World Cup Qualifiers: 14 tickets up for grabs in final stretch

In just a week - another 14 nations will secure their spot at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

And if that wasn’t enough - just two days later - FIFA will hold the World Cup draw to determine the matchups we'll have in the first round.

An exciting 10 days of action await us… Here is a preview of what to expect.

CONCACAF

The stakes are high for the biggest rivalry in the region - Both Mexico and the United States have had frustratingly inconsistent qualifying campaigns. That allowed Canada to cruise into the top of the standings - and are now on the verge of securing their first trip to the World Cup in 36 years.

Mexico and the U.S. are four points behind - and will face each other Thursday night. A win for either team will essentially guarantee their place in Qatar. A draw doesn’t hurt either team, but what is at stake is finding their best form to close out qualifying and gain momentum as they switch focus to prepare for the World Cup.

The U.S. has several key pieces missing, including projected starters Sergiño Dest, Weston McKennie, and Brenden Aaronson - in addition to others who are not playing at their best or coming out of an injury such as Gio Reyna, Josh Sargent, and Ricardo Pepi.

The fact that Mexico is playing at home and the players the U.S. will not have available, should make El Tri the favorite but in this rivalry nothing comes easy and you only have to go back to the 2021 Gold Cup Final - when a B team from the U.S. beat an almost full A team from Mexico.

Despite having never won an official game in Mexico, the U.S. has managed to get draws in the last two qualifying games on Mexican soil.

After the anticipated game against the U.S. - Mexico has an opportunity to finish strong by playing last place Honduras on the road and host El Salvador for the final two games.

The U.S. faces a little more difficult set of games - after their road visit to Mexico, they will host Panama and close out their campaign on the road to Costa Rica.

The realistic ‘worst’ case scenario for the U.S. would be needing to get a result in that final game - so the U.S. should try to secure their spot before then.

In the end, Canada, Mexico and the United states should qualify - the closest battle to follow could be between Panama and Costa Rica who may end up in a fight for the fourth spot for the intercontinental playoff.

EUROPE

10 of the 13 spots have already been secured - Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Croatia, England, Germany are in.

And now 11 teams are vying for the final three spots.

THE BIG GAME

However - by far the most intriguing bracket is third and final one - Defending European champions Italy take on North Macedonia and if they win, would face the winner of the game between Portugal and Turkey - which most likely will give us a winner-takes-all game between Portugal and Italy.

One of the last two European Champions will fail to qualify.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

If Portugal is the team that wins that game and eliminates Italy - it would be a damning defeat for the Azzurri. It would mean that Italy - who has won 4 World Cups, tied for second with Germany - will miss out on the tournament for a second consecutive time. Italy has not reached the second round of the World Cup since they won it all in 2006 in Germany - meaning that failure to qualify means they will go at least 20 years without a win in a knockout stage and would’ve managed to win only one World Cup game during that span.

If Italy wins, they become an instant threat in the field - but that would mean Portugal would be left out for the first time since 1998 - and even more concerning - it could very well mean the end of Cristiano Ronaldo in the World Cup as he would be 41 years old when the 2026 World Cup in North America.

ADDRESSING THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

The big headline is the fact that Russia was disqualified as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile - Ukraine’s playoff against Scotland has been moved from March to June. The winner will face the winner of the Wales-Austria game for one of the spots.

In the second bracket - Poland who originally was supposed to play Russia - will now host the winner of the Sweden-Czech Republic game.

CONMEBOL

South America tends to have a hyper-competitive and crazy final stretch of qualifying, but that may not happen this time around.

Brazil and Argentina have already booked their place at the World Cup, being head and shoulders better than everyone else.

In third place,

Ecuador is in a very strong position to make a return - all they need is a single point in their final two games to secure their spot. Even with two losses they could still qualify since their two closest rivals will play each other.

And speaking of those teams in the chase - Uruguay sits in fourth place just one spot ahead of Peru who at the moment would be the team playing in the intercontinental playoff.

The key game in this window will be Uruguay hosting Peru on Thursday - a win by Uruguay automatically secures their spot along with Ecuador’s.

Peru even with a loss is still the favorite to clinch the playoff spot - even a loss to Uruguay, a home win against Paraguay in their final game could be enough, as it would force Chile to win their two remaining games which include a road game against Brazil and home match against Uruguay.

AFRICA

10 teams remain in the fight - with half of them making it to Qatar.

By far the biggest match-up will be between Senegal and Egypt which will pit Liverpool teammates Madio Sane and Mohamed Salah against each other.

In January, Senegal won the African Cup of Nations by beating Egypt in penalties.

The other games include:

Algeria v. Cameroon

Nigeria v. Ghana

Morocco v. Democratic Republic of Congo

Tunisia v. Mali

For those who enjoy watching new teams play in the World Cup for the first time - you should root for Mali, it’s your best and only hope.

ASIA

Iran and South Korea have already secured their spots.

in group B - Saudi Arabia leads the way along with Japan. Australia is closely behind them - and will close out with games against them - Japan at home and on the road to Saudi Arabia.

Australia has to win both if it wants to avoid the playoff.

OCEANIA

New Zealand is the overwhelming favorite and any other result would be a major upset.