At present, the European Preliminary Round play-off grouping has been determined, as two hot teams in the field, Portugal and Italy are divided into the same group, plus Turkey and North Macedonia, creating a death group. According to the seeded team status and the result of the draw, Portugal have two consecutive home advantages, of course, provided that the first round is passed, that is, the elimination of Turkey.
Portugal is one of the World Cup regulars, with a total of 7 entries, the best result is the third place, and has participated in 5 consecutive World Cups from 2002 to 2018. With the final round of the group stage losing to Serbia, Portugal had to participate in a brutal play-off stage, which was the team's second world cup play-off after eight years.
According to statistics, portugal has participated in the play-off stage of international competitions three times in its history, the first time was the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, when the play-offs were against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Portugal used 1-0 and 1-0 scores respectively to complete the double kill at home and away and advance to the final round.
The second was the Euro 2012 qualifiers, when the play-offs were against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Portugal eliminating Bosnia and Herzegovina by 0-0 and 6-1 respectively.
The third was the 2014 Fifac world cup qualifiers, when the play-offs were against Sweden, and Portugal qualified for the finals with 1-0 and 3-2 scores respectively.
Portugal took two play-off stages in the World Cup qualifiers, both of which were victorious, and both eliminated their opponents in a two-legged double-kill manner, and they were 100% qualified for the World Cup. Such a magical law will escort the Portuguese team.
In addition, Portugal have a big advantage, which is to play at home. In the first round of the match against Turkey, Portugal played at home, and if it passed, the second game was still at home, not surprisingly against Italy.
Italy's last play-off was in the 2018 World Cup, when they were eliminated 0-1 on aggregate against Sweden. Now the Italian team is once again facing the danger of missing the World Cup, and it is difficult to compete with Portugal, North Macedonia and Turkey for a World Cup place.
Compared to italy without superstars, Portugal have Cristiano Ronaldo, which is also a big advantage. Since 2004, Cristiano Ronaldo has participated in nine consecutive World Series, including the European Championship and the World Cup. The Portuguese team has won many key matches, and it is precisely by relying on the strength of C Ronaldo to turn the tide that it has won and qualified, which is the main reason why foreign media are more optimistic about the promotion of the Portuguese team.
The latest probabilities show that Portugal has a 51% chance of qualifying for the World Cup, Italy 35%, Turkey and North Macedonia are both less than 11%, portugal is the biggest qualifying favourite in this group.