With 27 teams now qualified for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, this international break will continue to complete qualification for the tournament.
After Saudi Arabia and Japan officially qualified on Thursday morning, teams from Europe, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and Africa are now looking to qualify too during the March international break.
Portugal and Poland joined the qualifiers for Qatar 2022 after defeating North Macedonia and Sweden respectively in the UEFA final playoff.
The Portuguese defeated North Macedonia 2-0 with two goals from Bruno Fernandes and an assist from Cristiano Ronaldo, who will join Tota Carbajal, Rafa Márquez and Lothar Matthäus as the only players to have played in five World Cups.
Robert Lewandowski and the Poles also won their match 2-0, preventing Zlatan Ibrahimovic from bidding farewell to the Swedish national team at a World Cup.
Ghana, the African representative, earned its place in the next World Cup after drawing 1-1 with Nigeria in the second leg. In the first leg, both teams played to a goalless draw, so Thomas Partey‘s away goal was enough.
With a great deal of drama, Senegal became the second African team to win one of the five places for Qatar 2022. Despite losing the second leg 1-0 to Egypt, Sadio Mané was once again his country’s hero on penalties, scoring the winning goal, while his Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah missed his shot for the Egyptians.
Later, Morocco‘s 4-1 win over Congo (5-2 aggregate) and Tunisia‘s goalless draw with Mali (1-0 aggregate) qualified Morocco and Tunisia for the World Cup, while Cameroon suffered until the last minute but defeated Algeria 2-1 in overtime to secure their place in Qatar.
In addition, the United Arab Emirates defeated South Korea 1-0 to secure third place in Asian Group A and will play a playoff against Australia to determine which team will play a playoff against CONMEBOLPeru, who clinched this sport with a victory 2-0 over Paraguay..
Last Friday night, Ecuador and Uruguay book their ticket for Qatar as part of CONMEBOL qualification. Then, on Sunday night, Canada reached the World Cup for the first time in 36 years via CONCACAF qualification.
For now, Qatar (as hosts) are at the top of the list of teams already qualified for this winter’s 2022 World Cup. They will be seeded, while the rest will depend on the FIFA ranking.
These are the teams with their tickets already booked:
- Qatar
- Germany
- Denmark
- Brazil
- France
- Belgium
- Croatia
- Spain
- Serbia
- England
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- Argentina
- Iran
- South Korea
- Japan
- Saudi Arabia
- Ecuador
- Uruguay
- Canada
- Ghana
- Senegal
- Portugal
- Poland
- Morocco
- Tunisia
- Cameroon
When are the key matches in each confederation?
UEFA (Europe)
These are the three final matches for a World Cup berth on UEFA:
- Poland 2-0 Sweden
- Scotland/ Ukraine vs Wales (Postp.)
- North Macedonia 0-2 Portugal
CONMEBOL (South America)
- Bolivia 0-4 Brazil
- Chile 0-2 Uruguay
- Ecuador 1-1 Argentina
- Peru 2-0 Paraguay
- Venezuela 0-1 Colombia
After Brazil and Argentina had already qualified, Ecuador and Uruguay sealed their ticket during this international break. and Peru secured their place in the playoffs.
CONCACAF (North America)
- Canada 4-0 Jamaica
- El Salvador 1-2 Costa Rica
- Honduras 0-1 Mexico
- United States 5-1 Panama
Canada booked its first ticket to the World Cup since Mexico 1986, while the United States and Mexico virtually sealed their place in Qatar in 2022, although they must confirm it on Wednesday.
CAF (Africa)
- DR Congo 1-1 Morocco
- Cameroon 0-1 Algeria
- Mali 0-1 Tunisia
- Egypt 1-0 Senegal
- Ghana 0-0 Nigeria
Second leg matches
- Nigeria 1-1 Ghana*
- *Senegal 0-1 Egypt (3-1 pen.)
- *Morocco 4-1 DR Congo
- *Tunisia 0-0 Mali
- Algeria 1-2 *Cameroon
* World Cup berth clinched.
AFC (Asia)
South Korea, Iran, Japan and Saudi Arabia have already qualified.
Australia and United Arab Emirates will play a playoff to see who will represent Asia in the intercontinental playoff and their opponents will be Peru.
OFC (Oceania)
This Wednesday, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands will play a match in Qatar in order to know who will face the Concacaf 4th place (likely) Costa Rica in the international playoff for a World Cup berth.
