Actually a Sports Blog

The CONCACAF W Championship will take place in July and will serve as the continental qualifier in women's soccer. Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago all move a step closer to Olympic competition as group winners and will join Canada and the United States this summer.  *July's competition will see two groups of four teams with the top two teams in each group advancing to the semifinals. *The tournament winner will qualify for Paris Step Closer to Paris in Women's Soccer  Canada Costa Rica Haiti Jamaica Mexico Panama Trinidad and Tobago   United States Bolded and Italicized = Newly Added The U21 Euros qualifying will continue in June and the tournament next summer will be the continental qualifier in men's soccer. Belgium is a step closer to Paris as they join co-hosts Romania and Georgia in the final tournament, but who can join them?  Group A: Croatia , Austria, Norway and Finland Group B: Germany , Israel, Poland and Hungary  Gr...

The CONCACAF W Championship will be the CONCACAF qualifier for women's soccer. The final matchday to determine the final six spots will be tomorrow.  Twelve teams remain in contention: Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Qualified teams 1. Costa Rica/Guatemala winner 2. Haiti/Cuba winner  3. Jamaica/Dominican Republic winner 4. Mexico/Puerto Rico winner 5. Panama/El Salvador winner 6. Trinidad and Tobago/Guyana winner  The six group winners will join Canada and the United States in the final tournament this summer

News broke yesterday that former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo is returning from a nearly two-year retirement and plans to re-enter the USADA testing pool.  I'm thinking his comeback fight should be at featherweight, which would make for an easier weight cut, but the question is who should he fight?  I'd go for someone close to the top ten or just inside it, and I have some suggestions: Bryce Mitchell: Ninth in the division and his 15-0 record including recent wins over Charles Rosa, Andre Fili and Edson Barboza could be enough of an enticement to sign the contract  Dan Ige: Tenth-ranked in the division and his two straight losses could be cannon fodder for some Cejudo trash talk (granted they're against fighters ranked above him, but still)  Sodiq Yusuf: Eleventh in the division; stopped once and lost twice in fourteen bouts; most recent bout was a decision win over Alex Caceres, who's been competing in the UFC for eleven years as of three wee...

Men's Soccer The Europe qualifier tournament is the U21 Euros.  Belgium, as Group I winners, have joined Romania and Georgia in the final tournament next summer  Austria, Belarus, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Moldova, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine are all still in contention to join them (Russia, although banned from competing at the moment, are still in contention as well)  *Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland are the current frontrunners for automatic qualification Women's Soccer The CONCACAF W Championship, which will take place in July, will be the CONCACAF qualifier.  The qualifier tournament will wrap up on Tuesday to determine which six teams will join Canada and the United S...

Maybe this is just my opinion, but Russian sports need long-lasting consequences. Several things need to be put in place to let Russia know that launching an unprovoked peacetime invasion of a neighboring country is never okay.  Some of these might seem more severe than others, but if that's what it takes to get them to understand that some actions have more consequences then others, then so be it. 1. Revoke their UEFA membership.  For some people, this might be a step too far, which I understand. But maybe taking them out of UEFA for an undetermined length of time- and thereby meaning that they can't compete in European soccer for that length of time- will maybe tell them that if they deploy their military unprovoked and invade a neighboring country during peacetime, they won't be able to compete in international sporting competitions. Peace, after all, is one of the big parts of international sport. Short-term, it means they would miss out on the League of Nations and po...

Why are Russia only suspended from U21 Euros qualifying? To me, suspension from the tournament is too much of a short-term consequence- not only that, a suspension can be lifted at any time. And this is compounded by the fact that the U21 Euros next summer are the continental qualifier for Paris 2024 men's soccer.   So here's what I suggest FIFA does: remove Russia from the U21 Euros qualifiers. As a result, Russia can't qualify for Paris 2024 in men's soccer. I'm thinking that will be much more of a consequence than saying "you can't play in the tournament  now , but maybe in a couple of months".  Why is Russia in the EuroBasket field?  This years' EuroBasket tournament is scheduled for September and, surprisingly, Russia are not only in the field but are in Group A for the opening round. Which begs the question of why ?  As with the above answer, this seems like not even a short-term consequence. FIBA (the international governing body for basketb...

Asia Third round action will conclude in March. Currently, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea are in the auto-qualifier spots  Europe Playoff semifinals: March 24th Playoff finals: March 29th The playoff winners will join Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland in the World Cup  North/Central America/Caribbean With six matchdays remaining, there's no room for error as just six points separate second (auto qualifying) from fifth (staying home). Canada, United States and Mexico are the current top three, with Mexico's goal differential v. Panama the reason El Tri's in third and Panama is currently in the playoff spot  South America With four matchdays remaining, only Brazil and Argentina have sealed World Cup spots. It will more than likely come down to the wire for the final two remaining spots, with just two points separating fourth-placed Colombia (final auto spot) from eighth-placed Bolivia  Africa The ...