Strange things in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers

Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal has not yet qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Photo: Reuters .

As of the early morning of October 14, fans have determined that 19 teams and 3 co-host countries, the US, Canada and Mexico, will participate in the biggest football festival on the planet. Notably, Europe has no representative yet.

The 2022 World Cup runners-up, France, were held to a 2-2 draw away by Iceland. This result reduced the gap between coach Didier Deschamps and his team to 3 points, with 2 more matches remaining in the qualifying round.

Portugal and the Netherlands are very close to a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. They only need to win against their direct opponents Hungary and Poland respectively in the next round to officially advance.

Erling Haaland's Norway team also needs 4 more points in the next 2 matches against Estonia and Italy. In Group I, Norway showed convincing performance with 18 points, 6 points more than Italy but played 1 more match.

Croatia, England, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria are also considered unlikely to lose their tickets if they maintain stable performance in the final matches.

According to FIFA's allocation, Europe will have 16 places to attend the 2026 World Cup, including 12 direct tickets for the 12 leading teams in the qualifying round and 4 tickets through the play-off series for the second-placed teams.

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Source: https://znews.vn/dieu-ky-la-o-vong-loai-world-cup-2026-post1593507.html