Phil SumblerIt was another glorious night for the Red Wall last night as a 1-1 draw against Belgium was enough to secure home advantage in the play off semi-finals in March as second spot in the group was secured.
Our Nations League performance was already enough to secure that play off advantage but Wales went into the weekend needing four points to secure home advantage and qualify through the group and, following a 5-1 win at the weekend, it was secured last night thanks to a first half goal from Kieffer Moore which cancelled out a Kevin De Bruyne goal.
Despite conceding more than 75% possession to the visitors, the Welsh side were determined and held out for the point which secured that home advantage and they now await the outcome of the draw for the play offs which takes place on 26th November.
So who could they play? The play offs will be contested by 12 teams which will lead, by the end of the matches in March, to three more European qualifiers for next year’s tournament in Qatar.
Those seeded in the play offs will have home advantage in the semi finals which will contested on 24 and 25 Match. Those six seeded teams are Portugal, Scotland, Italy, Russia, Sweden and of course Wales.
The unseeded teams at this stage are Turkey, Poland, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Austria and the Czech Republic. The Czechs were of course in Wales qualifying group but qualified via their Nations League performance.
The winners for each of those games will go into a final -played on 28 and 29 March – with the three match winners there heading to Qatar next November.
Ukraine and Russia will be kept apart in the draw for political reasons.
The play off draw will take place at 4pm on 26 November and the host of each of the three finals will be confirmed at this stage.
Extra time and penalties will, if needed, take place in each of the ties.
