2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar - UEFA Qualifiers

[LUCKMCFLY]

Italy was playing world cup qualifiers terribly, they were unable to win most games, achieving only boring ties against considered weak teams such as Northern Ireland and Bulgaria. And even though Switzerland isn't a weak team, Italy should have been superior to them, but they were unable to do it as well, staying in second position in group C. Considering it, Portugal seems to have some advantage over them.
However, at same time, Italy has played Eurocopa 2021 brightly and that is a very strong factor at their favour. I could even believe Italy has totally focused their effort and energy in Eurocopa until now and since it's over, they can fully concentrate their skills in world cup from this phase on.

You are right in this concern, but sadly Italy is facing some serious trouble with too many injuries which are occurring these matches, and they have to face few unwanted draws against weak teams, so now they are in qualifiers for next world cup after losing their spot in last world cup, but surely we all know in few things no one can do any magic, so this happens in Italy case they are facing some terrible injuries with too many players but now good luck they have some good time hopefully during this period they will have some better options or alternative, so they will be able to play against strong opponent like Portugal and will qualify for next world cup.

The truth is Italy is the team of my soul, I like Italian football, and everything that has to do with Italy, and the truth is that they deserve to enter the World Cup, however on the other side there is Portugal, and Portugal I just want That he goes to the World Cup for CR7, I want to see if CR7 and Messi can meet in an eventual World Cup final, because France is in charge at a given moment of eliminating a very powerful Brazil, France always represents it, as in the 2002 World Cup, when France eliminated Brazil and played with Italy, which was when Zinedine Zidane was expelled, which was a great final.

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[jostorres]

Portuguese players are actually quite good and some of their names can be said to be famous names but their performance in the national team is very different at the club.
they seem to lose momentum and cooperation when playing at the national team level.
talking about their coach actually i see ronaldo more often giving instructions than fernando santos

This case happened to many teams because they faced some difficulty in national teams, even having some very good players with good skills and quality. Portugal has this for some years and on other side Italy never have any issue like this because they are better unit in national team even they are having some bad time for last world cup and now again at a crucial time their team lost momentum, and they are playing qualifier, but they are in better shape then Portugal.

It is the biggest advantage for them in next qualifier Portugal is having some other issues as well as peoples saying Ronaldo is trying to hijack all things in place of his coach which is also having issue, but many things could be handled in better way for mega events.

[Alanaz]

Portuguese players are actually quite good and some of their names can be said to be famous names but their performance in the national team is very different at the club.
they seem to lose momentum and cooperation when playing at the national team level.
talking about their coach actually i see ronaldo more often giving instructions than fernando santos

This is very true! Fernando Santos is heavily criticized in Portugal, for always using players who no longer pay to the detriment of other good players. In addition to not putting players to play in their usual ways (so the "darlings" can continue playing). It was because of this bad strategy that they are now in the playoffs.

He is one of the coaches who is actually spoiled because there are already good players in him and he just needs to make the right composition for that.
but he's overconfident in this qualifier and it's this trait that makes him have to fight for the playoffs now.
for the playoffs themselves there is no guarantee of easy passage now because indeed the teams that are on the playoff path can't be underestimated, moreover there is their strongest competitor, namely Italy.

[Cnut237]

To see the World Cup's quality to increase, I think that Fifa need to increase the quota that they have given to European teams. I hope that we can watch many more European teams in the World Cup after the next format of the tournament.

These is your own suggestion as you said .
FIFA will always wanna do it the way they want and yet, many people like you around the globe are giving diverse suggestions too.
The European football association has always made the world cup distinguished for the European countries only so if the should be an advancement, then it's left for FIFA to decide

I don't think the European quota should be increased. If the World Cup was just the best teams in the world, it would be entirely Europe and South America, it would be the same teams every time, and it would lose some appeal. It is far better, and more truly a World Cup if it is the best representatives from every continent. Even though I am European, I would like to see more African and Asian nations there. It is more exciting to encounter new teams from new nations, and these nations don't get thrashed 10-0 every time, they do genuinely compete, we've seen it many times.

[skscengeng]

Portugal and Italy, one of these teams are going to be eliminated from the World Cup Qualifiers and this makes me really sad. I would really like to see both of them competing in the World Cup. Because they both deserve to be a part of this tournament. But there is nothing we can do about this unfortunately. And if I choose one of them to join the World Cup, I'd prefer seeing Italy there.

[coco23]

Portugal and Italy, one of these teams are going to be eliminated from the World Cup Qualifiers and this makes me really sad. I would really like to see both of them competing in the World Cup. Because they both deserve to be a part of this tournament. But there is nothing we can do about this unfortunately. And if I choose one of them to join the World Cup, I'd prefer seeing Italy there.

I agree with you, both teams should be in the tournament. Italy is the bigger name on paper and with a more successful history, but Portugal has its appeal because of Christiano Ronaldo. I would love to see him one last time in a big tournament.

[Cnut237]

Portugal and Italy, one of these teams are going to be eliminated from the World Cup Qualifiers and this makes me really sad. I would really like to see both of them competing in the World Cup. Because they both deserve to be a part of this tournament. But there is nothing we can do about this unfortunately. And if I choose one of them to join the World Cup, I'd prefer seeing Italy there.

I'd like to see them both there, too. But if all the big European teams were guaranteed to qualify, then what's the point of the qualification process? If there's no jeopardy, there's no point to it. This time one of those two won't make it, and they'll have to wait to try again next time around.

[Pulsar77]

Bookmakers think the complete opposite thing that I think seemingly.    Because I'm expecting to see Wales defeating Austria and Ukraine moving Scotland out of their way. I definitely expect two competitive games here. But Wales and Ukraine have better attacking lines than their opponents I think. They can close their weaknesses in their defenses like this. And after that, Ukraine can beat Wales and join the World Cup.

In recent matches Austria is doing some better just because of this, Bookmakers are feeling into this way. Austria and Scotland can go for final of this Path as well but if this happens then surely Austria could be better team and can win this, but Ukraine is also having very good squad with some good players, and they can win this match and go for final against other winner. But still good thing from 55 tough European teams ten already qualified and now 3 more need to do this through this qualification which is not easy, let's watch how these teams prepare and done for their qualification.

If we see an Austria - Scotland matchup in the final round of their path, then my favourite side would be Austria. They seem to be a little ahead of Scotland in terms of strength. But we never know. We witness so many surprises happening in the Qualifiers or tournaments like this. And I still think about whether it would be good to increase the quota for the European teams to join the World Cup. Because we see very strong teams being eliminated in the Qualifiers too.

[wxa7115]

To see the World Cup's quality to increase, I think that Fifa need to increase the quota that they have given to European teams. I hope that we can watch many more European teams in the World Cup after the next format of the tournament.

I don't think it's fair!
For those who want to see top-level Europe football, just follow UEFA.

As several people have already commented here, FIFA's intention is to increasingly open space for all confederations to have a fair opportunity to participate in the World Cup.
If there is any continent that should benefit from more teams qualifying, in my opinion it would be the one with the most countries interested in participating in the championship, and not the best.

We must remember that FIFA has in a way already resolved this, the 2022 world cup to be held at Qatar seems to be the last world cup with 32 teams.

The world cup of 2026 which will be held at Canada, Mexico and the US will hold 48 teams, the format is kind of odd but if successful then this means that the increase of 16 spots will allow us to see a more diverse set of countries making it to the tournament, while at the same time increasing the revenue they will get out of it, while the fans get even more soccer to watch, so it seems like a decision everyone can get behind.

[perfect999]

We must remember that FIFA has in a way already resolved this, the 2022 world cup to be held at Qatar seems to be the last world cup with 32 teams.

The world cup of 2026 which will be held at Canada, Mexico and the US will hold 48 teams, the format is kind of odd but if successful then this means that the increase of 16 spots will allow us to see a more diverse set of countries making it to the tournament, while at the same time increasing the revenue they will get out of it, while the fans get even more soccer to watch, so it seems like a decision everyone can get behind.

If FIFA is going to take a decision like this, surely it's going to be very good for soccer fans and many other countries with very good increase in revenue and fans bank. Because with current quota we are missing some good number of quality teams those deserve to be in this mega event which is playing after every four years.

But, maybe they face some big issue with time frame because surely this will increase duration for this even as well which is not helpful for many European countries as their leagues have no enough time for this all but if they settled this all with mutual understanding then surely it's going to be very exciting time for soccer fans around the globe.

[alegotardo]

We must remember that FIFA has in a way already resolved this, the 2022 world cup to be held at Qatar seems to be the last world cup with 32 teams.

The world cup of 2026 which will be held at Canada, Mexico and the US will hold 48 teams, the format is kind of odd but if successful then this means that the increase of 16 spots will allow us to see a more diverse set of countries making it to the tournament, while at the same time increasing the revenue they will get out of it, while the fans get even more soccer to watch, so it seems like a decision everyone can get behind.

Honestly, despite having commented on this before, I think it is an exaggeration to increase the list of countries in this way.
I agree that this is more an ambition for money than an honest intention to diversify football across more countries.

FIFA should focus more efforts on making the qualifiers fairer for all continents, that would be a "heroic act".

[poldanmig]

Portugal and Italy, one of these teams are going to be eliminated from the World Cup Qualifiers and this makes me really sad. I would really like to see both of them competing in the World Cup. Because they both deserve to be a part of this tournament. But there is nothing we can do about this unfortunately. And if I choose one of them to join the World Cup, I'd prefer seeing Italy there.

Yes, one of the two great teams can be sure will be eliminated more quickly in the 2022 world cup, the two teams are currently in one lane in the play-offs, and if we look at it they will most likely face each other in the final of the play-off route C later, now there are only 3 tickets left and the final winners from each lane will get the remaining 3 tickets from the European zone to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

[Daniel91]

Portugal and Italy, one of these teams are going to be eliminated from the World Cup Qualifiers and this makes me really sad. I would really like to see both of them competing in the World Cup. Because they both deserve to be a part of this tournament. But there is nothing we can do about this unfortunately. And if I choose one of them to join the World Cup, I'd prefer seeing Italy there.

Yes, one of the two great teams can be sure will be eliminated more quickly in the 2022 world cup, the two teams are currently in one lane in the play-offs, and if we look at it they will most likely face each other in the final of the play-off route C later, now there are only 3 tickets left and the final winners from each lane will get the remaining 3 tickets from the European zone to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

In fact, Italy and Portugal are to blame for not being able to qualify directly for the World Cup and now they have to worry until the last minute.
They didn't have difficult groups, but they played very poorly in the qualifications and now they only have this last chance through additional qualifications.
Italy is the current European champion but failed to qualify for the last World Cup in Russia in 2018.
That's why I'm cheering for Italy because I think it would be a disaster for them not to qualify for the World Cup again.

[alpamar99]

Portugal and Italy, one of these teams are going to be eliminated from the World Cup Qualifiers and this makes me really sad. I would really like to see both of them competing in the World Cup. Because they both deserve to be a part of this tournament. But there is nothing we can do about this unfortunately. And if I choose one of them to join the World Cup, I'd prefer seeing Italy there.

Yes, one of the two great teams can be sure will be eliminated more quickly in the 2022 world cup, the two teams are currently in one lane in the play-offs, and if we look at it they will most likely face each other in the final of the play-off route C later, now there are only 3 tickets left and the final winners from each lane will get the remaining 3 tickets from the European zone to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

In fact, Italy and Portugal are to blame for not being able to qualify directly for the World Cup and now they have to worry until the last minute.
They didn't have difficult groups, but they played very poorly in the qualifications and now they only have this last chance through additional qualifications.
Italy is the current European champion but failed to qualify for the last World Cup in Russia in 2018.
That's why I'm cheering for Italy because I think it would be a disaster for them not to qualify for the World Cup again.

if you look at their matches in the qualifying phase, it's actually not too difficult considering that the team that is in the same group as them is still below them.
However, their reality is different, such as losing their spurs in yesterday's phase which made them thrown into the KnockOut Phase.
I myself saw in the last few matches Italy and Portugal seemed lacking in tactics and their formation was too monotonous

[Boristhecat]

We must remember that FIFA has in a way already resolved this, the 2022 world cup to be held at Qatar seems to be the last world cup with 32 teams.

The world cup of 2026 which will be held at Canada, Mexico and the US will hold 48 teams, the format is kind of odd but if successful then this means that the increase of 16 spots will allow us to see a more diverse set of countries making it to the tournament, while at the same time increasing the revenue they will get out of it, while the fans get even more soccer to watch, so it seems like a decision everyone can get behind.

We must also remember that FIFA is trying to move the World Cup from a four-year cycle to a two-year one. This will deal a serious blow to the clubs and to the prestige of this competition, it seems to me that sooner or later it will lead to the fact that the meaning of playing for the national teams will gradually disappear.

[ILuckyGuyI]

We must remember that FIFA has in a way already resolved this, the 2022 world cup to be held at Qatar seems to be the last world cup with 32 teams.

The world cup of 2026 which will be held at Canada, Mexico and the US will hold 48 teams, the format is kind of odd but if successful then this means that the increase of 16 spots will allow us to see a more diverse set of countries making it to the tournament, while at the same time increasing the revenue they will get out of it, while the fans get even more soccer to watch, so it seems like a decision everyone can get behind.

We must also remember that FIFA is trying to move the World Cup from a four-year cycle to a two-year one. This will deal a serious blow to the clubs and to the prestige of this competition, it seems to me that sooner or later it will lead to the fact that the meaning of playing for the national teams will gradually disappear.

I agree. FIFA is making an effort to change the cycle of this most special tournament in football. This is going to be a big problem for the participant teams if the cycle is decided as two years. I absolutely don't support this idea. Because this is going to make things difficult for the players as they would have a much tighter schedule. And we could see more injury problems etc.. I believe that the World Cup should stay the way as it's always been.

[Juggy777]

We must remember that FIFA has in a way already resolved this, the 2022 world cup to be held at Qatar seems to be the last world cup with 32 teams.

The world cup of 2026 which will be held at Canada, Mexico and the US will hold 48 teams, the format is kind of odd but if successful then this means that the increase of 16 spots will allow us to see a more diverse set of countries making it to the tournament, while at the same time increasing the revenue they will get out of it, while the fans get even more soccer to watch, so it seems like a decision everyone can get behind.

We must also remember that FIFA is trying to move the World Cup from a four-year cycle to a two-year one. This will deal a serious blow to the clubs and to the prestige of this competition, it seems to me that sooner or later it will lead to the fact that the meaning of playing for the national teams will gradually disappear.

I agree. FIFA is making an effort to change the cycle of this most special tournament in football. This is going to be a big problem for the participant teams if the cycle is decided as two years. I absolutely don't support this idea. Because this is going to make things difficult for the players as they would have a much tighter schedule. And we could see more injury problems etc.. I believe that the World Cup should stay the way as it's always been.

@ILuckyGuyI wasn’t this idea shot down by all, and honestly it would cause player’s to withdraw from the tournament because their yearly fixture list is already congested. Also I’m not sure if fans are open to seeing more teams, because if those teams perform poorly then they won’t attract more viewers, and it’s a risky but a bold move nevertheless.

[joker_josue]

I agree. FIFA is making an effort to change the cycle of this most special tournament in football. This is going to be a big problem for the participant teams if the cycle is decided as two years. I absolutely don't support this idea. Because this is going to make things difficult for the players as they would have a much tighter schedule. And we could see more injury problems etc.. I believe that the World Cup should stay the way as it's always been.

That's true. And although I don't agree with this idea of a World Cup every 2 years either, this could open up other interesting opportunities.

Increasing the load of games will force teams to start turning more players. This could motivate the emergence of more quality players, or give the opportunity to other good players who don't have that opportunity now. The teams and selections, had to start to have more rotating teams, with not just an 11 base, but several possibilities.

So, although I don't think it's a good idea, it could be a new opportunity for more players.

[yayayo]

I agree. FIFA is making an effort to change the cycle of this most special tournament in football. This is going to be a big problem for the participant teams if the cycle is decided as two years. I absolutely don't support this idea. Because this is going to make things difficult for the players as they would have a much tighter schedule. And we could see more injury problems etc.. I believe that the World Cup should stay the way as it's always been.

That's true. And although I don't agree with this idea of a World Cup every 2 years either, this could open up other interesting opportunities.

Increasing the load of games will force teams to start turning more players. This could motivate the emergence of more quality players, or give the opportunity to other good players who don't have that opportunity now. The teams and selections, had to start to have more rotating teams, with not just an 11 base, but several possibilities.

So, although I don't think it's a good idea, it could be a new opportunity for more players.

I've read of some influential players complaining about a World Cup being held every 2 years. I just don't understand the problem, normally you just play a European Championship and in South America they have the Copa Libertadores. Logistically, it shouldn't be a problem either. You play a tournament every 2 years anyway, then just combine everything with a World Cup every time, just as easy. Just don't think it has enough support.

ya.ya.yo!

[coco23]

I've read of some influential players complaining about a World Cup being held every 2 years. I just don't understand the problem, normally you just play a European Championship and in South America they have the Copa Libertadores. Logistically, it shouldn't be a problem either. You play a tournament every 2 years anyway, then just combine everything with a World Cup every time, just as easy. Just don't think it has enough support.

ya.ya.yo!

Well, there is some appeal in having more localized tournaments like the Eurocup or the South America Cup as it gives smaller teams from those regions a chance to competein a big tournament. Also there is the aspect of shorter travelling distances to the location for fans and teams. Ultimatively it is a question of power though. FIFA is trying to get all tournaments and essentially wants UEFA (and others) to submit