Maybe. They wouldn’t be beating anyone of consequence, though.
You can simulate the impact of winning/losing and how it effects your points here → FIFA football ranking - Calculate the FIFA point of a match - LIVE - Daily updating
That site also updates the rankings daily, so you can check in once games start around the globe tomorrow.
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Because I don’t feel like working this morning, here is a WCQ roundup (most spots will be decided in this window).
Qualified - 15
Hosts - Qatar
UEFA - Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Serbia, England, Switzerland, Netherlands
CONMEBOL - Brasil, Argentina
AFC - Iran, South Korea
Slots Remaining - 17
UEFA - 3
3 Four team playoffs
Wales/Austria winner vs Scotland/Ukraine winner (not played until Jun)
Poland vs Sweden/Czech Rep winner
Portugal/Turkey winner vs Italy/North Macedonia winner
CONMEBOL - 2.5
3rd/4th place auto qualify, 5th place goes to playoff vs AFC 5th
Ecuador assured of at least the intercontinental playoff
Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Columbia still alive with 2 games left
AFC - 2.5
2 of Saudi Arabia, Japan, or Australia will auto qualify
UAE vs 1 of Saudi Arabia, Japan, or Australia for playoff vs CONMEBOL 5th
CAF - 5
5 two legged matches for qualification
Egypt vs Senegal
Cameroon vs Algeria
Ghana vs Nigeria
DR Congo vs Morocco
Mali vs Tunisia
CONCACAF - 3.5
Top 3 auto qualify, 4th place goes to playoff vs OFC 1st
Canada assured of at least the intercontinental playoff
USA, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica still alive with 3 games left
El Salvador can only qualify through intercontinental playoff
OFC - 0.5
Winner goes to playoff vs CONCACAF 4th
Trying to play qualification tournament currently in Doha, but Covid has forced 2 withdrawls
Best I can tell Soloman Islands, Tahiti, and New Zealand are through to semifinals
Papua New Guinea vs Fiji for final semifinal spot
I’m taking Fiji making a huge run from the First Four to the Final Four… wrong sport I know but trying to make this make sense in my head.
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Japan beats Australia, which means it and Saudi Arabia are off to Qatar. The Aussies are locked into 3rd in the group, so they’ll have to go the long way to get there.
The Arbitrary’s pick of Fiji to the Final Four is still intact.
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Hmm, 2:15. Got time to pull up one of the UEFA qualifiers and … only on ESPN+.
GDI.
I think Portugal/Turkey is on ESPN2. The others are on the +.
Fiji is bounced.
Can I interest you in either the Solomon Islands or Papua New Guinea? Maybe Tahiti?
Huh, I must have seen a halftime score of 1-0 Fiji, but I could swear ESPN had it as FT.
Sadly the Euro qualifiers are only on a service in Canada that I refuse to pay for on top of my cable sports stations. However if Italy and Portugal play each other that will be worth going over to a pub in the Italian part of town to watch.
Portugal on its way with Turkey. Meanwhile, Italy is outshooting North Macedona 16-1, but only 3 shots on goal to 1 and is scoreless at the half.
Italy had a terrible turnover and basically gave North Macedonia an open net, but the shot looked like a weak grounder the 2nd base and the keeper was able to recover in time.
North Macedonia wins in Italy on a 93rd minute goalazo!!!
The Euro champs will miss their 2nd consecutive World Cup.
OH MY GOD
Unfreakingbelievable that Italy missed one world cup. Missing two in a row is nuts.
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Winning the Euros between the missed world cups makes it all the more baffling.
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European Champions who failed to qualify for the following World Cup:
1976/78 Czech Republic
1992/94:Denmark
2004/06: Greece
2020/22: Italy
crazy. still had to get through Portugal anyway but wow
Going into the final 2 games in qualifying, Italy just needed to beat Switzerland and then not lose to Northern Ireland and they were cleanly in. That draw earlier in the group stage against Bulgaria came back to haunt them.
Sure, there was still Portugal to go. But a loss there would have been understandable; you’re playing a top-10 team in the world. Not a loss to the 67th-ranked team in the world. You’re just not supposed to do that, ever. Not if you’re Italy.
Likely won’t happen, but now I really want North Macedonia to get another scalp and get the golden ticket.
