Dunadan

1. Which two teams will reach the final – and who will win? Wales and Scotland 2. Who will win the Golden Boot? Marek Hamsik with 6 crest headers 3. Who will be the surprise team of the tournament? Italy and France in negative, out in the group stage 4. Who will be the breakthrough player of the tournament? Haaland 5. How far will England, Scotland and Wales get? (that is original Guardian question - but I would rather ask you: How far will your national team (or a team you support the most) get? See #1 6. What are you most looking forward to, on or off the pitch? Watching the Copa America on TV at 2 a.m. 7. What are you most concerned about, on or off the pitch? That the TV won't work

No playoff, there will be a final round-robin pool of 4 with the two finalists and the two "bronze medallists". Top 3 will get the quota. So even reaching the final is not enough to qualify.

29 refugee athletes selected, full list: https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/News/2021/06/EOR-Tokyo-2020-list-with-coaches-TO.pdf

[hide] Preliminary Round June 11th - June 23rd, 2021 24 Nations, 6 Groups, the 1st and 2nd Nation from each Group + the 4 best 3rd-placed Nations will qualify for the Round of 16 Group A Date & Time (GMT +2, CEST) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 11th 2021, h. 21:00 Turkey 0 2 Italy June 12th 2021, h. 15:00 Wales 0 1 Switzerland June 16th 2021, h. 18:00 Turkey 1 0 Wales June 16th 2021, h. 21:00 Italy 1 0 Switzerland June 20th 2021, h. 18:00 Switzerland 2 0 Turkey June 20th 2021, h. 18:00 Italy 2 0 Wales Group B Date & Time (GMT +2, CEST) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 12th 2021, h. 18:00 Denmark 3 0 Finland June 12th 2021, h. 21:00 Belgium 2 1 Russia June 16th 2021, h. 15:00 Finland 1 1 Russia June 17th 2021, h. 18:00 Denmark 1 1 Belgium June 21st 2021, h. 21:00 Russia 0 2 Denmark June 21st 2021, h. 21:00 Finland 0 4 Belgium Group C Date & Time (GMT +2, CEST) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 13th 2021, h. 18:00 Austria 2 1 North Macedonia June 13th 2021, h. 21:00 Netherlands 1 1 Ukraine June 17th 2021, h. 15:00 Ukraine 2 0 North Macedonia June 17th 2021, h. 21:00 Netherlands 1 1 Austria June 21st 2021, h. 18:00 North Macedonia 0 2 Netherlands June 21st 2021, h. 18:00 Ukraine 2 1 Austria Group D Date & Time (GMT +2, CEST) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 13th 2021, h. 15:00 England 2 1 Croatia June 14th 2021, h. 15:00 Scotland 1 1 Czech Republic June 18th 2021, h. 18:00 Croatia 2 1 Czech Republic June 18th 2021, h. 21:00 England 3 0 Scotland June 22nd 2021, h. 21:00 Croatia 2 1 Scotland June 22nd 2021, h. 21:00 Czech Republic 0 2 England Group E Date & Time (GMT +2, CEST) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 14th 2021, h. 18:00 Poland 2 1 Slovakia June 14th 2021, h. 21:00 Spain 2 1 Sweden June 18th 2021, h. 15:00 Sweden 1 0 Slovakia June 19th 2021, h. 21:00 Spain 2 1 Poland June 23rd 2021, h. 18:00 Slovakia 0 2 Spain June 23rd 2021, h. 18:00 Sweden 1 1 Poland Group F Date & Time (GMT +2, CEST) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 June 15th 2021, h. 18:00 Hungary 1 4 Portugal June 15th 2021, h. 21:00 France 2 1 Germany June 19th 2021, h. 15:00 Hungary 0 4 France June 19th 2021, h. 18:00 Portugal 2 2 Germany June 23rd 2021, h. 21:00 Portugal 1 1 France June 23rd 2021, h. 21:00 Germany 3 0 Hungary Finalists Place 1st Place 2nd Place Nation Italy France [/hide]

I think that footballer Kazuyoshi Miura, 52 years old, is still active in J1 League - started his senior career in 1986. Although he only has 1 appareance this season.

Sabre fencers Olga Kharlan and Luigi Samele are another couple who I think will win medals.

Brazil will host. Bolsonaro the saviour of futebol!

You're clearly wrong, I read it here that they confirmed their withdrawal at least 10 times

Because those players would not: a) be eligible, since they have no points in 3x3 ranking; b) care about this tournament or the Olympics.

Is this the first time that fans want to punish a team for not naturalizing enough foreign players? I don't think the IOC will or should intervene here, that would set a dangerous precedent, only China can choose to give up its quota. IIHF could have included a performance requirement in their qualification system, but once it's approved it's too late - private discussions with Chinese officials don't really matter.

Mongolian men always were a decent team at international competitions iirc, it's the women that have no place at the Olympics and will be a punching bag.

Stop with this super-spreader fear mongering, they are acting as if the Olympics would happen normally without limitations and safety protocols. If the Japanese government wants to pull out, stop building up excuses through the media, do it now and pay the consequences.

Look at the groups, they were made using serpentine system on that ranking, so it should be FRA, IRI, NED, ITA, TPE, JPN, EST, USA, GER (+ HUN already qualified to the second tournament as host but FRA and USA not eligible, so GER 8th in line for 6 places)

Canada don't even deserve to be in the qualification tournament since they never cared about international basketball, so hopefully they'll fail this time and try again more seriously in the next Olympic cycle

Let me take a wild guess... Softbank Group doesn't sponsor the Olympics but some of its competitors do?

Riders have too much power nowadays...unless it's at least 15°C and sunny they'll ask to cancel everything, let them draw the route next year.

Nope, the French song was good and France would be absolutely right in pushing for disqualification for such behaviour.

Surely a disqualification incoming and the win will be given to France.

Elia Viviani (cycling) and Jessica Rossi (shooting) have been chosen today. https://www.gazzetta.it/Olimpiadi/20-05-2021/tokyo-elia-viviani-jessica-rossi-saranno-portabandiera-azzurri-4101185467533.shtml https://www.repubblica.it/sport/vari/2021/05/20/news/jessica_rossi_e_elia_viviani_i_portabandiera_a_tokyo-301947144/

The biggest risk for the athletes'lives would be travelling by car to the airport.

LEN president Paolo Barelli said that he thinks that "optimistically" there is a 50% chance that the Olympics will take place...

No, but...

Bad start for the Italians

I don't follow much but I bet on a Japanese, an American and a Brazilian on the podium

Why did he stay in the room for 45 minutes only to spike a drink, he should have been much quicker in order to not be caught