WCQ: Third Round - Window 1 (September 2-8, 2021)

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

44 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Nothing they do can will even begin to mitigate that disasterous mistake. Everything should have been shut down from the very beginning. No matter what they do (or don't do) it's going to be a mess.

They fucked up.

I agree. 

Giving the rationale.  There is no appetite, political or otherwise to going into any kind of lockdown again, but they have to do something or seem to.  I am stuck between spending the early part of my working life thinking about political expediencies and having a wife that works for the NHS (non-clinical but has friends on the clinical side) who absolutely sees the value in it. 

Add to that the worry I am getting more political than I try to on this board.  

4 minutes ago, prairiecanuck said:

This just seems so ridiculous.  You can require players travelling to be vaccinated.  There's regular testing and testing upon coming back to the country.   The 10 day quarantine for a double vaccinated player who received tests prior to getting on a flight and upon arriving in the country is nonsensical.  They aren't protecting the general public.  All they are doing is allowing English clubs the ability to avoid the annoyance of having international players play during international breaks.

Again, I would agree more if this was just a football thing or even a sports thing.  It is not.  

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

I would also caution against relying on predictions of who will be on the next red list. Many "experts" were wrong the last time.

And remember that nations can come off, I believe India did three weeks ago. 

[prairiecanuck]

I noticed TSN is showing the Team Canada vs USA match.  I wonder how much they paid Fox for the rights to show this game with US commentators?  

[narduch]

2 minutes ago, prairiecanuck said:

I noticed TSN is showing the Team Canada vs USA match.  I wonder how much they paid Fox for the rights to show this game with US commentators?  

I'm sure they will use their own commentators 

[narduch]

Looks like Canada v USA will only be on TSN4. 

1 hour pre game show.

TSN1 shows they will join in the 2nd half after a CFL game ends.

Source: https://www.tsn.ca/live/schedule

Edited August 25, 2021 by narduch

[PiedPilko]

Government set to reject Fifa plea for Premier League quarantine exemptions and put public health first

[Obinna]

14 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

Government set to reject Fifa plea for Premier League quarantine exemptions and put public health first

"Fifa has the power to ban players from playing for their clubs if they refuse to play for a national team, and could yet exercise that power if clubs do not change their stance".

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

17 minutes ago, PiedPilko said:

Government set to reject Fifa plea for Premier League quarantine exemptions and put public health first

Going from that article is a link to 55 of the players.  They have Onel Hernandez from Cuba/Norwich but not Jimenez, or Grey or Pinnock, off the top of my head.  (I leave out Antonio because he has yet to be called.)

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-players-blocked-travel-red-list-countries-international-break-full-list-1167627

Interesting.

Did the Premier League say 60 or almost 60?  

 

 

[Kent]

Whether this is advantageous for Canada or not, this sucks. Back before we qualified for the Oct a lot of us, including myself, were saying that even if we didn't qualify for the World Cup, the experience of testing ourselves against the best in the region in the Oct would be massive. We are already dealing with having reduced capacities at home games and of course hesitancy from the public to go to games, and now we may not even be playing best on best.

And it all seems so random (putting it charitably). The only UEFA nation on the red list is Georgia. Uruguay has a higher vaccination rate than any Euro country that has a population of at least a million people, and yet is on the red list. I'll try to not go further into politics than that.

[Kent]

Oh, and on the topic of OneSoccer not having the USA game, that sucks too. I would be subscribed whether OneSoccer had any World Cup Qualifiers or not because I want the CPL content, but it's dishonest how they marketed it. I also like to spread the word and tell people about OneSoccer and have told people that's what they need to watch Qualifiers. I'm not aware of anybody taking me up on it yet and signing up, but it bothers me that I have told several people this and it's just not true.

[theaub]

Would be a quick turnaround (although IMO they should have had a contingency plan set up for this), but since the matches for this period are split into two groups of four why don't they just move the red list group to the US?

 

[narduch]

2 minutes ago, Kent said:

Whether this is advantageous for Canada or not, this sucks. Back before we qualified for the Oct a lot of us, including myself, were saying that even if we didn't qualify for the World Cup, the experience of testing ourselves against the best in the region in the Oct would be massive. We are already dealing with having reduced capacities at home games and of course hesitancy from the public to go to games, and now we may not even be playing best on best.

And it all seems so random (putting it charitably). The only UEFA nation on the red list is Georgia. Uruguay has a higher vaccination rate than any Euro country that has a population of at least a million people, and yet is on the red list. I'll try to not go further into politics than that.

Its basically strong leagues taking advantage of the situation and pushing their weight around.

A few weeks after this window these same players will be traveling all over Europe for club competitions going into countries with way higher Covid case incidence than the ones that are in the Red list.

[Shway]

27 minutes ago, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

Going from that article is a link to 55 of the players.  They have Onel Hernandez from Cuba/Norwich but not Jimenez, or Grey or Pinnock, off the top of my head.  (I leave out Antonio because he has yet to be called.)

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-players-blocked-travel-red-list-countries-international-break-full-list-1167627

Interesting.

Did the Premier League say 60 or almost 60?  

 

 

Star man Bailey too

[Floortom]

Just now, narduch said:

Its basically strong leagues taking advantage of the situation and pushing their weight around.

A few weeks after this window these same players will be traveling all over Europe for club competitions going into countries with way higher Covid case incidence than the ones that are in the Red list.

The clubs and league dont care about the travel aspect or risk aspect - they don’t want to lose their players to a 10 day quarantine on arrival.  

[narduch]

4 minutes ago, Kent said:

Oh, and on the topic of OneSoccer not having the USA game, that sucks too. I would be subscribed whether OneSoccer had any World Cup Qualifiers or not because I want the CPL content, but it's dishonest how they marketed it. I also like to spread the word and tell people about OneSoccer and have told people that's what they need to watch Qualifiers. I'm not aware of anybody taking me up on it yet and signing up, but it bothers me that I have told several people this and it's just not true.

They have removed the game from their promo page at least now.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

15 minutes ago, Floortom said:

The clubs and league dont care about the travel aspect or risk aspect - they don’t want to lose their players to a 10 day quarantine on arrival.  

Again playing devil's advocate a bit.  But the clubs will, in theory, have control of their players if they play in Europe.  They will not when they are on international duty. 

 

edit : and they did add a European country to the red list, three weeks ago. 

Let's see what happens tomorrow or apparently tonight, as per last time. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[El Diego]

32 minutes ago, Kent said:

Oh, and on the topic of OneSoccer not having the USA game, that sucks too. I would be subscribed whether OneSoccer had any World Cup Qualifiers or not because I want the CPL content, but it's dishonest how they marketed it. I also like to spread the word and tell people about OneSoccer and have told people that's what they need to watch Qualifiers. I'm not aware of anybody taking me up on it yet and signing up, but it bothers me that I have told several people this and it's just not true.

I get what you're saying, but this is the first time since OneSoccer got the rights that another outlet is providing the game, right? I am not an expert on this stuff by any means, but TSN bought this game from OneSoccer I believe.

I don't begrudge OneSoccer advertising themselves previously as the only option for CanMNT games, and I don't begrudge them for selling a game for a buncha cash. But like I said, I do understand what you are saying. I have softly pushed OneSoccer on some friends, one of them purchased a month for the Gold Cup but the rest haven't bought anything to my knowledge.

[rob.notenboom]

4 minutes ago, El Diego said:

I get what you're saying, but this is the first time since OneSoccer got the rights that another outlet is providing the game, right? I am not an expert on this stuff by any means, but TSN bought this game from OneSoccer I believe.

I don't begrudge OneSoccer advertising themselves previously as the only option for CanMNT games, and I don't begrudge them for selling a game for a buncha cash. But like I said, I do understand what you are saying. I have softly pushed OneSoccer on some friends, one of them purchased a month for the Gold Cup but the rest haven't bought anything to my knowledge.

From what I’ve been told, One Soccer does not have the rights to the away games. Sounds like they are held by the home federation and so it’s likely TSN somehow got them from the USSF (by way of ESPN perhaps). Unfortunately OS may not have gotten anything for this. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by rob.notenboom

[narduch]

5 minutes ago, El Diego said:

I get what you're saying, but this is the first time since OneSoccer got the rights that another outlet is providing the game, right? I am not an expert on this stuff by any means, but TSN bought this game from OneSoccer I believe.

 

They bought it from USSF.

Each FA owns their own WCQ matches.

[narduch]

2 minutes ago, rob.notenboom said:

From what I’ve been told, One Soccer does not have the rights to the away games. Sounds like they are held by the home federation and so it’s likely TSN somehow got them from the USSF (by way of ESPN perhaps). Unfortunately OS may not have gotten anything for this. 

The game is on FS1 in the US. ESPN has nothing to do with this.

More than likely TSN outbid One Soccer for this game.

[N1ckbr0wn]

Oliver’s response to when the squad will be announced:

 

[RS]

52 minutes ago, narduch said:

They have removed the game from their promo page at least now.

Yikes.

We'll see if they'll have to remove the Mexico game in October as well.

[canuckgbp]

Just now, RS said:

Yikes.

We'll see if they'll have to remove the Mexico game in October as well.

Exactly what I was thinking. 

I am hoping TSN does great numbers... I want these games on tv for the most outreach possible. 

One Soccer was promoting the exclusive home of CMNT WCQ games all this summer from what I remember hearing. Wonder how OS will handle the US game coverage and analysis and such...

[RS]

2 minutes ago, canuckgbp said:

One Soccer was promoting the exclusive home of CMNT WCQ games all this summer from what I remember hearing.

They were, hence the "yikes" from me.

It's not a bad thing that OS doesn't have all the games, but they clearly misrepresented themselves when they made a point to advertise having all 14 WCQ matches despite not actually having secured the rights.

[johnyb]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

They have removed the game from their promo page at least now.

This sucks for everyone with One Soccer but not all the TSN channels. I for one was planning on watching this from my cottage where I have Wifi but no cable.