FIFA proposes a new mini-world Cup every 2 years
has never been knocked out of the Champions League with Los Blancos progressing in all nine of their two-legged ties. And a lot of credit goes to his temperament when it comes to big matches. As promised, his team did not sit back last night but went about playing their natural counter-attacking game, which saw Benzema get an important equalising goal — without which Real would have remained on the back foot through the game.
Keylor Navas has undoubtedly been the defending champion’s best player over the two legs. He may have made an error in judgment when Joshua Kimmich scored in Munich but his saves thereafter are the sole reason for Real’s progression. He made four saves in the first leg and eight in the second to keep Bayern at bay, including a saving a vicious deflected effort from Corentin Tolisso. saves Navas made against Bayern Munich in the second leg JUPP HEYNCKES, Bayern Munich manager THOMAS MUELLER, Bayern Munich forward
of achieving a Champions League treble alive, but their journey to Kiev has seen a fair share of luck supporting their cause. In the first leg, Rafinha’s misplaced pass allowed Marco Asensio to score a second away goal. In the second leg, Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich somehow missed a back-pass from
Tolisso, leaving (in pic) to tap home Real’s decisive goal into an empty net. A clear handball by Marcelo in the box was also not awarded by the referee later in the game.
indecisiveness in the final third against Real over the twoo legs has been a major reason for their downfall. They haad 20 attempts on goal of which half were ono target. On severaal occasions they failed to pass the ball to a player whow was open or in a better goal-scoring position. Real maay not have had many chances but were clinical in front off goal.l Benzema 11, 46 Bayern always had a mmountain to climb against Real. Evven so, they put up spiriteed performances in bothh legs and may have been able to score an extra goal or two if they had Robben’s creativity on thhe wing. Their defennsive lapses too, could have been avoided with Boateng’s experience and stability inn the centre-back position. shots Bayern had aimed at Real Madrid’s goal in the second leg Kimmich 3 Rodriguez 63 LAUSANNE: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has proposed staging what would effectively be a miniWorld Cup, featuring eight international teams, every two years in addition to the traditional competition.
The tournament, known as the “Final 8”, would be the climax of a global Nations League competition, which is part of an ambitious plan to reform international football which FIFA believes could be worth $25 billion in a 12-year cycle.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Infantino suggested that the new tournament would take place every October and/or November of every odd year starting from 2021. He said that a “solid and serious” group of investors were willing to spend $25 billion on the competition and a revamped version of the Club World Cup, which would also start in 2021 with 24 teams.
The Confederations Cup, currently staged every four years in a year before the World Cup, would be abolished.
The letter did not clearly indicate how many slots would be allocated to each region.
The plans were sent by Infan-
IN A LETTER SEEN BY REUTERS, INFANTINO SUGGESTED THE NEW TOURNAMENT WOULD TAKE PLACE EVERY OCTOBER AND/OR NOVEMBER OF EVERY ODD YEAR STARTING FROM 2021.
tino to the members of FIFA’S decision-making Council which still has to approve them.
European soccer body UEFA and its counterpart for North and Central America and the Caribbean, CONCACAF, have already set up Nations League contests in their own continents.
In both cases, the competitions involve all the national teams in their respective regions who are divided into divisions based on their rankings.
There is promotion and relegation between the divisions, as in conventional domestic club leagues. UEFA’S inaugural competition will begin in September this year. Other continents would have to set up similar competitions for the tournament to be viable.