World Cup qualifiers are nothing new under the sun in a national team context.
Here are four that really got my heart rate up:
Gelsenkirchen, November 27, 1973
The special match for a place in the 1974 World Cup was played against Austria on neutral ground.
Snow covered the pitch but the match had to be played at all costs. Roland Sandberg made it 1–0, Ove Kindvall won a penalty that Bosse Larsson converted. Austria reduced the deficit but the national team held on.
The victory was fortunate. Austria was the better team, said national team captain Georg "Åby" Ericson.
The following summer, Sweden came fifth in the World Cup.
Solna, November 19, 2013
The two-game playoff match was the duel between Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ronaldo won. Portugal reached the World Cup in Brazil with an aggregate score of 4–2 – and Ronaldo scored all four goals.
But Ibrahimovic gave Swedish hope when he scored to make it 2–1 at Friends Arena.
One more goal would have been enough for a Swedish World Cup summer, but in pursuit of that, Portugal instead scored two.
Milan, November 13, 2017
Jakob Johansson scored the only goal of the match against Italy at home at Friends Arena. The play-off round at San Siro was ticking towards full time and a heroic national team was busy keeping a clean sheet - but it worked and the national team reached the World Cup in Russia.
Afterwards, there was talk of the Miracle of Milan.
"We are an incredibly strong team. These guys personify what a team means. There are many heroes who have worked well throughout the qualifiers. From the first meeting, the players have loyally lined up the way my dear colleague Peter Wettergren and I wanted it," said national captain Janne Andersson.
Chorzów, March 29, 2022
On February 24, Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, and Russia was thrown out of the playoff for the World Cup in Qatar.
The sporting winner was Poland, who avoided the strong Russian national team and did not have to play any semi-finals at all – while Sweden faced the Czech Republic. Robin Quaison decided it 1–0 in extra time.
120 hard minutes were in the legs a few days later. A fresher Poland took the World Cup spot with a 2–0 win.
Solna, March 31, 2026
Either the most important match for the national team in several years awaits. Or a meaningless international friendly in this context.
It all depends on how things go in the semi-final against Ukraine this evening in Valencia.
In the other semi-final, Poland and Albania will meet.
