Twenty two teams are already through to the World Cup Russia 2018, leaving 16 other teams struggling for the remaining nine spots to complete a field of 32 finalists.

From this Thursday through to next week Wednesday, 26 matches are on the card to complete the projected 874 matches of the 2018 World Cup qualifying series. Not all the 26 matches hold significance.

Some like the Algeria versus Nigeria as well as the Ghana versus Egypt are mere formality fixtures as winners in the respective African qualifying groups have emerged. So also are other six matches involving 12 African teams that are already eliminated.

So, of the 52 countries engaged in the final days of the qualifying series, only 16 are jostling for qualification.

The 16 are made up of the eight teams in Europe battling for four spots, six from Africa battling for three tickets while four others in intercontinental playoff are battling for the last two slots.

The battle begins this Thursday when Croatia hosts Greece and Switzerland will be away to Northern Ireland in the first leg of their European play-off. Both matches hold simultaneously at 8:45pm Nigerian time.

The two matches are to be followed by four other matches across three continents on Friday. By next week Wednesday, all qualifiers would have emerged.

Sports Village Square takes a look at the two-leg European and intercontinental playoffs matches, and the possible three other World Cup bound teams from Africa.

Thursday 9 November – NORTHERN IRELAND vs. SWITZERLAND

Northern Ireland last qualified for the World Cup at Mexico ’86. But hopes are high as they host Switzerland this Thursday.

The Irish reached the playoff after placing second in a group where reigning World Cup holders, Germany emerged.

Switzerland players are still rueing the 2-0 loss to Portugal which relegated them to second in the group and now struggling in a European play-off.

According to Associated Press, Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic was still looking back to the 2-0 loss at Portugal last month, saying he had imagined playing a “nice friendly” game this week. He acknowledged his team was too passive against Portugal, and challenged players he did not identify to take more responsibility now.

The Swiss need to forget about that match before the first leg against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park, where only Germany has beaten Northern Ireland in a competitive match in the past four years.

Switzerland has a nine-game winning streak at home in tournament qualifiers, and hosts the return on Sunday in Basel.

Thursday 9 November – CROATIA vs. GREECE

Greece will be without defender Kostas Manolas, who is banned from the first leg which is away to Croatia.

The return match will hold on Sunday. FIFA banned Manolas because he tried to manipulate his disciplinary record by deliberately earning a yellow card against Cyprus on October 7.

The decision compounded problems for Coach Michael Skibbe, who is missing midfielder Petros Mantalos and striker Tasos Donis because of injury.

Croatia is set to miss defensive midfielder Milan Badelj for both matches against Greece.

The Croatians and the Greeks were in the playoffs for the 2014 tournament in Brazil. Croatia eliminated Iceland 2-0 on aggregate, while Greece beat Romania 4-2 on aggregate.

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Friday 10 November – SWEDEN vs. ITALY

If Italy fails to survive the play-off with Sweden, it will be the first time that the four-time World Cup winners will be absent at the World Cup.

The only other time Italy failed to feature was at Sweden 1958.  Incidentally, Sweden is the hurdle the Azzuris must cross to get to Russia 2018.

According to AP, Italy has showed poor form recently, ever since a 3-0 loss to Spain in September. After that match, Italy edged Israel 1-0, drew 1-1 with Macedonia and beat Albania 1-0.

While Sweden didn’t qualify for the last two World Cups, it impressed in qualifying with a win over France and finished ahead of the Netherlands.

“We are winners just by being here,” Sweden coach, Janne Andersson said.

The first leg will be in Sweden on Friday, with the return match on Monday in Italy.

Sweden went unbeaten at home in qualifying at Friends Arena and striker Marcus Berg scored eight times in nine matches.

Friday 10 November – HONDURAS vs. AUSTRALIA

This is the scenario Australia aimed to avoid when it switched from Oceania to the Asian Football Confederation after the 2006 World Cup: A last-ditch intercontinental playoff in the Americas for a spot at soccer’s marquee event.

Australian players travelled from three continents to assemble in Honduras this week to prepare for Friday’s first leg. The return match will be in Australia on Wednesday.

It was a similar scenario when the Australians played Uruguay for a place at the 2006 tournament. Uruguay won 1-0 in Montevideo, and Australia levelled it up with a 1-0 win in Sydney before advancing 4-2 on penalties.

It ended a long drought for the Socceroos, who had failed to advance from the last playoff stage in 1986 (against Scotland), in 1994 (against Argentina), in 1998 (against Iran), and in 2002 (against Uruguay).

Tim Cahill, the only player still active from that playoff series in 2005 and now Australia’s all-time leading scorer, is in doubt because of an ankle injury.

Friday 10 November – SOUTH AFRICA vs. SENEGAL

This is a potentially explosive encounter that could be described as ‘thunder and blood’. The number of qualified teams can rise to 23 this Friday if Senegal beat South Africa in Polokwane.

The match is the replay of an earlier one that was cancelled owing to match manipulation by the Ghanaian referee.

A win by Senegal makes the reversed fixtures irrelevant. It also turns into mere formality, the other Group D encounter of Burkina Faso and Cape Verde.

Friday 10 November – ALGERIA vs. NIGERIA

This ordinarily should have been a clash of two continental giants who were the last African teams standing at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

Of the five African teams in Brazil, Algeria and Nigeria were the only ones to make it to the second round where both crashed out on the same day.

But with the Group B already decided, Algeria may not put up spectacular performance as there is virtually nothing for the troubled side to fight for. It had prosecuted virtually every match of the final qualifying round with new coaches.

The legendary Rabah Madjer is the latest man on the saddle. In the six-match series of the final round that began last year’s October, Algeria secured just one point from the 1-1 draw it played against Cameroon in Match Day 1.

The team lost all others. Friday’s match may not be an exception. On the other hand, Nigeria has had almost a stress-free flight in the final qualifying series.

The Super Eagles were, expectedly, only stretched to almost breaking point in the last match with Zambia last month where both teams nervously have everything to fight for.

But the side facing Algeria may slightly be a different one as Coach Gernot Rohr could be tempted to try new options as he focuses on his final World Cup squad. Besides, some regulars have been unavailable owing to varying degrees of injury.

But all the same, the team will try to maintain its World Cup qualifying unbeaten run which could be stretched to an all-time African record of 35 matches.

On Friday, it would be 13 years, four months and 21 days (4,891 days) since Nigeria last lost a World Cup qualifying match.

It is a record good to be carried over to the qualifying series of Qatar 2022.

Saturday 11 November – DENMARK vs. IRELAND

Ireland is on a familiar terrain as being in the playoff in major tournaments is not new to the country.

Easily recalled is the controversial loss to France in the playoff to South Africa 2010 when Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball in the build-up to the crucial goal.

Ireland is involved in playoff for the ninth time and had lost five in the past. Ireland will host the second leg on Tuesday.

Ireland will likely rely on the counterattacking tactics that worked so well in Cardiff.

While there are no real stars in the Ireland team, Denmark has a standout in Christian Eriksen — one of European soccer’s best playmakers over the past few years at Tottenham.

He scored eight times from midfield in qualifying.

The Danes’ 4-0 win over Poland in group play highlights their potential and they are also higher in the FIFA rankings, at No. 19 compared to Ireland’s No. 26.

The managers — Martin O’Neill and Age Hareide — are former teammates at English club Norwich.

Saturday 11 November – NEW ZEALAND vs. PERU

New Zealand will return to the scene of one of its greatest triumphs when it hosts Peru on Saturday.

In 2009, New Zealand beat Bahrain 1-0 in front of a crowd of 35,000 at the Wellington Regional Stadium to qualify for the World Cup for the second time.

It had previously qualified in 1982, the same year in which Peru made its last World Cup appearance. The return leg will be in Peru on Wednesday.

Rory Fallon, who scored New Zealand’s winning goal in that match eight years ago, has been recalled to the All Whites after a one-year absence.

He is currently playing for Dorchester in the seventh tier of English soccer. That win over Bahrain briefly put soccer centre-stage in a rugby-mad country and Saturday’s match will likely do so again. The match is a sell-out.

Peru, ranked No. 10, starts as the overwhelming favourite against 122nd-ranked New Zealand but have a significant setback, with striker Paolo Guerrero ruled out after failing a doping test. Guerrero scored six goals in qualifying.

Saturday 11 November – Cote d’Ivoire vs. Morocco:

It is advantage Morocco which requires just a draw in the away match to pick the ticket. But in encounters of this nature, nothing is decided until the final whistle.

Morocco with nine points leads the group. The results of Group C have largely fallen within predictions as it was expected that the final outcome would be decided in the last match pitching the two giants.

There is a common denominator – Coach Herve Renard who is leading Morocco having in the past led Cote d’Ivoire. His ambition is simple – terminating the aspirations of his previous employers!

Saturday 11 November, Zambia vs. Cameroon:

For a different reason, this is another formality match.  Both teams are already eliminated from the race and had virtually nothing to fight for.

Zambia would had hoped it picked maximum points last month in Uyo when it faced Nigeria and possibly fire full cylinder against a hapless Cameroon this weekend.

But after strong resistance coupled with sporadic offensive, the Zambians finally caved in when Alex Iwobi scored the decider for Nigeria.

The possibly scenario in Lusaka on Saturday is that Cameroon may not travel with their best of stars and in the best of spirits for a mere formality match.

Saturday 11 November, DR Congo vs. Guinea:

This is a match the hosts may like win. But owing to the possible outcome of the corresponding match in group where Tunisia will be facing the weak Libyan side, there may not be anything to fight for in the DR Congo versus Guinea encounter.

That may lead to both not putting in their best, but with the hosts still trying to maintain their prestige and hope for a possible slip in the Tunisia – Libya encounter.

The possibility exists as it happened in 2009 when Tunisia’s advantage was lost six minutes to end their South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifier in Mozambique.

Saturday 11 November, Gabon vs. Mali:

A formality match as both teams are out of contention. Their result will also not impact on that Group C of the contenders – Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire who will be involved in epic battle in Abidjan.

Sunday 12 November, Ghana vs. Egypt:

Flash back to the last qualifying battle to Brazil 2014. Ghana were high riding, beating Egypt 6-1 in Kumasi. The result put Ghana in vantage position for the eventual qualification. Time has changed.

Even if Ghana achieves any victory of any kind on Sunday, it is a labour in vain as the Egyptians are through to the World Cup.

But for that, this should be a heavyweight clash of two of Africa’s strongest teams.

So inconsequential is the outcome of the match that star player, Mohamed Salah asked to be excused from the fixture.

Sunday 12 November, Congo vs. Uganda:

The encounter is better relegated to the realms of a friendly match as both have been eliminated from the World Cup.