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2021-22-23-24 News Thread

Asian Football Confederation World Cup qualifying today. All matches on Paramount +

The winners (so far) have been the usual suspects: Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. And Saudi Arabia just took a 1-0 lead over Oman early in the second half. Saudi Arabia's play was uninspired in the first half while Oman was quite resolute defensively and even had a few good moments in the Saudi's final third.

Also watched the last 35 minutes of the South Korea match vs Lebanon. Lebanon was game but ultimately fell to a superior Korean side. Korea, for its part, looked a little disjointed in attack. I'm guessing that's because Son Heung-min is still injured.

I don't watch enough football. ;)😂

Edit: Saudi Arabia won that match to remain four points ahead in Group B.
 
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Top two in each group automatically qualify. That will be Iran and South Korea in Group A, and two of Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia in Group B. The two third place teams (most likely United Arab Emirates and the other one of the three in Group B) play a one-off match sometime between the end of March (when this round ends) and mid-June (date TBD). In mid-June, the winner of that match will play the fifth placed team from CONMEBOL in the final World Cup qualifying match.
 
The NWSL and NWSL Players’ Association agreed on a CBA that runs 5 years. It raises the minimum salary and total compensation, grants free agency and improved health and wellness benefits.

www.nwslsoccer.com

National Women’s Soccer League and NWSL Players Association Agree on Transformative, First-Ever CBA to Run Through 2026 Season | National Women’s Soccer League and NWSL Players Association Agree on Transformative, First-Ever CBA to Run Through 2026 S

NWSL owners projected to commit incremental investment of nearly $100 million over term of CBA
www.nwslsoccer.com www.nwslsoccer.com
 
CAF qualifying today

Japan 2-0 Saudi Arabia (as Japan pulls to within a point of the Saudis to top Group B.)
Vietnam 3-1 China (Vietnam's first three points of qualifying. Even though China is second-last in Group B with five points, not sure how they lost)
Lebanon 1-1 Iraq (both sides still have a chance to qualify for the fourth round as the third place team in Group A, but a UAE win vs Iran today [match starts at 9:30 AM EST] will make that less likely

South Korea is toying with Syria, yet it's the Syrians who've had the two best chances, on a set piece that resulted in a goal chalked off for offsides, and a horrific back pass to the keeper that the Syrian attacker pushed wide of goal. 26th minute right now.
 
andyt said:
The NWSL and NWSL Players’ Association agreed on a CBA that runs 5 years. It raises the minimum salary and total compensation, grants free agency and improved health and wellness benefits.

www.nwslsoccer.com

National Women’s Soccer League and NWSL Players Association Agree on Transformative, First-Ever CBA to Run Through 2026 Season | National Women’s Soccer League and NWSL Players Association Agree on Transformative, First-Ever CBA to Run Through 2026 S

NWSL owners projected to commit incremental investment of nearly $100 million over term of CBA
www.nwslsoccer.com www.nwslsoccer.com
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They just got that in under the wire for January. The news leaked like it was a done deal before the NWSL Board had approved it. BIG sea change for players. Free Agency alone is a HUGE deal, but the fact that they had to force collective bargaining to get such basic stuff as a defined season window and vacation time and parental leave instituted signals just what an amateur circus this league was up to this point.
 
Final two AFC matches

Syria 0-2 South Korea (two second half goals see South Korea through as they officially qualify for Qatar 2022)
Oman 2-2 Australia (!) (Oman penalty in 89th minute means Australia enters the final two matches three full points behind Japan for second in Group B, instead of being a point behind).

Those final qualifying matches in Group B will be something

Matchday #9
Australia v Japan
China v Saudi Arabia

Matchday #10
Saudi Arabia v Australia
Japan v Vietnam

So Australia probably needs an outright win vs Japan or they will most likely qualify third, and have to play in the fourth round match vs the Group A third place team (most likely UAE). Iran and South Korea are officially through to Qatar as the top 2 in Group A. Lebanon and Iraq have an outside shot to gain third but they are 3 and 4 points behind UAE with two matches left.
 
Washington Spirit sign Trinity Rodman to a 4 year/$1.1 million contract, reportedly the biggest in the league. The new CBA set the max salary at $75k but teams can use league provided allocation money to increase salaries.
 
andyt said:
Washington Spirit sign Trinity Rodman to a 4 year/$1.1 million contract, reportedly the biggest in the league. The new CBA set the max salary at $75k but teams can use league provided allocation money to increase salaries.
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I only watched her play against the Courage, but I was really, really impressed. Fierce, slick, competitive in all situations.
 
jeffbear said:
I only watched her play against the Courage, but I was really, really impressed. Fierce, slick, competitive in all situations.
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Good that she’s getting invited to USWNT camps too. The forwards are getting a bit long in the tooth.
 
West Brom sacked manager Valerie’s Ismael after a poor run of 4 wins in their last 15 matches. Steve Bruce is in the mix to replace him. The Baggies are 5th in the Championship, 8 points out of 2nd and only 2 points ahead of 8th place Nottingham Forest.
 
andyt said:
Good that she’s getting invited to USWNT camps too. The forwards are getting a bit long in the tooth.
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I really like the group of young US forwards. Not so sure about the defenders, but they've got some real talent otherwise.
 
andyt said:
West Brom sacked manager Valerie’s Ismael after a poor run of 4 wins in their last 15 matches. Steve Bruce is in the mix to replace him. The Baggies are 5th in the Championship, 8 points out of 2nd and only 2 points ahead of 8th place Nottingham Forest.
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Ugh. I'm not sure I like the idea of Steve Bruce getting his pie crumb coated mitts on Darrel Dike at this stage of his career. The USMNT could really use that guy, if he can round out the rough edges. All Bruce will do is teach him to sharpen his elbows.
 
jeffbear said:
Ugh. I'm not sure I like the idea of Steve Bruce getting his pie crumb coated mitts on Darrel Dike at this stage of his career. The USMNT could really use that guy, if he can round out the rough edges. All Bruce will do is teach him to sharpen his elbows.
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It’s official, West Brom signed Bruce to a 18 month contract.
 
jeffbear said:
I really like the group of young US forwards. Not so sure about the defenders, but they've got some real talent otherwise.
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The bigger story is who wasn’t invited to camp for the She Believes Cup…Morgan, Heath, Rapinoe, Ertz, Sam Mewis.. Nearly half the roster has fewer than 25 caps. And it’s good to blood in some new players, the She Believes Cup is definitely not as daunting this year with the Czech Republic (FIFA rank 24), New Zealand (22) and Iceland (16) as the other teams.
 
I don't think that's news at all. Vlatko was always going to use this She Believes to work on a new batch, and it's WAY past time for it. They should have used the Olympics for that, but US Soccer disagreed ... and it went pear shaped on them.
 
andyt said:
It’s official, West Brom signed Bruce to a 18 month contract.
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I guess the upside is that Bruce likes to use his strikers like hammer on set pieces. So if he gets to see the field, then maybe Dike will learn something useful. The current batch of NT strikers all suck in the air.
 
jeffbear said:
I guess the upside is that Bruce likes to use his strikers like hammer on set pieces. So if he gets to see the field, then maybe Dike will learn something useful. The current batch of NT strikers all suck in the air.
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Yep, all 3 goals from dead balls last night, the one header was scored by a midfielder. Zimmerman and Pulisic had the ball fall to their feet.
 
The US is traditionally very good on set pieces, but not having a No. 9 who can elevate and make plays in the air is a real deficit. You only have to think back a little bit to remember all the bounced headers that Clint Dempsey scored, and how big a difference they made to those teams. It's nice to have other guys who can elevate and score (McKennie and Zimmerman are both good in the air), but it's more effective when the target man is a more mobile forward.
 
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