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Apoorv Dwivedi
Five spots for Africa decided
Egypt suffered a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Senegal yet again. Mohammed Salah missed while Sadio Mane scored in the battle of two Liverpool teammates. The match caught media attention for use of lasers by Senegal fans on the face of Egyptian players.
Bad luck chose to befall Algeria. The score was 2-2 on aggregate but Cameroon went through for scoring two away goals. Meanwhile, Ghana has defeated Nigeria and angry fans took their frustration out by storming on the pitch and throwing bottles.
Tunisia and Morocco emerged as the unlikely winners and booked themselves a ticket to Qatar.
European qualifying Finals
Cristiano Ronaldo said a day earlier that “There can be no world cup without Portugal”. His teammate from Manchester United Bruno Fernandes struck twice in a 2-0 win against North Macedonia. This will be the fifth world cup for both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Robert Lewandowski scored in a 2-0 win against Sweden and took the second last European spot, the fight for the last spot will see Scotland facing off against Ukraine in June. The winner will go on to face Wales in the final qualifying match.
Qualification from South America finalized
In South America, Brazil has finished at top of the qualification table. Argentina’s unbeaten run continues as they drew with Ecuador. Peru has cemented itself in the fifth spot to keep Chile and Columbia out of World Cup.
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Peru are the 5 qualified teams.
In North America, Canada has entered the world cup for the first time in 36 years. Christian Pullisic’s USMNT needs to avoid a 6-0 defeat against Puerto Rico to qualify directly for the world cup. Mexico is heavily poised for the third direct qualification from North America.
Frustration in Italy’s dugout
Star Juventus and Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci have expressed their frustration with the current qualification system in Europe.
He said, “We played it all in a one-off match, it’s an absurd system. Unfortunately, that’s the way it went, but it’s a crazy decision. There are teams that qualified after losing four or five games, we are at home after losing only one in the 92nd minute. It is truly madness. Clearly, the regulation is not an alibi or an excuse, we certainly had to do better.”
The last 5 spots are to be decided in June
27 out of 32 spots are confirmed. Qatar has qualified by the virtue of being the host. With one European qualifier remaining, the rest four will be decided by inter-confederation matches.