Szymanski’s Poland and Talbi’s Tunisia qualify for 2022 World Cup, Barrios’ Colombia miss out

On 29 March, RPL players featured in decisive qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Europe, play-off finals

Path B

Poland 2-0 Sweden

Dynamo midfielder Sebastian Szymanski played all 90 minutes for Poland, having last played a full match for the national team on 4 September 2020 against the Netherlands in the Nations League. The victory over Sweden came thanks to a Robert Lewandowski penalty – earned by Grzegorz Krychowiak – and Piotr Zelinsky goal, both scored in the second half. Poland have made it to the World Cup for the eighth time in their history.

Africa, 3rd round

Tunisia 0-0 Mali (1-0 on aggregate)

Rubin defender Montassar Talbi played the second leg against Mali in its entirety, and thanks to a goalless draw, Tunisia won the two-legged playoff. This is their sixth appearance at the World Cup finals; at previous tournaments they have never passed beyond the group stage.

South America

Venezuela 0-1 Colombia

Zenit midfielder Wilmar Barrios spent 90 minutes on the pitch, but Colombia’s win over Venezuela was not enough to reach the intercontinental play-off match as Peru beat Paraguay and retained fifth place in the table. Colombia finished one point behind in sixth. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador earned their direct tickets to the 2022 World Cup.

Peru 2-0 Paraguay

Dynamo defender Fabian Balbuena played the full match for Paraguay, while CSKA midfielder Jesus Medina came on in the 59th minute for his second cap - his debut taking place almost five years ago in a friendly with Mexico on 2 July 2017. Paraguay finished the qualifiers in eighth place with 16 points, while Peru will face the winner of Australia vs UAE pair in the final play-off. The game is scheduled for 13-14 June and will be held in Qatar.

The draw for the group stage of the World Cup will be held in Doha on 1 April at 18:00 CET. The finals will be held in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December.