
With no Premier League action taking place this weekend due to the winter break, there may be some football fans lost with their team not playing. While there’s plenty of Football League fixtures across the country, there’s also a selection of World Cup qualifiers for the upcoming Qatar tournament. The World Cup is later this year – let’s get excited!
In total, there are three FIFA Confederations holding World Cup qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup commencing in November. Central America national teams, USA & Canada will be competing over the course of the weekend with the majority of teams having three clashes on the pitch.
After eight games already played, it’s Canada that top the round-robin group in the chase for qualification. They continue their qualifying campaign with a trip to Honduras, before hosting the USA. Then, they finish this round of qualifying against El Salvador.
Meanwhile, USA will host El Salvador in their first matchup, before a clash with Canada and then Honduras on Feb 3. Elsewhere, West Ham United star Michail Antonio has been called up to the Jamaica squad for their qualifiers, who will come up against Mexico, Panama & Costa Rica.
It’s hotting up in the round-robin table, with two points separating four teams at the top going into the qualifiers. Each fixture is a must-win game for Canada, USA, Mexico & Panama – who will be top at the end of this stage of qualification?
Moving South of CONCACAF, South America’s CONMEBOL will hold another round of qualifiers this weekend. Both Brazil & Argentina have already qualified for the upcoming competition. As a result, it has been reported that Lionel Messi will sit out of qualifying & rest. The rest of the Argentinian squad will face Chile & Colombia.
Ecuador are currently third in the group, and are the best of the rest in terms of chasing qualification. They have a clash against Brazil before heading to Peru for their second game of this round of qualifying.
Just two points separate four teams all with an outside chance of qualifying for the World Cup in November. Colombia, Peru, Chile & Uruguay are all competing against one another for a top four spot in the group. Colombia & Peru face each other in this round of fixtures – watch out for that one.
Across the world, the Asian Football Confederation have World Cup qualifiers across the weekend – some of which have already kicked off! Australia have now maintained their third position in Group B with a comfortable 4-0 victory against Vietnam. At the start of this round of fixtures, no international team has qualified, with the final round of qualification fixtures yet to be confirmed.
Between now & Tuesday, each team in both Group A & Group B will play two games to further the qualification process. In Group A, IR Iran are currently top by two points, and have upcoming battles with United Arab Emirates & Lebanon.
Closely chasing Iran is Korea Republic, who could have the opportunity to overtake their rivals, with away fixtures against Lebanon & Syria. The rest of Group A have a significant difference to catch up on, and as things stand, are currently outside looking in when it comes to qualifying for the World Cup.
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