Friday 26 November 2021, 19:30

European and intercontinental play-off draw results and reaction

  • Twelve teams are battling for three tickets in the European play-offs

  • Italy and Portugal have been drawn in the same path

  • The intercontinental play-offs have been drawn

European play-off draw

Group A Semi-finals Scotland-Ukraine Wales Austria

Group B Semi-finals Russia-Poland Sweden-Czech Republic

Group C Semi-finals Italy-North Macedonia Portugal-Turkey

The winners of the semi-finals will go into a final. The winners of Paths A, B and C will reach Qatar 2022.

Reaction

“Everything is possible in this group. If we are all fit and on song, we have a chance to win this game. There are no easy matches anymore, you need a plan. It's our big dream, our big goal. Is there anything better than a final in Vienna?” Franco Foda, Austria coach “I think that when Matthaus opened the ball, we all pushed it so that Czech Republic was there and it turned out it was us. I'm not saying it's a clear victory, but we definitely didn't want to be in the last group.” Jaroslav Silhavy, Czech Republic coach “It’s very difficult for us (laughs). North Macedonia is a good team and if we win, we go to play away the final, in Turkey or Portugal. They are very strong.” Roberto Mancini, Italy coach “It’s not worth thinking about [Italy]. It’s important that we concentrate on beating Turkey. If we get to the final, we’ll start looking at how we’ll win that. Obviously the final would be at home, but first we have to beat Turkey. Being at home would be an advantage. Not just because the crowd would be behind us, which is important, but because we wouldn’t have to spend time travelling.” Fernando Santos, Portugal coach "It could have been better, it could have been worse, but it’s all on paper... There’s still four months until the play-offs, a lot can change." Valery Karpin, Russia coach

"We already did it last time and we of course that we can do it again. It won't be easy against the Czechs, though." Janne Andersson, Sweden coach "Path C is certainly the hardest. But we have developed very well in the last few weeks since I have been here, so I am full of hope. I hope that we will bring the most important game to Turkey. Let's see what we can achieve then." Stefan Kuntz, Turkey coach "For us it is great opportunity. It was 1958 when we last qualified for a World Cup. We didn't expect to finish second in our group and now we have a chance to qualify for the World Cup. We will give everything." Rob Page, Wales coach

Intercontinental play-off draw

AFC Team v CONMEBOL Team Concacaf Team v OFC Team

“Whichever team we get from Concacaf, we know they will be strong as they have to be at this level. We still have work to do to qualify for the intercontinental play-off but, as we have shown in the previous two international windows, we are making progress both on and off the pitch. It is now our job to continue to build on what we have done this year and take that momentum into 2022 as we look to qualify for Qatar.” Danny Hay, New Zealand coach