The last international truce of the year 2021 closed last night. One year before the World Cup, only thirteen tickets have officially found takers. Brazil and Argentina joined Qatar and the ten European nations already qualified this night: Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, Switzerland, England and the Netherlands.
For now, the host country is the only one to act as a “little thumb”. But some nations are still in the race to clinch their first participation in a World Cup. We take stock.
North America
In the CONCACAF zone, three direct tickets are reserved for the eight participants of the final round, while the fourth will face the 5th nation of the Asia zone in the play-offs. By beating Mexico and Costa Rica in the November break, Canada took the provisional first place with six matchdays remaining. But they are followed by the United States, Mexico and Panama who made the hole in Costa Rica, relegated to five points from the place of play-off.
The Canadians currently have only one participation in the World Cup, it was in 1986 (elimination in the first round). If they follow their dream, they will be one of the attractions in Qatar, four years before their own World Cup for which they will be automatically qualified. If the Mexicans and Americans are regulars at the high mass of football, Panama would only offer a second participation in the event of a feat, after elimination in the first round in 2018, in the group of the Devils.
South America
Brazil and Argentina are officially qualified. Ecuador also took an option by beating Chile last night, thus approaching their 4th World Cup in 6 editions. The fourth directly qualifying place, and the fifth which allows to play an intercontinental jump-off (against the winner of the Oceania zone), concern six nations: Colombia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay. A Bolivian qualification would undoubtedly be the biggest surprise since they have not participated since 1994.
Asia
In the Asia zone, there are currently two groups of six teams who each distribute two tickets for the World Cup and a play-off place. Iran and South Korea will, except for a huge surprise, be the two lucky winners of Group A, while Saudi Arabia has taken a serious option in Group B where Japan and Australia should compete for the second ticket. direct.
There will therefore be no big surprises in this area, unless the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Iraq or Syria, the four nations in the race for the place of barrage in Group A, work miracles against the third of group B then during the intercontinental jump-off which will follow. This seems unlikely, but note that the Lebanon and the Syria dream of a first participation.
Africa
We do not yet know any of the five qualified in this area for the simple reason that everything will be decided during the play-offs played in March. Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal and Morocco are regulars. The surprise could come from Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which should indeed play the dams despite a complaint from Benin. the Mali has never participated in the World Cup while the DR Congo, still called Zaire, had the chance to face Yugoslavia and Brazil in its only participation, in 1974.
Oceania
No direct ticket is reserved for OFC. And the qualifications have not yet started, because of the Covid. Everything will be played in March 2022, via a condensed qualifying tournament. Only the winner of this tournament will obtain the right to play an intercontinental jump-off against the 5th in the CONMEBOL zone (South America). Since Australia is playing in the Asia zone, the big favorite in this zone will be New Zealand, which was beaten by Peru during the intercontinental jump-off in 2018. As a reminder, New Zealanders participated in the 1982 and 2010 Worlds. .
Europe
The Czech Republic and Ukraine dream of a second World Cup. These two nations have so far only participated in the 2006 World Cup (elimination in the first round for Czechia, quarter-final for Ukraine). The Welsh could also play their second World Cup, 64 years after the 1958 edition in Sweden where they were eliminated by future winner Brazil in the quarter-finals.
Scotland is a little more experienced but has not played any World Cup since 1998, during which it had the honors of the opening match, against Brazil (2-1 defeat). Austria is in the same case: it has not participated since its elimination in the first round of the French World Cup, despite a rather rich history with in particular a bronze medal in 1954.
But the real kid in the UEFA zone is undoubtedly the North Macedonia who, after being invited to Euro 2020, could play his first World Cup in 2022. To do this, the Macedonians will have to do two more exploits: win their semi-final on the road, since they are not seeds , before winning a final which will inevitably reserve an opponent more experienced than them.
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