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|  Wys³any: 2019-08-24 08:39:24 Temat postu: weaker group winners a difficult tie. Would not fear a
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- FIFA President Sepp Blatter says the 2022 World Cup in Qatar should be pushed back to autumn rather than moved up to winter. Blatter said FIFA officials and others "are starting now the consultations" on whether to move the World Cup from its traditional June-July slot to avoid summer heat in the Gulf, a decision that could drag into 2015. "And when I say winter, I mean it can only be November and December," he told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Friday before the final of the Under-17 World Cup. "It can no way be January or February." An IOC member, Blatter opposes the first two months of the year because it would clash with the 2022 Winter Olympics. An April-May option has been proposed by Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the European Club Association, which will be consulted by FIFA. When Qatar hosted the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship for players under 20, the tournament was held in April. January is favoured by Michel Platini, president of the Union of European Football Associations and potentially Blatters rival in the next FIFA leadership election in 2015. Blatter is scheduled to travel to Qatar for the latest round of discussions on whether to hold the tournament outside the Gulf summer, when temperatures can reach 122 degrees. Organizers in Qatar claim their plans for air-conditioned stadiums and other cooling measures could allow them to fulfil the hosting promises made when bidding. Blatter will also discuss labour issues with the Emir in Qatar and is scheduled to hold a news conference on Saturday in Doha. Like other Gulf states, Qatar relies on migrant workers mostly from South Asia. Rights groups have long complained about abuses across the Gulf such as substandard living conditions and employers holding workers passports. 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Seven years of losing has brought many different faces, players and management, to the annual pre-season get-to-know-the-team round up.Arsene Wenger knows what he wants for Christmas. A change of luck. Wengers Arsenal were one of 16 teams to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League this week and when he was asked recently what he wanted ahead of Mondays draw, he was in a jovial mood. First to send a different guy (to do) the draw, he joked. If you look at our last five or six years, we have got always what we just didnt want, Wenger explained. It is true that Arsenal havent had much luck in recent years when it comes to the draw but it is a bed they have made themselves and had to lie in. Ahead of the draw for the last 16 this season, they are lying in the same bed, a bed of uncertainty as a Champions League group runner-up for the third successive season, fourth in the last five and sixth in the last eight. For a team that is seeded regularly as a top eight team, that is a record that is simply not good enough. Wenger must surely realize, then, that little people will have any sympathy with a side that often gets a powerhouse in the next round because they couldnt win their group. Arsenal will be placed in the second pot in Mondays draw and will be drawn against a group winner not from their own association (Chelsea) or their own qualifying group (Borussia Dortmund). With other countries in England struggling this season, the pot to determine Arsenals opponent is bigger than years past. Arsenal will be drawn against one of Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Monaco, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Porto on Monday. Wenger said his team have often been given teams they didnt want in recent years and they have lost in the last 16 in each of the last four years, twice to Bayern Munich and once each to Milan and Barcelona. This current Arsenal team will need to improve significantly between now and when the tournament restarts in February if they want to progress beyond the next round, something Wenger admitted, but no matter how much they improve, they will look at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid as teams they will stand little chance against over two legs. Similarly, Atletico Madrid will be listed as favourites if they are drawn with the Gunners. Matches against Porto or Monaco are ones that Wenger will prefer. It was the French manager who once said the Champions League is two different cup competitions in one but it is clear in recent years that performances in the knock-out stage are being more and more impacted by how a team performs in the group stage. We have now had 11 full seasons of Champions League play that have featured the current format of a round of 16 following a group stage. In the first seven seasons, only 35 group winners out of 56 progressed to the final eight (quarter-finals). During that span, only three seasons from seven saw as many as six group winners get to the last eight by advancing through the last 16 two-legged affair. In the last four seasons, this has happened every time and last season, for the first time ever, all eight group winners advanced to the last eight. The huge clubs in Europe are getting bigger and better and the divide between them and the others in this elite competition is widening every season. Of the 32 group winners in the last four seasons, 27 have progressed to the last eight – 84 per cent, compared to the 63 per cent from 2003-2010. Or, to put it another way, teams that finished runners-up in their group from 2003-2010 qualified for the last eight almost 38 per cent of the time. In the last four seasons, this has dropped to just 15 per cent, which is closer to only one non-group winning team advancing into the last eight than two. Recent history suggests no more than two teams who finished second in their group will advance beyond the next round, although this years class features some sttrong teams with Arsenal being joined by Juventus, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester City, PSG, Schalke and Shakhtar Donetsk.dddddddddddd One of these teams could go on to win the Champions League, of course, but it is unlikely. Of the 88 teams to finish second in their group over the last 11 seasons, only four have reached the final but Porto (03/04), Liverpool (04/05) and Inter Milan (09/10) did win it all that way. Here are the last 16 ranked: Teams that are the favourites 1. Bayern Munich – Strolled through a tough group and put in the best performance by obliterating Roma, 7-1. Only PSG of the group runners-up could get anywhere close to troubling them over two legs in the next stage. 2. Real Madrid – Current holders who were brilliant in the group stage. No runner-up will want them in the last 16. 3. Chelsea – Mourinhos men are tournament-proven and have an outstanding defence that will be vital in knock-out play. Contenders who could win but are not in the elite group 4. Atletico Madrid – Last years finalists have lost some key components this season but still are a force and many of their midfield starlets are getting even better. 5. Barcelona – Still vulnerable and nowhere close to the elite level they once were at but were very impressive against PSG on matchday six to win the group. 6. PSG – May have missed a massive opportunity to win the group by losing at Barcelona but this team has won big games in recent years and wont fear many in the last 16. Unlikely winners that can make a run deep 7. Man City – Probably the last team that can genuinely win the tournament and thats still a massive task for a team that just squeezed into the last 16. Now that they are there, though, they have the players to get by the last 16 for the first time. 8. Juventus – After disappointment last season, Juve absolutely had to qualify to the knock-out stage this year but it shouldnt stop there. Time is now for this superpower to go on a run and, if they can avoid any of the top 3 in the next round, theyll have a chance. 9. Borussia Dortmund – Jurgen Klopps men won their third successive Champions League group, despite not being seeded and they are starting to show signs of a turnaround after a disappointing domestic season yet the 2013 finalists are not feared the way they once were. Teams that will believe they should make the last 8 10. Porto – One of the teams a runner-up wont be disappointed to be drawn against but more than capable of getting to the quarter-finals. 11. Arsenal – Enormous draw awaits for Wenger on Monday. Should be careful what he wishes for. A favourable draw followed by a loss could be a massive setback for a man under pressure. 12. Monaco – The last of the group winners and the team the likes of Juventus, Arsenal and Man City will want. Performed well in a weak group but continue to struggle domestically. 13. Shakhtar Donetsk – Not a side to sleep on and one that could give some of the weaker group winners a difficult tie. Would not fear a matchup with Monaco or Dortmund. Unlikely to move beyond the next round 14. Basel – The Swiss giants were magnificent at Anfield and gave Liverpool a clinic in ball composure and technical quality but theyll find it very hard to move into the last 8. 15. Schalke – Quietly carving out an excellent European tradition (and co-efficient number) having reached the last 16 for the third successive season in a row but will likely end their campaign at that stage once again. 16. Bayer Leverkusen – German teams not named Dortmund and Bayern have done very well once again in this competition but by finishing second, and therefore not having a chance to play the same team domestically, have a very short pot of opponents. Will be hoping for Monaco. ' ' ' |
weaker group winners a difficult tie. Would not fear a 
