[ad_1]
Qatar’s eight stadiums are ready, and World Cup tickets have been on sale for a week. Now, the quest to snap up the remaining tournament spots continues.
Teams from the Americas and Asia are already packed for the next week or so as the pandemic disrupts qualifying.
That means Europe’s top leagues have had to take a mid-season break, although the continent’s national teams won’t play their next game until March when the World Cup playoffs go ahead as scheduled.
Attention will then turn to the draw for the final match in Doha on April 1, ahead of the intercontinental playoffs in June, which will complete the 32-team competition for the Middle East’s inaugural World Cup.
Thirteen teams have advanced so far: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and Qatar.
Here are the final stages of the Championship qualifying rounds from November 21st to December 18th:
North and Central America and the Caribbean
For an unusual January international window featuring triple headers, there will be a chill in the air at CONCACAF.
The United States hosts El Salvador in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday night, with an expected tee-off temperature of 25 degrees (minus 4 degrees Celsius). The U.S. will then travel to Hamilton, Ontario, to play Canada on Sunday before finishing up against Honduras in St. Paul, Minnesota.
At the World Cup for the first time since 1986, Canada has four of its remaining six games on the road – Honduras and El Salvador in the window between home games against the Americans.
The United States, seeking a return to the World Cup after missing out on the 2018 World Cup, is second in North America, Central America and the Caribbean with 15 points after eight of 14 matches, one point behind Canada.
Follow Brazil’s Vinicius and Argentina’s Dybala
Mexico and Panama each scored 14 points, followed by Costa Rica (9), Jamaica (7), El Salvador (6) and Honduras (3). The top three teams advance and the fourth-placed team advances to the playoffs against the Oceania champions and possibly New Zealand.
The Americans are missing midfielder Gio Reyna, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury in their opening qualifier in El Salvador on Sept. 2.
Bayern Munich star guard Alfonso Davis was missing from the Canadians training in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Monday. He was sidelined with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, after testing positive for COVID-19.
South America
In addition to last-placed Venezuela, seven other CONMEBOL countries are still vying to join Brazil and Argentina in Qatar, with four more qualifiers remaining.
Third-placed Ecuador will beat Brazil on Thursday to move closer to one of four direct qualifying points, which will not play Neymar. Peru and Colombia are six points behind Ecuador in their fourth and fifth meetings on Friday.
Midfielder Samuel Shashua to move from England to USA
Further down the table are Chile, who host Lionel Messi-rested Argentina on Thursday, and Uruguay in Diego Alonso’s first game as coach after Oscar Tabarez was sacked. , ranked ninth in Paraguay. Bolivia play Venezuela on Friday, separating the eighth-placed team from the qualifying spot by two points.
The fifth-placed team after CONMEBOL qualifying in March can still beat Asian teams to advance to the tournament in the intercontinental playoffs in June.
Asia
Iran will beat Iraq on Thursday to qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row. South Korea, without the injured Son Heung-min, could also secure a place in Group A in next week’s two games – against Lebanon and Syria – ahead of the remaining two qualifiers in March.
But after four consecutive World Cup appearances, Australia are in balance with another group of qualifications after going three matches without a win. If the Socceroos finish third in Group B and miss out on two automatic qualifying spots, they will have to play a playoff with the third-placed team in Group A (currently the United Arab Emirates) to advance against their South American rivals The Intercontinental Playoffs are in June.
Looking down, Australia is four points ahead of Oman. But second place is Australia, just one point behind Japan, which will take on China and Saudi Arabia next week. Australia will face zero-pointed Vietnam on Thursday and Oman on Tuesday, ahead of Group B matches with current front-runners Saudi Arabia and Japan in March.
The UAE, which qualified for the only World Cup in 1990, will play bottom-placed Syria and Iran next week as they try to avoid being overtaken by Lebanon, who are one point behind, and Iraq, who are one point behind.
Africa
With the continent currently hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, Africa’s five World Cup representatives, including 10 group winners, cannot be determined until the playoffs in March.
Liverpool team-mates Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are set to clash as Egypt and Senegal are drawn together, meaning either nation will not be at a second World Cup in a row. There were meetings between Ghana and Nigeria, both of whom failed to reach the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations.
Obstructing the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals and host Cameroon’s World Cup berth is Algeria, which exited the continent’s competition with one point from three games in the group stage last week.
Morocco’s focus now is on the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals, with Congo at home and away in March. Tunisia is also looking to become African champions ahead of a playoff match against Mali.
Europe
For European teams, it’s still a few weeks away and their playoffs won’t confirm Qatar’s entry into the last three of the continent’s 13 nations until March.
The European playoffs saw 10 teams finish second in their qualifying group, and two – Austria and the Czech Republic – won the Nations League group stage last year.
Italy and Portugal, current and former European champions, are in the same qualifying playoffs, meaning at least one will not qualify for next year’s tournament. Four-time world champions Italy, who failed to qualify for Russia in 2018, will host North Macedonia for the first time in a playoff semi-final in March. The winner will compete for a World Cup spot away from Portugal or Turkey.
Scotland, which ends a 24-year gap at the World Cup, will take on Ukraine at home, and the winner will play in the final in Wales or Austria. The only time Wales played in the World Cup was in 1958.
Russia will host Poland for the right to face Sweden or the Czech Republic in the final. Russia or Poland will host the final.
Oceania
Oceania’s qualifiers will be played in a mini-tournament in Qatar in March, with New Zealand the favourites to advance to the playoffs with a team from CONCACAF in June.
tickets
Supporters have been able to register to vote for World Cup tickets since last week. But there are still no hotels available for booking in Qatar until the official accommodation portal opens later this year.
[ad_2]
Source link
