The ambassador of Paraguay in India, Fleming Duarte, has said that the love for football can strengthen the relations between both countries aside the regular ties that bind them such as trade.
When it comes to qualifying for a FIFA World Cup, China has historically struggled trying to accomplish this task as the last time that they managed to do it was back on 2002 and have ever since then not been able to secure their qualifying ticket.
In 10 qualifying matches, China could only collect 12 points which was not enough to snatch a spot in one of the coveted spots that would allow them to qualify and actually compete in the approaching 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The national sides that did indeed manage to secure the qualifying spots from this group were: Iran, South Korea and Syria.
Despite not being able to qualify, the head coach of the China national side Marcello Lippi has recently talked about his team and the improvement that they have been going through, from the looks of it, the Italian manager appears to be fairly optimistic of his team. (more…)
There is a concern among the Russian supporters about the cost of the tickets of the matches of the upcoming World Cup because the costs of the upper classes of tickets are too high for most of them.
The thing with that fourth class of tickets is that their cost is significantly lesser in comparison to that of the upper classes and it’s been introduced with the sole purpose of facilitating the people of the moderate income group of Russia to go and watch the matches live from the stadium. (more…)
Argentina’s quest of qualifying for the 2018 edition of the FIFA World Cup is not going as smooth as it’s supporters wanted it and expected it to be as they are currently positioned at the 5th spot after 14 qualification matches with 22 points from all those games.
Despite having top players including: Messi, Dybala, Mascherano, Pastore and Higuain, Argentina has suffered shocking results and their latest one was when Argentina lost 0-2 against Bolivia.
In this defeat against Bolivia, Messi was believed to have verbally abused the referee of that game which ultimately saw him receiving a 4 match suspension which would see the star of Barcelona being unable to play in any of Argentina’s remaining qualification matches. (more…)
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that he is not moved by the threat of hooliganism making the rounds in the media ahead of World Cup 2018 in Russia.
At the last Euro tournament in France, there were violent clashes between Russian and English fans. Many believe this would reoccur in Russia next year but Infantino is “not all concerned.” He said he has full confidence in the hosts to manage any situation.
“They have been in contact with UEFA and French organizers to learn the lessons from France. As part of this, the Russian government has put in place an ID system which will help us when it comes to any potential trouble,” Infantino said.
The president also spoke about the next editions of the number one football tournament. He said for the sake of travel, multiple host nations for the 2026 World Cup would have to be “ideally” close to one another. The tournament would see an expansion to 48 teams but the bidding for it is yet to begin. (more…)
Chile international Arturo Vidal has expressed his opinion that Chile has what it takes to bring home the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Russia.
The current Chile’s national team is one of the countries best so far, with top stars such as Vidal, Claudio Bravo, and Alexis Sanchez. The team has claimed the Copa America crowns back-to-back, and sits fourth in South American, qualifying behind Ecuador on goal difference and above Argentina by a point, with high hopes of reaching three consecutive World Cups for the first time.
Speaking to Radio ADN, he explained that the journey to become world champions is tough, but the team is determined to achieve this goal. He said:
“First we have to qualify well, leave a good impression, and keep growing as a team. And in Russia try to become world champions. We’re very demanding with what we want. It’s very difficult to become world champions, but we can. With effort you can achieve a lot. If we unite you can expect something big.” (more…)