There is no greater war of attrition in world cup qualifiers than in South America. CONMEBOL’s ranking glove is the fiercest and most intense in the world, with the 4 automatic positions awarded lately to the confederation, and the only position in an intercontinental playoff for a prospective Fifth – really deserved through those who protect them.
This war of attrition, in which the 10 groups of the region face off at home and outdoors in an exclusive table format, has its biggest wrinkle to date: a global pandemic. While the Asian Confederation, CONCACAF, Oceania, the African Confederation and UEFA will not begin their last rounds of World Cup qualifying until next year due to pandemic delays, South America is advancing, starting with the opening on Thursday and Friday nights.
CONMEBOL also had its percentage of delays. He intended to start his 18-inning marathon in March, before the Copa America, but either was postponed due to coronavirus. Course.
The pandemic has wreaked havoc in South America, as it has done in top global countries, also affecting global soccer. The defining champion of the Brazilian and South American club Flamengo, for example, examined 16 players at the end of last month.
The fact that so many trips abroad are mandatory for these groups to come in combination and that so many players from those national groups come from clubs, where the degrees of infection vary from club to club, adds multiple new layers of potential headaches and dangers. risks.
In general cases, clubs cannot deny national groups the facilities of their players’ FIFA foreign windows, but the existing cases are still general. FIFA identified this recently, leaving some leeway given the various league and local protocols that require players to self-quarantine when they return to their clubs. According to the Associated Press, CONMEBOL “has convinced the highest local government to lift the quarantine measures for incoming players”, but it is not the same when they return. As far as MLS is concerned, not all of the players requested through their national groups have received their release. With some local jurisdictions requiring players to be re-quarantined for more than five days (and thus a significant number of matches are lost), groups in unit spaces had leeway to decline. appeals. However, not all have been and will pay the price. The Mexican Rodolfo Pizarro will end up missing 3 weeks of time between the trip and the assembly of the MLS quarantine rules, which cover five games, for Inter Miami to play either of the two games, for example.
Groups around the world have already discovered that sledding is not fluid. Just take a look at the disorders that European national groups have been facing lately when testing players in the camp. Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri tested positive at the Swiss camp, while three Scottish players were ruled. Ukraine had to call its 45-year-old goalkeeper coach, who retired eight years ago. active duty because his two goalkeepers tested positive for Wednesday’s friendly striker against France.
To think that South American players would be immune to similar effects is naive; Chile’s Mauricio Isla, for example, tested positive on Tuesday, announced his federation; Colombia’s starting goalkeeper, David Ospina, will miss his country’s first match against Venezuela and Chile after two of his matches. Napoli’s teammates tested positive, forcing him to quarantine him. Three of his compatriots find themselves in a similar situation and cannot either. There is no escape from the extensive network of pandemics.
Regardless, the South American deployment will continue, with the groups returning to action for the first time since November 2019. The first set of matches will be played without fans, cutting off a central detail from those intense matches, but some constants remain. Messi (Argentina) and Neymar (Brazil) will lead their respective nations on the long and arduous road to Qatar 2022, each seeking the jewel in the crown of the World Cup trophy to cement their legacy in their home country. James Rodríguez, rejuvenated after a good start at Everton, will be Colombia’s consultant. Luis Suárez, brand new from a signing for Atlético de Madrid, will lead the line for Uruguay, Edinson Cavani, who has just signed for Manchester United, has not been called up.
There are the same old strategies to analyze and dismantle the clashes in the entertaining cauldron that qualifies for the CONMEBOL World Cup, but it all comes with the coronavirus warning. They achieve virus-related setbacks along the way.
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