2022 WC Qatar - European qualifiers

[nogomet]

Here we go, the pots are finalized. The draw is on 7 December 2020.

[nogomet]

WAL and AUT virtually secured a WC 2022 play-off spot. To lose it, FRA, BEL, ITA or ESP should be outside Top 2 in their WC-q groups, which is unrealistic.

Austria secured this position in a dramatic fashion - with a goal in 4th minute of added time vs Norway.

CZE and HUN wait in line below them, should WAL and/or AUT secure a Top 2 finish in regular qualifiers.

[amirbachar]

The NL group winners could have huge conflict of interest in WC qualifying if they are drawn against another group winner. By losing to them on purpose, they could free up a playoff spot, and then have higher chance of getting 1 of the 2 NL spots in the WC Playoffs.
Now that Hungary finished as a group winner, only 6 of them would be seeded in pot 1 and 2, so the situation is even worse.

[Lorric]

You are doing wonderful work, nogomet.

[Gorandinho]

The NL group winners could have huge conflict of interest in WC qualifying if they are drawn against another group winner. By losing to them on purpose, they could free up a playoff spot, and then have higher chance of getting 1 of the 2 NL spots in the WC Playoffs.
Now that Hungary finished as a group winner, only 6 of them would be seeded in pot 1 and 2, so the situation is even worse.

I dont understand

edit: oh I finally do

Thats why I dont like this NL play off stuff. It interferes with regular qualy.

[dnina10]

The NL group winners could have huge conflict of interest in WC qualifying if they are drawn against another group winner. By losing to them on purpose, they could free up a playoff spot, and then have higher chance of getting 1 of the 2 NL spots in the WC Playoffs.
Now that Hungary finished as a group winner, only 6 of them would be seeded in pot 1 and 2, so the situation is even worse.

I dont understand

edit: oh I finally do

If I may Gornandinho, let's say Wales goes in a group with Italy and Russia. Wales can basically tank, lose all 8-10 of their matches, and still make the World Cup playoffs, knowing that at least 3 of the 4 nations above them in the Nations League group winner rankings will already have qualified for the World Cup or the World Cup playoffs, thus awarding them a spot in the World Cup playoffs as one of the two best group winners not to qualify

[amirbachar]

The NL group winners could have huge conflict of interest in WC qualifying if they are drawn against another group winner. By losing to them on purpose, they could free up a playoff spot, and then have higher chance of getting 1 of the 2 NL spots in the WC Playoffs.
Now that Hungary finished as a group winner, only 6 of them would be seeded in pot 1 and 2, so the situation is even worse.

I dont understand

edit: oh I finally do

Thats why I dont like this NL play off stuff. It interferes with regular qualy.

Yes, I agree it's problematic, but the solution is very simple:
Assign each one of the best 10 NL group winners to another qualifying group (for the 11th-14th it's unrealistic to qualify through NL anyway...)
Another added bonus is that Leagues B & C group winners will not meet the NL Final Four teams, therefor have an easier path in theory, so they will get some reward.

[dnina10]

Two questions here:

1) Do we know when the League C Nations League relegation playoffs will be? Just to let everyone know, the teams that will take part of this are the four teams that finished bottom of their League C group in the Nations League (Cyprus, Estonia, Moldova and Kazakhstan)

2) Will the four teams participating in the League C Nations League relegation playoffs also be allotted into a World Cup qualifying group with 5 teams as well?

Edit: The League C Nations League relegation playoffs will be 24/25 and 28/29 of March 2022

[amirbachar]

The NL group winners could have huge conflict of interest in WC qualifying if they are drawn against another group winner. By losing to them on purpose, they could free up a playoff spot, and then have higher chance of getting 1 of the 2 NL spots in the WC Playoffs.
Now that Hungary finished as a group winner, only 6 of them would be seeded in pot 1 and 2, so the situation is even worse.

I dont understand

edit: oh I finally do

If I may Gornandinho, let's say Wales goes in a group with Italy and Russia. Wales can basically tank, lose all 8-10 of their matches, and still make the World Cup playoffs, knowing that at least 3 of the 4 nations above them in the Nations League group winner rankings will already have qualified for the World Cup or the World Cup playoffs, thus awarding them a spot in the World Cup playoffs as one of the two best group winners not to qualify

It's more than that, Wales can still finish as a group winner and qualify directly, so they still have an incentive to win. What I meant is this:
Let's take Hungary - they are in pot 3. Let's say that they are drawn with Wales and Greece.
Now after 8 matches they can no longer be in the top 2, and Greece are in a close race with Wales for the runner up spot. They could lose to Wales on purpose, therefore Wales will not use the NL playoff spot, and they will have a better chance of getting it.

[Lorric]

The NL group winners could have huge conflict of interest in WC qualifying if they are drawn against another group winner. By losing to them on purpose, they could free up a playoff spot, and then have higher chance of getting 1 of the 2 NL spots in the WC Playoffs.
Now that Hungary finished as a group winner, only 6 of them would be seeded in pot 1 and 2, so the situation is even worse.

I dont understand

edit: oh I finally do

If I may Gornandinho, let's say Wales goes in a group with Italy and Russia. Wales can basically tank, lose all 8-10 of their matches, and still make the World Cup playoffs, knowing that at least 3 of the 4 nations above them in the Nations League group winner rankings will already have qualified for the World Cup or the World Cup playoffs, thus awarding them a spot in the World Cup playoffs as one of the two best group winners not to qualify

That's not what amirbachar is talking about though I don't think. Now, let's put Slovenia in your group, a C league winner from pot 4. Slovenia has fallen away and can't qualify. Wales are fighting Russia for 2nd. If Wales lose that fight they'll take up one of the two playoff slots, so Slovenia throw their match against Wales to help Wales so it might be them that get a playoff.

He got there first, but I'm still posting, damn it!

[amirbachar]

I dont understand

edit: oh I finally do

If I may Gornandinho, let's say Wales goes in a group with Italy and Russia. Wales can basically tank, lose all 8-10 of their matches, and still make the World Cup playoffs, knowing that at least 3 of the 4 nations above them in the Nations League group winner rankings will already have qualified for the World Cup or the World Cup playoffs, thus awarding them a spot in the World Cup playoffs as one of the two best group winners not to qualify

That's not what amirbachar is talking about though I don't think. Now, let's put Slovenia in your group, a C league winner from pot 4. Slovenia has fallen away and can't qualify. Wales are fighting Russia for 2nd. If Wales lose that fight they'll take up one of the two playoff slots, so Slovenia throw their match against Wales to help Wales so it might be them that get a playoff.

He got there first, but I'm still posting, damn it!

Your example is just as good, if not better

[Meister Ether]

Two questions here:

1) Do we know when the League C Nations League relegation playoffs will be? Just to let everyone know, the teams that will take part of this are the four teams that finished bottom of their League C group in the Nations League (Cyprus, Estonia, Moldova and Kazakhstan)

2) Will the four teams participating in the League C Nations League relegation playoffs also be allotted into a World Cup qualifying group with 5 teams as well?

Edit: The League C Nations League relegation playoffs will be 24/25 and 28/29 of March 2022

That could have been done that way, indeed. But now we have a reason why the Playouts are scheduled for March 2022: Moldova qualified for Pot 6, thus cannot be allocated to a group of 5 teams and regulary there would not be any match day off for them in 2021.
Although now, UEFA could have rescheduled the Playouts to June 2021 since there are no qualifiers scheduled in order to leave the Euro participants some space for pre-tounamental test matches.

I don't understand completely why this had been done and we now will have again two triple-header windows in March and September 2021. This time for almost every nation with three official marches.
That's just a bit insane to me reagarding players' health.
CONMEBOL have scheduled WC Qualifiers right before the Copa América.

[dnina10]

Two questions here:

1) Do we know when the League C Nations League relegation playoffs will be? Just to let everyone know, the teams that will take part of this are the four teams that finished bottom of their League C group in the Nations League (Cyprus, Estonia, Moldova and Kazakhstan)

2) Will the four teams participating in the League C Nations League relegation playoffs also be allotted into a World Cup qualifying group with 5 teams as well?

Edit: The League C Nations League relegation playoffs will be 24/25 and 28/29 of March 2022

That could have been done that way, indeed. But now we have a reason why the Playouts are scheduled for March 2022: Moldova qualified for Pot 6, thus cannot be allocated to a group of 5 teams and regulary there would not be any match day off for them in 2021.
Although now, UEFA could have rescheduled the Playouts to June 2021 since there are no qualifiers scheduled in order to leave the Euro participants some space for pre-tounamental test matches.

I don't understand completely why this had been done and we now will have again two triple-header windows in March and September 2021. This time for almost every nation with three official marches.
That's just a bit insane to me reagarding players' health.
CONMEBOL have scheduled WC Qualifiers right before the Copa América.

Ahh, that didn't even occur to me. Yeah, I agree. I just can't see why they are waiting well over a year to play the playoffs. Surely they can do it sooner, as you mentioned

[wannabeontop]

I dont understand

edit: oh I finally do

If I may Gornandinho, let's say Wales goes in a group with Italy and Russia. Wales can basically tank, lose all 8-10 of their matches, and still make the World Cup playoffs, knowing that at least 3 of the 4 nations above them in the Nations League group winner rankings will already have qualified for the World Cup or the World Cup playoffs, thus awarding them a spot in the World Cup playoffs as one of the two best group winners not to qualify

It's more than that, Wales can still finish as a group winner and qualify directly, so they still have an incentive to win. What I meant is this:
Let's take Hungary - they are in pot 3. Let's say that they are drawn with Wales and Greece.
Now after 8 matches they can no longer be in the top 2, and Greece are in a close race with Wales for the runner up spot. They could lose to Wales on purpose, therefore Wales will not use the NL playoff spot, and they will have a better chance of getting it.

If you don't mind me saying, that's just silly. (And unrealistic, but that's beside my point.) Because playoffs are a tossup, like a box of chocolate, like life itself - you never you what you're gonna get

My point is this: any sane nation will fight for the first place (if they don't get France of course), not the playoffs. If not, then second.

What I don't know is how they wc playoff draw will work. Can someone explain? Is there anyone who already gets it?

[DumoKing]

The 10 2nd placed teams and 2 best non-qualified NL group winners enter and are drawn into pairs. Winners of round 1 are then drawn into new pairs in the second round. The 3 winners from these get the WC places. Not sure how they will seed these matches. So I don't think anyone will aim for this route, but with the right scenario (like those above) it could happen.