The March international break is finally at an end and we can all now turn our attention back to what is shaping up to be a fascinating ‘run-in’ to the 2023/24 season across the globe.
Before we kick back into gear with a full fixture list in the EFL on Good Friday, this is a brief summarising round-up of what went on over the last couple of weeks in the world of international football from Asia to North America…
We have had a further two rounds of AFC qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The preliminary round took place in October and we have now had four of six matches in the second round with the usual suspects of Australia, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea all cruising through. Qatar, Uzbekistan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Palestine have all also enjoyed impressive starts to qualification. There are eight qualification berths from Asia for the expanded 48-team tournament with an intercontinental playoff spot, too. The biggest story from this week would have to be the pressure mounting on Roberto Mancini after his Saudi Arabians were held to yet another underwhelming result, sharing a 1-1 draw with Tajikistan on Tuesday.
The semi-finals and finals of UEFA EURO 2024 playoffs took place over the last week. From Path A, Poland defeated Estonia and then edged past Wales, who had hammered Finland, on penalties in Cardiff to make it to Germany this summer. In Path B, Ukraine came from behind twice to make qualify for the tournament with 2-1 victories against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland, who had just hammered Israel. Greece and Georgia comfortably made it past Kazakhstan and Luxembourg respectively before the Georgians then defeated Greece on penalties in Tbilisi in the Path C final.
The first two editions of the CONCACAF Nations League were won by the United States and Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT made it three-in-a-row. They defeated Jamaica in the semi-finals in dramatic circumstances with a 96th minute equaliser before winning the game in extra-time and then cruising to a 2-0 defeat of Mexico, who had hammered Panama a few days earlier, in the final in Arlington, Texas. In the third place playoff match, an improving Jamaican side took the bronze medal with a 1-0 victory over the Panamanians.
Qualification for the final spot at this summer’s OFC Nations Cup took place in Oceania over the last week or so with Samoa and Cook Islands travelling to Tonga for a three-team round robin event. Samoa were comfortable winners with two victories, beginning with a 4-1 hammering of hosts Tonga before then edging past Cook Islands by a goal to nil. Cook Islands ended up second in the group with a victory over Tonga. Vanuatu is hosting the tournament this summer and they are in a strong Group A alongside New Zealand, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands. Samoa join Group B with Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tahiti.
There were no competitive fixtures involving teams from Africa, who recently had the CAF Africa Cup of Nations, or in South America, where we are already a third of the way through CONMEBOL qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
