FLICK EXPECTED TO BE GERMANY'S COACH IN QATAR

Sometimes, in football, some things just happen that may appear to be unexplainable. This is the case of Hansi Flick's announcement that he was going to be stepping down as Bayern Munich's manager. Flick, a hugely successful and talented manager guided German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich to several trophies since his appointment by the club and he has already set a legacy even though he will be leaving at the end of the season.

Flick's announcement came as a shocking one because no one saw it coming. It is hard to manage a club like Bayern Munich and win the German Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal, the UEFA Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup all in less than two years and still decide that you are going to be stepping down from your role as the manager of the club. However, for Flick, it appeared not to be that hard.

GERMAN MEDIA REACTS TO EMBARASSING LOSS

It was a shocking sight as a star-studded Germany squad lost to North Macedonia in their World Cup Qualifying fixture days ago, and the result has still left some people feeling shocked and awed at how Germany could succumb to defeat to the Macedonians. Germany headed into the game having not lost a World Cup Qualifying game in as many as 20 years, and a lot of German news media outlets have brandished the result as an unacceptable one.

The loss not only came at home in Munich, but it was also suffered against a North Macedonian side that was ranked 65th in the world FIFA rankings. Following the result, the German press became overwhelmed and several headlines made the rounds, with one newspaper media saying that the result was shocking and humiliating.

JACK BYRNE SET TO MISS WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS THROUGH BACK INJURY

Republic of Ireland international midfielder Jack Byrne is set to spend a huge amount of time on the sidelines and has also been ruled out of his country's World Cup Qualifying games which will be played later this year against Serbia and Luxembourg. The midfielder suffered a serious back injury and has since undergone surgery but will not be able to recover in time to help his country on the football pitch at the qualifiers.

“It comes as disastrous and disappointing news for the talented midfielder who earlier this season made it clear that he would do everything he could to represent his team at the qualifiers and has been putting in some incredible performances for his club side APOEL since then.

Al-Khater expects normal World Cup 2022 due to vaccine

Qatar says that the World Cup 2022 is likely to be a ‘completely normal’ event with the world finally getting to grips with the coronavirus pandemic thanks to the invention of vaccines. The pandemic, which began in January 2020, has brought the world to a halt with most normal activities being disrupted. Unsurprisingly, football has had to bear the brunt of the changes and many major tournaments like the Tokyo Olympics and European Championships had to be cancelled or postponed. The pandemic threatens to transform the World Cup 2022 into quite a different spectacle compared to what the world has experienced in previous years.


However, many pharmaceutical companies have been successful in creating vaccine for the coronavirus. As a result, it is believed that the pandemic will come to an end within the next few months. This is good news for Qatar, who have invested a lot of money into the World Cup by upgrading the infrastructure. The Chief Executive of the 2022 World Cup committee, Nasser Al-Khater, said that everyone is looking forward to hosting a normal World Cup. The qualification rounds for the competition have already been going under way and many teams will be learning about their path to the tournament when the qualification draw is made in Zurich.

DEFENDER TO MISS START OF QUALIFIERS

Blackburn Rovers defender Derrick Williams won't be available for the start of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers in the European section. Derrick Williams won't be able to start the World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign for the Republic of Ireland after he underwent surgery last month. The Blackburn Rovers player would be out of action for the foreseeable future after he had surgery on his quadriceps. Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray had told Lancashire Telegraph that Republic of Ireland international Derrick Williams won't be available for the foreseeable future.


Derrick Williams is expected to miss the remainder of the season as his Blackburn Rovers go after a playoff spot in the English Championship between now and the rest of the season. To this effect, the player will miss the first few World Cup 2022 qualifiers for his nation. He made his Republic of Ireland debut during an international with world champions France in 2018 before netting his first goal for his country in the friendly clash with New Zealand in 2019.

SOUTH AMERICA: WORLD CUP 2022 QUALIFIERS

The World Cup 2022 qualifying group is in full flow on the South American continent after the qualifiers started in October. The South American section of the World Cup qualifiers is always unique in comparison with the other continents and World Cup 2022 is not an exception.


Just like what was obtainable with the past editions, the ten South American teams are in one group for the World Cup 2022 qualifiers with the teams playing each other home and away to determine the teams that will qualify for the tournament proper via the group format. To this effect, each team will play 18 games, which already started in October 2020 and will run until March 2022.

Fixture to Qualify for WC 2022 from UEFA Revealed

Every team that takes part in the group stages of the World Cup has to go through a qualifying round ahead of the WC tournament. The qualifying tournaments of Asia, Africa, America are already in action whereas due to the Covid-10 pandemic, the European part of the qualification tournament is going to be played later in 2021. There will be a total of 13 slots for the European countries and 55 nations will compete to secure their place in the tournament.


The preliminary draw of the qualifying matches has taken place on the 7th of November in Zurich. Keeping in mind the covid-19 pandemic situations, the event was not held in the same manner that it used to be. It was a virtual event where all the representatives were present online.

Qatar World Cup will be Special Experience, claims CEO

A top official who is in charge of the World Cup 2022 has claimed that fans can expect a special tournament in Qatar. The Middle East outfit will be hosting the tournament for the first time and almost 85% of the construction work is done. Even if there is a postponement of the World Cup due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, Qatar is likely to be in a great position for hosting the tournament. In recent years, FIFA has been enduring a major problem when it comes to host countries being unable to finish the construction work in time for the event.

Montagliani comments on status of World Cup qualifiers after Covid-19

Covid-19 has shaken the world and everything is in chaos. The economy of the world is affected and many countries have lost thousands of lives to the pandemic. Sports all over the world have come to halt and not only it has affected the present activity of sports but also the future activities have been put in halt. There are many speculations regarding the FIFA World Cup 2022 and the latest one is about the qualifiers to the World Cup.

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