Prefer waiting for teams result after FIFA World Cup qualifier for predicting which one national teams favorite for winning World Cup 2026, I don't think Argentina is most favorite teams because never have any national teams in FIFA World Cup edition success defend their trophy. Started in 2002 era when Brazil success become the winner but they can't defend on next edition when 2006 Italy success become the champion.
In World Cup 2026, Argentina squad will change drastically and I doubt Lionel Messi keep on the top level perform, he played with underrate league and will bring impact with their level performance when playing with national team.
I don't agree with this argument. Argentina is the no.1 ranked team at this moment, according to FIFA. I don't really care about past history and all. They look like the most balanced side and they have a lot of promising youngsters who are coming up through the ranks. On the other hand, teams like Brazil seems to be on the decline. With Neymar being injured again, they looks to be in very poor shape. The only team that can offer meaningful challenge to Argentina at the moment is France. But they are also being faced with the issue of injury to their key players. |
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Afghanistan is far ahead of England, Bangladesh and Pakistan in World Cup 2023 seats. Because Afghanistan has already won against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England and is at the fifth position in the points table which is the most incredible success in this World Cup. Best wishes and best wishes to the Afghanistan National Cricket Team and wish the future growth and success of Afghanistan cricket. Well.. the fact that this edition of the world cup is being hosted by India has helped them quite a bit. Afghan spinners have performed well, and this has enabled them to rise to no.5 in the points table. But I would be rather cautious when I talk about the long-term perspective. They need to win more consistently in SENA nations, to be counted as one of the top full members. And now the issue is that they don't get opportunities to play in SENA nations often. Afghanistan is a tier-2 test nation, so the other teams are not required to setup bilaterals against them. |
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Here is an article on Olympic inclusion of cricket from an associate viewpoint: https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2023/10/23/india-cricket-la-2028-olympics-inclusion-minnows-game-changerThe ICC wants to restrict Olympic cricket tournament to be a 6-team affair, that would leave out the weaker test nations and all of the associate nations. But IOC hasn't yet agreed to their proposals. BTW Daily Telegraph has reported that the IOC can earn as much as $250 million in revenues from selling media rights for the cricket tournament in 2028 Olympics. |
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Still there is no confirmation which teams will qualify for the semifinals except India. Because India is on top and remain on top and will definitely qualify for the semifinal. From now all teams have 3 3 matches left. So there is a big (?) That who will qualify for the semifinal. If SA will win from NZ so SA will also remain in semifinals teams list. By the way no one can say anything at this time.
IMO, it is 99% confirmed that India, South Africa and New Zealand will qualify for the semi-finals. In case of Australia, I'm around 90% sure. But at least theoretically, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan also can qualify for the semi-finals if all the remaining matches go in their favor. 6 rounds of group phase games are done and we are left with just 3 rounds now. I hope that we will have more clarity once the 7th round is complete. If Australia wins against England, then they are almost assured of a spot in the semi-finals. |
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Cricket Australia recently increased the salary pool for women's cricketers from $80 million for 5-year period, to $133 million for 5 years. The WBBL contract salaries have also seen a massive uptick, with players featuring in both WBBL and WNCL expected to earn close to $150,000 per year. The BBL salaries have also increased, with top players expected to be paid $420,000 per season. But in percentage terms, the increase with WBBL has been more. This may make WBBL the richest women's league after the WPL.
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Yeah, because everyone will either buy used fossil fuel cars or buy new electric cars that are refueled with electricity that was produced by burning fossil fuels. Unless we discover a different way to generate electricity, we will come to the conclusion that our energy demands outstrip our energy production. The discovery would have to be something amazing though, like cold fusion.
I mean you can try slapping a solar panel on your Tesla but it won't generate enough electricity in a day to move a car.
2035 seems optimistic. Especially with with all the undiscovered oil reserves. Who needs a life-nurturing environment when you can save money? The current EV technology causes more damage to the environment when compared to the gasoline vehicles. Mining Lithium, Cobalt and Nickel has devastated ecologically sensitive areas of the world. If you have a doubt regarding this, then please visit Norilsk or the Democratic Republic of Congo. And it is not just the batteries. Most of the electricity that is used to run these EVs come from burning fossil fuels - natural gas, or even more polluting fuels such as coal, lignite or naphtha. EVs seems to be more polluting than gasoline vehicles at this point. |
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Italy definitely has a chance but again the condition is that they will have to win all the matches that are left. They cannot make any mistake. The margin for error is non-existent for Italy right now. I will say that Italy has done decent enough so far. But I cannot already say that they deserve to qualify. They only deserve to qualify if they can qualify. And it is certainly not going to be easy for them. But even if they do qualify, I do not have much hope for the Italy team to be honest. It will actually be a good performance from them if they just manage to qualify.
When you say Italy need to win all of their remaining matches, we need to remember that only two matches remain for them. And the last match is a knockout match versus Ukraine. The winner of that match will qualify for the main tournament. They have played decently so far, but all of that will be undone if they lose against Ukraine. And let's not forget the fact that they failed to qualify for Qatar 2022. If they also fail to secure a spot for Euro 2024, then without any doubt, it will be a devastating blow for them. |
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Yes you are right that Messi is not the only reason for their success in the last World Cup, because there is teamwork there and Messi is one of the players who work together.
Argentina we know has many star players not just Messi, even in it is dominated by star-labeled names, especially on their front lines. Their problem is that their defense still has problems and somehow their defense is not so solid.
In the next World Cup, the situation will be much different and I can't say now because there must be a big change from each country, including Argentina.
Around 2.5 years to go for the next world cup. So it is too early to make these sort of predictions. One thing that you have posted is correct. Argentina is not a one-man army (unlike the case with Portugal or Norway) and they can win matches without Messi. But the big question is whether they can perform at the same level or not. Back in 2022 World Cup, Messi was one of the reasons why they were able to lift the trophy. But then again, Lionel Messi in 2026 may not be the same Lionel Messi that we saw during Qatar 2022. |
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I think that Kennedy Jr. is simply a puppet by the Democratic party. He's views are pretty similar to the views of Donald Trump and he will run as an independent candidate in order to steal votes from Trump. This will benefit Biden and the Democrats, but it won't be enough for them to win. My prediction is that Trump will become president, but they will put him in prison, so the USA will become the first country, which has an elected president, who runs the administration from prison. The Democrats made a big mistake by turning Donald Trump into a martyr.  Too early to make assumptions. If Kennedy runs as an independent, he is more likely to get votes from people who would otherwise refrain from voting. From the recent opinion polls, I could see that he is hurting Trump more than Biden, but the margin is not as big as we would have imagined. It is more lke 30% Trump votes, 20% Biden votes and 50% neutral votes. But as the race tightens, third party candidates will get more and more unpopular. And the 2024 POTUS elections are likely to become very polarized due to the prevailing political atmosphere within the United States. |
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First of all, Bangladesh left the World Cup. Three more matches have to be played just for formalities. Bangladesh got 1 win after playing six consecutive matches. Bangladesh could not cope with Netherlands, the weakest team in the tournament. Bangladesh has met Pakistan twice on the World Cup stage. One win for Bangladesh and the other for Pakistan. This time, Bangladesh will enter the field against them with the aim of surviving in the Champions Trophy. Bangladesh wants to leave the field with a victory against Pakistan. Can show great bowling and great batting performance then hopefully Bangladesh can win today! In all probability, Bangladesh will finish behind teams like Afghanistan and Netherlands. Advantage for them is that Pakistan is not in good momentum. After winning their first two matches (against Sri Lanka and Netherlands), Pakistan went on to lose 4 consecutive matches. But then Bangladesh is having 5 consecutive losses to their name. They seem to be in a race with England to see who will finish at the rock-bottom. Apart from the match against Pakistan today, they have two more matches remaining - against Sri Lanka and Australia. |
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Despite Afghans beating SA team in early game, I don't think they have got much chances for the semis. From the looks of it we have qualifiers decided, and those are India, Australia, SA and NZ — although Australia played really poor cricket before but they have came back really well. If somehow, Afghanistan manages in semi it'll be treat for them enough, I already see their videos on Twitter celebrating wins, imagine the celebration of the match that gets them into semis  There are still a lot of permutations and combinations. Today we have the Pakistan vs Bangladesh match. If Pakistan wins this one, then they may replace Afghanistan at the no.5 position (Pakistan is having a better run rate). But then, Afghanistan in their next match will be facing a weak Netherlands. If they win, then they will be left with 8 points. And Australia will have a tough match against England and they need to win that one. Things are getting heated up at the moment, and apart from India none of the other teams have guaranteed their semi-final slots. |
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The match was really interesting. Namibia took the first turn and Zimbabwe bowled well in this match and restricted the Namibia team at 101 runs. But when Zimbabwe starts its turn Namibia bowled much well as compare to Zimbabwe. They got 4 wickets on 12 runs. Which made a lot pressure on Zimbabwe team and Zimbabwe team didn't able to achieve a small target of 102 runs. And now Namibia has won the series with 3-2. If they frequently play against top associate nations, Zimbabweans would lose most of their matches. So far they have avoided this fate by refusing to play against the associate teams. I don't know how this tournament got scheduled, and my guess is that both the teams wanted some sort of a warmup series ahead of the African T20 qualifiers. Namibia won the series 3-2, but their performance was not flawless. Middle order batting is a big concern for them, and also some of their bowlers were wayward and leaked a lot of runs during the series. |
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The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier is currently underway at Nepal. Today we had two matches and they were won by Nepal and United Arab Emirates respectively. No surprises here, and these two teams are expected to qualify for the T20 World Cup in 2024. Two more matches remain for today and they will start in around 1 hour from now - Malaysia vs Oman, and Hong Kong vs Kuwait. This is going to be a long tournament, stretching for almost a week. And it is extremely important for all the participating teams to qualify for the world cup, as it will result in a substantial increase in fund allocation from the ICC.
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Alright. It looks India are just 2 big matches away from winning the cup this time around and their only obstacles are South Africa and most probably New Zealand and Australia in the semi-finals.
Am expecting an India vs South Africa encounter in the finale which would basically be battle of the chokers. Let's see what happens.
I am still concerned about Australia (and not about the other two - South Africa and New Zealand). India has been in prime form till now, but they have a habit of losing crucial knockout matches. Australia on the other hand has a reputation of starting poorly, but finishing well in major tournaments. And yesterday's performance from India was not flawless. The top order failed completely, and once Rohit Sharma got out their batting simply collapsed. If not for lower order batsmen like Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, India would have struggled to reach 200. |
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Travis head is back in place of Green, I was hearing the news that it'd be Marnus Labuschagne who'd go out. Thankfully he's not, Stoinis and Green kept replacing each other in few matches but both of them are out of form, so this change sounds like a better idea.
If I need to make a choice between Green and Stoinis, then I would rather go for the latter as he is a more explosive batsman. But then, his lack of form is a serious concern. Today's match is between two arch-rivals and both of them need a win today. If New Zealand can get a win, then they are almost assured of a semi-final spot. Australia need the win just to keep their semi-final hopes alive. Technically, there are still possibilities that Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan may still quality for the semi-finals. But 99% probability is that it is going to be India, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia (in that order). |
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Italy still has good chance of qualifying for the main tournament from Group C. Don't forget the fact that they have played one match less than Ukraine. So if they win against North Macedonia next month, then they are at the same level as Ukraine. And then it all comes down to the last match for both the teams, where they will play against each other at the BayArena at Leverkusen (20th November). BTW, some of the younger players in Italy has done a decent job till now. I am talking about Davide Frattesi, Domenico Berardi and Mateo Retegui.
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South African run rate has dropped after Quinton de Kock got out to the bowling of Shaheen Shah Afridi. Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen are at the crease and both of them are in poor form. Anyway, it will be better for them to dig in and build a good partnership rather than becoming too adventurous. Getting full 2 points from this match should be a priority for South Africa, rather than maintaining their net run rate. If they lose a couple of quick wickets, then things can really get interesting, as this match is is being played by two teams who have the reputation as chokers.
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Today 3rd T20 match of Namibia vs Zimbabwe team started.Namibia team won the toss and came to bat.They scored 90 runs in 13 overs.So far Namibia team has lost 3 wickets.Michael van Lingen is out for 10 runs from 13 balls.Nikolaas Davin 8 Got out for 10 runs. Gerhard Erasmus got out for 4 runs in 7 balls. If Zimbabwe team can perform well in the bowling line, Namibia team batsmen will be under a lot of pressure.
Poor performance so far by Namibia. I am watching it live on Fancode, and Namibia are now at 116/6 after 18.0 overs. The Zimbabwe bowlers never allowed them any freedom and always kept the Namibian batsmen under check. Overall today is a bad day for the associate nations. Nepal lost the tri-series final against the United Arab Emirates (I will not consider UAE as an associate nation, because all of their players are from India or Pakistan). If Namibia lose to Zimbabwe today, it will sum up everything. |
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At the moment, Pakistan has collected 134 runs in 26 overs with the loss of 4 wickets. Pakistan must win the next four matches including today's match to qualify for the semi-finals. It is doubtful whether Pakistan will win against South Africa today. If Pakistan loses today against South Africa then Pakistan's dreams of the next round will be shattered. They are under a lot of pressure now with Pakistan losing four wickets. I think it will not be possible for them to overcome this pressure and score 300 runs. Pakistan will not be able to win today's match if South Africa cannot throw a big target of 350+ runs. Do you think Pakistan can beat South Africa and win today?
They have lost one more wicket now. Babar Azam is gone and now both the settled batsmen are back in pavilion. I am not sure for how long these lower order batsmen like Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan can survive out there. I will be really surprised if Pakistan gets to even 250. And nothing less than 300 is going to be enough at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Tabraiz Shamsi is bowling exceptionally well. He has so far picked up two crucial wickets - that of Iftikhar Ahmed and Babar Azam. And he still has 5 overs remaining. |
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