three regions (Africa / Europe / North, Central America and Caribbean) will go ahead as planned.

21 August 2021

Known where 24 teams will be located

Twenty nine nights (out of those 21 will be active), 6 stadia, 5 cities and 1 champion. In short, the African continent is inviting you to watch its championship that was supposed to happen this summer period (June / July), but because of the well known health situation it was shifted from 09 January until 06 February 2022. For the tournament to start, everyone had to know where those 24 qualified teams will go in which of the 6 groups, and just that unveiled this Tuesday when the draw was made in the capital of the host country Cameroon.

Group A: Cameroon, Burkina faso, Ethiopia, Cape Verde.

Group B: Senegal, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Malawi.

Group C: Morocco. Ghana, Comoros, Gabon.

Group D: Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan, Guinea-Bissau.

Group E: Algeria, Sierra leone, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory coast.

Group F: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Gambia.

Only the next day the whole schedule of edition number 33 from TotalEnergies African Cup of nations was revealed, where you can see or download it from the website of the confederation.

20 August 2021

Missed a chance to be victorious at stoppage time

Conference league 2021-22 season, qualifying phase 4 (last or play-off round), leg 1 (single night):

Shakhter - Maccabi Tel Aviv 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 73 (72.52) Idris Umaev
               1:1 75 (74.33) Avi Rikan
               1:2 76 (76.05) Eden Shamir

Qarabag - Aberdeen 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 29 (29.08) Jaime Romero

Flora - Shamrock rovers 4:2

Scorers: 1:0 13 (12.50) Sergei Zenjov
               2:0 27 (26.35) Martin Miller
               2:1 43 (43.00) Graham Burke
               3:1 76 (75.29) Rauno Sappinen
               3:2 85 (85.13) Liam Scales
               4:2 87 (86.53) Martin Miller

KuPS - Union Berlin 0:4

Scorers: 0:1 06 (06.00) Taiwo Awoniyi
               0:2 29 (28.47) Max Kruse
               0:3 30 (30.04) Taiwo Awoniyi
               0:4 90+2 (91.37) Andreas Voglsammer

Rakow - Gent 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 63 (63.09) Andrzej Niewulis

LASK - Saint Johnstone 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 16 Christopher Kane
               1:1 59-pen Mamoudou Karamoko

Riga - Lincoln red imps 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 60 Yuriy Vakulko
               1:1 72 Fernando Carralero

Hapoel Be'er Sheva - Anorthosis 0:0

Viktoria - CSKA Sofia 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 10 (09.55) Milan Havel
               2:0 71 (71.12) Jhon Mosquera

Zalgiris - Bodo/Glimt 2:2

Scorers: 1:0 06 (06.20) Tomislav Kish
               1:1 48 (48.08) Ulrik Saltnes
               1:2 53 (53.08) Ulrik Saltnes
               2:2 90+1 (91.10) Elhadji Pape Diaw

Neftci - Maccabi Haifa 3:3

Scorers: 0:1 08 (08.19) Omer Atzili
               1:1 50 (49.33) Yusuf Lawal
               2:1 65 (65.07) Yusuf Lawal
               3:1 72 (71.45) Emin Makhmudov
               3:2 78 (77.50) Tjarron Chery
               3:3 90+6 (95.32) Tjarron Chery

- For two yellow cards Ismayil Zulfugarli (Neftci) had to say goodbye to the game at 77 (76.40).

Basel - Hammarby 3:1

Scorers: 1:0 30 (29.30) Arthur Cabral
               1:1 70 (70.19) Abdul Khalili
               2:1 86 (85.51) Arthur Cabral
               3:1 90-pen (89.43) Arthur Cabral

Fola - Kairat 1:4

Scorers: 1:0 19 (18.25) Mirza Mustafic
               1:1 27 (26.54) Artur Shushenachev
               1:2 37 (36.38) Vagner Silva de Souza (known as Vagner Love)
               1:3 43 (42.48) Ricardo Alves
               1:4 69-pen (69.00) Vagner Silva de Souza (known as Vagner Love)

Trabzonspor - Roma 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 54 (54.20) Lorenzo Pellegrini
               1:1 64 (63.23) Andreas Cornelius
               1:2 80 (80.06) Eldor Shomurodov

Anderlecht - Vitesse 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 09 (09.13) Benito Raman
               1:1 31 (30.37) Elazar Dasa
               2:1 33 (33.16) Benito Raman
               2:2 46 (45.33) Nikolai Frederiksen
               2:3 72 (71.24) Oussama Tannane
               3:3 90 (89.49) Yari Verschaeren

- On 90+4 (94.18) Lior Refaelov had an opportunity to win the game for the Belgian club, but his 11 metre shot hit the crossbar.

Feyenoord - Elfsborg 5:0

Scorers: 1:0 24 (24.08) Luis Fernando Sinisterra
               2:0 30 (29.22) Alireza Jahanbakhsh
               3:0 37 (36.33) Luis Fernando Sinisterra
               4:0 47 (47.06) Luis Fernando Sinisterra
               5:0 58 (57.48) Brian Linssen

- Frederik Holst departed from Elfsborg because of two yellow cards at 60 (59.46), while on 80 (79.36) a direct red was awarded to the home goalkeeper Justin Bijlow.

Jablonec - Zilina 5:1

Scorers: 1:0 09 Milos Kratochvil
               2:0 22 Milos Kratochvil
               3:0 41 Martin Dolezal
               4:0 45 Jakub Povazanec
               4:1 74 Taofiq Jibril
               5:1 89 Jakub Martinec

Sivasspor - Kobenhavn 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 54 (54.11) Kevin Diks
               1:1 58 (58.19) Leke James
               1:2 60 (59.41) Jens Stage

Rennais - Rosenborg 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 15 (14.50) Nayef Aguerd
               2:0 84 (83.47) Serhou Guirassy

Pacos de Ferreira - Tottenham 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 44 (44.14) Lucas Silva

Santa Clara - Partizan 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 03 (03.08) Carlos Carvalho da Silva
               2:0 48 (48.15) Hidemasa Morita
               2:1 53 (53.13) Igor Vujacic

Europa league 2021-22 season, qualifying stage 4 (play-off or last phase), leg 1 (night 3 out of 3):

Slavia Praha - Legia 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 19 (19.04) Mahir Emreli
               1:1 33 (32.55) Alexander Bah
               1:2 37 (36.42) Josip Juranovic
               2:2 45+3 (47.43) Lukas Masopust

Omonia - Antwerp 4:2

Scorers: 0:1 26 (25.29) Manuel Benson
               1:1 42 (42.20) Loizos Loizou
               2:1 48 (47.58) Andronikos Kakoulis
               3:1 55 (54.57) Loizos Loizou
               3:2 62 (61.41) Koji Miyoshi
               4:2 84-pen (83.38) Iyayi Believe Atiemwen

Randers - Galatasaray 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 25-own goal (24.57) Simon Piesinger
               1:1 53 (53.12) Frederik Lauenborg

Mura - Sturm 1:3

Scorers: 1:0 02 (02.13) Ziga Skoflek
               1:1 18-pen (17.27) Jakob Jantscher
               1:2 60 (59.51) Otar Kiteishvili
               1:3 63 (62.40) Kelvin Yeboah

Fenerbahce - HJK 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 64 (64.06) Muhammed Gumuskaya

Glasgow rangers - Alashkert 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 67 (66.50) Alfredo Morelos

- The Glasgow rangers midfielder John Lundstram was removed from this game due to two yellow cards at 43 (42.39).

Rapid Wien - Zorya 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 28 (28.09) Taxiarchis Fountas
               2:0 77 (77.12) Ercan Kara
               3:0 85 (84.45) Marco Grull

Olympiacos - Slovan Bratislava 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 37 (36.42) Mady Camara
               2:0 52 (51.22) Pape Abou Cisse
               3:0 68-own goal (67.35) Vasil Bozhikov

19 August 2021

Bad night for Dutch clubs

Europa league 2021-22 season, qualifying stage 4 (play-off or last phase), leg 1 (night 2 out of 3):

Celtic - AZ 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 11 (10.55) Kyogo Furuhashi
               2:0 61-own goal (60.47) Timo Letschert

Champions League 2021-22 season, elimination round 4 (play-off or last stage), leg 1 (night 2 of 2):

Benfica - PSV 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 10 (09.50) Rafael Silva
               2:0 42 (41.46) Julian Weigl
               2:1 51 (50.54) Cody Gakpo

Young boys Bern - Ferencvaros 3:2

Scorers: 0:1 13 (13.14) Franck Boli
               1:1 16 (15.29) Meschack Elia
               2:1 39 (39.01) Vincent Sierro
               3:1 65 (64.24) Ulisses Garcia
               3:2 82 (81.45) Franck Boli

- Direct red card on 24 (24.19) was for the home defender Silvan Hefti.
- At 27 (26.39) Myrto Uzuni (Ferencvaros) did not convert an 11 metre punishment because the ball hit the post.

Malmo - Ludogorets 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 25 (25.07) Veljko Birmancevic
               2:0 61 (60.21) Jo Inge Berget

18 August 2021

Rivals had a say at only one play

Champions League 2021-22 season, elimination round 4 (play-off or last stage), leg 1 (night 1 of 2):

Red bull Salzburg - Brondby 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 04 (03.54) Mikael Uhre
               1:1 56 (55.55) Karim Adeyemi
               2:1 90 (89.29) Brenden Aaronson

Sheriff - Dinamo Zagreb 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 45 (44.54) Adama Traore
               2:0 53 (53.18) Dimitrios Kolovos
               3:0 81 (80.45) Adama Traore

Monaco - Shakhtar Donetsk 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 19 (18.25) Pedro Delmino da Silva (Pedrinho for short)

Europa league 2021-22 season, qualifying stage 4 (play-off or last phase), leg 1 (night 1 out of 3):

Crvena zvezda - Cluj 4:0

Scorers: 1:0 05 (04.25) Milan Pavkov
               2:0 37 (37.17) Aleksandar Katai
               3:0 68 (67.28) El Fardou Ben Nabouhane
               4:0 77 (76.29) Mirko Ivanic

17 August 2021

Agreements with confederations

From the sixth month until nowadays television companies are racing with its competitors in each country just to bring the most interesting competitions to their viewers. Hence many of them have signed (that were not presented here) with confederations, and the deals are for various time periods.
Out of 03 June and as far as 02 July six mega agreements happened for the Asian football organization. CBS sports (United States of America), 10 ViacomCBS (Australia), PSM (Maldives), CSTN (Caribbean islands) together with Yili (People' Republic of China) have become partners and thus all of the quintet can broadcast club and team events for four years (2021 to 2024). The last one is the streaming video service DAZN (Japan) who has rights to show the continental Champions league from 2021 through 2028. At a short term, four firms have bought the following events: from 21 June True (Thailand) and 10 August RCTI+ (Philippines) can show the AFC club tournaments until the end of the season (2021), final round of the Asian qualifiers for World Cup 2022 will be on Sporttotal who on 09 July have brought rights for viewers at three territories (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), while four days ago OneFootball purchased the third phase of the mentioned elimination games plus the AFC Champions league (for 2021 and 2022) to be broadcast in Italy, Malta, Netherlands, San Marino and United Kingdom.
You have probably noticed that Qatar airways have advertised throughout the whole Gold Cup competition that was played last month. The famous aero carrier is also going to be sponsor at the North, Central America and Caribbean version of Nations league which is going to be staged at 2022-23.
And at the end, out of 12 August and for two consecutive years DHL are sponsors with the South American confederation. The leaders in the logistics industry will carry antidoping samples, equipment throughout the continent until December 2022.

16 August 2021

Twelve new names appearing on play-off

Step by step, we have come towards the last elimination hurdle (also known as play-off or fourth round) before entering group stages. Both legs of the three European club international competitions is going to be played on the second part of this month, and next week the first 90 minutes are in action. Until now in the trio of tournaments we saw many clubs, and for the mentioned phase 12 of them are making its debut to the public (who are marked in red).

The alphabetic letters has put the Europa league commencing first. All 3 nights are going to be used, in total there will be 4 kick-off times, of the written 10 matches below.

Tuesday, 17 August at 21.00 CET: Crvena zvezda - Cluj.

Wednesday, 18 August at 20.45 CET: Celtic - AZ.

Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Omonia - Antwerp.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Randers - Galatasaray.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Slavia Praha - Legia.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.00 CET: Mura - Sturm.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.45 CET: Fenerbahce - HJK.
Thursday, 19 August at 21.00 CET: Glasgow rangers - Alashkert.
Thursday, 19 August at 21.00 CET: Olympiacos - Slovan Bratislava.
Thursday, 19 August at 21.00 CET: Rapid Wien - Zorya.

After one week absence, this event is returning to its recognizable two consecutive playing nights. Of which one to watch is going to be difficult to decide, because the six equally divided pairs at Champions league are going to start simultaneously.

Tuesday, 17 August at 21.00 CET: Monaco - Shakhtar Donetsk.
Tuesday, 17 August at 21.00 CET: Red bull Salzburg - Brondby.
Tuesday, 17 August at 21.00 CET: Sheriff - Dinamo Zagreb.

Wednesday, 18 August at 21.00 CET: Benfica - PSV.
Wednesday, 18 August at 21.00 CET: Malmo - Ludogorets.
Wednesday, 18 August at 21.00 CET: Young boys Bern - Ferencvaros.

For the event number three each of the duels from Conference league are scheduled to appear on one night. But because of the time difference that the continent has (and late kick-off), the last one will finish approximately 20 minutes into the following morning.

Thursday, 19 August at 15.00 CET: Shakhter - Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Thursday, 19 August at 18.00 CET: Flora - Shamrock rovers.
Thursday, 19 August at 18.00 CET: KuPS - Union Berlin.
Thursday, 19 August at 18.00 CET: Qarabag - Aberdeen.
Thursday, 19 August at 18.00 CET: Rakow - Gent.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Hapoel Be'er Sheva - Anorthosis.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: LASK - Saint Johnstone.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Neftci - Maccabi Haifa.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Riga - Lincoln red imps.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Viktoria - CSKA Sofia.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.00 CET: Zalgiris - Bodo/Glimt.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.30 CET: Basel - Hammarby.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.30 CET: Fola - Kairat.
Thursday, 19 August at 19.30 CET: Trabzonspor - Roma.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.00 CET: Anderlecht - Vitesse.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.00 CET: Feyenoord - Elfsborg.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.00 CET: Jablonec - Zilina.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.00 CET: PAOK - Rijeka.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.00 CET: Rennais - Rosenborg.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.00 CET: Sivasspor - Kobenhavn.
Thursday, 19 August at 20.30 CET: Pacos de Ferreira - Tottenham.
Thursday, 19 August at 22.30 CET: Santa Clara - Partizan.