Already sure of a place in the very delicate mini-tournaments with the last three places up for grabs for Qatar Portugal, Sweden, Scotland, Russia and Macedonia. Poland is practically certain. Holland and Wales could also arrive
Nobody really wants to think about it, but that Italy risks ending up in the playoffs is a fact. And then, if only for good luck, we see the situation of the runners-up in all the groups (except that of the Azzurri) of these qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar.
Group A
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The Portugal by Cristiano Ronaldo will certainly be one of the biggest threats of the playoffs. Thanks to Mitrovic’s goal in the 90th minute, Serbia moved to Lisbon and broke off their direct opponents by winning first place and a ticket for Qatar. For Portugal, second, all that remains is to rely on the very risky playoff process.
Group B
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Morata’s goal to Sweden consecrates the first place of Spain that flies to the World Cup. The playoffs are therefore the second Sweden by Ibra, a team that brings bad memories for us …
Group D
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With France already qualified, second place is a struggle between Finland, currently behind the transalpines with 11 points, e Ukraine, immediately behind with 9. The other two are out of the game. Finland host France on Tuesday evening, while Ukraine go away to Bosnia. The games are still open.
Group E
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As in the previous group, it has already been decided who will go directly to Qatar, Lukaku’s Belgium. In all likelihood, the playoffs will go to the Wales di Bale which on Tuesday hosts Belgium who have already qualified. But the Czech Republic, who plays at home with Estonia largely out, could still make the coup: if the Welsh lose and the Czechs win, the two teams would in fact find themselves together with 14 points. The goal difference is still in favor of Wales (+5 against +3 in the Czech Republic), but there are still two games to play.
Group F
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Denmark are qualified and in this case it will not be necessary to wait for tomorrow night’s races to know the second one: it will be there Scotland which in fact has a 7-point advantage over Israel and Austria, third.
Group G
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The ranking sees at the moment before theHolland with 20 points (after the resounding 2-0 then 2-2 in Montenegro), followed by Turkey And Norway with 18. The games are still open considering that the Netherlands-Norway and Montenegro-Turkey are scheduled on Tuesday. Van Gaal’s boys therefore play everything at home. If they win, to finish second Turkey could even afford the luxury of losing but taking a look at the goal difference that sees the team led by Kuntz at +10 and the Norwegians at +9. If, on the other hand, Norway wins in Rotterdam, they would rise to first place in the group, paired with the Turks in the event that they also win against Montenegro. At that point, the goal difference would decide first and second, with the Netherlands sensationally out of everything.
Group H
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With a 1-0 win on the Russia, Croatia bypasses their opponents in the standings and wins first place and direct access to the World Cup. Therefore, Russia goes to the playoffs, due to a single point of disadvantage.
GROUP I
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At the moment England is first in the standings with 23 points, followed by Poland by Lewandowski and Milik at 20. There is still a round to go, but it is practically impossible for the situation to change, given that tomorrow evening Kane and his teammates will play against San Marino with zero points, while Poland hosts Hungary. And even if the two teams were miraculously tied on points, the English now have a +26 goal difference against Poland’s +20.
GROUP J
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Germany – already in Qatar – beat Armenia in the last qualifying round today. Behind him stands the fruit salad who by beating Iceland 3-1 maintains the point of advantage he had over Romania and gains access to the playoffs.
the rules of the playoffs
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So let’s see what the playoff rules are. The ten runners-up of the groups seen above and the two best teams of the unqualified Nations League enter this phase with a totally new formula. These twelve teams will be divided into three groups of four who will play semi-finals and finals with a single race: the three winners qualify. The best six runners-up will be seeded and each semifinal will see opposing one seeded and one unseeded, with pairing defined in a draw scheduled for November 26 in Zurich.
November 14, 2021 (change November 14, 2021 | 23:01)
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