Final qualifiers serve up an alluring appetizer to main Fifa World Cup dish
Macedonia's players celebrate scoring next to Italy's midfielder Sandro Tonali (R) during the 2022 World Cup qualifying play-off football match between Italy and North Macedonia, on March 24, 2022 at the Renzo-Barbera stadium in Palermo.
What you need to know:
- Perhaps the next office can promise us that Harambee Stars will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, or the one after that, ad infinitum.
- If nothing else, it can keep our taste buds yearning for this elusive whiff of Harambee Stars at football’s grandest stage.
The 2022 Fifa World Cup is still 236 days away, but oh boy! Aren’t the final qualifiers serving up a tempting appetizer of what the main dish will be come November/December in Qatar?
Straight up, there was a gigantic earthquake, very unlike the recent Mickey Mouse one announced by one of the major political actors on the Kenyan presidential election scene.
Tiny North Macedonia knocked giants Italy out of the running for a Qatar ticket. Note, North Macedonia have never, ever qualified for a major football tournament.
The nation of just over two million inhabitants stunned four-time World Cup winners Italy 1-0 in their one-off play-off last Thursday at the Renzo Barbera Stadium in Parlemo, Italy.
I remember, prior to the match, having a heated debate with a colleague on the chances of Italy, world champions in 2006, beating Portugal in the final play-offs for a Qatar ticket.
We should have known that football does not respect reputations or indeed pundits’ views.
Macedonia silenced the full-to-capacity 36,000-seater stadium in Parlemo with an Aleksandar Trajkovski strike at the death.
Portugal, with the aging but elegant Cristiano Ronaldo still pulling the right strings, as expected, knocked out Turkey 3-1 in Porto.
Thus Portugal, one of the biggest footballing nations never to have won the Fifa World Cup, were due to clash with North Macedonia yesterday in Porto for a berth in Qatar.
But the fact that reigning European champions Italy are not at the World Cup – and for the second successive time, is significant for us football purists.
Italy gave us the famous and dreaded “Catenaccio’ – a stifling, defensive style of play that saw the Azzurri, time and time again, successfully defend narrow leads.
Italy gave us Paolo Maldini, Roberto Baggio, Roberto Donadoni, Franco Baresi, Paulo Rossi, Alessandro Altobelli, Dino Zoff, Marco Tardelli, Claudio Gentile, Giussepe Bergomi. I could go on. Sigh! We will miss the Blues.
Across the Atlantic, the Concacaf qualifiers simmered with a long forgotten aroma.
A sold-out crowd at BMO Field in Toronto went into delirium as Canada clinched a World Cup qualification for only the second time in their history on Sunday.
The impressive Canadians thumped Jamaica 4-0 to guarantee a top-three finish in the group and onwards to Qatar.
The traditional powers in the confederation, USA, Mexico and Costa Rica will battle for the remaining two slots.
All the qualifiers will be determined tomorrow, with Costa Rica needing to fry favoured USA and hope Mexico lose to unfancied El Salvador to stand any chance of squeezing through.
What makes the Canada qualification newsworthy is that their last World Cup appearance was at the 1986 tournament in Mexico .
Ahem, they finished scoreless and bottom of their group then. They will hope they have the right recipe to cook up wins in Qatar.
In South America, record five-time champions Brazil top the Conmebol group and have already qualified for the world finals.
Selecao play Bolivia today in their final qualifier and will surely be motivated to finish unbeaten in a gruelling 18-match qualifying campaign.
Brazil are ranked second in the world by Fifa behind Belgium, but will they Samba into the Middle East as the World Cup favourites?
It is a tag that simply refuses to leave them, and as a self-confessed Selecao fan, I will expect nothing short of the world title at the end of this year.
The fact that it is not common for the favourite, or top ranked team in the world – if you like, to go on and win the world crown does not bother me.
Nearer home, the African race for Qatar was to conclude yesterday with five spots at stake in the final play-offs.
Algeria hosted Cameroon leading 1-0, Tunisia were at home to Mali with a 1-0 advantage, while Senegal welcomed Egypt needing to overhaul a 1-0 deficit.
Morocco, DR Congo were locked 1-1, so were Nigeria and Ghana at 0-0. It seems African nations employ all kinds of tricks to conjure up wins, unconventional or otherwise.
Pictures widely shared on social media showed Nigerian players struggling to disembark from their plane at Kotoka International Airport in Accra as the ladder put at the aeroplane’s exit was decidedly metres short and obviously not meant for that plane. By design or accidental, I do not know.
All I know is, the Black Stars did not get the result they desired.
I was reminded of Togo carrying their most powerful witchdoctor to Germany to help them secure wins at the 2006 World Cup.
The Sparrow hawks returned home battered with three losses from three matches played, conceding six goals for one scored.
At least they did make a World Cup appearance. Kenyan fans can only salivate at the prospect every qualifiers circle.
One thing I can predict is that we will not appear in the world finals any time soon, even if the competition were made a 52-nation affair as Fifa had contemplated a few years back.
Disgraced Nick Mwendwa lavishly promised us an appearance in 2022.
Perhaps the next office can promise us that Harambee Stars will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, or the one after that, ad infinitum.
If nothing else, it can keep our taste buds yearning for this elusive whiff of Harambee Stars at football’s grandest stage.
