FIFA Arab Cup 2021

Look what I stumbled upon ladies and germs. Live on FOX Sports 2 as we speak. Not sure how FIFA is fitting this into the club calendar schedule but, hey, more power to ‘em. Looks like most of the players are from Arabic country club teams. Found one from a Danish club. Maybe they’ve been granted excused tardies from them. The intriguing part is that it’s hosted by Qatar, a practice run of sorts for next year’s World Cup. 16 teams using 6 venues in 4 of the host cities. A quick check: Egypt is in, but one Mohamed Salah is NOT on the Pharaohs’ roster. Live soccer junkies, assemble!

 

Come on you Bahraini's! I spent two years stationed in Bahrain so they always have my support. Very nice people there.

 

@HatterDon, I got an email today stating that NBCUniversal is shutting down NBC Sports on Dec 31. I wondered where the Premier League would go.

And this may be worthy of its own thread, but FIFA is trial running VAR 2.0 - semi-automated VAR offside at the Arab Cup. That’s my only interest in watching.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-fi...fside-why-arsene-wenger-thinks-it-can-fix-var

 

Four more matches on tap today, starting with Algeria and Sudan. There are some interesting ancillary dynamics in play around this tournament. Brad mentioned Bahrain, an interesting country where we have, as he mentioned, a significant naval station that isn’t going anywhere any time soon. In fact, we’ve spent $580 plus since 2010 doubling the size, increasing security, operational and support services, and building a flyover bridge from the base to the main port of Mina Salman. It’s also interesting to see teams from countries with challenges, some justified, some not. Sudan, for instance. War torn, dictatorial, civil war, coups, you name it. Despite having oil income, internal strife has led to genocide and debilitating famine. One wonders how such a country can even field a viable national soccer team, much less get them into and to competitions. Then they play sides like Algeria (whom you may remember from a certain World Cup match in South Africa in 2010) where the only question is how many goals will they lose by. Same for tiny Mauritania, 5-1 losers to Tunisia on opening day. Syria, still decimated by decades of civil war and regionally sponsored terrorism under a brutal family dictatorship, 2-1 losers to the United Arab Emirates. It’s a bit sad and disheartening to see such country’s athletes trying to compete with such heavy societal baggage constantly hanging over their heads. But they’re out there, doing the best they can.