LDOG

17 minutes ago, MHSN said:

Venezuela will be out only if they lose to CAN, (by more than 20 pts at least) and DOM lose to ARG + all teams in other groups (MEX,BRA and PUR) winning their games.

 

I mean it looks a very unlikely scenario to me. they just have to lose by 19pts or less to qualify 100%.

Yeah, I thought DOM had the h2h over them but it's completely tied.   

The most likely outcome is Venezuela going out IMO but Brazil can easily drop the ball.   

I also feel Uruguay will play a very motivated match at home but who knows if that's enough to win given they suck.  

 qualified!  

 survived another day but still their qualification looks unlikely. If only they would have won one game vs .   

I'd guess they played most games with their C roster. Big casualty of this unfair system. 

I don't understand the criteria regarding why Brazil is currently in 4th place and not Mexico. 

Edit: I get it, they won a game vs PR.

1 hour ago, rafalgorka said:

https://www.sport.pl/sport/7,65025,29470890,dopuszczenie-rosjan-do-igrzysk-to-nie-naiwnosc-to-mierzony.html#s=SNO_Img_1

 

an interesting text imo

 

Here is Google Translate:

 

Allowing Russians to participate in the Games is not naive. It's a measured punch with deep purpose
  Michal Kiedrowski 16.02.2023 13:35
When I hear Kamil Bortniczuk say: "The International Olympic Committee sins with naivety", I am sure that the Minister of Sport does not really understand what is at stake at all – comments Michał Kiedrowski from Sport.pl.

Kamil Bortniczuk talked about naivety in the context of the idea of allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the Games under a neutral Olympic flag. And here, of course, I agree with the Minister of Sport that this is fiction. The neutral flag under which Russian athletes performed during the Winter Games in Beijing did not bother Russian President Vladimir Putin. He applauded his compatriots from the stands, and also used the athletes for propaganda during a rally at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. This event was one big manifesto of support for aggression against Ukraine.

But I do not agree with the suggestion that the IOC and President Thomas Bach were unaware of this. If someone has already climbed such a function in the Olympic movement, he must know this world and its rules from the inside out. And if I had to choose the qualities most useful for this, it would be: cynicism and hypocrisy, not naivety.
The global south does not look who is the aggressor and who is the victim

I think that both for Bach and for the vast majority of IOC members there is no doubt that it is impossible to reconcile the participation of Russians in the Games with the message of peace. But that's not the point. It is not even about Russia itself, but about showing who is in charge here, or rather, strictly speaking, that the West is no longer in charge. It is not Bach himself who is behind the admission of the Russians to the Games, but the entire coalition of countries - one can guess - with China at the forefront. After all, it was from Asia that the initiative for the Russians to take part in the Asian qualifications for the Games came from. It is in India that the World Women's Boxing Championships will be held in March, during which Russian women will perform both under their flag and with their anthem. It will be the same at the World Boxing Championships in Tashkent in May. All because the boxing federation is ruled by Umar Kremlin - Putin's trusted man.

Poland, together with the Czech Republic, Canada, the USA, Great Britain, Sweden, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia decided to boycott the event. In response, the authorities of the boxing federation proposed that all boxers from these countries be allowed to compete, regardless of the decisions of the national associations. They even promise to cover the costs.

Russian boxers have already performed under their flag in the recent World Boxing Tour Golden Belt Series tournament in Marrakech. As you can see, Moroccans don't mind Russian crimes against Ukrainians either. And here it is worth listening to what political scientists, such as Michał Lubina from the Jagiellonian University, say: "China managed to present this war in pro-Western countries as an intra-European conflict, a local proxy war of the West with Russia. This is how the Third World, i.e. the global south, thinks about it. who is indifferent to this war. He dislikes Americans more than he sees who is the aggressor and who is the victim."

We don't have a lever. The Chinese comrades will gladly replace us

It's brutal but true. If we look at the activities of the Olympic movement in this way, they are completely legible. Countries that are not Westerners are outraged by the moral blackmail that the Americans and their allies are exerting on them. Especially since we, as the West, have no leverage. European companies cannot say to the IOC: we will not pay you a broken euro if you do not respect our values. Olympic officials will just shrug: it's okay, you pay us almost nothing anyway. Chinese comrades will gladly replace you.

Western politicians should open their eyes. This is not naivety, but a calculated act. Anyway, let's look further. Not only at the IOC. Take the International Football Federation (FIFA). It is also where the influence of autocratic regimes is growing, which shows at every turn: the West no longer rules. The whole of European football depends on the money that flows to it from China and Arab states for television rights and sponsorship. For Asian fans, matches in England, Italy or Spain are scheduled for early afternoon hours on weekends. Due to fans from that region of the world, the Champions League final was moved from Wednesday to Saturday. The most influential man in European football is the Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaifi: not only the president of PSG, but also the CEO of beIN Media Group, as well as the head of the Association of European Clubs. The most sponsors of the European Championships are from China. Saudi Arabia even sponsored the Women's World Cup, much to the outrage of all human rights activists.

 

The World Cup in Qatar was a breakthrough: now we can do it all

The World Cup in Qatar became a breakthrough. Not only did they succeed, but they also turned out to be a great success. In addition, despite the fact that the hosts on many issues - such as allowing the sale of beer with percentages or rainbow bands - stood their ground against the protests of public opinion in the West. Indignation at each other, and fans delighted with the World Cup itself. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino can say to his colleagues what Bolo in "Football Poker" said to the Laguna referee: Now we can do it all, the biggest numbers in the world.

The Qatari people, whose emir had a friendly talk with Putin even before the start of the World Cup, did not wait long. They have already treated the workers brought from abroad to service the World Cup out of hand. Saudi Arabia won the Club World Cup. Another World Cup in the Persian Gulf, built by low-paid workers who are exploited beyond their means, seems a foregone conclusion. The Saudis want to organize it together with Egypt and Greece in 2030.

 

If the West wants the sporting world to continue to respect its ideals, it must have a new FIFA and a new IOC. In the old ones it will mean less and less. In Asia, they believe that the future center of the world lies there, and they will use every opportunity to show how little Europe and the United States matter anymore.

I will repeat again. The participation of Russians and Belarusians in the Games in Paris is no naivety, no pro-Russian sympathies, it is simply an opportunity to say: the West no longer has power.

 

So, the proposed solution is a new IOC with only "western" countries? lol

These pictograms defeat their purpose as soon as you take 5+ seconds to distinguish the sport. 

Give me back my stickmen with a ball. 

34 minutes ago, mrv86 said:

 Argentina last competed 3 years ago and not have made a comeback.

 

 

You mean at pan american level? 

Because Argentina definitely has a 49er FX touring around the world right now.

Samoa already has. 

So basically the top 2 (minus FRA women, SCO, WAL) of the Eurohockey division II will qualify to OQTs.  

3 hours ago, phelps said:

Padel, unfortunately...

Same. I thought that trash had died in the 90s. 

Well, Korea and Vietnam had 3 million casualties each so not exactly a pub fight.

As long as USA and China are on board, you can get the games running. IOC can tank anything else financially speaking.  

37 minutes ago, JoshMartini007 said:

I think it's more that the Big 3 was so far ahead of everyone. Between the 2005 French Open and 2012 Wimbledon only one person outside of the Big 3 was able to win a Grand Slam. When you have that level of talent competing you have to be at the top of your game both physically and mentally which only pushed them further. Throw in the fact that sport medicine has evolved quite a bit in the last decade and they exude an aura of invincibility and it isn't surprising that the younger players are still getting tossed aside more often than not.

Big 3 are out of this world but Murray and to a degree Wawrinka or Del Potro pushed them much more than the ones that came after. 

It's crazy what a mental sport tennis is. I'm certain it's all resilience and self-believe, the technical differences are minimal between all those that are inside the top 100.   

A 35 year old has no business beating these kids yet still does again and again. The previous generation simply had such a mental edge compared to this Instagram/tiktok focused generation with short attention span.

1 minute ago, OlympicsFan said:

Finally! They had to wait 17 years. Also kind of poetic that 8 of the players won junior world championship gold 10 years ago in India with the same coach!

Kinda 9 players then since Peillat also played that tournament lol  

Remember how you told me after Rio that Argentina would win every tournament with his PC conversion %?   

...Sigh... 

Just now, Quasit said:

Yeah, very impressive.  

They deserved to win tbh, just had two fatal final minutes. 

Great final day of my predictions.  

Predicted Australia to take the bronze, Netherlands wins easily, predicted Germany by 1, Belgium ties the game one minute before the end... beautiful zero.

Germany champions on PSO over Belgium. 

18 hours ago, LowerSaxony said:

That might be true to some degree.. but the difference to all wars somewhere in the world in recent history is that one land is stealing territory from another here.

Not really, palestinians for ex. also claim someone stole their land, many other wars have the same basic motive as well. The main difference is that the ukrainian goverment has more consensus in the world about being the legitimate owner of the disputed territories. 

The 2024 copa america will be hosted in the United States.  

The 10 Conmebol member teams will participate together with the top 6 teams from the 2023-24 Concacaf Nations League for a total 16 teams.  

Also, the 2024 women's Gold Cup will have 4 south american teams participating (Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Paraguay). It'll be 8 Concacaf teams + 4 Conmebol for a total 12 participants.

So the joint NL with Conmebol was already discarded? 

11 minutes ago, MHSN said:

1st and 6th WCH teams (I mean among non-qualified teams) will get Asia 2nd and America 2nd which is a very easy group for those 2 European teams, at least comparing to other 2 groups with 1 more European team

That was the same draw of the previous cycle with Korea and Chile.  

Do they just re-use the same always? When was this confirmed?

Why are you all talking like the OQT draw is done? I know there always was a serpentine system distribution for the teams that take a place there through WCh but what about the rest? If it's done where I can see it? There is nothing on Wikipedia.