with whom and when will the Russian national team play in the joints, lost to Croatia, a possible rival of Russia in the World Cup 2022 Qualification
So, Russia finished second in the qualifying group, losing to Croatia in the last round. Qatar is now dependent on play-offs.
For the first time in the history of the world championships, the joints will be held not in one stage, but in two – that is, now it is more difficult to get to the tournament from the second place than before.
And now, briefly about what awaits our team. Yes, unfortunately, we are counting the layouts again.
It is not only the teams with the second places that fall into the joints
12 teams participate in the joints.
Two more teams have been added to the 10 teams that took second place in the qualifying class – with the highest ratings in the League of Nations, but not making their way into the top two in the classic selection groups (now Austria and the Czech Republic).
Now the joints are played not in two matches, but in one, but you have to go through two stages – a clean playoff
12 national teams are divided into 6 semi-final pairs. The winners play in the final of the playoffs for the remaining 3 tickets…
In both stages of the play-offs, only one game is played, and not two, as before.
The hosts of the first stage of the joints of six national teams with the second place with the best indicator. By the way, only matches with the first 5 teams of the group are taken into account; there is a game with Cyprus that does not count towards the Russian national team.
The hosts of the second stage of the joints (where they will already compete for tickets to the World Cup) will be determined by lot.
When are the matches?
The matches of the first stage will be held on March 24-25, the second – on March 28-29…
Most importantly: who will we get?
It is possible to estimate all rivals only after the finish of the selection for all groups. But here’s the picture for this minute.
• Russia will be seeded by the sixth team: will be in the top six from the second teams. Among the rivals in the first stage: Scotland, Turkey (in its place could be the Netherlands or Norway), Finland (maybe Ukraine), North Macedonia, Austria, Czech Republic…
• But sowing is unlikely to give armor. Even if at the first stage we get a weaker opponent, at the second stage at the first stage someone is more serious. For example, Portugal (in the last minutes I lost at home to Serbia and let it go directly), Sweden or Sweden.
When is the draw?
November 26 (Friday) in Zurich, Switzerland…
Photo: RIA News/ Alexander Wilf; Eastern news/ AP Photo / Darko Bandich, Anton Vaganov