Zurich, November 26 (BNA) Today, Friday, the European champions, Italy, and Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo, were drawn in the same qualifiers for the World Cup, which means that at least one of them will miss next year’s championship in Qatar.
Italy will face North Macedonia at home in the semi-finals next March, and the winner will play away to either Portugal or Turkey for a place in the World Cup, the Associated Press (AP) said.
Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup – losing in the qualifiers to Sweden – and are now likely to beat Ronaldo and Portugal to avoid missing out on the tournament for the second time in a row. Portugal have always qualified during Ronaldo’s career. He played for the first time in the 2006 World Cup.
Also in the 12-team draw, Scotland will face Ukraine at home, the winner of Wales or Austria playing in the final of their group.
Russia will host Poland in order to get the right to face Sweden or the Czech Republic in the final of the brackets. Russia or Poland will host the final.
The six semi-final matches in the first-leg and elimination match will take place on March 24th. The three finals will be held five days later.
The three winners will complete the entry of 13 European countries into the 32-team squad in Qatar.
FIFA will hold the draw for the tournament on 1 April in Doha.
The playoffs feature the 10 teams that finished second in their qualifying groups along with two teams – Austria and the Czech Republic – who won the Nations League groups last year.
NS