Situation normal, for one night

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/10/2020 (2136 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s men’s national team was supposed to have hosted Bermuda in a World Cup qualification match on Thursday. On Sunday, they were scheduled to visit the Cayman Islands.

Needless to say, both encounters were cancelled some time ago. COVID-19 saw to that, and with its campaign thrown into flux, CONCACAF—the region that oversees international football in North and Central America and the Caribbean — delayed its first match day of qualifiers by several months, and that was after rejigging the format entirely.

The region’s initial round will now begin in March. Probably. Hopefully. Pandemic-depending.

Not even the FIFA World Cup, which is still more than two years off, can escape the effects of the coronavirus.

It has, after all, been almost a year since a qualifier was played. The final whistle that night, in the oblivious before-time, was blown by Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he was overseeing a showdown between the host country and Tajikistan. The guests led until the 83rd minute, when Kyrgyzstani defender Tamirlan Kozubaev, then of Malaysian club PKNS, scored a late equalizer, until Thursday the World Cup’s most recent goal.

Kozubaev has since joined Persita Tangerang of Indonesia. He and his teammates will next face Myanmar in Mandalay — also sometime in March. Probably. Hopefully. Pandemic-depending. So much has changed since last November, and it’s more than likely that many match days will be delayed further, that more formats will be altered before the tournament proper begins in Al Khor, Qatar on Nov. 21, 2022.

UEFA, for its part, should have been getting ready for its own qualification tournament.

Instead, the European region has only now restarted the playoff phase of EURO 2020, which was supposed to have been played during the summer, and while UEFA has rescheduled its signature event for 2021 it, too, is at the mercy of the pandemic’s wiles. Given the championship’s multi-city setup, it seems rather more likely that venues will change than remain as they are now, if the thing even goes ahead at all.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of African football resumed its friendly schedule this week, but, like CONCACAF, was supposed to have been contesting World Cup qualifiers between Monday and next Tuesday. They’ve pushed those back to late May but from there will pack the schedule so as to still complete second-round qualifying by this time next year. Probably. Hopefully. Pandemic-depending.

So far it’s only South America’s CONMEBOL that is in full-scale World Cup mode.

On Thursday in Asuncion, Al-Hilal attacker Andre Carillo’s 52nd-minute goal for Peru represented the first World Cup tally since Kozubaev’s, and he scored again with five minutes to play as the visitors earned a 2-2 draw with Paraguay. Later in the evening Uruguay beat Chile 2-1 in Montevideo and Argentina edged Ecuador 1-0 at Buenos Aires’ famous Bombonera.

With its 10 high-quality teams playing home and away at various altitudes and in numerous environments over 20 months, CONMEBOL’s represents the World Cup’s most gruelling and entertaining qualification campaign.

For just one night, with familiar names such as Luis Suarez, Alexis Sanchez and Lionel Messi on the scoresheets, the road to the World Cup took on its requisite excitement.

Finally. Refreshingly. Despite the pandemic.

SPOT-KICKS

l UK-based fans will finally be able to watch all Premier League matches live on television — although they’ll have to pay £14.95 per contest for the privilege. It’s an incredibly distasteful cash grab, and at a time where budgets are tight as a result of the coronavirus. But it’s also a reminder to fans on this continent that we have the world’s best access to the world’s game. Add to that the pleasure of watching football through the weekend mornings and you get a from-home match day experience that is simply second to none.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

The Warm-Up

Winnipeg Jets Game Days

On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.

Sign up for The Warm-Up

Sign Up

I consent to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies.

I consent to CASL agreement.

l On Friday the Spanish health authorities confirmed that fans will not be allowed inside stadiums for Champions League matches until at least 2021. Barcelona, as just one example, had hoped to fill at least 30 per cent of Camp Nou on European nights. England, too, has so far resisted the in-stadium return of fans, although both France and Germany have experimented with limited crowds. Last weekend Borussia Dortmund admitted 11,500 supporters for its Bundesliga showdown with Freiburg.

l AC Milan defender Matteo Gabbia is the latest footballer to test positive for coronavirus. The 20-year-old is thought to have contracted the virus while on duty with Italy’s Under-21s. Incoming Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani also revealed that he and his girlfriend recently tested positive for COVID-19. Cavani, whose Paris Saint-Germain pact expired during the summer, signed for United on Monday.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter @JerradPeters