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2022 FIFA World Cup Finals

Atta' boy, Phillip Lahm! A class player in his day, and standing up for football again!
 
 
The Guardian: Senegal’s Sadio Mané ruled out of World Cup despite ‘successful surgery’

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Senegal forward Sadio Mané has been ruled out of the World Cup in Qatar in a crushing blow to his team’s chances, with Bayern Munich confirming the forward had undergone “successful surgery” in Austria on Thursday.

Mané had been a doubt for the tournament after picking up a leg injury playing for Bayern last week, and it has now been confirmed he will not recover in time. Senegal Football Federation officials announced that further scans had revealed the need for surgery. Mané is the talisman of the Senegal side and a key player for them in attack. His absence will be a blow to their chances of advancing out of Group A, where they face the Netherlands on Monday before playing host nation Qatar and Ecuador.

Bayern Munich later provided more details on Mané’s injury and subsequent operation.

“Sadio Mané underwent successful surgery in Innsbruck by Prof Christian Fink and Dr Andy Williams from London on Thursday evening,” a club statement read. “During the operation, a tendon was reattached to the head of his right fibula. The FC Bayern forward will therefore no longer be available to play for Senegal at the World Cup and will begin his rehab in Munich in the next few days.”
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Putting my USMNT cap on, here's a few thoughts....

(1) We're back, baby! -- After four long years (and lots of Bruce Arena-aimed vitriol) the Stars and Stripes are back on world's grandest football stage with a very youth-centered yet strong-willed roster. With only three players (Johnson, Ream & Long) above the age of 30, it appears the youth push following our 2018 disaster of a Concacaf Hex has paid off with veteran talents like DeAndre Yedlin (75 caps), Kellyn Acosta (59 caps) and Christian Pulisic (52 caps) leading the way. Barring a disaster we should, along with England, advance to the Knockout Stage.

(2) Can Berhalter handle the heat? -- Given the disaster that was 2018 qualification, you'd be forgiven for wishing ill upon the cursed Captain's Seat that is the USMNT manager's post but Gregg Berhalter's done well the past four years. Taking over from the Bruce Arena era (and if he never returns I'll be happy) the former Crystal Palace defender and US national (2002, 2006) has rightly turned Old Ironsides around and, if our performance in the Concacaf Octagon this go-round any indication, what's he done should last through to 2026.

(3) Starters? -- That depends on one thing: does Berhalter go with a 4-3-3 (his preferred lineup) or does he switch it up for Qatar with a 3-4-3 or even a 3-5-2? Frankly, I could see all three in use; we've got the talent and Berhalter's been known to change things up during matches (usually like-for-like but sometimes formation-wise, such as when he went with a 3-4-3 vs. Honduras in February and the U.S. won 3-0, as opposed to when we went 4-3-3 vs. Canada and lost 2-0 in Hamilton). I think he'll go 4-3-3 agst. Iran and then, depending on how things go, I could see him go with a 3-back defensive line vs. England with Tim Ream anchoring the line there.

(4) Starting lineups? -- This is where it gets tricky. Regardless of lineup, Arsenal's Matt Turner will almost certainly be the starting keeper and both Jesus Ferreira and Christian Pulisic will be upfront. After that, it depends on the lineup. If we go 4-3-3...
-GK: Matt Turner
-Def: (center-backs) Walker Zimmerman & Aaron Long, (left back) Antonee Robinson and (right back) Sergino Dest
-MF: (holding) Tyler Adams, (attacking) Yunus Musah & Weston McKennie
-Fwd: (wingers) Christian Pulisic & Brendan Aaronson and (striker) Jesus Ferreira

If we go with a 3-back defensive line, on the other hand (assuming 3-4-3)....
-GK: Matt Turner
-Def: ((center-back)Tim Ream, (left back) Sergino Dest and (right back) Joe Scally <<< Scally has more speed than Robinson and Dest can play either side
-MF: (back mids) Weston McKennie & Yunus Musah and (forward mids) Brendan Aaronson & Kellyn Acosta <<< Aaronson's played both as a MF and forward and can adapt on the fly; Acosta is just as speedy and has great side-to-side awareness on the attack
-Fwd: (wingers) Christian Pulisic & Gio Reyna and (striker) Jesus Ferreira <<< in this formation, Reyna goes to the wing opposite Pulisic with Ferreira upfront

(5) Okay, how far? -- This is the million dollar question; going back to 1998, the Stars'n'Stripes have made the Knockout Stage three times (2002, 2010 and 2014) and given the talent we have this year, no less than a Round of 16 appearance will satisfy Uncle Sam's Army.
 
A reminder of the groups....

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I'm staying away from soccer. Ex-FIFA prez Blatter's right, the World Cup in Qatar is a big mistake on his part.
 
Okay, Gianni, make up your damn mind....

(The Guardian) Infantino’s speech
“Today I have strong feelings. Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled, I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

It was a strong start from Infantino, that’s for sure. Why exactly the multimillionaire Fifa president thinks he can identify with a migrant worker labouring on low wages in exploitative and dangerous conditions on a Qatari infrastructure project, only he knows.

Then again, given that he went on to say “I know what it feels to be discriminated … I was bullied because I had red hair” – drawing an absurd false equivalence between himself and LGBTQ+ people who face repression and criminalisation in Qatar – an iota of self-awareness is clearly too much to ask. Here are the main points from his press conference in Doha, in case you’d like to have your intelligence insulted further.

 
Webster said:
Okay, Gianni, make up your damn mind....

(The Guardian) Infantino’s speech
“Today I have strong feelings. Today I feel Qatari, I feel Arab, I feel African, I feel gay, I feel disabled, I feel [like] a migrant worker.”

It was a strong start from Infantino, that’s for sure. Why exactly the multimillionaire Fifa president thinks he can identify with a migrant worker labouring on low wages in exploitative and dangerous conditions on a Qatari infrastructure project, only he knows.

Then again, given that he went on to say “I know what it feels to be discriminated … I was bullied because I had red hair” – drawing an absurd false equivalence between himself and LGBTQ+ people who face repression and criminalisation in Qatar – an iota of self-awareness is clearly too much to ask. Here are the main points from his press conference in Doha, in case you’d like to have your intelligence insulted further.

Click to expand...

This guy is an absolute moron. I got made fun of for having red hair, it's not fun, but it's not even a fraction of what I've faced since coming out, and that's nothing compared to what the LGBTQ+ population in Qatar are facing. The guy needs his head checked.
 
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