There are less than 7 months left until the 2026 World Cup kicks off in the US, Canada and Mexico. The draw for the group stage will take place in Washington, D.C. on December 5.
Currently, 42 teams have won tickets, 4 teams from the European play-off round and 2 teams from the intercontinental play-off will complete the list in March next year. All the "big guys" of world football are present, from the defending champions Argentina, Brazil to Spain and France.
The tournament is expected to be Lionel Messi's last big performance, while Lamine Yamal, Vinicius Jr, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe will try to overcome the Albiceleste icon.
Cristiano Ronaldo will also continue to lead Portugal. In England, Harry Kane has carried expectations under Thomas Tuchel, while Erling Haaland will step up to the biggest football stage in Norwegian football for the first time.
While many teams still have a chance to compete for a place in the play-off, the journey of some notable names has soon ended.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia)
Georgia is one of the interesting phenomena at EURO 2024. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the inspiration that helped them advance to the round of 16 with accelerations and energetic play. However, the winger from Paris Saint-Germain will not have the opportunity to shine on the biggest stage on the planet next summer.
Although Kvaratskhelia scored twice in the qualifiers, including a 3-0 win over Bulgaria, Georgia still lost four of their remaining five matches and are third in Group E, after Spain and Türkiye.
The heavy 1-4 defeat to Turkey was the strongest "attack", showing that Willy Sagnol's team had declined in both spirit and playing style. And the reality is that apart from Kvaratskhelia, Georgia is completely lacking players of sufficient class to turn the situation around.
Dominik Szoboszlai (Hungary)
Group F is certainly one of the most dramatic groups in the European qualifiers, as everything will only be decided in the final match. Portugal beat Turkey 9-1 to maintain their top spot, while Hungary were just a few seconds away from second place in the group before having their hopes extinguished by Ireland's hero - Troy Parrott - with an unimaginable hat-trick.
The former Tottenham striker sealed a 3-2 victory for Ireland with a goal in the sixth minute of injury time, making the away team's coaching bench explode in excitement. In complete contrast, Hungarian captain Dominik Szoboszlai fell onto the field and burst into tears.
Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon)
Bryan Mbeumo was born in France and used to play for the U21 Les Bleus team. However, in 2022, he decided to choose Cameroon - his father's hometown - as his international career launch. 3 years later, perhaps somewhere in him there are still some regrets.
Cameroon suffered a painful defeat against the Cape Verde team, then fell into the CAF play-off match against Congo. Mbeumo played the full 90 minutes, along with Manchester United's Andre Onana and Brighton's Carlos Baleba, but the team still lost 0-1 after Chancel Mbemba scored in extra time.
Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)
Nigeria will miss their second consecutive World Cup after a painful defeat to Congo in the African play-off final. Once considered a strong candidate for a ticket to the World Cup when defeating Gabon in March, the "Green Big" collapsed at the right time.
That is an unacceptable outcome for a generation of Nigeria that is considered the "golden generation". The absence of Osimhen will be a great regret when the World Cup kicks off, because the Galatasaray striker is one of the world's top strikers.
He scored 8 goals in the qualifiers, but the rest of the team could not keep up with that form. Names like Ademola Lookman, Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze, Calvin Bassey and Wilfred Ndidi are all disappointing and will have to take a serious look at themselves.
Alexis Sanchez (Chile)
Alexis Sanchez has had a brilliant career, leaving his mark at Barcelona, Arsenal and Inter, and becoming the symbol of the Chile team at the 2014 World Cup. But at the age of 36, this striker no longer has the opportunity to continue to shine on the biggest stage on the planet.
Chile almost won tickets to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but in this qualifying round, they seriously declined. Chile finished at the bottom of the CONMEBOL table with only 11 points after 18 matches.
A serious calf injury has left Sanchez out of the first eight games, and until Nicolas Cordova took charge in September, he was left out of the squad's squad.
