Catching Up!

BACKYARD BBQ -- Just trying to see what else it out there right now in world football...  

• Although there have been zero fans and lots of controversy, the top 2 teams in South America will meet for the COMNEBOL Copa America final Saturday night as the #3 team Brazil hosts #8 team Argentina.  Lionel Messi will be going for his first Copa title, believe it or not, as ARG has not won Copa since '93.  BRA is a slight favorite and you can watch on FS1 at 5 pm PDT.
• UEFA is doing away with the away goals tiebreaker for the '21-22 season.  In place since '65, if the two-match aggregate is tied on goals, then whoever has the most "away" goals wins.  Now, if goals are tied, extra time and penalty shootout will commence.  This only applies to club competitions.  Away goals is still the 5th tiebreaker for qualifying and the Nations League playoffs are knockout matches.
• The USMNT won't field its strongest lineup for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, a farce of a tourney that features "qualified" teams of Curacao, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Suriname, and Qatar (yes, I know, not from CONCACAF but invited).  BTW, it kind of technically already started with "Prelims" that took place as triple headers in Ft. Lauderdale on July 2/5/6.  So, ignore everything until the Quarters start on July 24.  The final featuring USA and Mexico will be in Las Vegas's new stadium, so that is cool (well hot, since it will likely be 100°+F).
• The USWNT named their 18-player roster and it includes 17 from the '19 World Cup team.  That is surprising as it is hard to usher a new crop of talented players if they are frozen out by the veterans.  At least the four alternates are newbies.  The team begins its quest July 21 (two days before the Opening Ceremony in front of no fans).

Now EURO 2021

Due to extreme precautions against the spread of the coronovirus disease (COVID-19) and the uncertainty of when (or if) it could be effectively contained or mitigated, Uefa announced it is postponing EURO 2020 (which was scheduled to kick off June 12) until 2021.  That means our 3rd HWCI Uefa EURO pool will have to wait until next year as well.  It is hard enough to plan this big of an event on its own, even harder doing so always looking over your shoulder wondering if the event would even happen so a good decision.  This not only presents a clean break from 2020 but it also would allow all the domestic club European leagues to complete their seasons when safe and not worry about butting heads against EURO 2020 or worry about international windows.

Twenty teams had already qualified with four more to be decided by qualification play-offs (based on finish in Nations League 2018-2019) which was to played in March before COVID-19 popped up.  This was also going to be the first EUROs played across all of Europe (in celebration of Uefa's 60th anniversary) rather than a host nation (or two).  The new dates are June 11-July 11, 2021.

Also, Copa America was postponed until 2021 as well.  Luckily, 2021 is the year we had no soccer pool so EURO 2021 will fit nicely in there.  We have the HWCI World Cup pool in 2022, HWCI Women's World Cup pool in 2023, and EUROs again in 2024.  With this postponement, it would allow me a stress-free way in the summer to reflect on our past 10 soccer pools (6 Men's World Cups, 2 Women's World Cups, 2 EUROs) so look for periodic blog updates here.  Stay safe!