Let's wait and see!
The scene of Croatia 1998 winning the third place in the world is hard for many people to forget, but perhaps most people don't know how the Plaid Army got the invitation letter from France. Yes, they broke into the World Cup for the first time after independence after defeating Ukraine in two rounds of play-offs, and successfully staged the drama of the dark horse running away. Since the World Cup in France, the European play-offs have appeared in a normal form. Looking back at the previous three play-offs, there are also many big-name teams. Italy is 1998, Germany is the representative in 2002, and Spain needs to compete for the final tickets through play-offs in 2006. At this time, France and Portugal gathered in the play-offs, which made the specifications of this play-off significantly higher than previous ones.
In September, the FIFA play-off will be based on the latest ranking of FIFA in June 5438+ 10, with the top four teams as seed teams and the other four teams as nuclear-free teams. As the only place in the global play-offs, FIFA, which had no intention of forming a seed team before, caused dissatisfaction. The Irish goalkeeper who played for Manchester City in the Premier League said: "Russia and Portugal are only second in the group. What is the difference between them and us? Why can I get more partial treatment? I don't think this is correct. Of course, I don't think any team would want to meet Ireland. The matches against Italy and Bulgaria proved our strength. "
According to the latest FIFA ranking 10 released on June 6th. France (9), Portugal (10), Russia (12) and Greece (16) are seeded teams, while Ukraine (22), Ireland (34), Bosnia and Herzegovina (42) and Slovenia (49) are unseeded teams. In fact, judging from the results of the eight teams in the group stage, the only seed team with insufficient weight is Portugal, which ranks second from the bottom among the eight teams in the group stage, while Ukraine ranks in the upper half.
Of course, there are no weak teams in Europe. FIFA's approach is only to exclude France and Portugal, one of the top four in the 2006 World Cup, from the play-off collision. This does not mean that the "strong teams" listed as seed teams will be eliminated. Domenech said: "I have no preference. No matter who your opponent is, you must fight hard for two rounds. " Henry, the main force of the team, also holds the same view. "If you don't make mistakes in such a game, you may pay a huge price. It looks a bit like the Champions League knockout. We must concentrate more than we did in the group stage. Maybe a goal is decisive. Eight teams want to go to South Africa, so there is no hot spot in the play-offs. "
Portugal has also attracted much attention because of the existence of Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is still unknown how Cristiano Ronaldo's ankle injury will recover. Once Portugal capsized in the play-offs, Rooney really got what he wanted. Queiroz's attitude towards the play-offs is also very important: "Maybe those teams that will participate in the lottery as seedless should be afraid now. Of course, for Portugal, the next two games will be two finals. " According to the schedule, the European play-offs will be held on June 165438+ 10/4 and June 18.