Italy and Portugal fall into the play-off group of death! Portugal and Italy must have a team in the European World Cup to miss the 2022 World Cup

The 2022 World Cup is in full swing, and the qualifiers in various regions will also start vigorous competition. With the end of the European qualifiers , 13 teams from the European region full of traditional football teams will be able to stand out to represent the UEFA League. , to participate in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Among the many powerhouses in the European region of the World Cup, Italy and Portugal actually fell into the World Cup play-offs and were also assigned to the same group. There must be a team that missed the finals.

Article directory

• 10 teams confirmed to advance to the World Cup European play-off group schedule
• Italy vs Portugal in World Cup European play-off
• Can Ronaldo stand on the stage of the World Cup again?
• Qatar World Cup changes system, this will be the most difficult World Cup play-off
• The severe climate of the Qatar Desert in the Middle East of the 2022 World Cup will be a major test for many players

10 teams confirmed to advance to the World Cup European play-off group schedule

As the event progresses, the results of the first round of the European Qualifiers have been released! The teams that champion each group in the qualifying rounds can directly qualify for the 2022 Qatar World Cup final week: Belgium, Croatia, England, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, a total of 10 national teams . The other 3 qualifying places will then need to compete for the 2022 Qatar World Cup tickets through the play-off competition.

The play-offs of the European World Cup consist of the ten teams that rank second in each qualifying group, plus the two teams with higher records in the UEFA Nations League from 2021 to 2022 but failed to qualify for the play-offs. A total of twelve teams were divided into three groups for the group play-offs. The participating countries are: Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, Wales.

The draw for the play-off group was also held in Zurich, Switzerland on November 26, 2022, and the grouping and final qualifying schedule was completed. The group list is as follows:

• Group A: Scotland, Ukraine, Wales, Austria
• Group B: Russia, Poland, Sweden, Czech Republic
• Group C: Italy, North Macedonia, Portugal, Turkey

The 12 teams will play against each other, and the winner will directly advance to the group final, which is the so-called single-elimination sudden death match (win or go). The last three tickets for the European World Cup World Cup .

Italy vs Portugal in World Cup European play-off

Can Ronaldo stand on the stage of the World Cup again?

Both teams are experts in the array but both fell into the fate of having to play the play-offs again. In the qualifiers, Italy originally ranked first in the group with an advantage in goal difference, but in the last game, Northern Ireland forcefully forced it, while the opponent Switzerland beat Bulgaria, making Italy have to play the play-offs. Another sympathizer is Portugal, led by Ronaldo . Portugal, which also ranked first in the qualifying group with a goal difference advantage, was just behind Serbia in the last game, and was dramatically defeated by Serbia at the last minute. The striker who played for the Premier League team fell to the fate of the play-offs with a header to score a lore.

The two super-strong teams were assigned to the same group in the play- offs . Since the play-offs adopted a single-elimination system, the two traditional powerhouses will inevitably face a brutal situation of two-to-one, which means that these two teams are ranked in the World Football Association. One of the top ten teams is bound to miss the 2022 World Cup. And this play-off draw has also created a record for Portugal, the champion of the 2016 European Cup, and Italy, the champion of the 2020 European Cup. In this play-off, these two teams also bear the great pressure of not losing and the burden of the national glorious mission.

Portugal, except for the defeat in the 1998 World Cup, has hardly missed any representative games. At the same time, this will also be the last time the team's famous players will challenge for the World Cup . And Italy must win this game, for no other reason, because four years ago, Italy also lost to Sweden in the play-off so inexplicably. This is the first time Italy has not participated in the World Cup since 1958. This time They would never want to repeat such a tragedy again.

Qatar World Cup changes system, this will be the most difficult World Cup play-off

In previous years' World Cup play-offs, the two teams against each other played one game at home and one away game. For example, the biggest black mark of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Roesia, eliminated Greece from the play-offs all the way to the World Cup finals and finally lost to France 2-4.

In fact, Portugal fans should not be too discouraged, because Portugal's record in the play-offs is also brilliant. In the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, Portugal also survived the play-offs all the way.

The play-off combination grouping is usually divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their World Cup qualifying records. The seeded team will face the unseeded team in the first round and have home field advantage. However, the difficulty lies in this. The first round of the play-offs is changed to a battle to determine life and death, and this win or go sudden death battle will inevitably increase the visibility and topicality of the play-offs. Interestingly, as the VIP draw for this play-off is the former Portugal international Diago. Costa, he personally sent Portugal into such a group of death.

The severe climate of the Qatar Desert in the Middle East of the 2022 World Cup will be a major test for many players

The quadrennial sports event, the World Cup, will be held in Qatar, the richest country in the Middle East, in November 2022. This is the first time the World Cup will be held in an Arab country. The date of this event was also postponed to November in winter, instead of the traditional June and July in summer. In fact, it was mainly based on the desert climate and temperature in the Middle East. However, Qatar's hot temperatures in winter, as high as 30 degrees Celsius, believe that this is definitely a challenge for players from many countries.