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After the final round of qualifiers, a lot more countries have now qualified for the World Cup in Russia, with many more, including some big names, falling out of the qualification race. 23 countries have already made it to Russia, which means that there are only 9 spots to go before the draws for the group stages of the World Cup happens on the 1st of December.
Even though there are nine spots to go, the spots are not up for grabs by anyone, as the people contending for these spots will battle it out in the play-offs. Four from Europe and three from Africa - these are where the bulk of the remaining qualification spots lie.
For the teams that have not cemented their qualification, they can look at it as a chance to practice more in case they are lucky to qualify, and for the countries that have already qualified, they start a rigorous process of preparing and squad selection ahead of next year’s tournament.
A total of 32 teams will be competing at the World Cup, with 14 of those teams from Europe. Africa gets 5 representatives, South America and Asia also gets 5, and the CONCACAF only gets three spots.
Qualified Teams
As earlier mentioned, twenty three teams have qualified for the World Cup in Russia. We will take a look at them according to their continents.
Asia
Asia was one of the first places were qualifications wrapped up. They have five spots for the World Cup and four of those have already been filled up. The representatives from Asia are:
• Iran
• South Korea
• Japan
• Saudi Arabia
In addition to these four, Australia also has a chance to join them. It will be playing a two-legged Inter-Confederation playoff battle.
Africa
Africa has five spots available to them at the World Cup, and out of that five, only two has been filled.
• Nigeria
• Egypt
Mohamad Salah of Egypt was the hero as his team won by two goals to one to qualify for their first ever World Cup. Also, Nigeria defeated Zambia by a lone goal, which was enough to secure qualification.
There are still three spots left, with eight teams left in contention. These spots will be filled when the last games of the group stage are played.
North America
Three countries have qualified from North America. They are:
• Mexico
• Costa Rica
• Panama
Honduras is still in contention, and they also have to play the Inter-confederation play-off. Perhaps the biggest shock in the qualifying rounds was the US Men’s National Team who failed to qualify for the first time in many years. They were defeated in their last game by an already eliminated Trinidad and Tobago by two goals to one.
South America
Going into the last day of qualifying matches, there was a chance that Lionel Messi could miss out on what can easily be his last World Cup. After a horrifying qualifying round, Argentina needed to win to secure qualification. And it was Messi that stepped up for them, providing a master class of a performance and scoring a hat-trick.
The countries that qualified are:
• Brazil
• Uruguay
• Argentina
• Colombia
Peru finished in fifth place and will be playing the Inter-confederation playoffs. The biggest shock here would have to be Chile, who failed to qualify after they were defeated by Brazil on the last day.
Oceania
No country secured automatic qualification in Oceania, but it will be New Zealand participating in the playoffs.
Europe
Europe has the highest number of representatives at the World Cup with 14 countries. Out of those 14, 10 have already qualified. They are:
• Russia (Hosts)
• France
• Portugal
• Germany
• Serbia
• Poland
• England
• Spain
• Belgium
• Iceland
The big story here has to be the qualification of Iceland. They become the smallest country to ever qualify for the world cup ever. They have just a population of 334,000 people. Portugal was on the verge of not clinching the automatic qualification spot, but a 2-0 defeat to Switzerland sees them qualify ad Switzerland battle it out in the playoffs.
Eight countries will be battling it out in the playoffs, where only four can qualify. The biggest name in the playoffs is Italy. They finished second in their group against Spain and will now be joining the likes of Sweden and Croatia in the playoffs.
