Some reports started making the rounds from around three weeks ago that former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal was getting close to reaching an agreement with the Netherlands Football Federation to become their national team’s new head coach following the dismissal of the former coach Frank de Boer.
After missing out on the final Euros squad, Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard will most likely also not have a hand in England’s World Cup campaign next year. The United star was not able to make the final cut despite his brilliant form last season for West Ham United in the Premier League after joining the Hammers on loan from Old Trafford. Lingard was called up by England head coach Gareth Southgate to link up with the rest of the squad for their preliminary games before the official commencement of the 20w0 Euros competition but could not make the list of the final 26 players.
And after not being able to make Gareth Southgate’s final 26-man squad, it is believed that he could also not be selected as part of the squad that will be heading to Qatar in 2022 for next year’s World Cup tournament. Lingard is keen to play more games and has stated clearly that he wishes to be involved in more action on the pitch regardless of the club that he will be playing for next season.
Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk has delivered a huge update about his fitness and the chances of featuring for the Netherlands at their upcoming tournaments and competitions. The towering defender has been a huge miss for his club this season after picking up a severe injury that ruined his season earlier in the year. After colluding with Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the first Merseyside derby of the season, he was taken off the pitch and could not continue.
France are the defending champions after they won a second World Cup title at the last edition in Russia some three years ago by beating surprise package Croatia 4-2 in the final. The French team would be targeting anothertitle at the World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar after winning the 1998 edition on home soil and the 2018 edition as mentioned above.
In what seems to be a new development, the qualifying fixtures for South American countries aiming to be at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar have been postponed from the initial date to a new one, it has been confirmed. The games were originally supposed to be played this March, but they have now been hit with postponement following concerns over the coronavirus quarantine regulations and restrictions.
The Republic of Ireland has been dealt a big blow ahead of their World Cup 2022 qualifier against Serbia next month following the injury to defender John Egan. The Sheffield United had to be stretched off in the second half of the Premier League clash with hosts West Ham United on Monday night. John Egan suffered a serious leg injury during a challenge with West Ham United forward Jesse Lingard during the second half of the Premier League clash with the Hammers and the said leg injury is on course to make him sit out the aforementioned World Cup 2022 qualifier with the Serbians.
World Cup 2022 hosts Qatar have unveiled Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, which is one of the eight match venues scheduled to play host to games during the tournament. The 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar will take place over November and December 2022. The tournament will last for a period of 27 days between November 21, 2022 and December 18, 2022. The Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium was unveiled earlier in the week thus making it the fourth match venue to be unveiled for the World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar. Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium has a capacity of 40,000 and it is located in the city of Al Rayyan.
All the plans for the forthcoming 2022 World Cup tournament are already taking shape as preparations have been intensified. Part of the preparations includes the imminent unveiling of one of the stadiums to be used for the main event in the coming two years.
The corona virus chaos has affected the sports world, especially football very hard. Since it is a Body contact game, it poses a high chance that one player infected with COVID-19 will spread the infection to other players. Thus many of the nations have postponed their football leagues.
The qualification rounds for World Cup 2022 are about to commence from September 2020 as the pandemic restrictions start to abate across the world. The 2022 World Cup would be the 22nd edition. It is a quadrennial championship of the men’s international football association that would be contested by national teams that are members of FIFA.
The scheduled venues are in Qatar which is the first Muslim country and of the Arab world to host this world tournament. It is also the second World Cup to be held in Asia after the 2002 tournament that was held in Japan and South Korea. This edition would include 32 teams, though a proposition had been put in for expanding the same top 48 teams. France is the reigning world champions who would be defending the cup.
This World Cup also deviates from the usual norm of being held in the summer months. The tournament is scheduled for the winter months, to start in late November and to go on till mid of December. The time frame has been reduced as well to 28 days with the final to be held on Qatar National Day, that of 18th December 2022.