Portugal stamped the ticket for the final phase of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar this Tuesday and already knows that it will be in pot 1 of the draw, which is scheduled for 17:00 (mainland Portugal) next Friday, the 1st of April.
In addition to Qatar, the organizer, the seven best classified in the FIFA rankings ensured their presence in this pot, with Portugal (8th) benefiting from the Italian failure.
Most of the 32 vacancies are already filled, and the winners of the play-off intercontinental teams and also those who follow Canada directly in the CONCACAF qualification: the advantage belongs to the United States (+13 goal difference) and Mexico (+7), with Costa Rica (+3) needing to thrash the north Americans and wait for Mexico to lose to El Salvador to, in the last round, reach second or third place.
Here is the possible configuration of the draw:
Mate 1: Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain and Portugal
Mate 2: Netherlands, Mexico*, Germany, United States*, Denmark, Switzerland, Uruguay and Croatia
Mate 3: Japan, Iran, Serbia, Morocco, South Korea, Poland, Senegal and Tunisia
Mate 4: Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Cameroon plus the three spots via ‘play-off’ (Wales OR Scotland OR Ukraine), Asia (Australia OR United Arab Emirates) vs South America (Colombia OR Chile OR Peru) and Oceania (New Zealand OR Solomon Islands) vs North and Central America (Mexico OR United States OR Costa Rica)
* to be confirmed
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