Big shocks in Concacaf as Curaçao and Haiti qualify directly, and Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Trinidad all eliminated. So 42 of the 48 teams have been determined with 2 spots remaining from the interfederation playoff and 4 more from the Uefa playoffs.
Nice win for USA over Uruguay 5-1, and Canada defeat Venezuela 2-0 in front of a near-empty stadium in Fort Lauderdale, of all places. Not sure what our federation is doing scheduling a game there, when we could have played in front of big crowds in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal. Unless, of course, they wanted free trips for themselves and their families to the Sun Belt...
Qualified teams: Hosts: USA, Canada, Mexico. Asia: Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar. South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay. Africa: Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Senegal. Europe: England, France, Croatia, Portugal, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Scotland. Concacaf: Panama, Haiti, Curaçao. Oceania: New Zealand
Although, they did win the group, so they would have qualified under the old format. Hopefully, they'll get a game here in Vancouver so we can get the full Tartan Army treatment.
They've finished above Denmark, so fair play to them. But its still pretty fair to say that under the old format, there's little chance that they'd have been in such an easily navigable group. Edit: ... or not. Ive just had a look back at UEFA's last qualifying cycle, and while, yes, they had 5-team groups, almost all of which featured at least one European powerhouse, the fact is that the one decent team that finished above the Scots was ... wait for it ... Denmark. So yeah, had they taken care of them in 2021, yup, they would have qualified.
I thought Greece would do better after their impressive Nations League promotion to League A, but I should have known better. I do like the idea of 4-team groups, it would certainly reduce the monotony of qualifying and constant international breaks.
Here is the Uefa playoff draw for the final four spots complete with Gianni Infantino telling his colleague how many billions the WC will make:
Not so sure about path B but I would guess Italy, Turkey and Denmark will go through. Disappointed that Jamaica could not get past Curacao, but I didn't realize they had Steve McLaren as coach so I guess not so surprising.
You just just have to laugh at the brazen-ness of it. Ronaldo got a straight red against Ireland and so was due for a ban. FIFA have handed him a 3-match ban as expected, but with 1 already served, the 2 other games have been deferred for 12 months. So he's clear for all the world cup games
Pape Sarr wins his second major trophy in 8 months as Senegal take the Afcon with a 1-0 extra-time victory over host Morocco. The game was marred with controversy as Senegal had a perfectly legitimate goal at the beginning of second half stoppage time ruled out for a phantom foul. Then Morocco were rewarded the softest of pens, which caused the Senegal players to leave the pitch in protest. When they came back after 15 minutes of confusion, the Moroccan player Diaz tried a Penenka that the keeper saved. In the end, justice was served.