Yemen in the west to Tokyo in the RS gold east, and from Indonesia in the south to Severnaya Zemlya inside the Arctic Circle in the north, has no representation at an intercontinental football tournament — unless we count the Asian area of Russia. Chile are one of the sides in the Confederations Cup - but where is world's biggest continent?Even then, only six of Russia's current 30-man squad come from east of the virtual Asian border, only one from Russia's far east and none play in Asia, unless one counts.
Roman Neustadter of Fenerbahce, on the eastern side of the Bosphorus river in Istanbul.Among the reasons FIFA's new president Gianni Infantino created an overblown 48-team World Cup was to allow more entries from the Asian confederation. How ironic that is when, through nothing more than greed, they have as good as ceded from the World Cup's dry run. Southgate needs a leader How many captains does a team need? Eddie Jones picked two for England's rugby match with the Barbarians last week, England's hockey team now has three.
England's footballers do not even have one.Jones' selection of Chris Robshaw and George Ford as co-captains may prove a temporary measure, but Bobby Crutchley, coach of England's hockey team, has committed to three captains to replace Barry Middleton. No doubt the speed of modern hockey, with roll-on, roll-off substitutions and elite players performing in bursts of five to seven a lot of bonus minutes, means a single captain spends too much time off the field.
Chris Robshaw and George Ford are currently sharing the duty of being England rugby captainSouthgate's decision not to pick a permanent replacement for Wayne Rooney is more problematic because it seems a purely political stance.
