FoG

So with the recent news which announced that Qatar 2022 will be the first Winter World Cup it has gotten some of us wondering how that could work to the advantage of some Nations.  Players' fitness can vary throughout the season starting from unfit, progressing to match fit, on to peak fitness and by the end of the season tired.  Different leagues have different season - in December in England, the premier league will be in full swing in December, but in United States the MLS will be on their off season. There is very little data for most teams, for example the last time that Ireland played an International match in December was back in 1948 which was a Friendly in Dublin that they lost to Switzerland.  This is hardly an indication though that Ireland will do poorly in a December World Cup in 2022. So to make the analysis relevant the below table only includes recent internationals (since 2000).  The table includes Nov and Jan as well as Dec because of the shorta...

Reverse Chronological order of 11 game  unbeaten streak Qatar's draw against Morocco today has been lost among all the headlines about Germany's capitulation to an impressive Argentina. The significance though of Qatar's draw is that it equals their all time unbeaten streak of 11 games (see full list of games right).  A great achievement for an emerging soccer nation.  Morocco were favourites going into the game.   The Qatari national league has been attracting stars such as Ronald de Boer, Frank de Boer, Pep Guardiola, Gabriel Batistuta, Raul, Harry Kewell, Keita and Mark Bresciano for some time now.  The club teams have been successful in the AFC Champions League with Al Sadd recently winning in 2011.  The national team is starting to see some success now which reflects the improvements to their national league. The table below shows Qatar's record unbeaten runs.  Can they go one better this time?  Third time lucky. Table: ...