Internationals

Thursday and Friday there have been a lot of internationals. In Europe the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals kicks off with the first legs, and Denmark defeated Portugal 1-0 on a goal by the young Manchester United player Rasmus Højlund. More surprising perhaps than the victory was that Denmark outplayed the classy Portuguese who are managed by Roberto Martinez, who for six years managed the best Belgian side ever, but never gave them any titles. The Portuguese were bad against Denmark, who may now eye a surprise semifinal?

In other matches Germany defeated Italy, Croatia defeated France and Spain and the Netherlands tied 2-2.

Nearer to home the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals took place. Mexico defeated Canada 0-2 to make it to yet another final, but the real surprise came in the USA-Panama match, where a last minute strike by the Coquimbo Unido striker Cecilio Waterman, gave the Panamanians the victory. The result may nevertheless not be surprising since the Panamanians have the screws on the arrogant North Americans: the have defeated USA in four of the last five matches, among them the 2023 Gold Cup.

Panama will face Mexico in the final on Sunday.

In South America the World Cup qualifiers are heading into the last phase. Brazil and Colombia played, and Brazil got a last second 2-1 victory on a strike by Vinicius Jr. and are third in the qualifiers behind Argentina and Ecuador. That said, Colombia is also likely to qualify as six out of ten teams qualify directly.

In the meantime the Argentine World Champions are all but certain to qualify after having defeated Uruguay 0-1 in Montevideo, on a fantastic long-range strike by the young Lyon player Thiago Almada. Argentina just have to not lose their next match (against Brazil), and will be assured qualification.

Copa America 2024 Semifinals

Copa America 2024 has reached the semifinals, and my cat Whisky is still an excited sellout on all the teams that will play:

Canada	Argentina
Uruguay	Colombia

Canada, the only CONCACAF team left are surely the surprise in their first semifinal ever and will face the World and defending Copa America Champions of Argentina in the semifinals. Canada, who have only scored two ordinary goals in the tournament, already lost 0-2 to Argentina in their opening match, and if they manage to win, it will surely be one of the greatest upsets in the history of the game.

In the meantime Uruguay and Colombia are facing one another in a semifinal that is harder to predict. Colombia, led by a resuscitated James Rodriguez, is going through their longest streak of not losing ever, and are the most scoring team of the tournament after crushing Panama 5-0. In the meantime Uruguay is coming from three straight victories in the first round, and eliminating (no longer so) mighty Brazil in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks.

What we are hoping mostly is that the sides won't defend to much, and give one another some great matches. 

And despite of what my cat says, I hope for an Argentina-Colombia final!

Win for Mexico, tears for Panama

I enjoyed watching the Gold Cup CONCACAF final between Mexico and Panama. Mexico as biog favourites against a Panamanian side that pressed for their chances, as they had done against USA. But in the end the Mexicans won 1-0 on a late goal by the Feyenoord striker Santi Gimenez. It was deserved because Mexico had managed to put pressure on the Panamanians, who despite it all fought so bravely that they got the respect even of the Mexicans.

This is the ninth title for Mexico. USA has seven, while Canada has one, since the tournament was introduced in 1991. One of the weaknesses is the lack of breadth in the region, dominated completely by Mexico and USA, why it would have been refreshing with a Panamanian victory. That said, Panama leaves with their heads held high, having played a great tournament and we will surely see them again.

Panama in the Gold Cup Final

 Yesterday I had a 4 hour layover at Tocumen airport in Panama City. Fortunately, the layover coincided exactly with the semifinal in the Gold Cup between USA and Panama.

USA are the defending champions, having won two years ago and despite the absence of some players, must have been counted as favourites after defeating Canada in the quarterfinals. Panama had crushed the invitees of Qatar 4-0 to get to the semifinals.

It was a close match throughout, with Panama always having the edge in chances and possession, even having two goals annulled (correctly) for off-side, one in the dying seconds of the match when they really put pressure on the North Americans. It was therefore deserved when in extra time, Ivan Anderson brought Panama ahead. The USA now had to pressure, but at was a magnificent strike by the tournament top scorer Jesus Ferreira whereby the USA were back in the match,

It ended 1-1 and had to go into a dramatic penalty contest where the Panamanians in the bar at the airport were understandably tense. The score was 4-4 after the first four kicks, after misses by Jesus Ferreira and Christian Martinez. After Cristian Roldan missed the 6th US kick, Adalberto Carrasquilla gave the Panamanians a well-deserved winner.

Panama are only in their second final ever (first one in 2013 which they lost to the USA) and this documents the immense strides Panamanian football have been doing under Danish-Spanish Manager Thomas Christiansen. They will face Mexico, who defeated Jamaica 0-3 in the other semifinal. Mexico are always a tuff nut to crack, but they have not looked strong lately and surely Panama has a chance.

I will support them after my pleasant sojourn at the airport.

CONCACAF likelihood

Although all teams can still theoretically qualify in the CONCACAF Octagonal for the three direct spots for Qatar 2022, it appears more and more likely who the three teams will be, and who will be out after the matches played yesterday.

Canada remains on first spot and is a likely participant in Qatar after defeating Honduras 0-2 in Tegucigalpa. Honduras in the meantime, with three points only, takes the last spot among the eight teams. USA trails Canada by one point after defeating El Salvador 1-0 in Columbus, Ohio, in a match that proved more difficult than expected for the USA. El Salvador is on seventh spot with only 6 points, but they played well, and if they start scoring more goals they would be more competitive.

Mexico has suffered, and suffered yesterday against Jamaica as they were down 1-0 with only 6 minutes to go, but two quick goals gave them a victory, and they remain on third spot, only two points behind Canada. 

That is who I think will qualify in CONCACAF: Canada, USA and Mexico. The order may change a bit, specially when USA and Canada face one another this weekend.

The fourth spot (which gives a play-off) is Panamá's right now, with 14 points. But after Costa Rica defeated them 1-0 yesterday, Costa Rica creeps up to 12 points, and may still take the spot from the Panameños. Both teams have some difficult matches ahead for them, but be sure that both will fight hard for the play-off spot!

Canada Number 1 (!)

"Canada number 1" is something I have never said before, but it is the truth in the CONCACAF region´s qualifiers, where the top three qualify directly for Qatar, while the fourth gest a play-off. Although everyone who has been watching Canada lately knows that the team, captained by the phenomenal Alphonse Davies from Bayern Munich, is to be reckoned with, their rise culminated yesterday with a 2-1 victory over Mexico, the team that has historically always dominated CONCACAF. Canada already tied 1-1 in Mexico City, and recent victories over Costa Rica and Panama has put them on top, and we should all be looking forward to a clash between USA and Canada, going for first spot. 

Mexico, traditionally dominant in CONCACAF has fallen to third place after their two defeats to USA and Canada respectively, with 14 points, alongside Panama on fourth spot, also with 14 points. That said, it appears that the top four in CONCACAF is taking shape: after defeating El Salvador 2-1, Panama and Mexico are five points clear of Costa Rica on fifth place. Panama, coached by the Spanish-Dane Thomas Christiansen, are looking for their second World Cup in a row, and have already played some epic matches to defeat the USA, and coming from behind to defeat both Honduras and El Salvador. 

My prediction is that the CONCACAF will end as its stands, with Mexico, USA and Canada qualifying, and Panama going to the play-offs. 

 In the meantime, I should say something about El Salvador, because it is the country in which I am currently residing. El Salvador´s manager Hugo Perez is being widely criticised for the lack of results and from some quarters also for his selection of some players who were not born and bred in the country, but are rather a product of the country´s huge diaspora, mainly in the USA. The team is relatively young, and I think Mr. Perez has a long-term plan, to build up a base of young foreign-based players who are now gaining experience and could compete for the 2026 World Cup. Right now, the team is clearly not competitive at the highest levels; even when they went ahead early against Panama they lacked a high pressure and controlling the match against a much more experiences and tactically savvy Panamanian side. The problem appears a lack of patience with the lack of quick results and what I consider a strange lack of support when things are not going well: last week´s home match against Jamaica was not sold out in San Salvador even though it was a crucial match for a team that could still qualify for the World Cup. 

These are the matches where the stadium should be sold out. Instead, with lacklustre support, El Salvador and Jamaica tied 1-1, and with the defeat to Panama, El Salvador are likely out of the contest. Good luck, and hope they can get more support next time.

The 2018 World Cup table

The World Cup has ended, and as usual I prepare a table with the final positions of the tournament, based on a three-point system, goal difference (GD) and in case of tie (Australia, Costa Rica and Iceland), I have used FIFAs fair play (number of yellow cards):

	Country	Games	Won	Tied	Lost	GF	GA	GD	points
1	France	7	6	1	0	14	6	8	19
2	Croatia	7	4	2	1	14	9	5	14
3	Belgium	7	6	0	1	16	6	10	18
4	England	7	3	1	3	12	8	4	10
5	Uruguay	5	4	0	1	7	3	4	12
6	Brazil	5	3	1	1	8	3	5	10
7	Sweden	5	3	0	2	6	4	2	9
8	Russia	5	2	2	1	11	7	4	8
9	Colombia	4	2	1	1	6	3	3	7
10	Spain	4	1	3	0	7	6	1	6
11	Denmark	4	1	3	0	3	2	1	6
12	Mexico	4	2	0	2	3	6	-3	6
13	Portugal	4	1	2	1	6	6	0	5
14	Switzerland	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	5
15	Japan	4	1	1	2	6	7	-1	4
16	Argentina	4	1	1	2	6	9	-3	4
17	Senegal	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
18	Iran	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
19	South Corea	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3
20	Peru	3	1	0	2	2	2	0	3
21	Nigeria	3	1	0	2	3	4	-1	3
22	Serbia	3	1	0	2	2	4	-2	3
23	Germany	3	1	0	2	2	4	-2	3
24	Tunisia	3	1	0	2	5	8	-3	3
25	Poland	3	1	0	2	2	5	-3	3
26	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	2	7	-5	3
27	Morocco	3	0	1	2	2	4	-2	1
28	Australia	3	0	1	2	2	5	-3	1
29	Costa Rica	3	0	1	2	2	5	-3	1
30	Iceland	3	0	1	2	2	5	-3	1
31	Egypt	3	0	0	3	2	6	-4	0
32	Panama	3	0	0	3	2	11	-9	0
TOTAL	32	64				169	169	0

It is clear that France were the best team in terms of points. Belgium, on third place, in fact had more points than the vice-champions, Croatia, who had to go through a couple of ties, while Belgium only lost one match. Uruguay, with four victories won more matches than England, who nevertheless got a well-deserved fourth place. Notice though, that both Uruguay and Belgium were eliminated by the later champions. Belgium was also the team with most goals and the best GD, while the best defenses according to least goals were Denmark, Iran and Peru. The worst defense was that of the Panamanian debutants, who also ended dead last in the table. The 2014 champions from Germany ended in the 23rd spot, which is their worst performance ever.

Top 10 Best Teams of 2017

This is my highly personal list of what I consider the most noteworthy (not necessarily the best or my favourites!) teams of the football year 2017:

10) Gremio: Winners of the South American Copa Libertadores they became the third Brazilian club to take a third title. They represented South America in the Club World Cup.
9) Panama: Panama qualified for the World Cup for the first time ever in a dramatic final round of CONCACAF qualification which left the giant favourites of the USA out, and a small and underestimated Central American country with a huge and well-deserved party!
8) Manchester City: After a 2016/17 season without titles Manchester City is now a well-oiled machine under Pep Guardiola, leading the Premier League in style, and so far cruising through the Champions League. Although they went out of the 2016/17 Champions League in the last-16 against Monaco, that was plausibly the most incredible match of a year with many incredible matches.
7) Manchester United: Jose Mourinho is the easiest man to dislike in modern football, but one cannot deny his amazing skills as a manager; after some initial difficulties he is taking Manchester United back to the top. They won the Europa League, have cruised during their return to the CL (and must be considered favourites against Seville in the last-16) and are the greatest threat against Manchester City's dominance in the Premier League.
6) Chelsea: Winners of the Premier League (and FA Cup finalists only to lose to their rivals of Arsenal), they have nevertheless had more difficulty in the PL this season, as other teams have made things more difficult. In any case they are through in the CL, where they will face mighty Barcelona.
5) Wydad Casablanca: a fantastic football year for Morocco (who also qualified for their first World Cup since 1986) is best represented by the success of Wydad Casablanca, who won their second CAF Champions League title ever in a memorable two-legged final against Al-Ahly.
4) Paris St. Germain: After winning the league for 4 seasons in a row the French title in the 2016/17 season went to Monaco, which was a disappointment for the ambitious French side, who also were eliminated from the CL in a memorable but disappointing two-legged clash against Barcelona. But with the arrival of Neymar Paris St. Germain are one of the most exciting teams to watch in Europe, and are first in the league as well as have been playing outstandingly in the CL, where they will face Real Madrid in what promises to be one of the most exciting matches in 2018.
3) Juventus: Juventus won the Italian league in 2017 for the sixth season in a row, and made it to their second CL final in three years, disappointingly losing to Real Madrid. They have struggled more in the new season, as they trail Napoli in Serie A. In the CL they trailed Barcelona in the group stage, but will face up and coming Tottenham in a very interesting last-16 encounter.
2) Real Madrid: Had it not been for their last few months, where they trail Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Valencia in the Spanish league, they may have made first spot. However, nobody can deny that they had a great year, taking the Spanish title, the Champions League title, the Spanish Super Cup, and the Club World Cup. Undoubtedly a great side is in a low form currently.
1) Netherlands Women: During a year when Dutch men's football had a horrible year, and national team football was generally boring, the women gave us a fantastic European Championship (far better than the men's in 2016), won in a memorable final by the Dutch hosts against a great Danish side. The Netherlands are my team of the year!

Some other teams who deserve to be on the list, but did not make the top ten are FC Barcelona, Liverpool, Valencia, Monaco, Independiente, Tigres de UANL, FC Qarabag, Brøndby, Denmark's women, Cameroon, Iceland, Trinidad & Tobago...

All is normal in Latin America

In San Salvador I went to watch the qualifiers in Sports bar called Strikers. A nice place that was full of Colombians and a few Peruvians to what promised to be a clash as we were also watching the scores of the other matches in South America.
Argentina needed a victory in Quito, and it looked bleak as they went down 1-0 after one minute. But none other than Lionel Messi scored three goals to give them a victory and a spot in Russia.
The World Cup would not be the same without Argentina and Messi, so we should all celebrate.
In the meantime Uruguay got their expected qualification with a 4-2 victory over Bolivia, while Paraguay destroyed their own hopes by losing 0-1 at home to Venezuela (and watch out for the young Venezuelan side in the future!).
As all this was happening Peru and Colombia were playing a nervous match until Strikers exploded with two goals: James scored for Colombia as Brazil went ahead against Chile. This meant Colombia were qualified. Paolo Guerrero equalized for Peru, who needed a win, and Colombia seemed nervous, but it didn't matter: Brazil ended up trouncing the defending South American champions 3-0, meaning that all of a sudden Chile were out.
Colombia are in Russia while Peru are in the playoffs against New Zealand.

It was all too much in one of the most excitng qualification nights ever, but it did not stop there as we swithched over to the CONCACAF qualifiers, where nothing was going as expected: USA was losing 2-1 to Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras was winning 3-2 against Mexico, and just as we started watching Gabriel Torres gave Panama a 2-1 lead against Costa Rica.
It ended like this, and that means Panama are in Russia, Honduras are in a playoff against Australia and the USA can go home.
Granted, Panama qualified with a non-goal, but that doesn't take away that USA lost it themselves. The team has lost five matches, and they were outright arrogant in many of their matches. They have to face it: despite the advances, and MLS and all that, USA is still only a mid-ranking CONCACAF nation. The World Cup is much better without the USA!

A great evening in San Salvador as we look forward to a final round of playoffs to find out about the last teams in Russia.

Saved by the USA

Mexico has for decades been the leading footballing nation in North America. But over the last ten years, the USA, their neighbour from the north, with all the historical and social ties that bind them and separate them, has also become the arch-rivals of Mexico on the football pitch. In spite of the USA's massive advances, Mexico has also enjoyed success, taking the Gold Cup title in 2009 and 2011, and taking Olympic goal in 2012. But in 2013 Mexico has surely been surpassed by the USA, who took the Gold Cup title, and was by far the best in World Cup qualification, becoming the first CONCACAF nation to qualify. In the meantime, Mexico was struggling for a play-off match as they suffered to get points, most notably losing to Honduras in the intimidating Estadio Azteca for the first time ever.
Soon, Honduras and Costa Rica were set to join the USA, while Mexico was bound to dispute the play-off match with Panama. They did well last weekend when they defeated Panama at home, but in their last match Mexico lost 2-1 to Costa Rica, and thus had to hope that Panama did not defeat an already qualified USA side, who went to Panama with many of its reserves.
With the 90 minutes gone Panama were 2-1 up, and heading to a play-off match with New Zealand.
But alas, the US Cavarly came to the rescue of the beleaguered Mexicans in the 91st minute: first Graham Zusi and then Aron Johannsson (both to become national heroes in Mexico, with a few rancheras named after them) scored for the USA to give them a victory, a cold shower for the Panamanians, and a lifeline to the beleaguered Mexicans.
Mexico has been poor to say they least; while they surely be favourites against New Zealand, they should not take it for granted, as New Zealand can surely take out the Mexicans on a good day. And this time, there will be no USA around to help the Mexicans!