Portugal must get past Turkey on Thursday to face either Italy or North Macedonia in same World Cup play-off path; Sweden vs Czech Republic and Wales vs Austria also live on Sky Sports Football
Thursday 24 March 2022 14:58, UK
The World Cup 2022 playoffs are set to take place over the next fortnight with the final three European berths yet to be decided ahead of this winter's tournament in Qatar.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos has described the coming days as the most important challenge of his time in charge.
Portugal will play Turkey on March 24 in Porto with the winners to face either Italy or North Macedonia five days later in a game that will determine one of the last three spots left for European teams at Qatar 2022, which kicks off in November.
Veteran Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo was named in the 25-man squad that will start their preparation on Monday.
"It's simple: we need to win, nothing else matters," Santos told a news conference.
"This is the most important challenge I had as Portugal manager. Not the most difficult, the most important. We must be in the World Cup for our people. The tickets were sold out in minutes more than a month ago. Our fans will be a major factor and we can't let them down."
In his eight years as Portugal manager, Santos won the 2016 European Championship and reached the last-16 at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The coach is confident that his team, who dropped into the play-offs after losing their final group stage qualifier to Serbia, can go through if they keep their cool.
"We are in this spiral of drama that is not positive for us," Santos said.
"We lost one game in the last seven games. There were things that didn't go well, but we just didn't win a game against Serbia.
"We were very upset about that, but now it's about taking what was positive and win again. Talent wins games, but a team wins championships. Players know that and they are in the right mindset."
Mario Balotelli was overlooked by Italy coach Roberto Mancini for the upcoming World Cup play-offs, with 30-year-old Cagliari striker Joao Pedro given his first call-up to the squad instead.
Balotelli, who plays in Turkey, last appeared for the Azzurri in 2018 but returned to the setup during the international break in January for a get-together during which no matches were played.
Widespread reports suggested Mancini, who worked with Balotelli at Inter Milan and Manchester City, would bring the 31-year-old back in for next Thursday's semi-final against North Macedonia, but Brazilian-born Joao Pedro got the nod instead.
Lazio defender Luiz Felipe has also received his first call-up, while veteran centre-back pair Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini are included despite both missing recent Juventus matches through injury.
Italy will host North Macedonia on March 24 at Palermo's Stadio Barbera in front of a capacity crowd after COVID-19 measures were lifted this week, with the winners facing either Portugal or Turkey in the playoff final for a spot at Qatar 2022.
Wales are aiming to reach their first World Cup finals since 1958, having featured at the last two European Championships, but must first get through two play-off games, the first a semi-final with Austria live on Sky Sports Football from 7pm, kick-off at 7.45pm.
The winner of the Wales vs Austria semi-final will face the winner of Scotland vs Ukraine, a game that has been postponed due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That fixture will now be played in June, with the play-off final to follow in the same month.
Former Welsh international Joe Ledley, speaking exclusively to Sky Sports, believes the pair of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey - both fit for the visit of Austria - can make the difference in ending more than 60 years of World Cup hurt.
"They make everyone believe," he said.
"For players in the dressing room, when they look left and see Ramsey and look right and see Bale, it makes you feel like God.
"If one is missing, the other one will step up. As a double act, there is nothing better."
Czech Republic will be without Patrik Schick for their World Cup play-off against Sweden.
Schick, top scorer for Bayer Leverkusen, has not played since tearing a calf muscle in February.
His presence in the playoff game at Solna, Sweden, on March 24 would have boosted the Czechs' chances of qualifying for the World Cup after 16 years.
Coach Jaroslav Silhavy has other injury worries with his entire first-choice defence from the European Championship last year not available, including West Ham defender Vladimír Coufal.
But frontline midfielder Antonin Barak has recovered from an injury to be picked. The Sweden-Czech winner will face Poland for a spot at the tournament in Qatar.
Sweden's all-time record goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic is preparing to pass the torch to a new generation of young players such as Anthony Elanga as his side prepare for their World Cup playoff semi-final against the Czech Republic.
The 40-year-old striker recalled playing with the Manchester United winger's father Joseph for Malmo FF over 20 years ago and he is now sharing a dressing room with his son.
"First time I met him, we were in the restaurant in the (United) training ground and he came up to me and he said, 'you know my father' and I was like, help me now because I don't know who I'm talking to," Ibrahimovic said.
"'You played with my father Elanga', and then everything clicked and I said 'OK', and it made me happy because I wasn't the only Swedish one in Manchester, we had another Swedish player."
Ibrahimovic, who scored 17 goals in 33 Premier League games during an injury-hit spell at United from 2016 to 2018, even allowed Elanga, 19, to take centre stage on the podium between himself and Sweden's team press officer.
"We're all happy and we're enjoying the adventure he's on, he just started and he's on the way up so it's good. You will have something to watch for another 20 years," Ibra added with a smile.
For Elanga, who has caught the eye with his performances for United this season, and other young attacking Swedes like Dejan Kulusevski and Alexander Isak, Ibrahimovic has been an inspiration.
"You can see for the past 20 years what he's done for the national team, and obviously at the club football level, you can see the way he's scoring his goals. Even when I was young I used to look up to him, being from Sweden," Elanga said.
"When I found out that he signed for United, I couldn't wait to speak to him, ask him about the memories he had with my dad. It means a lot, you know, to be able to see him day-in, day-out here, train with him - it's an honour."
Away from Scotland and Ukraine's postponement, Poland refused to play their forthcoming World Cup play-off with Russia in March following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
FIFA has announced that Poland will be given a bye, and are scheduled to face Sweden or Czech Republic on March 29 for a place in the finals in Qatar in November.
FIFA initially announced that Russia could play in the World Cup qualifiers, but the matches will be played on a neutral level with no spectators, without flags or national anthems and Russia will play under the name 'Football Union of Russia (RFU)'.
The Sweden and the Czech Republic football associations also refused to play against Russia in any new format, throwing the World Cup path and playoff fixtures into doubt.
However, FIFA and UEFA later suspended Russia from international competition.
The Polish FA has also offered to host all Ukraine home matches while Ukraine are unable to play in their own country.
Path A
Scotland vs Ukraine - Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) - Postponed until June
Wales vs Austria - Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) - live on Sky Sports Main Event and Football
Path B
Russia vs Poland - Thursday, March 24 (5.00pm kick-off) - Cancelled: Poland given bye
Sweden vs Czech Republic - Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) - live on Sky Sports red button
Path C
Italy vs North Macedonia - Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) - live on Sky Sports Arena
Portugal vs Turkey - Thursday, March 24 (7.45pm kick-off) - live on Sky Sports Premier League
Play-off finals: Tuesday, March 29 - live on Sky Sports
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will feature 32 teams in eight groups of four.
Four matches will be played each day during the group stage, which will run over a 12-day period and see winners and runners-up progress to the round of 16.
Matches will only be assigned to particular venues after the finals draw, so organisers can choose optimal kick-off times to suit television audiences in different countries, as well as supporters out in Qatar.
The finals draw is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 3, after the March window for international fixtures.
Unlike at Euro 2020, there will be a third-place play-off game on December 17.
Group stage: November 21- December 2
Round of 16: December 3-6
Quarter-finals: December 9/10
Semi-finals: December 13/14
Final: December 18
