Italy is going by the wayside again. In the absence of the World Cup in Russia 2018, the Nazis will not see Qatar in 2022. On Thursday, the Squadra Azzurra played the semi-finals of the qualifiers for the upcoming World Cup. Against lowly Macedonia, the super dominant European champions (32 shots against 4) suffered a massive disappointment. In extra time, Alexander Trajkovsky scored the only goal of the match, which allowed the Macedonians to dream of first participating in the final stage of the World Cup.
And to get there, North Macedonia still has to score, as the Balkan nation will play the play-off final against Portugal on March 29 in Porto. The team led by Cristiano Ronaldo has already defeated Turkey (3-1) in the semi-finals. In the other results of the European zone, Sweden defeated the Czech Republic (1-0), and will play the final against qualified Poland after eliminating Russia. The winner from Austria (2-1), Wales will face the winner of the match between Scotland and Ukraine, postponed to June due to the war.
In South America, the four eligible countries are now known. Uruguay and Ecuador ratified their World Cup ticket, thus joining Argentina and Brazil. To the north, Canada, who were defeated by Costa Rica (1-0), missed the opportunity to certify their qualifiers but remained the leader in their region’s classification, ahead of Mexico and the United States. The three countries are on the right track to see Qatar.
On the African side, five play-off matches (DR Congo-Morocco, Mali-Tunisia, Cameroon-Algeria, Egypt-Senegal, Ghana-Nigeria) will be played to determine the qualifying nations for the continent. The matches will take the form of a home and away match on March 25 and 29. As for the Asian region, Japan defeated Australia on Thursday (2-0) and qualified for the World Cup for the seventh time in a row. Thanks to this result, Saudi Arabia, where French coach Herve Renard takes over, is sure to see Qatar. Australia will have to play the play-offs.
Currently, out of the 32 available places, 19 countries have ratified their qualifications for the 2022 World Cup: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands. , Serbia, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland.
Isn’t it nice to see the ecstatic joy of the people of North Macedonia after their victory over Italy and to validate their ticket to the CDM 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Final? pic.twitter.com/2Z1GPNPAjY
– RMC Sport (RMCsport) 25 March 2022
Benoit Lesur
