FIFA held the simulacrum of the draw for the Qatar World Cup: the group that played the Argentine team

Yesterday, seven national teams confirmed their ticket to the World Cup that will be held in Qatar since November this year. Today, Mexico and the United States, which have one foot inside, will go for that goal, while two countries (one from Concacaf and another from Oceania, which will leave Solomon Islands-New Zealand) will confirm their presence in the international playoffs. Meanwhile, FIFA is preparing everything for the draw that will take place on Friday.

As had happened a couple of days ago, preparations are ongoing for tomorrow's gala at the Convention Centre that FIFA staged in the city of Doha, Qatari capital. There, chance will determine how the eight groups of the 2022 World Cup will be formed. The event will start at 19 local time (from 13, Argentina time) and most of the drums are almost defined.

Journalist Ariel Senosiain, from TyC Sports, revealed the area that Argentina played in the last drill held by FIFA. Albiceleste, one of the top seeds, went to Group H along with Switzerland (pot 2), South Korea (pot 3) and Ghana (pot 4). Although in a World Cup event there are no easy rivals, this list of opponents seemed somewhat accessible, considering that there are more difficult opponents in the fight.

However, the other groups were also drawn and the fate of the national team in the knockout stages looked much more complicated. This was because Brazil (pot 1), Germany (pot 2), Serbia (pot 3) and Saudi Arabia (pot 4) were left in Group G, adjacent to Argentina's. According to the arrangements, the first in zone H will run into the second of the G, so - if the draw had been official - Argentina could well have crossed Verdeamarelha or the Teutons in the round of 16.

THIS IS HOW THE HYDRUMS ARE CURRENTLY

• POT 1: Qatar - Belgium - Brazil - France - Argentina - England - Spain - Portugal

• POT 2: Denmark - Netherlands - Germany - Switzerland - Croatia - Uruguay

• POT 3: Senegal - Iran - Serbia - Japan - Poland - South Korea - Canada - Morocco

• POT 4: Ghana - Tunisia - Saudi Arabia - Ecuador - Cameroon - European Repechage (Scotland/Ukraine vs. Wales) - Concacaf Repechage vs. Oceania - Repechage Conmebol vs. Asia (Peru vs. Australia/United Arab Emirates)

* On March 31, the FIFA ranking will be updated for the last time and the final positions of the pots will be confirmed

THE RULES OF THE RAFFLE

The 29 qualified teams, the two intercontinental playoffs and the UEFA play-off quota will be divided into four groups of eight teams each, based on the World Ranking published on 31 March 2022, following the end of the international match window in March 2022. According to the standings, the top seven teams, along with the host, Qatar, are assigned to group 1. Selections ranked from 8 to 15 are assigned to group 2. The teams qualified from 16 to 23 are assigned to group 3 and, finally, group 4 includes the teams classified from 24 to 28, in addition to the two places that will be occupied by the winners of the intercontinental qualifiers scheduled for 13 and 14 June 2022 and the place of the winner of the UEFA playoff.

The general principle of FIFA, wherever possible, is to ensure that no group has more than one team from the same qualifying area. This applies to all areas, except Europe, which is represented by 13 teams. Each group must have at least one European team, but no more than two. Thus, five of the eight groups will have two European teams.

The geographical distribution of the winner of the UEFA repechage and the two winners of the intercontinental repechage will also follow the general principle of “separation” of teams from the same qualifying area

The geographical allocation of each intercontinental repechage place shall be based on the pairings of the confederation teams participating in that specific match of the intercontinental repechage.

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