On March 9, Beijing time, FIFA official news that Poland directly advanced to the final of the European zone play-offs of the World Preliminary Round, which will face the winner between Sweden and the Czech Republic, while the match between Ukraine and Scotland will be postponed to June.
On the evening of March 8, Local time in Switzerland, FIFA issued an announcement that the FIFA Emergency Committee, after consultation with UEFA and relevant member associations, ruled on the European play-offs of the World Preliminary Round: after the Russian team was indefinitely banned due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, its opponent Poland in the semifinals of Group B of the play-offs will directly advance to the final; the semi-finals of The Ukrainian team visiting Scotland in the play-off group A will be postponed to June.
According to the original plan, the 2022 FIFA World Cup European Qualifier Play-off should start later this month. The 12 teams divided into three divisions will need to play a "semi-final" on March 24, and then decide the last three European qualifying places in the three "finals" on March 29. However, due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian incident, this arrangement has become impossible to "go as usual".
As early as last week, the Ukrainian Football Association had already made a request to UEFA and FIFA to postpone the play-offs, on the grounds that it was difficult to form teams to participate in the current special period. Although Ukraine has many international players playing overseas, most of the national team is still from domestic teams. Fifteen of the 23-man roster for last November's away game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine's last game, played in their home league. According to ESPN, the news they got was that most of the internationals who played in the ukrainian country had not left Ukraine after the Ukrainian league was suspended.
FIFA also disclosed this situation in its announcement, and on March 3, the Ukrainian Football Federation sent a letter to FIFA saying that it was impossible to organize travel and training under "current conditions" and requested that the team's play-offs be postponed. After consultations between FIFA and UEFA and the teams in Group A, the parties unanimously agreed to accept the request of the Ukrainian Football Federation on the basis of a spirit of solidarity. Scotland's match against Ukraine, originally scheduled for 24 March, was postponed until the international break in June. The other Group A semi-final, Wales against Austria, will take place on 24 March as scheduled to reduce the impact on the scheduled intensive fixture schedule for June.
Of course, such a decision also means that the final of Group A has to be rescheduled to the international break in June. In addition, the teams concerned are still studying which matches to schedule in March.
For Group B, after the Russian team was banned, whether to let other teams make up their qualifications, or whether the Polish team directly advanced, FIFA finally chose the latter option. Poland went straight to the Group B finals and will face the winners of Sweden and the Czech Republic on 29 March. It is worth noting that according to the original schedule, the Russian team semi-finals and potential finals are sitting at home. This time, the FIFA announcement did not clearly disclose where the final would be held after Poland's automatic promotion. However, according to some media reports, Poland will qualify for the final home.
Sweden opposes FIFA: Why did Poland get straight to the World Preliminary Round final?
This morning, FIFA announced that after Russia was disqualified from the World Preliminary Round European Play-offs, its Group B semi-final opponent Poland directly advanced to the final, which will face sweden as the winner of the home match against the Czech Republic. Moreover, Poland will also have the advantage of being the home field that originally belonged to Russia. The Swedish Football Association expressed its dissatisfaction with this arrangement, and the Czech side chose to accept it.
Swedish Football Association Secretary General Sjøstrand said: "We believe that it is reasonable and fair to play competitively by giving Poland a new semi-final opponent. We understand that this will be a difficult problem for FIFA, but in any case, the game should be played under the same conditions, and each team should have 2 wins to reach the World Cup. But now, Poland has gained the upper hand in the final. ”
The semi-final between Sweden and the Czech Republic will take place on 24 March, and the final will be held on 29 March. Five days of rest is not too little, but the Polish team, which is idle and waiting, will still have a physical advantage in theory, and also avoid potential suspensions and other disadvantages.
Sweden coach Janne Anderson said: "FIFA finally made the right decision on Russia. Unfortunately, the decision from a competitive perspective is not entirely reasonable. Nevertheless, we will concentrate on preparing for the match against the Czech Republic. We want to go to the World Cup and will do everything we can to do that. ”
Unlike the high-profile complaints from the Swedish side, the Czech side did not express its dissent to FIFA. Czech Football Association president Vösek said the current arrangement was the most likely option to be taken, "We accept the fact that Poland is straight to the final. We have been preparing for Sweden for several months and are also analyzing the polish team's matches. Czech coach Silhavi made a similar statement, and the team leader Sionko said: "We have selected the hotel and arranged the journey, training and other details. We don't need to change anything. ”
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