European teams enter the fray as quest to reach Qatar begins

The road to Qatar and the 2022 World Cup is already well underway in Asia and South America and today Uefa joined the party as the draw for the European qualifiers took place. Daniele De Rossi and Rafael Van Der Vaart oversaw proceedings in Zurich as the 55 nations were divided into ten groups.

All ten group winners will qualify automatically for the finals in the first ever winter World Cup while the ten runners-up will compete in the playoffs along with the two best performing Nations League teams that did not finish in the top two of their group. This will see the 12 teams go into three groups of four and play each other in a semi-final and final, similar to what we saw in the Euro 2020 playoffs.

With the technical stuff now out of the way, lets take a look at how the draw panned out and assess the chances of the participants.

Group A

Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan

When Ireland were first drawn out, the reaction among fans would have been negative. After all, they would have to come up against Cristiano Ronaldo and company while also dealing with the prospect of a difficult trip to Belgrade.  But having saw the conclusion of the draw and letting the dust settle, manager Stephen Kenny should be quietly optimistic. Serbia very much blow hot and cold despite having the likes of Sergei Milinkovic-Savic in their ranks and are definitely beatable.

Luxembourg have done well in the past few years to make it into pot four but will be deemed as a kind draw while Azerbaijan is an awkward away day but have no World Cup pedigree.

Portugal should make relatively light work of this group and take the automatic spot while it looks like those two games in Belgrade and Dublin will almost be mini playoffs in themselves.

Group B

Spain, Sweden, Greece, Georgia, Kosovo.

Sometimes the phrase ‘there are no easy games in football’ can be easily debunked in the international game but this group should very much live up to that cliché.

Spain will fancy themselves to qualify quite comfortably in first place but the playoff spot is well and truly up for grabs. Sweden will be favourites with young prospects Dejan Kulusevski and Alexander Isak eager to make it to their first World Cup. Greece always provide stubborn opposition but have underperformed in recent years and are stuck in league C of the Nations League.

Georgia and Kosovo are two of the nightmare teams to draw from pots four and five. Georgia narrowly missed out on reaching Euro 2020 but have proven a tough but to crack recently while Kosovo have drawn attention for some wonderful attacking football despite only playing their first official match six years ago. Neither side will make it easy for the Swedes or the Greeks and it should prove a close race.

Group C

Italy, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania

This is what should be considered a terrible draw for Ian Baraclough’s Northern Ireland. Italy have enjoyed a resurgence under Roberto Mancini after missing out on Russia 2018 while Switzerland are perennial qualifiers for major tournaments, reaching the last four World Cups. The Swiss were the highest ranked team from pot two and Italy themselves will be annoyed to have drawn them as both now battle for the automatic spot.

Bulgaria are at a low ebb at the minute and may view this as a way to help build some confidence and set their sights on Euro 2024 while Lithuania will surely consider anything other than 5th place a success.

Group D

France, Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan

Another group which should see an extremely tight battle for the playoff berth. France will need to be wary as Ukraine and Bosnia are dangerous sides while Finland recently defeated Didier Deschamps’ men in a friendly. The talent in the French squad however is almost unparalleled and they could probably enter a second team into qualifying and still go through. The race for second should be exciting with Ukraine and Finland having both qualified for Euro 2020 while Bosnia are always a threat, even with Edin Dzeko firmly in the veteran stage of his career now.

The Finns are riding the quest of a wave right now and would love to emulate Iceland by following up a first ever major finals with a World Cup qualification. Kazakhstan should prop up the group but will be a dreaded away trip for the other teams with France facing an over 7,000 mile round trip.

Group E

Belgium, Wales, Czech Republic, Belarus, Estonia

This is quite a strange group as Wales and the Czechs go into it knowing their virtually guaranteed a playoff regardless of what happens due to their winning of their Nations League groups. Neither Ryan Giggs nor Jaroslav Silhavy will want their players using this as an excuse to slack off though as they chase automatic qualification ahead of the formidable Belgians.

Roberto Martinez’s side cruised through the Euro 2020 qualifiers with ten wins from ten and will be strongly fancied here to reach a third consecutive World Cup. There is a feeling that this may be the last World Cup for their golden generation to actually win the tournament itself so we should see no let up in this group.

Wales have been in the mix now for the last three major tournaments and similarly to Ireland’s group, should view their matches with the Czech Republic as playoffs among themselves as Belarus and Estonia are very unlikely to make any impact.

Group F

Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel, Faroe Islands, Moldova

Scotland will arguably consider themselves the happiest of the home nations as they have avoided the big hitters in pot one. Denmark however are one of the most underrated teams in international football at the moment having only lost in 2018 on penalties and booking their place at Euro 2020 by going unbeaten through their group. Austria are on a bit of an upward curve too after their disastrous showing during qualification for Russia. They comfortably qualified for Euro 2020 and won their Nations League group to give themselves the likely cushion of a playoff spot.

Scotland themselves will be buoyed after reaching a first major tournament in 22 years and the challenge now is to get back on the world stage. They’ll be very familiar with Israel, having played them five times since 2018. The Israeli’s themselves will look to regular goalscorer Eran Zahavi to give them some hope of troubling the top spots. The Faroe Islands will be hopeful of springing an upset to build on their recent good form while Moldova will take anything having just been relegated to the bottom tier of the Nations League.

Group G

Netherlands, Turkey, Norway, Montenegro, Latvia, Gibraltar

Group G is a very appetising group on paper as the top three seeds all eye top spot. The Dutch will go in as favourites although will be missing the talismanic Virgil Van Dijk for at least the opening two games which may allow Turkey or Norway to steal an early march. Turkey endured a rotten Nations League campaign and haven’t actually been back at a World Cup since their semi-final run in 2002. They’ll need to show massive improvement to have any hope of claiming top spot or even holding off Norway for second.

The Norwegians have some scintillating talent coming through and could give the Dutch a serious run for their money here. An attacking trio of Martin Odegaard, Jens Petter Hauge and Erling Haaland is enough to trouble any defence and it would be wonderful to see them fulfil their potential and reach the finals.

Montenegro will be confident off the back of a good Nations League campaign but a sustained run against better sides looks beyond them. Latvia are another team in a terrible spot at the minute while Gibraltar will be the likely whipping boys though they could cause an upset against the Latvians.

Group H

Croatia, Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta

An intriguing Group H will see a rematch of the 2018 World Cup quarter final between Croatia and Russia. Russian club football is in a fairly low place at the minute with largely terrible performances in European competition. With the Russian squad mostly home-based, this would suggest Croatia are rightful favourites for the group, even if their core players of the 2018 squad are now the wrong side of 30.

Slovakia progressed through the playoffs for Euro 2020 and will hope to get their again while Slovenia will be looking towards a first major tournament in 20 years should they manage to qualify. Cyprus will be looking to pick themselves up from poor recent form while Malta will be trying to overtake them and claim fifth place.

Group I

England, Poland, Hungary, Albania, Andorra, San Marino

England and Poland. It’s been a while but here we are again. Familiar rivals in the past will again do battle for a place in Qatar and while England will be firm favorites, write a team with Robert Lewandowski upfront off at your peril. Hungary are lurking as the third seed and will be waiting for any slip ups from the top two and aiming to take full advantage. In Dominik Szoboszlai they look to have a future star in the making.

Albania have failed to build upon their surprise appearance at Euro 2016 while Andorra vs San Marino could actually be one of the ties to look out for as both teams eye picking up a welcome victory.

Group J

Germany, Romania, Iceland, North Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein

Oh Joachim Loew. Fresh off receiving backing from the German FA that he will continue as the German coach, he finds himself with the kindest draw of any of the top nations. Die Mannschaft should sail through this group and leave it up to Romania and Iceland to battle it out for the playoffs. The two sides met in the Euro 2020 playoffs with Iceland coming out on top. They’ll be hoping to make it back to back World Cups which would be exceptional for such a small nation. North Macedonia will be hoping to follow their lead by backing up a first major tournament by qualifying for a World Cup.

Armenia may fancy themselves to get in the mix too and will look to Henrikh Mkhitaryan to inspire them while Liechtenstein will be hoping to pick up some results and build towards the next Nations League campaign and a promotion push.

It will be strange to see the qualifiers start in March before the European Championships were played and the awkward situation may arise where a bad start could see a manager lose his job before next summer’s festival of football. As for now, every manager will be hoping to avoid injuries to key players as the quest to reach the first World Cup in the Arab world begins.

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