2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[romero121]

It's a shame that teams like Italy and Portugal had to enter the play-off zone, both of whom were defending champions at the previous Euros. With this result, maybe only one of them gets a ticket to the World Cup or maybe neither. Because right now the dark horse teams are very likely to put up a strong fight too, I personally really doubt that because I was one of the people who bet for Italy and Portugal to win in yesterday's match.

I don't understand what all this fuss about Portugal playing play-off. Is it a new thing and I don't think it is official anymore. They are used to playing play-offs either the old or new Portugal, even in Europe cup they also use to qualify as a best looser. As a Big fan, I am not surprise about Portugal playing playoffs. Because at the end, they will qualify and start hailing the goat. it just happened that Portugal Coach was tactical clueless against Serbia. He started the game with a defensive approach. Just imagining with the like of C.Ronaldo, Bernado Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Joao Felix, Andre Silva and he just be packing the bus against Serbia.

Honestly, I was also kind of shocked that the Portugal coach took this approach against Serbia. because I don't think anyone gave any chance to Serbia winning that match and even I thought Serbia will lose and Portugal will be the winner very easily, but their coach was not like to defensive in his approach and the team suffers the consequences.

Portugal has a clear chance of qualifying for the world they will likely play any of unseeded countries like Turkey, Czech, North Macedonia, Poland, Ukraine and Austria, I believe non of the above mentioned countries could any pose a serious threat or challenge to their qualifying for the world cup come March 2022 when the final playoffs will take place, though it is going to be a tough match, however, had it been they didn't make it up playoff stage it would have an outright non participation in the world, for there is hope for their country.

Playing against those countries Portugal will feel more confidence, but these days the progress from teams were big. We don't know who is performing and what is happening with the match at times. None could've thought of Portugal losing to Serbia. Some might've taken rest not watching the match believing Portugal will make it. At the final minute things changed. So, it is good to play with confidence than over confidence.

[Alanaz]

It's a shame that teams like Italy and Portugal had to enter the play-off zone, both of whom were defending champions at the previous Euros. With this result, maybe only one of them gets a ticket to the World Cup or maybe neither. Because right now the dark horse teams are very likely to put up a strong fight too, I personally really doubt that because I was one of the people who bet for Italy and Portugal to win in yesterday's match.

I don't understand what all this fuss about Portugal playing play-off. Is it a new thing and I don't think it is official anymore. They are used to playing play-offs either the old or new Portugal, even in Europe cup they also use to qualify as a best looser. As a Big fan, I am not surprise about Portugal playing playoffs. Because at the end, they will qualify and start hailing the goat. it just happened that Portugal Coach was tactical clueless against Serbia. He started the game with a defensive approach. Just imagining with the like of C.Ronaldo, Bernado Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Joao Felix, Andre Silva and he just be packing the bus against Serbia.

Honestly, I was also kind of shocked that the Portugal coach took this approach against Serbia. because I don't think anyone gave any chance to Serbia winning that match and even I thought Serbia will lose and Portugal will be the winner very easily, but their coach was not like to defensive in his approach and the team suffers the consequences.

Actually this is a blunder that must be paid dearly because in this match they only need to achieve a draw with Serbia because with this their position will remain and will not be displaced by Serbia.
but in this match they were too happy with the results previously received against the previous teams so that during the interview before the match started even Fernando Santos said that his team will still target three points in this life and death match.
and now everything has happened and portugal must undergo additional matches to be able to follow serbia to qatar later

[Daniel91]

The qualifiers are set up a bit differently now - 12 teams will be split into 3 pots. Each team will play a semifinal and a final, so from 3 pots there will be 3 winners that will secure qualifications to the World Cup.

Since each game will be a one-off, the room for error is nonexistent. Also - the probability to play another big team in the final is really high.

Bottom line - I'm really glad that Croatia was able to qualify directly. This is way harder than before.

Yes, Croatia should real promise the last world cup and I am happy for them too. But I am really sad about Portugal not qualifying directly. As this is Cristiano Ronaldo's last world cup I think deserved better from his own team.

While it is sad at the end of the day they have no one other than themselves to blame, they only needed two draws during their last two matches to get their ticket to the world cup and they were unable to do this under circumstances that were very favorable to them.

And what should be really disappointing is not only that they failed to qualify directly to the world cup but how this happened, they allowed a goal at the last minutes of the most important game of the qualifiers, which tells me they let their guard down as they felt they were already qualified to the world cup, and we will have to see if Portugal can get their ticket to the world cup, something not easy when there are many good teams which could beat them any given day.

Such things happen, didn’t Italy fail to qualify for the last World Cup and later they became European champions?
Portugal should also have lost in the match against Ireland, so this defeat against Serbia is not too much of a surprise either, the better team deservedly won.
If Portal does not raise the level of their game and aggression, they will not go to the World Cup.
As for Ronaldo, given how he plays at the moment, it is not impossible for him to perform at the next World Cup in 5 years, and I think that is his wish.

[KTChampions]

Portugal did not lose hope of qualifying for the playoff, but it really depend on who the opponent is because it is certain that both countries have the same desire to qualify for the world cup.

I only hope that Ronaldo can participate in the world cup once again as a player because it is very possible that he retires to represent his country after the world cup is over. This is the last chance for Ronaldo to play in the world cup and he will work hard to get his country through this time. We'll just have to wait and see who they are up against after the draw.

According to bookmakers, the chances of Portugal and Italy to get to the World Cup are about the same - 1.65 (hopefully the draw won't bring them together in the final match.) But taking into account the fact that everything is decided by drawing lots, for some reason it seems to me that "luck" will be on the side of these teams and FIFA. We will know the first pairs on November 26, when the draw of the first stage will take place.

[coinlocket$]

Serie A is thinking about a break during the period of the playoff.
Is a good idea but don't think it will possible especially if some teams will still be in eurocups.

[Jackl87]

Serie A is thinking about a break during the period of the playoff.
Is a good idea but don't think it will possible especially if some teams will still be in eurocups.

A break can maybe help a little and i still remember that spanish clubs always got their match in La Liga cancelled when they had a very important match a couple of days afterwards in the Champions League for example. As far as i know the spanish League is the only one that does that.
We are talking about the italian national team here though and therefore not every player would benefit from a break of the Serie A even though i think that most players of the national team are also playing in the italian league.

[CryptocurencyKing]

It's a shame that teams like Italy and Portugal had to enter the play-off zone, both of whom were defending champions at the previous Euros. With this result, maybe only one of them gets a ticket to the World Cup or maybe neither. Because right now the dark horse teams are very likely to put up a strong fight too, I personally really doubt that because I was one of the people who bet for Italy and Portugal to win in yesterday's match.

I don't understand what all this fuss about Portugal playing play-off. Is it a new thing and I don't think it is official anymore. They are used to playing play-offs either the old or new Portugal, even in Europe cup they also use to qualify as a best looser. As a Big fan, I am not surprise about Portugal playing playoffs. Because at the end, they will qualify and start hailing the goat. it just happened that Portugal Coach was tactical clueless against Serbia. He started the game with a defensive approach. Just imagining with the like of C.Ronaldo, Bernado Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Joao Felix, Andre Silva and he just be packing the bus against Serbia.

Honestly, I was also kind of shocked that the Portugal coach took this approach against Serbia. because I don't think anyone gave any chance to Serbia winning that match and even I thought Serbia will lose and Portugal will be the winner very easily, but their coach was not like to defensive in his approach and the team suffers the consequences.

I watched the game between Serbia and Portugal. Portugal Coach Santos approached the game defensively. I guessed he want to grind out a win against Republic of Ireland and that is why he started with Bruno Fernandes, Joao Palhinha and Matheus Nunes. When it didn't go as planned, he decided to play Serbia a defensive way and get a win or draw. Serbia were more organised all through the game. The took over the midfield and isolated their Strikers. Without any doubt that Serbia team playing like that will definitely cause problems during the World cup. They are good I mean that's what I call an almost complete team.

[Ratash]

I mean, we waited impatiently for the Argentina and Brazil summit, especially after the first leg was stopped..but the winds came with what ships did not desire. Neymar missed and did not play against Messi. a Goaless tie and the net was not shaken,
a rough match in which 42 errors were counted in total.. the goals were absent from A summit in which the yellow cards fell (7) and it could have been in a red card.. In the end.
Argentina reached the World Cup 😊 and this is what is important now..

It was a tough game and both teams played at the same level so it was a deserved draw they both had the same number of goal attempts but many brasil players were absents like neymar, casemiro and some were at the bench like tiago silva and gabriel jesus so we cant really judge both teams based on that game performance.

[cryptofrka]

Considering the fact that both Argentina and Brazil are all but qualified, I expected a much more open game. I watched the game this morning while doing some stuff on my laptop and it was really uneventful - I barely got my eyes off the screen.

Some players were missing, OK, but the game was too physical - I understand the rivalry and competitiveness but in this case it went too far away. Both teams can be happy because they are still undefeated in the qualifiers though.

[Red Pie]

Serbia and Switzerland made a big surprise in the world cup groups.  Nobody expected this result from Portugal and Italy.  They will definitely pass in the playoffs.  England and Germany, the favorite teams of the World Cup, finished their groups very easily.

[ropyu1978]

The qualifiers are set up a bit differently now - 12 teams will be split into 3 pots. Each team will play a semifinal and a final, so from 3 pots there will be 3 winners that will secure qualifications to the World Cup.

Since each game will be a one-off, the room for error is nonexistent. Also - the probability to play another big team in the final is really high.

Bottom line - I'm really glad that Croatia was able to qualify directly. This is way harder than before.

Yes, Croatia should real promise the last world cup and I am happy for them too. But I am really sad about Portugal not qualifying directly. As this is Cristiano Ronaldo's last world cup I think deserved better from his own team.

While it is sad at the end of the day they have no one other than themselves to blame, they only needed two draws during their last two matches to get their ticket to the world cup and they were unable to do this under circumstances that were very favorable to them.

And what should be really disappointing is not only that they failed to qualify directly to the world cup but how this happened, they allowed a goal at the last minutes of the most important game of the qualifiers, which tells me they let their guard down as they felt they were already qualified to the world cup, and we will have to see if Portugal can get their ticket to the world cup, something not easy when there are many good teams which could beat them any given day.

Such things happen, didn’t Italy fail to qualify for the last World Cup and later they became European champions?
Portugal should also have lost in the match against Ireland, so this defeat against Serbia is not too much of a surprise either, the better team deservedly won.
If Portal does not raise the level of their game and aggression, they will not go to the World Cup.
As for Ronaldo, given how he plays at the moment, it is not impossible for him to perform at the next World Cup in 5 years, and I think that is his wish.

The World Cup play-off this time is different from the previous few years with the slot division imposed by FIFA and the matches between these countries will play until the final round.hoping that Portugal and Italy will still qualify for the World Cup finals next year because in terms of the material players who owned by the two teams they are very worthy to fill the European slot this season, of course FIFA also has a reason to pass the two countries considering that this is a big country so it will never attract a match as big as the world cup without Ronaldo and his friends

[onecall123]

Uruguay lost another match to Bolivia by a score of 3-0. As far as South American football goes, I only know Brazil and Argentina, as well as Columbia and Uruguay. Since 2018, Uruguay have been terrible. Their squad is aging, and their current cycle has ended. This is not a surprise win for Bolivia. Luis Suarez's dreams of competing in the 2022 World Cup seem dim. South America qualifiers are a place where even the best teams are subject to defeat by the worst. In reality, any other qualifier cannot be compared to CONMEBOL.

[poldanmig]

Considering the fact that both Argentina and Brazil are all but qualified, I expected a much more open game. I watched the game this morning while doing some stuff on my laptop and it was really uneventful - I barely got my eyes off the screen.

Some players were missing, OK, but the game was too physical - I understand the rivalry and competitiveness but in this case it went too far away. Both teams can be happy because they are still undefeated in the qualifiers though.

Since old time the match between argentina and brazil has always been interesting to watch, apart from being two big countries, of course the rivalry between brazil and argentina always gives a hot match full of high tension so far, this morning match in my opinion was quite tough, but unfortunately the game had to end 0-0 draw for both teams, although the match ended in a draw, but both have managed to lock the ticket to qualify for the 2022 world cup later through the Conmebol Zone.

[KTChampions]

Serie A is thinking about a break during the period of the playoff.
Is a good idea but don't think it will possible especially if some teams will still be in eurocups.

This idea would be good if there was some time reserve that could be used. With such a busy calendar for teams, I doubt it exists. A pause in games will lead to a more stressful schedule in a different time period, that is, in fact, the problem is not solved, but only moved in time. Most likely, everything will again be decided at the expense of the top clubs that will have to endure the absence of important players due to the national team's games.

[CryptocurencyKing]

Lastly no mention for Wales who even without Bale managed to hold off the mighty Belgium, and secure the point they needed for World Cup play off seeding.

I wonder if Belgium is still the #1 ranked team in the world? I always thought to myself that this is an amazing statistic for a team that has never won any major trophy yet,,, I guess this is what they say about KO tournaments you do not have to be perfect you just need to find a way to win when it matters.

I guess Wales draw is not much to shout about as everyone knew Belgium did not need to win?

I also felt the same way too. Wales with the few top team players they have were playing World No1 Belgium like they are a big footballing nation. The team play, the link ups and transition play was excellent. Belgium do not even play like they have a plan. I think Belgium doesn't deserve that No.1 spot on the ranking anymore. Even 3 places lower still isn't enough for them, in comparison with their playing level and results. The game with Wales was a really terrible game to watch. The Belgians were inspiration less, sloppy and very lazy, like against Estonia last Saturday, but much much more. Wales played a million times better than Belgium. It's a pity they didn't win.

[LUCKMCFLY]

It can be said that this next World Cup will really be very interesting, especially because of football legends like Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar ...
For all of them, this World Cup will almost certainly be their last chance to win the world title and go into football immortality.
The competition will be great again and world cup will be very uncertain, with a lot of strong teams that have a chance to win the title, such as France, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil etc.
Very difficult mission for Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar...
It seems to me that in the last 20 years we have a trend that only European teams win titles. Will that change in Qatar?

As everything is going I do not think so, I think that in QATAR it is very likely that a European team will stay with the Cup, I have been following the French league, the Italian league and the German league and actually the level of football shown is very high, it is a soccer rhythm of more speed and strength, I think the players work a lot on their physical condition because they know that in soccer it is very important to run and have the technique, of course the world referents have always been in the eyes of Brazil and Argentina, as they are the countries that have a lot of history and with their players of the moment even more so, but I see European players who are actually on another level.

Well, there is one thing, League football is very much different from international football and we can see that by watching the career of Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez. Robert Lewandowski has really great career in League football. He is one of the best goal scorers probably this era has ever seen. But his international career tells us another story as he has very little success in his international career. On the other hand, Luis Suarez has a great international career. I am not saying that Suarez cannot play in club football but what I am saying is Luis Suarez is good at both club football and international football. But in the case of Robert Lewandowski and even Lionel Messi, their international career is not like their club career. So there will always be a gap between club football and international football. So it is hard to judge teams because their players were in form in League football.

Well, there you are right, but there is something that I always ask myself, is the amount of money that influences what those players win, for example the case of CR7 is totally different from theirs, I think that CR7 does not lose level from where it goes playing, whether internationally or in the club that is, CR7 will always give the maximum and is a player who will practically be in the QATAR world, the case of Luis Suarez is endangering his way to the World Cup, because Uruguay has problems for qualifying to QATAR It is getting very complicated, in fact in his last two games against Argentina he lost them. And it would be a shame if Suárez was not seen in the QATAR World Cup.

[Sithara007]

Uruguay lost another match to Bolivia by a score of 3-0. As far as South American football goes, I only know Brazil and Argentina, as well as Columbia and Uruguay. Since 2018, Uruguay have been terrible. Their squad is aging, and their current cycle has ended. This is not a surprise win for Bolivia. Luis Suarez's dreams of competing in the 2022 World Cup seem dim. South America qualifiers are a place where even the best teams are subject to defeat by the worst. In reality, any other qualifier cannot be compared to CONMEBOL.

I don't want to divert the debate from UEFA, but there is only one confederation that is more competitive compared to them and it is CONMEBOL. It is very unfortunate that quality teams like Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia and Venezuela struggle to qualify for the world cup, because there are only limited slots allotted to CONMEBOL. If they were participating from any other confederation, then in all probability most of these teams would qualify easily. For example, Venezuela has never played in a FIFA World Cup to this date.

[leea-1334]

I wonder if Belgium is still the #1 ranked team in the world? I always thought to myself that this is an amazing statistic for a team that has never won any major trophy yet,,, I guess this is what they say about KO tournaments you do not have to be perfect you just need to find a way to win when it matters.

I guess Wales draw is not much to shout about as everyone knew Belgium did not need to win?

I also felt the same way too. Wales with the few top team players they have were playing World No1 Belgium like they are a big footballing nation. The team play, the link ups and transition play was excellent. Belgium do not even play like they have a plan. I think Belgium doesn't deserve that No.1 spot on the ranking anymore. Even 3 places lower still isn't enough for them, in comparison with their playing level and results. The game with Wales was a really terrible game to watch. The Belgians were inspiration less, sloppy and very lazy, like against Estonia last Saturday, but much much more. Wales played a million times better than Belgium. It's a pity they didn't win.

Not really sure we were talking about the same thing actually,,,  I was just saying that Belgium has never won anything and yet consistently are very high ranked and including being number 1, and also getting great results often against big teams. Not sure if this ever happened before to any team.

So to be winners, you do not necessarily need to play great all the time and win to rank,,, just get lucky and win KO tournaments 

[LittleBitFunny]

-snip
there is something that I always ask myself, is the amount of money that influences what those players win, for example the case of CR7 is totally different from theirs, I think that CR7 does not lose level from where it goes playing, whether internationally or in the club that is, CR7 will always give the maximum and is a player who will practically be in the QATAR world, the case of Luis Suarez is endangering his way to the World Cup, because Uruguay has problems for qualifying to QATAR It is getting very complicated, in fact in his last two games against Argentina he lost them. And it would be a shame if Suárez was not seen in the QATAR World Cup.

In Luis Suarez's case, I think that he is a better club player than an international player. And this can happen with a lot of players as they spend more time in the club they play for more than their international team. So it can be hard to cope up with the situation at times but I do want to see Luis Suarez in Qatar world cup too.

[herurist]

-snip
there is something that I always ask myself, is the amount of money that influences what those players win, for example the case of CR7 is totally different from theirs, I think that CR7 does not lose level from where it goes playing, whether internationally or in the club that is, CR7 will always give the maximum and is a player who will practically be in the QATAR world, the case of Luis Suarez is endangering his way to the World Cup, because Uruguay has problems for qualifying to QATAR It is getting very complicated, in fact in his last two games against Argentina he lost them. And it would be a shame if Suárez was not seen in the QATAR World Cup.

In Luis Suarez's case, I think that he is a better club player than an international player. And this can happen with a lot of players as they spend more time in the club they play for more than their international team. So it can be hard to cope up with the situation at times but I do want to see Luis Suarez in Qatar world cup too.

Yep, this can be used as an excuse because indeed those at the national team level only have a little time lag to make good chemistry and it is very different from the club level where they have more time.
on the other hand in the Uruguay game I actually saw a weakness in their midfield and back which was quite inconsistent and did not support their strikers.
And Suarez seems to have lost his magic here, it doesn't mean he's bad, but indeed some of the factors, such as lack of support and lack of communication, did worsen performance in matches.