Category Archives: World Cup 2022 qualifiers

Socceroos seek to reward early risers in Australia with World Cup qualification

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  • Jackson Irvine hoping to inspire in win-or-bust playoff with Peru
  • Trent Sainsbury skips training but Adam Taggart does light duties

Jackson Irvine hopes Australia can reward fans who get up early to watch their World Cup playoff against Peru and inspire the next generation of Socceroos’ with victory. The one-off clash for a spot in the Qatar finals kicks off in Doha from 9pm on Monday, meaning fans in Australia will need to rise in the wee hours of Tuesday morning to catch the game on screens at 4am AEST.

“It seems like a lifetime ago but in a different time that was me getting up and watching games in the morning,” Irvine said in Doha. “Hopefully the younger generation will be waking up and some future Socceroos can tell their own story about how they saw us qualify and come live it themselves.”

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‘Raise the roof’: Scotland and Ukraine fans unite in song at Hampden

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Supporters of both teams sing Ukrainian national anthem before Wednesday night’s World Cup qualifier in Glasgow

Standing on the steps of Hampden in the late afternoon sunlight, Jim Struthers is wearing the same Scotland top he wore in 1998 – the last time his team qualified for the World Cup – but his heart is with Ukraine.

“It’s a very poignant evening,” says the Tartan Army stalwart, who has been supporting the Scottish national team for nearly half a century, and has come together with other fans to perform the Ukrainian national anthem – led by the opera singer Vasyl Savenko – on the steps of the Glasgow stadium as the crowds stream in for Wednesday’s qualifier.

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Australia v Saudi Arabia: World Cup 2022 qualifier – live!

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  • Updates from the Socceroos’ final Group B match
  • Kick-off time is 9pm in Jeddah/5am AEDT
  • Any thoughts? Email Emma or tweet @emmavkemp

32 min Australia have five shots, none on target, and one-third of possession, which sums up this half quite well so far in a way stats do not always. Saudi are content and comfortable to let their visitors play. Fornaroli is down under a challenge but dust himself off.

28 min Ajdin Hrustic, who was so good against Japan last week, has a free kick. It lofts up beautifully and is heading towards the top-left corner, but lands on the roof. Mabil opens up another channel, this time from left to right in the centre of the park and Boyle is onto it. Yet again an Australian attack ends with a shot which rolls marginally wide of the back post.

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Speculation ‘part of the job’ for Socceroos coach Graham Arnold

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  • Scrutiny on coach intensifies ahead of Saudi Arabia clash
  • Australia face tough route to qualify for Qatar World Cup

Under-fire Socceroos coach Graham Arnold insists he’s “fine” heading into a World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia which may be his last match in the position.

Speculation is rife Football Australia is considering firing Arnold after Tuesday’s (Wednesday AEDT) game in Jeddah with hopes of automatic qualification for this year’s World Cup in Qatar dashed after a 2-0 home loss to Japan last week.

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Bruno Fornaroli named in Socceroos squad for crucial World Cup qualifiers

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  • Uruguay-born striker could debut for Australia at age of 34
  • Atkinson, D’Agostino in squad to face Japan and Saudi Arabia

Bruno Fornaroli is in the running to make an unlikely Socceroos debut at the age of 34, after the Uruguay-born striker was included in an extended squad for Australia’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Fornaroli, who was recently granted Australian citizenship after arriving in the country in 2015, has opted to switch his national allegiance in the twilight of his career, having already represented Uruguay’s under-17 youth team in 2003.

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Uruguayan Bruno Fornaroli set for shock Socceroos call-up for World Cup qualifiers

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  • Striker, 34, expected to be named in extended Australia squad
  • Must-win games coming up against Japan and Saudi Arabia

Perth Glory coach Richard Garcia predicts Bruno Fornaroli will become an asset for the Socceroos, with the Uruguayan set for a call-up for Australia’s crucial World Cup qualifiers. Fornaroli played for Uruguay’s under-17 youth team in 2003, but a change in the Fifa eligibility rules in 2020 means the 34-year-old is now eligible to represent the Socceroos.

Football Australia on Tuesday refused to confirm the star striker’s inclusion, but he is expected to be named on Wednesday morning in Graham Arnold’s extended squad for the crunch matches against Japan and Saudi Arabia this month.

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Russia suspended from all Fifa and Uefa competitions until further notice

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  • Russia had been due to face Poland in World Cup play-off
  • Women’s side set to miss out on place at Euro 2022

Fifa and Uefa have acted in unison to suspend Russian teams from international football competition.

The most powerful bodies in football acted after days of growing protest. Russia has now been removed from qualification for this winter’s World Cup, and its remaining club side will no longer compete in the Europa League.

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Brazil v Argentina abandoned as health authorities invade pitch

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  • Argentinian quartet accused of lying when entering Brazil
  • Match abandoned after 10 minutes by Brazilian health officials

A World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Brazil was abandoned amid farcical, confused scenes after four Premier League players apparently violated Brazilian regulations designed to contain a Covid outbreak that has killed more than 580,000 Brazilians.

The Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso were all on the pitch at São Paulo’s Neo Química Arena on Sunday afternoon when federal police and officials from Brazil’s health agency, Anvisa, took to the field to halt play after just seven minutes.

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Raheem Sterling on target as England rise above abuse to rout Hungary

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It was an evening when, yet again, England had more than mere footballing problems thrown at them. It started with a hail of plastic cups, first for Raheem Sterling and then Luke Shaw, from the diehard Hungary supporters behind one of the goals, and it escalated to a firework – which was hurled in the wake of Harry Maguire’s header for 3-0.

England’s players were celebrating as a group and it was a mighty relief that it missed its target, fizzing for a while before burning out. And then in the closing stages came the low point that everybody had dreaded.

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Gareth Southgate: I got more abuse for vaccine video than managing England

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  • Manager was abused for encouraging young people to get jab
  • Southgate says some players have ‘really suffered’ with Covid

Gareth Southgate has revealed that he received more abuse for recording a video urging young people to have a Covid-19 vaccination than he did for his management of England during their run to the final of Euro 2020.

England’s manager, who handed Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford his first call-up when he named his squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Hungary, Poland and Andorra, admitted he is worried about misinformation on social media convincing some footballers not to have the jab.

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