FIFA World Cup 2022

The   US men’s national team   have qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup following a 2-0 loss to Costa Rica in the final match of Concacaf qualifying Wednesday evening at Estadio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Ticos, meanwhile, will head to Qatar to take on New Zealand in an inter-continental playoff in June for a berth in the World Cup. Knowing that path was a strong likelihood for Costa Rica, nine players (including several regular starters in danger of a suspension for yellow card accumulation) were rested. A 5-1 thrashing of Panama Sunday in Orlando put the USMNT in pole position to exorcise the demons from Couva in 2017, needing any result but a defeat by six goals or more in San Jose to book their Qatar ticket. After a promising start to the second half for the United States, which saw Keylor Navas make a diving stop to deny a Miles Robinson header, Costa Rica broke the scoreless stalemate in the 51st minute. Juan Pablo Vargas latched onto a B...

  USA celebrated World Cup qualification a game too early after beating Panama 5-1, with players unfurling a 'Qualified' banner in front of supporters despite their place at Qatar 2022 not yet being official. Chelsea midfielder Christian Pulisic scored a hat-trick as USA romped to victory while Mexico needed a 70th-minute goal from Edson Alvarez to win 1-0 and avoid a humiliating draw with winless Honduras. The US team are on the verge of confirming their place in the World Cup but they still face one final qualifier against Costa Rica on Wednesday. A loss of six goals or more would send USA into a World Cup play-off, most likely against New Zealand. While such a defeat seems unlikely, Pulisic insisted the banner was an honest mistake and not a sign his team are taking anything for granted. "The guys didn't know at all what it said. It was just handed to them," he explained. "Once we realised - there's no need to show that off because we still have a job ...

Lionel Messi says he will reconsider his future in football later this year but said it is likely “many things will change” after this winter’s World Cup in Qatar. Messi's comments came after he scored in Argentina's 3-0 home victory over Venezuela in South American World Cup qualifying. He said: "I don't know what I will do after the World Cup. I am thinking about what is coming. After Qatar, I will have to reassess many things." He added his doubts had nothing to do with past frustration playing for Argentina. He won his first title with the team last year - the Copa America in 2021. "It has been a while that I am happy here, since before winning the Copa. I am thankful for all this they make me feel every time I come to Argentina," Messi said. "Let's hope these go the best way possible. But for sure after the World Cup many things will change." Messi, who was recently booed by Paris Saint-Germain fans, appeared pleased after scoring the ...

Italy’s hopes of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup came crashing down as they lost to North Macedonia in one of the biggest upsets in football history. This is the second consecutive time that Italy has failed to qualify for the mega event. The four-time World Champions looked on course to qualify for the next round of the play-offs as they named a star-studded line-up to face the lowly ranked North Macedonia. Italy was stunned as North Macedonia broke the deadlock in the second minute of stoppage time as Aleksandar Trajkovski broke the Italian hearts. The current Euro champions will once again miss the FIFA World Cup after their disappointing absence from the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Their previous failure to qualify for the mega event was the first time since 1958 that they did not participate in the world cup. Italian national team saw a massive change in fortunes after their failure to qualify for the previous edition of the world tournament. They went on a magnificent 37-mat...

SYDNEY : Japan beat Australia 2-0 on Thursday to qualify for World Cup finals for the seventh successive edition, with their victory at Sydney's Olympic Stadium also taking Saudi Arabia through. Australia will now advance to a play-off against the third-placed team from the other Asian qualifying group for the right to face the fifth-ranked team from South America for another spot in Qatar.

  T he draw for the 2022   World Cup in Qatar is right around the corner, and 15 of the 32 teams have already qualified for the tournament.   There are a number of things to keep track of when the draw gets underway in just over a week's time on Friday, April 1. When is the World Cup 2022 draw? The draw will take place on Friday, April 1, in Qatar. The event will get underway at 19:00 local time, which is 17:00 in the UK. How to watch the World Cup 2022 draw FIFA  will be streaming the draw live on its official website. Also, the BBC will be broadcasting the draw across their platforms.  Which teams have already qualified? UEFA Germany Denmark France Belgium Croatia Spain Serbia England Switzerland Netherlands CONMEBOL Brazil Argentina AFC Iran South Korea Qatar Which countries can still qualify? With regard to  UEFA , three more spots are up for grabs through the playoffs. The playoffs will be contested in March, apart from  Ukraine vs Scotland , whic...

C ristiano Ronaldo's international career may be coming to a close, as   Portugal  face an uphill battle in their   World Cup   qualifying campaign.   Portugal  face   Turkey  on Thursday in a World Cup playoff semi-final, with victory setting up a potential knockout game against European champions   Italy . It's a tough task for the Selecao and, despite  Ronaldo  being their top player for such a long time, and still being adored by supporters, there has been a discussion for some time now over whether the national side would actually be better off without him starting. "It's almost like a political problem, something that will require a summit to achieve an agreement on the strategy to prepare  Ronaldo 's retirement from the national team," said Mais Futebol's  Sergio Pires . "I find it controversial to state that a team performs better without its best player, particularly when you don't have a big track record of games...

Louis van Gaal thinks it is "ridiculous" that the World Cup is being organized in Qatar. The coach of the Dutch national team said that on Monday at the start of the training camp in the run-up to the practice matches against Denmark on Saturday and Germany next Tuesday. He also said he understands why the KNVB decided to appoint Ronald Koeman the new Oranje coach. "Everyone knows that I think it's ridiculous that the World Cup is there," Van Gaal said about Qatar. "That we will play in a country to, what does FIFA call it, develop football there. And you do that by organizing is a tournament in that country. That is bullshit. It is about money, commercial interests. That's what matters at FIFA. Why do you think I am not on a FIFA committee with my expertise. Because I have always opposed these kinds of organizations. It is not right. I can say that in Qatar, but that doesn't help the world get rid of this problem." Van Gaal has never spoken so...

Behind every ticket, every TV shot, every game, and every goal, is another team. The volunteers are essential to the joyful and friendly atmosphere of the FIFA World Cup™ (www.FIFA.com) and provide incredible support to the operational delivery of the event. They will create memories that will last a lifetime for fans, players, media, Qatar and the world – as well as for themselves. Applications to be a part of the volunteer team at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ are now open via volunteer.fifa.com. A total of 20,000 enthusiastic volunteers will work across 45 functional areas at official and non-official sites such as stadiums, training sites, the airport, fan zones, hotels, and public transportation hubs. “I’ve always loved volunteering, even when I was little,” said 31-year-old Fatema Al Majib, a legal officer, who was a volunteer at the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™. “When the idea came up to volunteer for the FIFA World Cup, I thought it would be amazing to take part in a sporting event tak...

FIFA World Cup 2022 will be taking place in Qatar starting from 21st November and will be played through 18th December 2022. 32 teams will take part in the tournament which will be confirmed by summer 2022 before the group stage draw takes place. FIFA however has already announced total prize money fund for FIFA World Cup with a massive increase of 29% taking total to $1 billion. We take a look at how $1 billion prize money fund will be distributed by FIFA to not only qualified teams for world cup but also as solidarity payments to federations which failed to qualify for World Cup. Why 29% Increase In Total Prize Money Fund ? Prize money fund is generated after FIFA sign TV broadcasting and sponsorship deals for the 4-year cycle for different competitions In this case from 2019 to 2022. Fifa signed extensive TV and online streaming rights for all their major competitions and that helped increase the revenue from TV/streaming broadcasting deals. FIFA is expected to clear over  $7.89...

Former Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman could be in line for a return to management on the international scene, with his previous employers reportedly interested. Following an acrimonious split with the Catalan club, Koeman has been out of a job since the October. Despite winning the Copa del Rey in 2021, results deserted the manager at the start of this season as the side struggled to deal with the loss of Lionel Messi. It may be that he has employed before the end of 2022 however. Dutch programme NOS have reported that the KNVB (Dutch football federation) are negotiating Koeman’s return as manager of The Netherlands national side, as noted by  Mundo Deportivo . Koeman managed die Oranje between 2018 and 2020 before taking the Barcelona job, in August of 2020. Louis van Gaal took over from his replacement, Frank de Boer, following a quarter-final exit at Euro 2020 for the Netherlands. Van Gaal has confirmed that he will not be in the job after the 2022 World Cup however, opening th...

Russia has been expelled from the World Cup after being suspended from all international competitions "until further notice", FIFA and UEFA announced in a joint statement on Monday, while European football's governing body also ended its partnership with Russian energy giant Gazprom. The men's team had been due to play in qualifying play-offs in March for the World Cup in Qatar later this year, while its women's side had qualified for the European Championship in England, to be held in July. The announcement also affects Russian clubs involved in European competitions. "FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice," read the joint statement from the governing bodies of world and European football. FIFA/UEFA suspend Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions The Russian men'...