International games galore

International games galore

The UEFA Nations League and AFCON qualifiers will provide loads of good entertainment for soccer fans in coming days and TAB is ratcheting up the excitement with a R1-million boost to selected pools this weekend

By Mark Gleeson

The World Cup finals would normally be kicking off this week, but the heat of Arabian Peninsula at this time of the year means we must wait until November for the tournament in Qatar to get underway.

It also means that the traditional football calendar has been thrown out of kilter and the following fortnight will see a multitude of international matches across various continents, with some countries jamming in as many as four matches into a fortnight.

There is the start of the qualifiers for the next Africa Cup of Nations finals, although Bafana Bafana do not play until next week when they will be away in Morocco.

There is also the start of the UEFA Nations League, now in its third edition and providing some top European countries with a really tough schedule of games.

Qualifiers for the next Asian Cup are also underway, although we wait to see which country will host the event after China pulled out.

These international clashes form the foundation of most TAB soccer pools in coming days and there will be much excitement around TAB adding R1 million to selected pools this weekend.

Much of the focus will be on the countries who are Qatar-bound because this international window is their second-last chance to prepare. There will be only one more opportunity in September.

The Cup of Nations qualifiers kick off tomorrow and there should be easy wins for the likes of Angola, Libya and Ghana, who are one of the five countries representing Africa in Qatar. Ghana’s Black Stars have a few new players they will be trying out.

Later in the week the likes of Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia should win, but Zambia could spring a surprise when they visit the Ivory Coast, who have recently appointed a new coach from France.

In the Nations League there are some heavyweight clashes in League A, the top tier. The competition is designed to pit strength against strength and there will no tougher games than the clashes between Spain and Portugal in Sevilla on Thursday, Belgium and their Dutch neighbours in Brussels on Friday and Italy hosting Germany in Bologna on Saturday.

All of these top-class encounters could likely end in draws although much will also depend on the degree of experimentation the coaches employ with an eye on the World Cup finals.

They will want to try out some new combinations, but not at the expense of positive results which will stave off any unnecessary pre-World Cup pressure. In short it’s a finely balanced juggling act the coaches have to pull off.