In the group stage of the European region of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, germany and the Netherlands, the two traditional giants, both had a poor start, but after the change of coach, they rebounded strongly, and finally there was no danger to direct promotion. Italy and Portugal, which have always mastered the initiative of promotion, eventually fell into the play-offs "unexpectedly".
Compared with the 2018 World Preliminary Round, the European Play-offs of the World Preliminary Tournament have been significantly adjusted, with the 12 teams participating in the play-offs consisting of 10 teams from the second group and 2 Teams from the European Nations League. In the past, the play-offs were directly dueling between two teams, with the winner of the two rounds being selected for the main tournament, but this time the 12 teams were divided into three groups, and each group of 4 teams played each other in two or two for a semi-final, the winner entered the final, and the winner of the final was finally selected for the main tournament.
Italy and Portugal are undoubtedly the two most powerful teams in the 12 teams in the play-offs, when drawing lots, they are really afraid of what comes, Italy and Portugal are drawn to the same group, Italy may not be able to qualify for the World Cup for two consecutive world cups, Portugal led by C Ronaldo may also fail to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, Italy, Portugal, doomed at least one to Qatar. Turkey and North Macedonia, which were drawn to Group C together with Italy and Portugal, could only sigh bitterly, while the teams that drew Group A and Group B were secretly glad that they avoided the two fierce rivals.
At 3:45 a.m. Beijing time on March 25, the Semi-Finals of Group A of the World Preliminary European Zone Play-offs: Wales vs Austria
The match between Scotland and Ukraine in the same group was postponed until June.
The Welsh squad has superstar Bale who plays for Real Madrid, and there is no such famous player in the Austrian squad. According to FIFA, Wales, which is 20th in the world, is also higher than Austria, which is 30th in the world. In the group stage of the European division of the World Preliminary Round, Wales also had a better record than Austria.
Wales, which is in the same group as Belgium and the Czech Republic, ranked second in the group with 8 wins, 4 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, and 15 points, and qualified for the play-offs. Austria, which was in the same group as Denmark, Scotland, Israel, the Faroe Islands and Moldova, finished fourth in the group and qualified for the play-offs with a better result in the European League.
In the recent competition, the results of the two sides are not comparable. At the 2020 European Championship, Wales and Austria both advanced to the knockout round in the group, and in the quarter-finals, Wales lost 0:4 to Denmark, and Austria lost 1:2 to the final champion Italy.
Wales have won 4, drawn 4 and lost 2 of their last 10 matches in all competitions.
Austria have won 5, drawn 1 and lost 4 of their last 10 matches in all competitions.
The two sides have met in the last 5 times, 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, and the last 3 meetings, Wales are unbeaten against Austria with 2 wins and 1 draw.
In this game, it can be optimistic about the home team Wales small victory, and it is not ruled out that the regular time draw will enter extra time.