Sunday, August 21, 2011

Match Schedule: September 2011

Here is the complete 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying schedule for September 2011. This month will feature two matchdays in Asian qualifying and two matchdays in CONCACAF qualifying. CONCACAF matchdays are notorious for being spread over multiple calendar dates, so we will see closer to the first week of September whether any matches are played out of their originally slotted calendar dates. The AFC, on the other hand, is notorious for following the specified FIFA matchdays to the letter.

Match times are given in Central Time (GMT-5).

2 September 2011 (AFC Third Round Matchday 1)
Thailand at Australia 5:00 Brisbane
North Korea at Japan 5:20 Saitama
Lebanon at South Korea 6:00 Goyang
Uzbekistan at Tajikistan 6:30 Tursunzoda
Singapore at China 7:00 Kunming
Jordan at Iraq 7:00 Arbil
Saudi Arabia at Oman 10:00 Muscat
Kuwait at United Arab Emirates 10:30 Al Ain City
Indonesia at Iran 10:30 Tehran
Qatar at Bahrain 12:00 Manama

2 September 2011 (CONCACAF Second Round Matchday 1)
Belize at Grenada 14:30 St. George's
U.S. Virgin Islands at Haiti 15:00 Port-au-Prince
Cayman Islands at Suriname 16:00 Paramaribo
Curacao at Antigua and Barbuda 16:30 North Sound
Nicaragua at Dominica 17:00 Roseau
Bermuda at Trinidad and Tobago 18:00 Port of Spain
Barbados at Guyana 18:30 Georgetown
Puerto Rico at St. Kitts and Nevis 19:00 Basseterre
St. Lucia at Canada 19:00 Toronto
Dominican Republic at El Salvador 20:30 San Salvador
St. Vincent and the Grenadines at Guatemala 21:00 Guatemala City

6 September 2011 (AFC Third Round Matchday 2)
Tajikistan at North Korea 2:30 Pyongyang
Oman at Thailand 6:00 Bangkok
Iraq at Singapore 6:30 Singapore
Bahrain at Indonesia 7:00 Jakarta
United Arab Emirates at Lebanon 9:00 Beirut
Japan at Uzbekistan 9:00 Tashkent
China at Jordan 11:00 Amman
Iran at Qatar 11:30 Doha
South Korea at Kuwait 12:00 Kuwait City
Australia at Saudi Arabia 12:30 Dammam

6 September 2011 (CONCACAF Second Round Matchday 2)
Suriname at Dominican Republic 14:00 San Cristobal
Trinidad and Tobago at Barbados 15:00 Bridgetown
Antigua and Barbuda at U.S. Virgin Islands 15:30 Fredericksted
Guatemala at Belize 16:00 Belmopan
St. Kitts and Nevis at St. Lucia 17:00 Gros Islet
El Salvador at Cayman Islands 18:30 George Town
Bermuda at Guyana 18:30 Providence
Canada at Puerto Rico 19:00 Bayamon
Haiti at Curacao 19:00 Willemstad
Panama at Nicaragua 20:00 Managua

18 September 2011 (CONCACAF Second Round Matchday 2)
Grenada at St. Vincent and the Grenadines 14:00 Kingstown

Will Bahrain have a full squad? The ongoing protests in Bahrain have led to many Shia Muslim national team players being imprisoned by the Sunni Muslim government:

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Bahamas withdraw from 2014 FIFA World Cup

In a stunner, Bahamas have withdrawn from FIFA World Cup qualifying for Brasil 2014 despite having advanced to the CONCACAF Second Round after a 10-0 aggregate defeat of Turks and Caicos. They will not be replaced in their group, leaving CONCACAF Group C with just three teams: Panama, Dominica, and Nicaragua. Only the winner of the group advances to round three. Bahamas were the fourth seed in the group.

Bahamas withdrew due to the unavailability of their national team stadium for the next qualifying stage due to construction delays and the high costs of having to play six games away from home instead of just three.

Panama now have open dates on 2 September 2011 and 7 October 2011. Dominica have open dates on 6 September 2011 and 11 October 2011. Nicaragua now finish their slate of matches on matchday 4 and have open dates on the final 2 matchdays for the CONCACAF Second Round, 11 November 2011 and 15 November 2011.

News Report:

Friday, August 19, 2011

Syria booted from 2014 FIFA World Cup

Syria have been ejected from the 2014 FIFA World Cup for having used an ineligible player during their AFC Second Round matchup against Tajikistan. George Mourad, who scored in the first match against Tajikistan, had previously played for Sweden's senior national team in 2005 and had not received FIFA approval for his switch to the Syrian senior national team.

Mourad made his fourth and fifth appearances for the Syrian national squad in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers after having made just two appearances for Sweden in his lifetime. Mourad was born in Lebanon to Syrian parents. Mourad's only ties to Sweden were his having played in the Swedish professional league between 2004 and 2008.

If anything, Mourad's two appearances for Sweden should be wiped from the record books. How he was eligible for the Swedish national team is not obvious, but one would imagine that his citizenship was expedited due to his footballing prowess in the national league, the Allsvenskan.

Syria are petitioning their suspension in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The first game of the next phase of qualifying had been scheduled to take place on 2 September 2011 between Syria and Uzbekistan on a neutral field as Syria have not been allowed to play at home by FIFA due to political unrest. Hopefully, the Court reinstates Syria because it would be a shame to have a strong team banished from the competition based on a technicality despite having thrashed Tajikistan 6-1 in their aggregate series.

Tajikistan have been inserted in Syria's position in Group C alongside Japan, Uzbekistan, and North Korea. This switch alleviates the pressure felt by the other three teams in what had been considered the Group of Death for the AFC Third Round.

Tajikistan's fixtures for the third round of Asian qualifying are given below.

2 September 2011
Uzbekistan at Tajikistan

6 September 2011
Tajikistan at North Korea

11 October 2011
Tajikistan at Japan

11 November 2011
Japan at Tajikistan

15 November 2011
Tajikistan at Uzbekistan

29 February 2012
North Korea at Tajikistan

News Reports:

Sunday, August 14, 2011

OFC First Round Schedule

The OFC First Round will pit the teams seeded 8, 9, 10, and 11 in OFC qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in a single group with only the winner advancing to the OFC Second Round. Each team will play each other team once for a total of three matches per team. All six matches in this round will take place in Apia, Samoa, at the same complex that hosted the 2007 South Pacific Games.

8. Samoa
9. Tonga
10. Cook Islands
11. American Samoa

The teams will play a match every two days over a five day period in late November 2011.

The match times correspond to Central Standard Time (GMT-6).

22 November 2011
Tonga vs. American Samoa 18:00 Apia, Samoa
Cook Islands at Samoa 21:00 Apia

24 November 2011
Cook Islands vs. American Samoa 18:00 Apia, Samoa
Tonga at Samoa 21:00 Apia

26 November 2011
American Samoa at Samoa 18:00 Apia
Tonga vs. Cook Islands 21:00 Apia, Samoa

The big matchup for this round looks to be Tonga at Samoa on the second matchday. Samoa are the pick to advance to the second round of OFC qualifying.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

CONCACAF Second Round Schedule

CONCACAF has announced that its second round of qualifying will take place over six matchdays. These matchdays have been split into three sets of doubleheaders to be played in 2011. The first doubleheader takes place on 2 September 2011 and 6 September 2011. The second doubleheader takes place on 7 October and 11 October 2011. The third doubleheader happens on 11 November 2011 and 15 November 2011 and features two matches between the top two seeds in each group.

This round of qualifying has a decidedly Caribbean feel, with eighteen of the twenty-four participating teams coming out of the Caribbean Football Union. Two groups are wholly made up of CFU members, guaranteeing that at least two CFU members will join Cuba and Jamaica in the third round.

2 September 2011
Dominican Republic at El Salvador
Cayman Islands at Suriname
Bermuda at Trinidad and Tobago
Barbados at Guyana
Bahamas at Panama
Nicaragua at Dominica
St. Lucia at Canada
Puerto Rico at St. Kitts and Nevis
Belize at Grenada
St. Vincent and the Grenadines at Guatemala
U.S. Virgin Islands at Haiti
Curacao at Antigua and Barbuda

6 September 2011
El Salvador at Cayman Islands
Suriname at Dominican Republic
Trinidad and Tobago at Barbados
Bermuda at Guyana
Panama at Nicaragua
Dominica at Bahamas
Canada at Puerto Rico
St. Kitts and Nevis at St. Lucia
Grenada at St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Guatemala at Belize
Haiti at Curacao
Antigua and Barbuda at U.S. Virgin Islands

7 October 2011
El Salvador at Dominican Republic
Suriname at Cayman Islands
Trinidad and Tobago at Bermuda
Guyana at Barbados
Panama at Bahamas
Dominica at Nicaragua
Canada at St. Lucia
St. Kitts and Nevis at Puerto Rico
Grenada at Belize
Guatemala at St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Haiti at U.S. Virgin Islands
Antigua and Barbuda at Curacao

11 October 2011
Cayman Islands at El Salvador
Dominican Republic at Suriname
Barbados at Trinidad and Tobago
Guyana at Bermuda
Nicaragua at Panama
Bahamas at Dominica
Puerto Rico at Canada
St. Lucia at St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Vincent and the Grenadines at Grenada
Belize at Guatemala
Curacao at Haiti
U.S. Virgin Islands at Antigua and Barbuda

11 November 2011
El Salvador at Suriname
Cayman Islands at Dominican Republic
Trinidad and Tobago at Guyana
Barbados at Bermuda
Panama at Dominica
Nicaragua at Bahamas
Canada at St. Kitts and Nevis
Puerto Rico at St. Lucia
Grenada at Guatemala
St. Vincent and the Grenadines at Belize
Haiti at Antigua and Barbuda
Curacao at U.S. Virgin Islands

15 November 2011
Suriname at El Salvador
Dominican Republic at Cayman Islands
Guyana at Trinidad and Tobago
Bermuda at Barbados
Dominica at Panama
Bahamas at Nicaragua
St. Kitts and Nevis at Canada
St. Lucia at Puerto Rico
Guatemala at Grenada
Belize at St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Antigua and Barbuda at Haiti
U.S. Virgin Islands at Curacao

AFC Third Round Schedule

The AFC has announced that its third round of qualifying will take place over six matchdays. These matchdays involved two doubleheaders and two single matchdays. The first two matchdays are in a doubleheader: 2 September 2011 and 6 September 2011. Matchday three is on 11 October 2011. The next two matches are in a doubleheader: 11 November 2011 and 15 November 2011. The sixth and final matchday is the most isolated, giving teams three months to prepare for their 29 February 2012 round three finale. Three of the five top seeds for this round come from the East Asian Football Federation (China, South Korea, Japan) along with a 2010 FIFA World Cup finalist (North Korea).

2 September 2011
Singapore at China
Jordan at Iraq
Lebanon at South Korea
Kuwait at United Arab Emirates
North Korea at Japan
Uzbekistan at Syria
Thailand at Australia
Saudi Arabia at Oman
Indonesia at Iran
Qatar at Bahrain

6 September 2011
China at Jordan
Iraq at Singapore
South Korea at Kuwait
United Arab Emirates at Lebanon
Japan at Uzbekistan
Syria at North Korea
Australia at Saudi Arabia
Oman at Thailand
Iran at Qatar
Bahrain at Indonesia

11 October 2011
Iraq at China
Jordan at Singapore
United Arab Emirates at South Korea
Kuwait at Lebanon
Syria at Japan
Uzbekistan at North Korea
Oman at Australia
Saudi Arabia at Thailand
Bahrain at Iran
Qatar at Indonesia

11 November 2011
Singapore at Jordan
China at Iraq
Lebanon at Kuwait
South Korea at United Arab Emirates
North Korea at Uzbekistan
Japan at Syria
Thailand at Saudi Arabia
Australia at Oman
Indonesia at Qatar
Iran at Bahrain

15 November 2011
Iraq at Jordan
China at Singapore
United Arab Emirates at Kuwait
South Korea at Lebanon
Syria at Uzbekistan
Japan at North Korea
Oman at Saudi Arabia
Australia at Thailand
Bahrain at Qatar
Iran at Indonesia

29 February 2012
Jordan at China
Singapore at Iraq
Kuwait at South Korea
Lebanon at United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan at Japan
North Korea at Syria
Saudi Arabia at Australia
Thailand at Oman
Qatar at Iran
Indonesia at Bahrain