2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[poldanmig]

Portugal is definitely stronger than Turkey. But don't think Turkey is weak. They are probably a bit off form now. But in past Turkey has surprised us by showing us a lot of great gameplay. Turkey has a good enough squad. If Ronaldo fails to perform in this match for some reason, then Turkey has a chance to win.

If we were talking about the Turkey we watched against Netherlands and lost by 6-1, I would say that they are really weak. But they are not performing like that anymore as far as I see. They improved their performance in their last three group games. And if they play really focusedly against Portugal, I think we can watch a really competitive game. Maybe Portugal would still be one step ahead but at least Turkey would fight back against them.

I know that Turkey has conceded a humiliating 6-0 defeat against the Netherlands. I watched the match. But in the previous match against the Netherlands, Turkey had won 4-2. Now the players have lost form. But I will not call the Turkish team weak. They can ignite at any time. If the match strategy is good, they have the ability to beat the Portugal team.

Meeting Turkey, I don't know if it was bad luck for Portugal or luck, because even though Turkey lost to the Netherlands in the group stage with a score of 6-1, to be honest, Portugal must be very wary of Turkey's game later, because Turkey could play quite crazy against a great team from them , I think in the play-off turkish will give a surprise for portugal and as far as I remember, so far ronaldo has never been able to score against turkey in friendly match and euro cup.

[Daniel91]

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Yes, I also think that Italy is going to be in the top spot because they have played well and deserve to be in the world cup. And I think I will keep Portugal on the second spot because Portugal is honestly my favorite team among the others to qualify for the world cup.. and I would also really like to see Ronaldo in the world cup.

I think both teams have equal chances of qualifying and to be honest, I want Portugal to qualify a lot more than Italy because I'm big fan of Ronaldo and as like you I really want to see Ronaldo playing in the world cup. Maybe just for the sake of football fans but it is what it is, Portugal has to qualify. This is the potentially last World cup for Cristiano Ronaldo.

I would also like to see Cristiano Ronaldo in the world cup. But to be honest, they don't have much of a chance against Italy. They easily beat Turkey in the first match. But in the final, it will most likely be Italy rivals. I think Italy will go to the world cup I think .

I think it is too early to make such predictions.
Both Italy and Portugal played poorly in the final of the qualifications and thus put themselves in a very difficult situation now.
The team that recovers sooner psychologically from the shock of playing in additional qualifications will have an advantage in the mutual meeting.
I personally would like Italy to go to the World Cup because they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia 2018 but it will be very difficult for them because they will have to play away in Portugal.

[Hidrofor]

It looks like Turkey have the most difficult draws in the play-offs. Because they are going to compete with Portugal first. Even if they somehow beat Portugal, they are going to have a game against the winner of the Italy v North Macedonia draw. And it can be clearly seen that Italy would eliminate North Macedonia very easily.     So the next opponent for Turkey would be them. Therefore I think that Turkey have a quite low chance to join the World Cup.

[cryptofrka]

I think it is too early to make such predictions.
Both Italy and Portugal played poorly in the final of the qualifications and thus put themselves in a very difficult situation now.
The team that recovers sooner psychologically from the shock of playing in additional qualifications will have an advantage in the mutual meeting.
I personally would like Italy to go to the World Cup because they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia 2018 but it will be very difficult for them because they will have to play away in Portugal.

Portugal is the host of the group? I tried searching for venues but couldn't find it - if true, that is a huge bonus to Portugal.

I feel that they are a better team than Italy even without it and if they also have the home advantage, they have to be considered as favorites for the top spot.

Do you know who the other hosts are?

[ziyaaa]

I think it is too early to make such predictions.
Both Italy and Portugal played poorly in the final of the qualifications and thus put themselves in a very difficult situation now.
The team that recovers sooner psychologically from the shock of playing in additional qualifications will have an advantage in the mutual meeting.
I personally would like Italy to go to the World Cup because they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia 2018 but it will be very difficult for them because they will have to play away in Portugal.

Of course, it is early because we don't even know whether all of these teams will have their full lineups in those matches. Maybe some of their most important players will be injured before the game and they will be eliminated just because of that. But I believe that we can still make some predictions considering that they play with their usual lineup. In my opinion, it is good to share some opinions about these matches earlier.

[Daniel91]

I think it is too early to make such predictions.
Both Italy and Portugal played poorly in the final of the qualifications and thus put themselves in a very difficult situation now.
The team that recovers sooner psychologically from the shock of playing in additional qualifications will have an advantage in the mutual meeting.
I personally would like Italy to go to the World Cup because they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia 2018 but it will be very difficult for them because they will have to play away in Portugal.

Portugal is the host of the group? I tried searching for venues but couldn't find it - if true, that is a huge bonus to Portugal.

I feel that they are a better team than Italy even without it and if they also have the home advantage, they have to be considered as favorites for the top spot.

Do you know who the other hosts are?

You have all the information here, on the official UEFA website:
https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/news/026f-13d0cbf45bac-9510fd6ac133-1000--world-cup-play-off-draw-made/

So, these are the results of the draw of additional qualifications:

Semi-finals – Thursday 24 March 2022

Path A

Scotland vs Ukraine (20:45 CET)
Wales vs Austria (20:45 CET)

Path B

Russia vs Poland (18:00 CET)
Sweden vs Czech Republic (20:45 CET)

Path C

Italy vs North Macedonia (20:45 CET)
Portugal vs Turkey (20:45 CET)

Finals – Tuesday 29 March 2022

Path A

Wales / Austria vs Scotland / Ukraine (20:45 CET)

Path B

Russia / Poland vs Sweden / Czech Republic (20:45 CET)

Path C

Portugal / Turkey vs Italy / North Macedonia (20:45 CET)

My prediction of the final matches is as follows:
Scotland vs. Wales
Russia vs. Sweden
Portugal vs Italy

I think the hosts will have a big advantage in all these matches but of course surprises are always possible.
What are your predictions?

[S A KHAIR]

I think it is too early to make such predictions.
Both Italy and Portugal played poorly in the final of the qualifications and thus put themselves in a very difficult situation now.
The team that recovers sooner psychologically from the shock of playing in additional qualifications will have an advantage in the mutual meeting.
I personally would like Italy to go to the World Cup because they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia 2018 but it will be very difficult for them because they will have to play away in Portugal.

Of course, it is early because we don't even know whether all of these teams will have their full lineups in those matches. Maybe some of their most important players will be injured before the game and they will be eliminated just because of that. But I believe that we can still make some predictions considering that they play with their usual lineup. In my opinion, it is good to share some opinions about these matches earlier.

Yes, it is good to share some opinions and I do hope that all the teams can play with their main lineup. We have seen injuries taking a toll on the team which is is really good but because of some injuries is there was Lackluster in the performance. I do hope that players could avoid injuries and play for their national team.

[joker_josue]

My prediction of the final matches is as follows:
Scotland vs. Wales
Russia vs. Sweden
Portugal vs Italy

I think the hosts will have a big advantage in all these matches but of course surprises are always possible.
What are your predictions?

I altered Scotland for Ukraine. Otherwise the same prediction.

And the winners must be:
Ukraine
Sweden
Italy

[Silberman]

It looks like Turkey have the most difficult draws in the play-offs. Because they are going to compete with Portugal first. Even if they somehow beat Portugal, they are going to have a game against the winner of the Italy v North Macedonia draw. And it can be clearly seen that Italy would eliminate North Macedonia very easily.     So the next opponent for Turkey would be them. Therefore I think that Turkey have a quite low chance to join the World Cup.

It is true Turkey got the worst possible draw but there is nothing to do but to accept it, the only good thing is that in the case they happen to beat Portugal then Turkey is the one that will host the game against Italy, that could be a huge advantage, but still they will have to improve significantly during the next months, and this is something difficult to do for a national team which only gets to play together once in a while.

[Rengga Jati]

My prediction of the final matches is as follows:
Scotland vs. Wales
Russia vs. Sweden
Portugal vs Italy

For the second and third match, I also have same predictions.
But for the first list between Scotland vs Ukraine, I bet for Ukraine.
So, that will be:
Ukraine vs. Wales -> Wales may have bigger chance to win this match.
Russia vs. Sweden -> I bet for Sweden
Portugal vs Italy -> Well, this is quite difficult to guess, but hemm I personally bet for Portugal as the winner here even it will be difficult. 

[Juggy777]

My prediction of the final matches is as follows:
Scotland vs. Wales
Russia vs. Sweden
Portugal vs Italy

For the second and third match, I also have same predictions.
But for the first list between Scotland vs Ukraine, I bet for Ukraine.
So, that will be:
Ukraine vs. Wales -> Wales may have bigger chance to win this match.
Russia vs. Sweden -> I bet for Sweden
Portugal vs Italy -> Well, this is quite difficult to guess, but hemm I personally bet for Portugal as the winner here even it will be difficult. 

I’m only excited for Italy vs Portugal as it’s a clash of the titans, and it’s hard to believe that one of the teams will miss the World Cup. Furthermore considering it’s the last World Cup of Ronaldo, I’m wishing that Portugal qualifies for his sake, because after such a glittering career it’ll be sad if he he misses out on his last World Cup.

[D-law]

My prediction of the final matches is as follows:
Scotland vs. Wales
Russia vs. Sweden
Portugal vs Italy

For the second and third match, I also have same predictions.
But for the first list between Scotland vs Ukraine, I bet for Ukraine.
So, that will be:
Ukraine vs. Wales -> Wales may have bigger chance to win this match.
Russia vs. Sweden -> I bet for Sweden
Portugal vs Italy -> Well, this is quite difficult to guess, but hemm I personally bet for Portugal as the winner here even it will be difficult. 

I’m only excited for Italy vs Portugal as it’s a clash of the titans, and it’s hard to believe that one of the teams will miss the World Cup. Furthermore considering it’s the last World Cup of Ronaldo, I’m wishing that Portugal qualifies for his sake, because after such a glittering career it’ll be sad if he he misses out on his last World Cup.

Tell me this is not the fixture for the play off ?
If so,this will be very hard game for Portugal to scale through.
I hope this isn't the right fixture.
I really do want to see Portugal move for the world Cup.

[cryptofrka]

...

I think the hosts will have a big advantage in all these matches but of course surprises are always possible.
What are your predictions?

It is really hard to guess - most of the teams are of similar quality. Still - if I had to pick it would be Wales, Poland and Portugal.
Path A is the easiest, with Austria being one of the weakest teams overall. I'd pick Ukraine over Scotland for the final, although it's a minor difference.
In Path B I think it will be between Poland and Sweden, while in group C we all expect a Portugal - Italy final.

[ziyaaa]

~snip~

My prediction of the final matches is as follows:
Scotland vs. Wales
Russia vs. Sweden
Portugal vs Italy

I think the hosts will have a big advantage in all these matches but of course surprises are always possible.
What are your predictions?

I agree with the Scotland vs Wales prediction. And I see Scotland one step ahead to move on to the World Cup. I agree with the Russia choice but I'm not sure about the Sweden one. Because Czech Republic are also very good actually. It is hard to predict which one of them would advance. And when it comes to the last prediction of yours, I agree with it also. Portugal are much better than Turkey for now. And Italy have an easy opponent.

[Shasha80]

It looks like Turkey have the most difficult draws in the play-offs. Because they are going to compete with Portugal first. Even if they somehow beat Portugal, they are going to have a game against the winner of the Italy v North Macedonia draw. And it can be clearly seen that Italy would eliminate North Macedonia very easily.     So the next opponent for Turkey would be them. Therefore I think that Turkey have a quite low chance to join the World Cup.

It is true Turkey got the worst possible draw but there is nothing to do but to accept it, the only good thing is that in the case they happen to beat Portugal then Turkey is the one that will host the game against Italy, that could be a huge advantage, but still they will have to improve significantly during the next months, and this is something difficult to do for a national team which only gets to play together once in a while.

I think the chances of Turkey beating Portugal are very small, we know the quality of Portuguese players is far above Turkish players. The weakness of
the Portugal national team is that there is no solid cooperation among players, most players rely too much on individual abilities. Hopefully Fernando
Santos as coach of Portugal can realize that Portuguese players must further improve teamwork. Moreover, Ronaldo, who is 36 years old, will definitely
give his best to be able to play in the 2022 World Cup. If Turkey is lucky enough to beat Portugal, it's unlikely that Turkey can be lucky for the second
time beating Italy. However, for path C, I predict Portugal or Italy will qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

[Jackl87]

~snip~

My prediction of the final matches is as follows:
Scotland vs. Wales
Russia vs. Sweden
Portugal vs Italy

I think the hosts will have a big advantage in all these matches but of course surprises are always possible.
What are your predictions?

I agree with the Scotland vs Wales prediction. And I see Scotland one step ahead to move on to the World Cup. I agree with the Russia choice but I'm not sure about the Sweden one. Because Czech Republic are also very good actually. It is hard to predict which one of them would advance. And when it comes to the last prediction of yours, I agree with it also. Portugal are much better than Turkey for now. And Italy have an easy opponent.

I am not that familiar with the national Teams of scotland and wales but i always thought that Wales has way more quality in their squad but i have looked up both teams now and i am quite surprised to see the numbers of the market value of the players. The squad of wales has a total market value of 143 Million € whereas Scotland has a market value of 260 M € i really did not expect that but scotland seems to have a few good players now that are worth around 30 M€ with McGinn, McTominay and Tiernay and Robertson even has a value of 65 M €. I am also surprised to see that Gareth Bales value is down to 10 M€.

[Marvell1]

...

I think the hosts will have a big advantage in all these matches but of course surprises are always possible.
What are your predictions?

It is really hard to guess - most of the teams are of similar quality. Still - if I had to pick it would be Wales, Poland and Portugal.
Path A is the easiest, with Austria being one of the weakest teams overall. I'd pick Ukraine over Scotland for the final, although it's a minor difference.
In Path B I think it will be between Poland and Sweden, while in group C we all expect a Portugal - Italy final.

What I am the most excited about is Portugal being the qualifying team for the world cup because I really do want to see Ronaldo playing the world cup thinking that this might be his last. But I do think that if Ronaldo wants he can also play in the next world cup. And yes this should be a Portugal Italy final from group c.

[skscengeng]

To me, it is not very easy to guess which team between Portugal and Turkey would eliminate the other one. I know that Portugal have performed better in the recent games. But Turkey's performance in the last games was also not bad. As a result, Turkey may resist them well and benefit from the chances they find nicely. But I'm still a little closer to a Portugal win.

[dwyane36]

What I am the most excited about is Portugal being the qualifying team for the world cup because I really do want to see Ronaldo playing the world cup thinking that this might be his last. But I do think that if Ronaldo wants he can also play in the next world cup. And yes this should be a Portugal Italy final from group c.

Yeah, Portugal should win Turkey, but I have doubts that they will be able to win Italy in the final of group C. By the way, the next World Cup after Qatar is scheduled for 2026. So Ronaldo will probably have finished his career by then, considering that he will be 41 years old.

[Jasad]

It looks like Turkey have the most difficult draws in the play-offs. Because they are going to compete with Portugal first. Even if they somehow beat Portugal, they are going to have a game against the winner of the Italy v North Macedonia draw. And it can be clearly seen that Italy would eliminate North Macedonia very easily.     So the next opponent for Turkey would be them. Therefore I think that Turkey have a quite low chance to join the World Cup.

The play of this year was very difficult, even countries with star players could not participate in this year's world cup, it is a pity that Portugal could not play in the Qatar world cup, because this year's world cup is the last world cup for ceistiano ronaldo, If Portugal doesn't qualify for the World Cup, it could be a big blow for Ronaldo.