Soon, the qualifiers for the World Cup will give their final verdict, with their share of disappointments and surprises.
On this Monday devoid of international matches at stake, it may be appropriate to take a quick look at who will be the next potential qualifiers for the World Cup. There are indeed 12 tickets left to distribute.
Europe: a final verdict…postponed
In the Europe zone, the play-off finals will be played on Tuesday. On the program, a duel a priori unbalanced between the winner of Euro 2016, Portugal, and the surprising North Macedonia. The Portuguese are without many important players (Ruben Days, Joao Cancelo, Pepe, Renato Sanches,…) and qualified with a 3-1 win over Turkey. And if the men of Fernando Santos avoid Italy, it is a fully inflated North Macedonia that will rise up in front of them. As we saw in Palermo, the Portuguese will have to kill the match as quickly as possible, at the risk of being surprised and missing the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
In the other confrontations, Poland will play Sweden. Robert Lewandowski’s teammates – left on the bench during the friendly against Scotland – avoided the confrontation against Russia for the reasons we know and came out of a not really reassuring friendly at Hampden Park ( 1-1 thanks to a goal in stoppage time from a Piatek who comes back admirably well).
Finally, Wales and its unexpected savior Gareth Bale will have to wait for Ukraine and Scotland to decide, their match having been postponed by mutual agreement.
In other words, sizes – Sweden still joined the quarterfinals at the last World Cup – can still fall.
Asia: already confirmed teams…before the play-offs
This weekend, several teams validated their ticket for Qatar in the ACF zone. If Iran was already guaranteed to participate in the competition, the teammates ofAli Gholizadeh were joined by Japan and Saudi Arabia. South Korea is also guaranteed to participate in the tournament. The teammates ofHeung Min Son will challenge this Tuesday (3:45 p.m.) the United Arab Emirates, current 3rd in group A in the zone. This will be a decisive duel in the context of the intercontinental play-offs. The pursuer, Iraq, is indeed only one point away and will play against Syria on Tuesday.
Australia, third in Group B, is guaranteed to play the intercontinental play-offs. Note that these will be played after the draw for Qatar, which will take place this Friday.
America: the “big ones” are already qualified
In the CONMEBOL zone, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have qualified, as has Ecuador, which missed the Russian meeting 4 years ago. Peru is currently a play-off. Colombia are two points behind the Peruvians and will have to pray not to miss the World Cup for the first time since 2010. Chile are just one point behind, before playing Uruguay on March 30…
In the CONCACAF zone, Canada is the first qualified after its victory against Jamaica. With equal points, the USA (2nd) and Mexico (3rd) are very close to validating their ticket. The Costa Ricans, 4th with a goal average of 3, will have to achieve a feat and score as much as possible against the United States in order to hope to overtake Mexico, who must not lose against El Salvador.
In Africa, everything remains to be played
In the CAF zone, the 5 names of the participants will be known this Tuesday.
Morocco are on a favorable tie after their draw (1-1) in the DRC, since away goals are still counted according to the “old” rule. Egypt is very close to taking its revenge on Senegal after the lost final during the CAN: the teammates of Mohamed Salah won 1-0 in Cairo in the first leg. This is also the case for Algeria, who fell by the same score – but outside – against Cameroon, and for Tunisia against Mali. Finally, the Black Stars Ghanaians will have the advantage in case of a goal scored against the Super Eagles Nigerians (0-0 in Ghana in the first leg).
