Sergey PogrebnyakSport correspondentAll materialsEmail to the authorThe Wales team survived in a dramatic match with the Ukrainians, getting a ticket to the upcoming World Cup. The game between the teams of Alexander Petrakov and Robert Page completed the European qualifying round for the tournament in Qatar. Now we know 30 of the 32 participants in the upcoming World Cup. Wales will play in the World Cup for only the second time in their history, and their first entry into the tournament happened already 64 years ago. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, extended their unsuccessful streak of attempts to qualify for the world championship, where they had not competed since the memorable 2006.Who will play at the World CupDespite the absence of a final list of participants, the groups of the upcoming tournament are already known:
- —Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
- —Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales.
- —Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland.
- — Group D: France, Denmark, Tunisia, UAE/Australia/Peru.
- —Group E: Spain, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica/New Zealand.
- —Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia.
- —Group G< /strong>: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
- —Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
The final composition of the participants will be known by mid-June. It remains to find out only the last team from the «group of death», for a place in which Costa Rica and New Zealand will fight, and quartet D, where Australia, Peru or the United Arab Emirates may be. It is unlikely that anyone else a year and a half ago expected that the Australian team would manage to remain without a direct ticket to the World Cup. In total, Asia is entitled to four direct tickets and two places in play-offs with representatives of other regions. The selection was divided into two groups, and the Australian team skipped Japan and Saudi Arabia ahead, adding unnecessary adventures to themselves on the way to the World Cup.