The Danish fairy tale is still going on, Pixi launched the "eagles"

Europe will be represented at the World Cup in Qatar by 13 teams. After the completed qualifications, 10 teams from the Old Continent are known, which will participate in the first winter World Cup, while 12 teams will fight for the remaining three places in March next year, through the playoffs.

Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Croatia, England and Germany won first place in their groups and secured direct placement at the WC, and in the playoffs Portugal, Sweden, Italy, Ukraine, Wales, Scotland, Turkey, Russia, Poland, North Macedonia as the second-placed selections, and Austria and the Czech Republic, which won that right through the League of Nations.

SERBIA DISCOVERED ALL THE WEAKNESSES OF PORTUGAL

After the poor finish of the European Championship qualifiers and elimination from Scotland in the playoffs, Ljubiša Tumbaković left the bench of Serbia. In March, he was succeeded by Dragan Stojković Piksi and set only one goal in front of the team - the trip to Qatar.

At that moment, it seemed that Pixi had too many expectations, but eight months after his appointment, it turned out that his optimism was not without a cover - Serbia finished the competition in Group A without defeat and won first place ahead of Portugal.

Attention is drawn to the way the "eagles" play. That was evident in Lisbon, in the last round, especially in the first half when Dušan Tadić and his teammates outplayed the former European champions, defeated them after a 2:1 reversal and qualified for the World Championship for the second time in a row.

Therefore, Serbia sent the Portuguese to the playoffs, just like the Swiss sent the Italians. Roberto Mancini's team had a penalty in both meetings against the Swiss, but Jorginho was inaccurate both times and both matches ended without a winner. And then in the last round, the "azuri" could not overcome Northern Ireland (0:0), while the Swiss filled the net of Bulgaria (4:0) and continued the continuity of games in major competitions.

DANES ON THE RUSH, CROATIANS GOOD LUCK TO QATAR

The qualifications were also marked by Denmark. The semi-finalist of the previous Euro scored eight victories without conceding a goal and secured a trip to Qatar already in October. The impression was somewhat spoiled in the November matches – first the Faroe Islands found a way to Kasper Schmeichel's net, and then Scotland inflicted their first and only defeat.

27 points were won by Denmark in 10 games in the group, as many as Germany. It is the best performance in the qualifiers, and the point less was scored by England. 23 each were collected by the Netherlands, Croatia and Scotland, which in the group of Danes was only enough for the barrage.

Croatia was afraid until the very end. The vice-champions of the world had to defeat Russia in the last round, in a direct clash for 1st place. The match at "Poljud" was decided in the finish, and the tragic one was Fedor Kudryashov, who scored an own goal and sent the "flames" to the World Cup, and the "team" to the playoffs.

In group G, which included Montenegro, the Netherlands defeated Norway in the last round and secured direct placement, while Turkey took advantage of the Norwegians' defeat and confirmed the playoffs with a triumph in Podgorica.

WHAT A PERIOD FOR MACEDONIANS

After a historic placement at the Euro, North Macedonia won a place in the playoffs for the World Cup. In the last round, the Macedonians defeated Iceland (3:1) and finished the competition ahead of the Romanians, Armenians and the Icelanders, and behind the Germans, whom they defeated in March in Duisburg. With that triumph, they seemed to announce a fight to the last breath for a place in the World Championship.

However, the Macedonians will have a hard time getting to Qatar - at the draw for the play-offs on November 26, they will be in the underprivileged group, and their possible rivals will be Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Scotland, Russia and Wales. In addition to Macedonians, Poles, Turks, Ukrainians, Austrians and Czechs are disadvantaged.

The World Cup is from November 21 to December 18 of the following year.