Unusual/Notable stuff from around the football world.

[osarusan]

SAD Belenenses are taking on Benfica in the Portuguese league right now with nine players due to a covid outbreak.

That includes two keepers and four youth team players. They're 2-0 down after 15 minutes

Called off when 7-0 down after Belenenses lost 2 players to injury at HT (no subs obviously) and then lost another to injury early in the second half, meaning insufficient number of players to allow the game to continue.

Interesting, and although I'd have thought a game couldn't start with fewer than 11 on a team, this seems like a loophole for a team wanting to get a game called off (unless it resarts from the same scoreline it had at the point of being called off).

[pineapple stu]

I think "injury" wasn't really it.

I found a stream at halftime - Belenenses were late coming back for the second half and it seems they did so under protest.

They had tip and just booted the ball up the pitch, at which point the same player went down injured.

So I guess that's why they returned with seven - to get the game abandoned.

I've sympathy for them though; it was ridiculous the game went ahead in the circumstances.

Crowd of 6000 at it. Vertonghen, Otamendi and Seferovic all starting for Benfica, who made five subs at halftime

[NeverFeltBetter]

Arab Cup semi-final was 1-0 to Algeria over Qatar on 90 mins. Ref indicates nine minutes of injury time - which confuses a few people, to put it mildly - Qatar equalise on 97, a VAR check adds more time, Algeria score from a penalty on 104, delays to the restart mean the game goes to 109: https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/59685407

[osarusan]

Here is King Kazu consoling Iniesta after Yokohama FC beat Vissel Kobe 2-1 last November. Playing alongside Shunsuke Nakamura these days, a spring chicken at 42.

Aaaand it's over.

At the mere age of 54 (almost 55), Kazuyoshi Miura has called it a day at top level football.

He is leaving Yokohama FC to sign for a Japan Football League team (which is the 4th tier, below J3), based in Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, with the incredibly cringeworthy name of Suzuka Point Getters.

So long, King Kazu. We shall not see his like again.

[NeverFeltBetter]

AFCON game between Mali and Tunisia ends in bizarre circumstances as, with Mali up 1-0, ref blows for full-time on 85 mins, is compelled to restart, then blows for full-time on 89 mins. AFCON orders the game restarted during post-match press conferences, but the losing team doesn't take to the field: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022...y-as-mali-win/

[NeverFeltBetter]

AFCON game between Mali and Tunisia ends in bizarre circumstances as, with Mali up 1-0, ref blows for full-time on 85 mins, is compelled to restart, then blows for full-time on 89 mins. AFCON orders the game restarted during post-match press conferences, but the losing team doesn't take to the field: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022...y-as-mali-win/

BBC are reporting the ref was suffering from sunstroke, and was hospitalized after the match.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Interesting story here: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022...gainst-russia/

Poland won't play Russia, and the implication is that the teams from the other side of the draw, Sweden and Czechia, may refuse to do so as well. How does this play out? On paper Russia would get two 3-0 walkovers and qualification, which of course would be a hugely unpopular outcome (especially given Russia already aren't even allowed to compete in the Word Cup under their own name if they get there because of the doping sanctions). The question is if FIFA/UEFA are going to essentially expel them. This happened to Yugoslavia for the 1992 Euros, but that was on the back of a full UN resolved trade embargo and a political collapse which isn't going to occur here. It's one thing to move the CPL final, but can FIFA/UEFA legally block Russia from competing in these competitions?

[pineapple stu]

This happened at least once before - and coincidentally the USSR were involved then.

The 1974 World Cup play-off between the USSR and Chile - the USSR refused to travel to Chile for the second leg in protest at the military junta. (I think they claimed security issues and political instability, which isn't quite as forthright as Poland, but it amounts to the same thing). Chile went to the World Cup.

It seems FIFA can ban Russia from the World Cup on the basis of the current doping scandal - this from the wiki article on the 2022 World Cup -

On 9 December 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency handed Russia a four-year ban from all major sporting events, after RUSADA was found non-compliant for handing over manipulating lab data to investigators. However, the Russia national team could still enter qualification, as the ban only applies to the final tournament to decide the world champions. If Russia qualified, Russian footballers could still potentially compete at the tournament, pending a decision from FIFA.

Fair dues to Poland for this - I think it's a stronger statement than FIFA kicking Russia out actually.

[sidewayspasser]

It's one thing to move the CPL final, but can FIFA/UEFA legally block Russia from competing in these competitions?

That probably depends on what is in the contracts between FIFA/UEFA and their member associations. I would assume that there are clauses about suspending a member association, but it could be that in the absence of a UN resolution (which won't happen because Russia can veto any resolution) there might have to be a vote among the member associations. And we know, not least from recent tournament host selections, how well voting in FIFA and UEFA works...

[NeverFeltBetter]

Some other stories from today might inform this one. The UK has revoked the visas of the Belarussian basketball team due to play a game in Newcastle tomorrow and the Czech government has just banned Russian airlines from entering its airspace. I wonder if it might be a case that sorting out a venue for these play-offs might prove impossible if those circumstances were extended, where would-be designated neutral locations can't be found because they refuse to provide visas for Russian players, or provide the ability for Russian planes to transport those players?

[sidewayspasser]

I guess there are a few countries (e.g. Serbia?) who would still happily host Russian teams, so I wouldn't count on everyone refusing visas.

[NeverFeltBetter]

All three other countries now stating they will refuse to play Russia, FIFA's response is to announce Russia must play in neutral venues and under a different name. I guess they're hoping the three will consider that enough? Seems like too little, too late.

[pineapple stu]

Poland have already told them where to go

[NeverFeltBetter]

Poles and Swedes reaction is to double down and criticize the FIFA response. FIFA left the door open for further sanctions at least. Are they hoping the invasion will stop and we'll all just forget? In less than a month?

[NeverFeltBetter]

The FAI has joined others in declaring their will refuse to play Russian sides "at any level": https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022...ssian-boycott/

I was thinking if FIFA did throw Russia out ahead of the qualifiers, would there be scope for their place to filled by someone else instead of a walkover? Slovakia were the third placed team in their group, Hungary the next highest in the Nations League rankings.

[NeverFeltBetter]

OK, here's a weird one. Group A of the OFC World Cup qualification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_F..._(OFC)#Group_A

One game took place last week, where the Solomon Islands beat the Cook Islands 2-0. After that Vanuatu were unable to play their game against Tahiti owing to a mass COVID outbreak, and then later, withdrew so their three scheduled games were officially cancelled. Then the Cook Islands had an outbreak, so their final two games were also cancelled, but they haven't withdrawn. And while news is hard to come by with these teams, I think it's because if the Solomon Islands beat Tahiti by three or more goals on what is now the only other group game that will be played on Thursday, then the Cook Islands will progress to the next round despite scoring no points or goals, and with a few days to spare on a seven-day isolation period. If it ends 2-0, it will be decided on disciplinary record, where the Cook Islands are at 0.

On the other hand, a draw would get both the Solomon Islands and Tahiti through in their current positions, so it could easily become an Austria/West Germany 1982 situation.

[pineapple stu]

Worth noting that the Cook Islands reached the group stages by winning a qualifying match against Tonga...who had to forfeit due to covid as well.

[NeverFeltBetter]

The Cook Islands have formally withdrawn: https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/men...ld-cup-2022-tm

Now the Solomon Islands/Tahiti game tomorrow is just to determine their order of progression, with extra time and a penalty shoot-out to be used if they draw after 90.

[NeverFeltBetter]

I'm watching the Senegal/Egypt World Cup qualification play-off at HT of Portugal/North Macedonia, it's gone to penalties. And there must be something close to two dozen green laser pointers being used by the crowd on the Egyptian keeper and every Egyptian taker. They're lit up like Christmas trees. You can actually see the specific people in the crowd holding them sometimes, though of course the local authorities aren't doing anything about it. It's nothing very new in African football, but the amount of it here is remarkable. Weren't the English fined 30K for just one of these being used last summer? You could buy a house on the southside with what Senegal would owe!

Senegal win the shoot-out 3-1.

[tetsujin1979]

Luxembourg's U17 side beat England 2-0: https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2...rg-vs-england/
Depending on other results, they may go to the U17 European Championships as one of the seven best runners up