ESPN – Can you imagine a FIFA World Cup in Qatar without Portugal‘s Cristiano Ronaldo or Egypt‘s Mohamed Salah? Or a tournament in which European champions Italy or African champions Senegal fail to qualify? Well the bad news for those mentioned, and fans across the globe, is that some of the game’s headline acts will see their Qatar 2022 dreams extinguished in the coming days during the World Cup playoffs.
By the end of this international break, seven nations will have booked their place in this year’s World Cup through the playoffs. Three more will be confirmed when the Intercontinental playoffs and the culmination of the European path involving Ukraine take place in June.
World Cup play-offs: Portugal face Turkey while Italy take on North Macedonia in crucial semi-finals
SkySport – Portugal must get past Turkey on Thursday to face either Italy or North Macedonia in same World Cup play-off path; Sweden vs Czech Republic and Wales vs Austria also live on Sky Sports Football.
The World Cup 2022 playoffs are set to take place over the next fortnight with the final three European berths yet to be decided ahead of this winter’s tournament in Qatar. Portugal coach Fernando Santos has described the coming days as the most important challenge of his time in charge.
Mondiali: Azzurri a caccia del pass per il Qatar
Ansa – Playoff: Italia sfida la Macedonia, il Portogallo la Turchia
Gli scongiuri sono d’obbligo, ma per il primo atto dei playoff mondiali il pronostico non potrebbe essere più azzurro. La vittoria dell’Italia di Mancini, opposta domani sera, a Palermo, alla Macedonia del Nord, è data dagli analisti di Snai a quota modestissima, 1,17.
