The Argentina Selection He successfully closed the “triple” qualifying date with his triumphs over Venezuela (3-1) and Bolivia (3-0) and remains firm on his way towards the Qatar 2022 World Cup when 9 of the 18 rounds of the South American qualifying process have already been held, with the exception of the still-started Brazil-Argentina suspended in São Paulo.
Lionel Scaloni will take a few days in the country before returning to Mallorca, Spain, where he resides, to begin designing the new list for him.next triple date, in the October FIFA window, and with the already anticipated and repeated protest of European clubs to loan players.
By then, the coach would have the injured Sergio Agüero and Lucas Alario available again, two of his usual summoned. It is speculated that Scaloni will provide the new list in approximately two weeks to face Paraguay in Asunción on Thursday 7, Uruguay at home on Sunday 10 and Peru, also at home, on Thursday 14.
The South American Qualifiers are, together with the European Qualifiers, the two that are most advanced in the World Cup classification, which has 31 places still without owners, with the exception of Qatar. Brazil, which like Argentina has one game less, comfortably leads the positions with 24 points out of 24 possible, followed by Argentina (18), Uruguay (15) and Ecuador (13), among which would be directly qualifying Qatar today. Fifth, in the playoff zone, Colombia appears, also with 13 units but worse goal difference than Gustavo Alfaro’s. In the outside lot are Paraguay (11), Peru (8), the surprising -to bad- Chile (7), Bolivia (6) and Venezuela (4).
Everything seems to indicate that the National Team will enjoy a smooth flight to Qatar, unlike in recent Qualifiers agonizing qualification as towards South Africa 2010 and Russia 2018. Anyway, Scaloni’s team, which has a current undefeated in 22 games (nine from the historical record of the Alfio Basile National Team, between 1991 and 1993), he cannot relax with only five points away from the playoffs and will seek to extend his distance next October.
In Europe, a little bit of everything
September also served as a triple date for the European Qualifiers, although without kicking the most powerful clubs in the world to yield players, of course. With areas of extreme disparity as usual and in the absence of only four days for the closing of the phase of ten groups (the former go to the World Cup; and the latter, together with three teams from the UEFA Nations League, will go to a playoffs to settle another three tickets), there are already several teams that have one foot in Qatar: Denmark, with 18 points out of 18 possible, 22 goals in favor and none against, he walks through his area ahead of Scotland (11), Israel (10) and Austria (7) among those who fight for second place; Belgium (16) does the same followed by the Czech Republic (7) and Wales (7); while France (12) does not get nervous despite having added only 5 of the 9 points at stake these days and is well away from Ukraine (5) and Finland (5).
Another that is comfortable is Italy (14), although with two more games than their immediate follower, Switzerland (8). England (16) leads in his zone with good distance over Albania (12), Poland (11) and Hungary (10); while Germany (15) do the same in their group followed by Armenia (11), Romania (10) and Macedonia (9). More fought is the story between the Netherlands (13), Norway (13) and Turkey (11) in the attractive Group G, or between Croatia and Russia (both with 13) in H. In A, meanwhile, Portugal (13) and Serbia (11) they settle the first place while in the B, Spain (13) depends on Sweden (9) not complicating things, since he has two less games to his credit.
Some African surprises
The African Qualifiers began just this month and feature a first phase of ten groups (six dates), where the first of each zone will advance to direct elimination matches to decide the five classified to Qatar. In the two days played, several hits were recorded: Libya 1st place in their group with a perfect score ahead of Egypt (4); Ivory Coast surpassed Cameroon local and he took advantage in a very fought zone; while South Africa defeated Ghana, another World Cup habit of recent times. Meanwhile, the coup in Guinea He left his clash with Morocco unfinished and still has no definition.
A curiosity, in the attractiveness Tanzania’s 3-2 over Madagascar, the visiting goalkeeper committed a penalty 4 seconds into the game. Quite a rarity.
Omani hit in Japan
In Asia the process consists of two groups of six teams (ten dates), with the first two getting a direct ticket to Qatar, and the third playing each other to access the playoffs. The note on these first two dates was given the unknown Oman, defeating none other than Japan as a visitor. On the second day, everything seemed to return to normal, with an Omani fall to Saudi Arabia and a Japanese victory over China. Australia and Arabia they lead Group B with 6 points. In the A, Iran (6) and South Korea (4) they are located first and second.
With Australia in the Asian ranking, the rest of the ocean casts They play their own Eliminatory that has as their own a playoff ticket.
Concacaf is missing a lot
Another Eliminatory that made its debut this month was the Concacaf. With just three games played out of the 14 totals, Mexico (7 points), the surprising Canada (5) and the United States (5) are among those that rank directly. Then there are Panama (5; repechage zone), Costa Rica (2), Honduras (2), El Salvador (2) and Jamaica (1).
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