The Sport Thread

[Newshound47]

I suspect the picks can be made quite late though ITV have advertising sales to consider. The justification for the draw being made so late, and even then the exact fixture slots won't be confirmed immediately, is that Qatar is so small it's easy enough to travel around so teams, fans and broadcasters don't need to make plans on which city they'll be in.


If the delay is agreed I'd kind of hope the Wales match is also delayed so both teams in the play off final have the same momentum of having won a game a few days earlier. Has there been any news on what's happening regarding the Russian match yet - will the opposition (Poland?) just get a bye into their final or is the next best runner up taking their place?

Apparently Poland will just get a by but it’s not been officially confirmed.

For the Women’s Euro’s a draw of teams who lost out in the later stages looks likely rather than just giving Portugal (beaten by Russia in a play off) the place but not yet officially confirmed.

Of course CAS could mess all this up and could make it very tricky to resolve. One of the things the Russian Football Union is asking CAS to consider doing is suspending all tournaments featuring Russian teams. This includes the Europa League. I can’t see that happening but CAS have gone against widespread public opinion many times in their history.