Football fans, especially Arabs, are experiencing the atmosphere of this year’s World Cup in a special way. Feelings of excitement and joy are doubled given that the global event is taking place in an Arab country. In addition, 4 Arab countries played in the 32nd league, and the hopes that one of them will reach the 16th league are very high.
What results need to be achieved in order for these countries to reach League 16?
Saudi Arabia
Sports analyst Abdel Nasser Harb, who is currently in Qatar to cover the World Cup matches, says in an interview with Al-Hurra that in the last round of the Saudi group, Al-Akhdar is playing against Mexico, and Poland is against Argentina, and if Saudi Arabia defeats Mexico, she immediately qualifies.
In the event that Saudi Arabia drew Mexico and Argentina lost to Poland, Saudi Arabia is also eligible.
Because in this case the green team will have four points and if Poland wins against Argentina they will have 7 points with Poland and with Argentina 3 points and Mexico two points, so Poland will come out first and Saudi Arabia second.
But if Argentina beat Poland and Saudi Arabia to a draw with Mexico, then Argentina qualify with 6 points, Poland with 4 points, Saudi Arabia with 4 points and Mexico with 2 points, in which case the goal difference between Poland and Saudi Arabia is taken into account, and so far the goal difference is in favor of Poland, which has two goals, while Saudi Arabia has a negative goal.
As for the last hypothesis, if Saudi Arabia loses to Mexico, they have no hope of qualifying because Mexico then gets 4 points.
Saudi Arabia played well against Poland on Saturday but missed a penalty and lost 2-0 to Education City Stadium in Group C.
Tunisia
In the final stage, Tunisia will play with France, and in the group match will meet with Australia and Denmark.
And since France have qualified, Harb explains that “Tunisia has to win the last match, and on the other hand, it follows that Denmark will draw with Australia, in which case the comparison is between the number of goals, because if there is a Draw, Australia have 4 points and Tunisia have 4 points so we have to wait for the match between Tunisia and France to see if it achieves a good result.
Another possibility is Tunisia win over France in exchange for Denmark win over Australia, in which case Tunisia has 4 points and Denmark has 4 points, and goal difference is also visible here.
On the other hand, according to Harb, Tunisia’s loss or draw against France means it will not qualify for the 16th league.
The qualification system provides that in the event of a tie on points, total goal difference is used.
And if the draw continues, “fair play” will be decided by scoring the yellow and red cards.
Tunisia lost 1-0 to Australia, who achieved their first World Cup victory since 2010 at the South Stadium to make it harder to reach the round of 16 on Saturday for the first time in their history.
Tunisia picked up one point from two matches after an epic draw against Denmark in Group D, but seemed to be suffering from fatigue against a physically strong Australia with manager Jalal Al-Qadri’s attacking decisions missing.
Morocco
On Sunday, the Moroccan team plays Belgium and Croatia plays Canada, and if the Moroccan team wins against Belgium, then it has 4 points and surpasses it.
And in case Croatia beats Canada, they will have 4 points and surpass Canada.
Therefore, the Moroccan national team needs a victory, in addition to anticipating the outcome of their next match with Canada.
Harb notes that things are unclear for the Moroccan national team because he only played one match, so Morocco’s victory over Belgium raises his hopes of qualifying.
But in case the Moroccan team loses on Sunday and the two teams equalize, its qualification will become difficult because it becomes with Belgium 6 points and Croatia 4 points, but the qualification of the Moroccan team remains likely.
The Moroccan national team, which played to a large crowd at the Al-Bayt Stadium, drew goalless against last season’s runners-up Croatia in a narrow odds match in the first round of FIFA Group F. World Cup in Qatar on Wednesday.
Diameter
Qatar became the first team to say goodbye to the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Friday after the rival duo in Group A, the Netherlands and Ecuador, drew 1-1.
The Netherlands and Ecuador each have four points, compared to three for Senegal, according to Reuters.
Qatar have not scored since losing the first leg 2-0 to Ecuador and then losing 3-1 to Senegal on Friday.
Qatar cannot qualify no matter what happens in their last match against the Netherlands next Tuesday.