As if the nightmare of playing the playoffs wasn’t enough for Italy and Portugal , now they will have to prolong the anguish that represents the probability of facing each other in the duel for a place in the World Cup from Qatar
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Italy, recent European champion, will seek her pass to the World Cup in a history similar to that of Portugal for Russia 2018. Both had to go through the repechage, however, the Lusitanians have already qualified in this way to the World Cups in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, something that has become routine for those led by Fernando Santos, although the Italians have not overcome the setback of elimination against Sweden who left them without going to the world cup.
Although the group where Italy and Portugal meet is not so simple, both teams are forced to beat North Macedonia and Turkey , respectively, to search each other for the classification to the next World Cup.
During the draw held in Zurich, Switzerland, the World Champion in 1990, Lothar Matthaus pointed out during the draw that Portugal has great potential to qualify for the team who has and to have Cristiano Ronaldo.
“The D he last European champions, Italy and Portugal, surely have great potential to reach the final, similar to Germany in 2002 . A personality like Cristiano Ronaldo has to be part of the FIFA World Cup . The same applies to Italy. I had a fantastic time at Inter, which is why a part of my heart beats for the Azzurri ”, commented Matthaus at the gala of the draw.
Italy and Portugal will begin their commitments of repechage in local condition, although the winner between Italians and Macedonians, would face the winner between Portuguese and Turks as visitor.
The rest of the duels were defined in the draw
Group A and B were defined with the teams they will have opportunity to fight for a place in the Qatar World Cup 2022, with the novelty that due to geopolitical issues and the military conflict that Russians and Ukrainians maintain, They did not meet in the semifinals and they will not see each other in a hypothetical final.
Group A was defined with the confrontations between Scotland vs Ukraine and Wales vs A ustria, taking into account that the winner between Welsh and Austrians will receive from home The winner between the Scots and the Ukrainians.
Group B paired in the first semifinal to Russia vs Poland and in the second semifinal Sweden vs Czech Republic , although the winner between the Russians and the Poles will be the one who receives the winner between the Swedes and the Czechs in the other bracket.
The repechages in Europe are defined for the 24 and 29, and the winner of each group will get the ticket to Qatar 2022.