The road to Qatar 2022 is quickly reaching its most critical stages, with competitions in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia all about to reach the last leg of qualifying matches for the year in November. While in Europe, perennial favorites for soccer fans Germany and the surprisingly dominant Denmark were the first two teams to officially stamp their places in next year’s World Cup tournament, there are a few other teams around the globe that could be looking at earning their Qatar 2022 spot as soon as November 11th.
Credit for image of Qatar stadium above goes to Road to 2022.
With the qualifying rounds around the world ready to go into full-throttle mode, we bring you our picks for the three teams who look more than ready to punch their tickets to the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament next.
Brazil
The Brazilian national team look like they haven’t even been informed that there are teams looking to compete against them in the South American World Cup qualifiers, especially if you take into account their perfect record of 10 wins and 1 draw. Yes, the match against Argentina, that was abruptly suspended because of legal covid-19 binding situations, is still to be finished, but that hasn’t stopped Brazil from practically securing their spot in next year’s tournament if they can score a win at home against Colombia on November 11th.
Colombia did manage to score a 0-0 draw in the previous to last round of the qualifiers against the Brazilians, but given that Neymar’s team will be playing host to the Colombians, and after the dominant performance they put on against Uruguay in the last round of qualifiers, it’s basically their game to win and their ticket to Qatar to stamp.
Be it on offense or on defense, this team has performed in a most dominant fashion, scoring 26 goals while only allowing 4. They are stacked in every position on the field and have enough players to come up with at least two, top-tier competitive lineups to put up and still dominate. Given all this, Qatar will surely be listening to Samba very soon.
France
After coming off their UEFA Nations League title win against Spain, there is no better time than right now to be a fan of the French national team. While for a moment it seemed like Didier Deschamp’s team was about to fall into a rut, their wins over Belgium in the Nations League semifinals and against Spain in the tournament finals, propelled this team back into their usual thrilling selves.
Their attacking core with players like Karim Benzema, whose return to the French squad has probably been exactly what this team needed up front, Kylian M’bappe, Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial and Thomas Lemar has proven time and time again that when the time comes to put up, they not only put up, but they go all out.
A sole win against Kazakhstan in their upcoming qualifying match is all it will take for the defending 2018 FIFA World Cup champions to seal their spot in Qatar 2022 and try to defend their title in the hopes of making it a repeat performance.
Belgium
If you’re FIFA’s number one ranked team in the world, it would only make sense that you have your bags practically ready for the upcoming World Cup tournament? Right? Well, if you ask the Belgian national team, they’ll most likely answer with a commanding yes. Even after losing their Nations League semifinals matchup against France and their 3rd place matchup against Italy, Belgium does not seem at all unfazed and is ready to continue to show why their team, which is arguably the best generation of players to ever done the Belgium jersey has what it takes to be considered the best national team in the world.
The power they have from the midfield upwards, with players like Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco, Axel Witzel, Youri Tielemans, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, and Romelu Lukaku all ready to command the team at any moment, makes them almost unfair to play against. If you add to that, the safety that Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois offers from the back, it’s safe to say that stopping Belgium is anything but an easy task.
A win against weak rivals Estonia in the next round of the qualifiers should be sufficient enough for Belgium to confirm their presence in next year’s Qatar soccer party, with the only real question moving forward is if this is finally the moment that this Belgian team steps up and goes all the way to a title win? Only time will tell.
The Qatar stadiums look amazing.
It is built according to sustainability standards, and the surrounding area of the stadium is 50,000 square meters of parkland, containing endemic plants and nearly 400 trees. pic.twitter.com/4lfHkI05Is
— Road to 2022 (@roadto2022en) October 20, 2021
