In an ordinary World Cup year, we would either already be engrossed in the group stages or be a matter of days away from the big kick-off.
But this is no ordinary World Cup year. We still have two of the 32 places to be confirmed for Qatar 2022, which is due to begin in November.
Tuesday s intercontinental play-off between Costa Rica and New Zealand will complete line-up, with their contest falling exactly four years to the day since Russia thrashed Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening game of the 2018 World Cup.
Before that meeting, however, New Zealand s neighbours Australia face Peru in the penultimate play-off on Monday.
Both matches will give the victorious teams a vital taste of what it s like to play in Qatar, with the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium playing host to both winner-takes-all encounters.
Peruvian shamans are expectant
It will be a long day for any Australia fans hoping to catch the game before work – kick-off will be at 4am AEST.
Those who do brave the early start will surely be doing so out of loyalty and hope, rather than expectation.
The Socceroos route through the Asian qualification phase was unconvincing to say the least. They scraped third place in the third round, finishing just a point ahead of Oman and seven adrift of Japan.
It all comes down to this.
Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Doha, Qatar
14.6.22, 4am AEST
: , 10 Play,
— Socceroos (@Socceroos)
Australia met the United Arab Emirates in the fourth-round play-off and edged the game 2-1 to find themselves in the familiar locale of an intercontinental play-off.
This was how they reached Russia 2018, beating Honduras over two legs, with their 3-1 win at home in the second leg proving decisive after a 0-0 draw in San Pedro Sula.
Monday s game will be only the second time Australia have ever played Peru. Coincidentally, that other instance was in Russia four years ago – Los Incas won 2-0 to claim a first World Cup win since 1978, although the result mattered not as it was the final group game and neither side could reach the knockouts.
Whichever team prevails this time will be in a familiar-looking group. France and Denmark, the other two teams in Group C four years ago, await in Group D alongside Tunisia.
A group of 13 Peruvian shamans believe it will be Peru, with a spiritual ceremony – which involved poking a picture of the Australia team with a sword – conducted on Saturday, apparently reaching the conclusion the Socceroos will be unsuccessful.
Al Sadd Stadium Doha
— Selección Peruana (@SeleccionPeru)
If it is Peru who make it, it will be just the second time they have ever qualified for successive World Cups, a remarkable achievement in itself given the country s domestic league is regarded as one of if not the weakest in South America at the moment: none of their four representatives in the Copa Libertadores this year claimed a single victory.
And yet Ricardo Gareca ensured his team finished ahead of Colombia and Chile in qualifying. The much-vaunted Ecuador only registered two points more than Peru.
Los Ticos back from the back
New Zealand fans will have a similar conundrum to their Aussie counterparts. Do they get up excruciatingly early to endure their nail-biting contest with Costa Rica, or do they just try to sleep through it and get the result a few hours later?
Either way, it s fair to expect a few more Costa Rican eyes to be on the game. The country s president Rodrigo Chaves has authorised an extra hour s lunch on Tuesday for public servants and private sector workers to allow fans to tune in.
The fact Costa Rica even made it this far is commendable given the difficult start they had to the third round of CONCACAF qualifying.
After one win from their first seven matches, a 90th-minute winner by Gerson Torres in a 2-1 defeat of Honduras last November proved to be the turning point.
Los “chamacos” de
— FEDEFUTBOL Costa Rica (@fedefutbolcrc)
Including that game, Costa Rica won six of their final seven qualifiers. The only game they didn t win was a 0-0 draw away to Mexico – in the end, Los Ticos only finished behind the third-placed United States on goal difference.
Success on Tuesday will see Costa Rica reach three consecutive World Cups for the first time, and in all likelihood they will make that four in 2026 given hosts Canada, Mexico and USA will qualify automatically.
New Zealand s preparations certainly don t go back as far as Costa Rica s, given the Oceania qualification section was only able to begin in March.
The All Whites cruised through, as they usually do, racking up 5-0 and 7-1 wins along the way, but Costa Rica will provide much sterner opposition.
Danny Hay s men have since played warm-up games against Peru and Oman, losing 1-0 to the former and drawing 0-0 with the latter.
It was Peru who prevented New Zealand reaching Russia 2018.
While they will once again be considered underdogs, there s arguably greater reason for optimism this time around now they are not facing a CONMEBOL nation and have just one match to play, rather than a two-legged affair.
Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium
— New Zealand Football (@NZ_Football)
In that sense, this is almost certainly the biggest match New Zealand have played since beating Bahrain 1-0 over two legs in November 2009 to qualify for South Africa 2010.
On that occasion they ended the World Cup as the only undefeated side after drawing all three of their group games.
A rather trickier group awaits this time with Spain, Germany and Japan already in place, but New Zealand won t care in the slightest if they just get the chance to cause an upset.
