Right. Just do the whole bloody thing in South America. Even that is difficult enough as the continent is vast and transport links not at all simple. The world cup in Brazil was the litmus test for that and that was just one country! Spain/Portugal and Morocco isn't so crazy as distances are manageable and transport well established. But Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay followed by crossing the Atlantic?! Absolute nonsense.
The only possible argument for it is that, looking at the stadiums listed for Spain/Portugal/Morocco, there's a lot of stadiums which fall well below the required capacity for WC matches without significant (and costly) expansion, most obviously the grounds of Malaga, Celta Vigo, Gijon and Murcia (to name a few), and it has to be said the Portuguese side seems to be going out of its way to avoid staging games at any of the white elephants built for Euro 2004 Of course, the main issue is both FIFA and UEFA need to be more responsible when it comes to accepting bids, because when you get things like The FA casually announcing they'll triple the size of Plymouth's stadium for the failed 2018 bid while the RFEF are saying that seven of the grounds they put forward can (and will) be expanded as if people can't see that half the seats in Real Zaragoza's 33,000 stadium are empty for most home games so adding another 10,000 capacity to that is clearly a bad idea, it's ultimately going to do long-term damage to the finances of either the clubs or the local economy (or, most likely, both) to corral as many white elephants into a country as it takes to be awarded a tournament
Well it seems FIFA are halfway towards a solution to that problem: pricing everyone not in the top 1% wealthiest people out of being able to attend the tournament. I wouldn't be surprised if they announce that the 2038 tournament will be jointly hosted between the Moon and Mars, with the opening game being held in Antarctica to mark the occasion. Don't need more seats if no one can afford to sit on them. Genius.
Maddison has been called up for England again. Thankfully old Gareth doesn’t seem to rate him that highly so hopefully his game time will be managed.
He might have to play though, as Gary's selected the shadow of Jordan Henderson. Not sure why Ward-Prowse isn't getting in now. Nketiah shouldn't be there, either.
Surprised they called up Gio, though not surprised he’s managed to be fit enough for Argentina once again but not for Spurs. Classic.
Supposedly trained with the squad today, but I've not seen any evidence of it. Edit: I have now. He's in the training video they've put up.
What happened to the days when the clubs declare that the players are injured and cannot be called up to the national team (eg Man U , Pool etc) For example Sonny and Madders are clearly nursing injuries. Also if they haven't played for the club how can they play for the national team!
Saka has pulled out of the England squad, as he's been injured for weeks. Gary won't replace him, as he's a ****ing idiot: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67060228 Sterling should've been picked anyway, just based on his club form alone. There's at least one other player who I expect to pull out, but we'll see.
Oh joy! Another fortnight of football being interrupted for the international break. Maybe it’s all Sky’s fault, but why does international football often feel like such a poor relation of club football, when in most sports it’s the opposite way round?
Fixtures: England: Australia (H) Fri 13th 7.45pm F, Italy (H) Tue 17th 7.45pm EQ. Scotland: Spain (A) Thu 12th 7.45pm EQ, France (A) Tue 17th 8pm F. Wales: Gibraltar (H) Wed 11th 7.45pm F, Croatia (H) Sun 15th 7.45pm EQ. Northern Ireland: San Marino (H) Sat 14th 2pm EQ, Slovenia (H) Tue 17th 7.45pm EQ. Republic of Ireland: Greece (H) Fri 13th 7.45pm EQ, Gibraltar (A) Mon 16th 7.45pm EQ. F = Friendly, EQ = Euro Qualifier.
