Czech football players will have to play in the March play-off for participation in the World Cup, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico next year, but experts from the well-known sports station ESPN already have a clear idea of how the championship will develop. And even for players with a lion cub on her breast.
They will qualify for overseas if they go over Ireland in the semi-finals at home and then, also in front of their own fans, they will deal with the better of the pair Denmark – North Macedonia.
If the Czech Republic managed to take the last two steps and the fans could come to the championship to support them, the question is how long they would spend at the World Cup. The editors of ESPN favor the home Mexicans, even despite the unsuccessful record in the second half of the year, when after winning the Gold Cup final over the USA, the Central American team failed to overcome Japan, South Korea, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay or Paraguay.
According to ESPN, the South Koreans should finish behind the Mexicans, and only in third place, who are currently advancing from the European part of the World Cup tie-up. Even here, however, the professional public does not favor the Czech Republic, but rather bets on the Danes. “If they stumble in the playoffs and someone else takes their place, Mexico will be even happier,” predicts representatives of the American media clearly.
Fans who would like to see all the group matches of the wards in the case of Czech promotion an as yet unknown coachthere would be a long journey ahead anyway. While the Czechs would play the first and third matches in Mexico, the middle one would await them in Atlanta. And that’s not exactly around the corner, by road you can cover a distance of around three thousand kilometers in about twenty-eight hours (and the same back), by air it is of course much faster, but again it would mean an increase in costs of about twelve thousand crowns for tickets.
All in the space of two weeks, the Czech Republic would open the championship on June 11 against South Korea, face South Africa a week later, and finish the group stage on June 24 against the Mexicans at home. As a reminder, the first two teams from the group advance to the elimination phase, as well as the eight best from third places.
From the playoffs to first place?
What about other groups? In the “B” behind Switzerland, ESPN believes in home Canada, perhaps even at the expense of the European advancing from the play-off, which will be Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Ireland or Wales. He then sees a fairly clear situation in Group C, where Brazil should easily advance together with Morocco, the surprising semi-finalist of the previous world championship.
On the contrary, experts expect a complicated situation in the “deček”, where the Slovaks could also advance. It is a successful group from the play-off that could mix up the assumptions, especially if it were to become Turkey, which would suddenly get to the first place in the chances of advancing even ahead of the favored domestic Americans. But if, for example, Kosovo, which is Slovakia’s opponent in the semi-finals, fails in the play-off, Paraguay would go on with the Americans, according to American journalists.
When asked about the winner of Group E, the selected editor fires Germany without hesitation, although he warns of the last two world failures, when the Germans finished both in 2018 and 2022 already in the group. Ecuador will be placed behind the Germans.
An even bigger favorite, the Netherlands, is in Group F, while second place could go to Japan. The group in the “gacha” will be much more balanced, and even ESPN predicts the Belgians to finish second behind the Japanese, but they don’t want to underestimate New Zealand and Iran either. However, he considers the expected duel between Belgian Kevin de Bruyne and Mohamed Salah from Egypt to be the main attraction.
Spain will face Uruguay for victory in Group H, while newcomers Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia will remain in the background. At least one world-class star will be unlucky going into the knockout stages, namely Erling Haaland. ESPN assigns Norway third place behind the victorious France and the second Senegal.
Another star? Lionel Messi, that is, if he appears in the Argentine nomination. If so, they should be happy to progress from the basic group J together with Austria, who sweated a lot at the end of the qualifiers to secure their place overseas without having to play a play-off. Joy at the Group K draw seems to have taken over in Portugal Cristiana Ronaldawhich should be accompanied by Colombia to the play-offs, in the last group L the Europeans should rejoice, specifically England and Croatia
