World Cup Qatar | USA vs Wales - Nov 21 | 19:00 UTC

[Mat]

Game info USA vs Wales

 

Participating for the second time in its history in a World Cup, Wales has in the United States, which returns to dispute a World Cup after the failure in the attempt to get a place in Russia in 2018, its debut opponent this Monday, November 21st.

 

The match, which will take place at the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium, concludes the schedule of matches for the day and the first round of Group B. The game starts at 19:00 UTC.

 

How does the 2022 Qatar World Cup work?

 

The World Cup in Qatar will be the last to be played with 32 teams. As of the 2026 World Cup, shared by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the number of participants will jump to 4. Thus, it will be the last time the format with eight groups of four teams will be used. Teams play against each other in a single shift in this first phase.

 

The top two finishers in each bracket survive to the next stage. From then on, in a single elimination game, the finalists will be defined. In the case of equality, the extra time and penalty kicks can be used to describe who advances.

 

USA Performance

The Concacaf entrance exam, which combines the federations of Central and North America for the World Cup, is simple. On the contrary. It's among the easiest on the planet. Maybe it could be smoother than the dispute in South America. It offers three direct berths and the chance of a fourth opportunity in the playoffs and features two teams technically far superior to the others: Mexico and the United States. Against this background, the Americans failed to get a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

 

They almost repeated the embarrassment in an attempt to reach the 2022 World Cup. With 25 points (seven wins, four draws, and three defeats), they ended up tied with Costa Rica in third place in Concacaf's decisive octagonal. They only had the last direct place in the World Cup in Qatar because they had an advantage when the tiebreakers were considered. Panama, which managed to take the vacancy from the United States in 2018, was in fifth place. They are four points behind.

 

Since the end of its participation in the Central and North American Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, the US team has played four preparatory friendlies against teams that are also in the World Cup and two matches for the Concacaf League of Nations. In the friendlies, which had rivals of a higher level, they won once (Morocco), drew two duels (Uruguay and Saudi Arabia), and suffered a defeat (Japan).

 

Wales Performance

Participating in a World Cup is something scarce for Wales. Before the World Cup in Qatar, the team had only achieved this feat once. It was in 1958 in the Swedish Cup. Advance to the quarterfinals. For the 2022 Cup, he had to sweat until the repechage to repeat the feat.

 

With 15 points (four wins, three draws, and one defeat), it was in second place in Group E, with Belgium, which reached 20 points, in the first place, which earned it the direct spot. The Welsh, however, overcame Austria and Ukraine in the fight for a spot in the World Cup. In the process, however, they had to sacrifice the League of Nations of Europe.

 

With the focus on the qualifiers and without a strong squad with enough quality to be divided into two battlefronts, Wales left the UEFA Nations League in the background. Having added only one point (one draw and five defeats), it was in the fourth–last – position of group 4 of Liga A, the elite division of the tournament in its 2022/2023 version. Thus, it ended up being relegated to Liga B.

 

Even amidst the confusion, under the direction of Argentine coach Gustavo Alvaro, Ecuador played six friendly matches after the end of their campaign in the South American Qualifiers. It remained undefeated. There were two victories (Nigeria and Cape Verde, teams that did not qualify for the World Cup) and four draws (Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Japan, which are in the World Cup, and Panama, which was left out).

 

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