1 new team added! 29 teams have qualified for the World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo may miss the group stage. Three small countries are only one step away

The World Cup qualifiers continue. In the past few games, a new French team has been added to advance to the World Cup, bringing the number of confirmed teams to 29. The African play-offs have completed the semi-finals. Cameroon failed to win and bid farewell to the World Cup ahead of schedule.

In the Asian play-offs, the United Arab Emirates quickly equalized the score after falling behind by one goal. The goal in stoppage time was invalidated, and in the end they could only share the score with Iraq at home. A few days later, the two sides will switch home courts to complete the second round of the contest. This time it is Iraq's turn to take advantage of the home court. The winning team will qualify for the intercontinental play-offs.

In the semi-finals of the African play-offs, Osimhen scored twice, and Nigeria scored three goals in overtime to eliminate Gabon. Cameroon, who had Onana, Baleba and Mbemo, were scored by their opponents in stoppage time, and the Democratic Republic of Congo struggled to win the game. Also in a few days, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will meet in the final. The winner will also qualify for an intercontinental play-off.

In the Central and North American region, the penultimate round of the group stage will be held. The first place in the group will go directly to the World Cup. The second place in the two groups with better results will qualify for the two intercontinental play-offs. At present, after 5 rounds of competition, no team has advanced in advance, and the points in the three groups are very tight. Suriname and Panama in Group A have 9 points, Curacao and Jamaica in Group B have 11 and 10 points respectively, Honduras and Haiti in Group C have 8 points, and Costa Rica has 6 points. These 7 teams will compete for first and second place in the group in the final round. The remaining teams cannot enter the top two of the group and have been eliminated early.

Suriname, Curacao and Honduras are currently the leaders of the three groups and are only one step away from promotion. Their international rankings are 126th, 82nd and 64th respectively. I wonder if these three small countries can make it to the World Cup without the United States, Mexico and Canada participating in the qualifiers? Especially the first two countries (or autonomous countries), how much do domestic fans know about them?

In the European area that everyone is concerned about, although England in Group K advanced early, they still easily defeated Serbia, causing their opponents to bid farewell to the World Cup early, and Albania locked in the European play-off qualification. Norway and Italy in Group I also faced weak teams and both won. Norway added a goal difference advantage. Haaland's role was quite obvious. If Italy wants to advance directly to the World Cup, it must beat Norway at home by nine goals or more in the final round, otherwise it will fall into the European play-offs for the third consecutive time.

In Group D, Mbappe scored two goals and provided an assist, helping France become the second European team to advance to the World Cup after England. After the game, coach Deschamps praised Mbappe for taking on the responsibility of captain well. The entire coaching staff is proud of this team and can now enjoy the joy of promotion.

Portugal in Group F is different. In the last round, Liverpool midfielder Szoboszlai scored in stoppage time and scored 1 point for Hungary. Portugal missed the opportunity to advance two rounds in advance. In this round, Portugal was more thorough and lost to Ireland by two goals in an away game. They missed the opportunity again. If they want to participate in the World Cup, they have to wait. The suspended Bruno Fernandez seems to have proved that without himself, whether it is Manchester United or Portugal, they often run into trouble.

Of course, if Portugal faces the bottom team in the last round and fails to take all three points and falls into the play-offs, it will really be its own fault. If Portugal had not lost, Hungary would have secured qualification for the play-offs in advance. Now it has to compete with Ireland for second place in the group in the final round. It is even said that the two teams still have a faint hope of winning first place.

Ronaldo received the first red card of his national team career for elbowing an opponent and was automatically suspended for the next round. It should be noted that elbow strikes are likely to be considered serious behavior. If this is the case, the number of penalty games will be increased to 3 games. This means that if Portugal does not need to participate in the play-offs, Ronaldo will not be able to play in the two rounds of the World Cup group stage. If Portugal participates in the play-offs and successfully advances, the World Cup will not be suspended. Whether Ronaldo will be suspended for 1 game or 3 games, we need to wait for FIFA's final decision.

After France advances, the number of participating teams in the World Cup has increased to 29. In the next week, there will be 13 qualifying teams, 4 intercontinental play-off teams, and 16 European play-off teams. Five European teams, including Croatia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria, are likely to qualify one round ahead of schedule.