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Post by Panda on Jan 31, 2024 23:12:15 GMT 1
Asian Cup Last 16: Bahrain 1-3 Japan Iran 1-1 Syria (Iran win 5-3 on penalties) Quarter-finals: Tajikistan v Jordan Australia v South Korea Iran v Japan Qatar v Uzbekistan
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Post by o on Feb 1, 2024 12:16:56 GMT 1
2 of the 3 best teams against each other then?
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Post by Panda on Feb 1, 2024 12:36:43 GMT 1
2 of the 3 best teams against each other then? If you're talking about the Asian Cup, I would say the 4 best teams are facing each other, though that's partly down to Japan and South Korea not winning their groups. Japan would've been playing Tajikistan if they'd won their group, though South Korea would've been up against Iran.
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Post by Panda on Feb 2, 2024 23:57:24 GMT 1
AFCON quarter-finals: Nigeria 1-0 Angola DR Congo 3-1 Guinea
Asian Cup quarter-finals: Tajikistan 0-1 Jordan Australia 1-2 South Korea (AET)
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Post by o on Feb 3, 2024 23:03:41 GMT 1
🤩🦌😍
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Post by lordmelbury on Feb 3, 2024 23:59:34 GMT 1
All of the semi finalists in the AFCON have all played in at least one World Cup.
Would have loved Mali, Cape Verde and Guinea to join Nigeria in the semis, it would have really shaken it up with all these teams who have never qualified for the big one.... instead we have DR Congo (Zaire in 1974 WC), South Africa (3 WC appearances), Nigeria (a fair few World Cups) and Ivory Coast.
It seems such a long time ago Lincoln City shocked the world at the FA Cup, we haven't seen an underdog story since.
At least Qatar who have never properly qualified for a World Cup could make the Asian Cup semis.
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Post by Panda on Feb 4, 2024 0:21:32 GMT 1
AFCON quarter-finals: Mali 1-2 Ivory Coast (AET) Cape Verde 0-0 South Africa (South Africa win 2-1 on penalties) Asian Cup quarter-finals: Iran 2-1 Japan Qatar 1-1 Uzbekistan (Qatar win 3-2 on penalties) AFCON semi-finals: Nigeria v South Africa Ivory Coast v DR CongoAsian Cup semi-finals: Jordan v South Korea Iran v Qatar
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Post by Panda on Feb 4, 2024 0:22:38 GMT 1
At least Qatar who have never properly qualified for a World Cup could make the Asian Cup semis. Jordan are in the semis and have never qualified for the World Cup.
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Post by lordmelbury on Feb 4, 2024 0:43:54 GMT 1
At least Qatar who have never properly qualified for a World Cup could make the Asian Cup semis. Jordan are in the semis and have never qualified for the World Cup. They nearly made it to the 2018 World Cup, and Cape Verde nearly made it to the 2014 World Cup, until Cameroon threw their toys out of their pram over losing 3-0 to them and complained about a suspended player being fielded and so won 3-0 on default. Jordan being in the semis is fantastic. Might actually watch this one instead now, Nigeria are going to win the AFCON now, so we won't see a debutant winner either. The Zambia underdog story seems ages ago also and something we will never see again. The continental tournaments should double up as World Cup qualifiers, like in the Women's tournament.
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Post by Panda on Feb 4, 2024 0:51:59 GMT 1
The continental tournaments should double up as World Cup qualifiers, like in the Women's tournament. Totally disagree on this one. In the case of Asia, there'd then be two and a half years without any competitive games, whilst with Africa, you'd have a situation where certain tournaments would count as World Cup qualifying and others wouldn't. Additionally, having a confederation's premier tournament acting as a stepping stone for another competition devalues it somewhat. The only confederation where it makes sense is the OFC, which struggles to justify its own existence most of the time anyway.
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Post by lordmelbury on Feb 4, 2024 9:54:32 GMT 1
The continental tournaments should double up as World Cup qualifiers, like in the Women's tournament. Totally disagree on this one. In the case of Asia, there'd then be two and a half years without any competitive games, whilst with Africa, you'd have a situation where certain tournaments would count as World Cup qualifying and others wouldn't. Additionally, having a confederation's premier tournament acting as a stepping stone for another competition devalues it somewhat. The only confederation where it makes sense is the OFC, which struggles to justify its own existence most of the time anyway. OR.... The semi-finalists get an automatic place and the other places are determined through qualifiers (a bit like the Rugby World Cup). OFC can just use it's continental competition like it does anyway. OFC is an odd one, it's like the non-league of international football. As for Jordan going through to the semis, this also makes up for a strong possibility that for the first time in Euros tournament history, all of the teams have been in it before, no debutants.
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Post by Panda on Feb 6, 2024 18:18:27 GMT 1
Jordan are through to the Asian Cup final for the first time after beating South Korea 2-0. They went into the tournament as the 12th highest ranked team in Asia. Interestingly, the 12th highest ranked team in Africa is... South Africa, who have their own semi-final coming up.
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Post by Panda on Feb 8, 2024 18:00:58 GMT 1
AFCON semi-finals: Nigeria 1-1 South Africa (Nigeria win 4-2 on penalties) Ivory Coast 1-0 DR Congo
Asian Cup semi-final: Iran 2-3 Qatar
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Post by Panda on Feb 8, 2024 18:50:22 GMT 1
2024/25 Nations League Draw: LEAGUE AGROUP 1 Croatia Portugal Poland Scotland GROUP 2 Italy Belgium France Israel GROUP 3 Netherlands Hungary Germany Bosnia & Herzegovina GROUP 4 Spain Denmark Switzerland Serbia LEAGUE BGROUP 1 Czechia Ukraine Albania Georgia GROUP 2 England Finland Ireland Greece GROUP 3 Austria Norway Slovenia Kazakhstan GROUP 4 Wales Iceland Montenegro Turkiye LEAGUE CGROUP 1 Sweden Azerbaijan Slovakia Estonia GROUP 2 Romania Kosovo Cyprus Lithuania or Gibraltar GROUP 3 Luxembourg Bulgaria Northern Ireland Belarus GROUP 4 Armenia Faroe Islands North Macedonia Latvia LEAGUE DGROUP 1 Lithuania or Gibraltar San Marino Liechtenstein GROUP 2 Moldova Malta Andorra
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Post by Shireblogger on Feb 8, 2024 19:34:33 GMT 1
I still haven't figured out what the point is of the Nations League.
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Post by smokeyb on Feb 8, 2024 20:59:33 GMT 1
I suppose its a bit more competitive than a friendly
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Post by Panda on Feb 8, 2024 21:01:46 GMT 1
It's a tough one as the idea was to increase the number of competitive games and reduce friendlies. But then that only works if the teams take it seriously, which England most certainly didn't in the last edition, hence their relegation.
UEFA have tried to increase its importance by using it to determine playoff teams for the Euros, with playoff spots also on offer for the World Cup (4 in this edition), as well as using it to decide seedings for the Euro qualifiers. I've seen unconfirmed rumours that they'll use this edition to determine the seedings for the World Cup qualifiers, which could put England in a tricky situation now they're in League B as it makes it impossible to be one of the top seeds.
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Post by Panda on Feb 10, 2024 18:27:57 GMT 1
Asian Cup final: Jordan 1-3 Qatar Qatar win their second Asian Cup in a row after beating Jordan, who were playing in their first final. All 3 Qatar goals were penalties scored by Akram Afif.
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Post by Panda on Feb 12, 2024 6:33:58 GMT 1
Africa Cup of Nations final: Nigeria 1-2 Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast came from behind to beat Nigeria and win the title for the 3rd time. The winning goal came from Sebastien Haller, a year after he returned to football after overcoming testicular cancer.
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frag
Member
*Paranoid Android*
I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head.
Posts: 25,137
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Post by frag on Feb 12, 2024 17:04:33 GMT 1
It's a tough one as the idea was to increase the number of competitive games and reduce friendlies. But then that only works if the teams take it seriously, which England most certainly didn't in the last edition, hence their relegation. UEFA have tried to increase its importance by using it to determine playoff teams for the Euros, with playoff spots also on offer for the World Cup (4 in this edition), as well as using it to decide seedings for the Euro qualifiers. I've seen unconfirmed rumours that they'll use this edition to determine the seedings for the World Cup qualifiers, which could put England in a tricky situation now they're in League B as it makes it impossible to be one of the top seeds. If they ever try to actually cut down on the number of matches a player can participate in per season (instead of adding more new competitions and stages), I think the Nations League would be the first thing to go. Anyone know if there was any kind of big celebration by fans of the winners of League A? Can anyone even reel off the Nations League winners so far without looking it up?
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