2022 World Cup Qatar

I thought it would be good to post a recap of all the qualified teams so far and what's left to be done across all the different confederations.

Qualified Teams

So far, (edit) 29 teams have booked their places in the finals, with only (edit) three places now remaining. So let's have a look at what's happened so far, breaking it down into the seperate confederations.

Hosts

Qatar

Europe (UEFA)
12 teams qualified, 1 place remaining

Group winners: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland.
Second round play-off winners: Poland and Portugal.

To do: Wales have reached the final of the remaining play-off; they await the winners of Scotland and Ukraine. All remaining matches to be played in June, dates TBC.

South America (CONMEBOL)
4 teams qualified, 1 or 0 places remaining

Top 4: Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay.

To do: Brazil and Argentina still have to play their match (abandoned on 5th September 2021) but both teams are already through; Peru finished in 5th place and advance to an inter-confederation play-off against the winner of the final round of Asian qualifying, tie to be played on 13th or 14th June in Qatar.

Africa (CAF)
5 teams qualified, 0 places remaining

Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia.

The African section was completed when the five teams all won a 2-leg home and away play-off in the third round to qualify for the World Cup.

Asia (AFC)
4 teams qualified, 1 or 0 places remaining

Third round group winners: Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Third round runners-up: Japan and South Korea.

To do: The two third placed teams, Australia and United Arab Emirates, will play each other in one final match. The winner advances to an inter-confederation play-off against the 5th placed team from South America - Peru. Both ties to be played in June in Qatar.

North America (CONCACAF)
3 teams qualified, 1 or 0 places remaining

Canada, Mexico and United States.

To do: There is one round of fixtures to be played in the North American section with United States, Mexico and Costa Rica the only teams able to join Canada in the finals. The teams finishing 2nd and 3rd qualify automatically, the 4th placed team will advance to an inter-confederation play-off against the Oceania winner, New Zealand. That tie will be played as a single match in Qatar on either 13th or 14th June.

EDIT: The main phase of the North American section is now completed following confirmation of today's full time scores. Mexico and USA qualify automatically, Costa Rica will contest the inter-confederation play-off with New Zealand.

Oceania (OFC)
no team qualified, 1 or 0 places remaining

To do: Due to severe disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a tsunami disaster in the South Pacific, the entire OFC qualifying tournament was moved to Doha, Qatar. New Zealand have already won the tournament and have moved to an inter-confederation play-off, where they will play the 4th placed team from North America. That tie will be played in Qatar on either the 13th or 14th June.

EDIT: Costa Rica now confirmed to be New Zealand's opponent in the inter-confederation play-off.

BBC1 showing the draw from 1700 hours.

England v USA v Iran v (Best of Wales /Scotland / Ukraine)

These exceptions are a bit weird.
USA can't play Puerto Rico, Iran can't play Saudi Arabia, Cameron can't play Senegal. But's OK for England to play Scotland or Wales

That's what I thought - aren't we supposed to avoid other UEFA teams in the Group Stages?

I reckon they have ballsed up on that one

Because UEFA has so many countries who qualify for the World Cup the rule is no more than 2 sides in each group. For all other Confederations it is a maximum of one side per group. Simples.

Yes, I was going to say why but SecretAgent explained it perfectly.

Think the BBC presenters confused people with the amount of over-explaining. It was explaining for the sake of explaining. So too much explaining. Only joking.

I think it's a decent draw for England. They'll be happy with that group. Iran, USA and one of the other three makes it a potentially very politically fiery group. Let's try and keep the politics out of football.

Some very interesting matches across all the other groups. All the big names shouldn't have too much trouble qualifying from their groups but I think the draw still makes for some tasty looking fixtures and they'll be some surprises along the way.

Stand out matches for me include:

Senegal vs Netherlands - can see a high scoring match. Really looking forward to seeing Senegal, so much talent. Spain vs Germany is a heavyweight clash in match week two. Group H is a good lineup. Ghana vs Uruguay should be an eagerly anticipated revenge chance for Ghana.

(01-04-2022 20:46 )Regenerated Wrote:  Iran, USA and one of the other three makes it a potentially very politically fiery group. Let's try and keep the politics out of football.

You must be new to this

When the 2nd tier groups were half-decent eg Germany and half-crappy, you knew it wasn't going to be Group of Death stuff. Qatar v Ecuador as the opener

must now be just over six months to start of the world cup in Qatar as far as we know what are the plans for the league here during world cup just to refresh my memory - is europe taking an extended break during competition? The other thing is when England games are broadcast they will be slap bang in the middle of the busiest time of year for retail workers. Doubt many will be able to watch the games as well and doubt many will even consider sickies.

Hoping tonight's play off match is a humdinger winners play Wales for a place in Qatar on Sunday. I'm hoping there is a good atmosphere and the fans respect the Ukraine national anthem.

Only the Scottish and Russian fans want them to win tonight