The most amazing team in the World Cup preliminaries: must lose + concede 8 goals in the final game to qualify for the World Cup

In Group H of the European Zone of the World Cup Qualifiers, Austria is first with 15 points, Bosnia and Herzegovina is second with 13 points, Romania is third with 10 points, Cyprus is fourth with 8 points, and San Marino is last with 0 points. According to the European rules of this World Cup preliminaries, the first place in Group H will directly advance to the World Cup, the second place will enter the play-offs, and the other three teams will be eliminated. However, there is a "wild card rule" in this World Cup preliminaries, which directly leads to the fact that San Marino, the bottom team in the group with 0 points, also has a chance to enter the World Cup, but the premise is that they have to lose to Romania by a big score to have any hope.

The so-called "wild card rule" refers to qualifying for the World Cup qualifying play-offs through the UEFA Nations League rankings. In this World Cup preliminaries, there are 4 places that can qualify for the World Cup preliminaries play-offs through the UEFA Nations League rankings. According to the current actual points situation, the four teams most likely to qualify for the World Cup preliminaries play-offs through the UEFA Nations League rankings are Sweden at the bottom of Group B, Moldova at the bottom of Group I, Wales third in Group J, and Romania third in Group H.

If Romania directly qualifies for the World Cup qualifying play-offs in Group H, then the play-off qualification they obtained through the UEFA Nations League ranking will be postponed to San Marino. As a result, San Marino needs to deliberately lose to Romania in the final game, and lose by a large margin. Judging from the current actual situation, it is safer to lose at least 8 goals.

In Group H of the European preliminaries of the World Cup, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Romania all have one game less. Austria ranks first with 15 points. Bosnia and Herzegovina is 3 points more than Romania and has 3 more goal differences. Therefore, only Romania can get enough points and goal difference to counterattack. Fortunately, in the next game, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania will have a direct dialogue. If Romania can win, the two teams will have 13 points. Austria will face Cyprus in the next game. Austria won't have a big problem winning, they will have 18 points. As a result, Austria is definitely ranked first in the group.

In the final match, Austria, which advanced to the World Cup in advance, will face Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Romania will face San Marino. Considering that Austria qualified early with 18 points, they will not try their best and may lose to Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, it is not a big problem for Romania to win against San Marino. In this way, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania will have 16 points, and the two sides need to compete on goal difference. It turns out that Romania is missing Bosnia and Herzegovina by 3 goal differences. When they beat Austria, they will increase the goal difference. From this point of view, Romania must win at least 8 goals against San Marino to be safe.

Once Romania suppresses Bosnia and Herzegovina through goal difference, Romania can get the European qualifying play-off spot for the World Cup as second in Group H, and their "wild card qualification" can be postponed to San Marino. By then San Marino has qualified for the play-offs and will have hope of entering the 2026 World Cup, although the hope is very slim. I have to say that San Marino is definitely the most amazing team in this World Cup preliminaries. After all, they must lose + concede 8 goals in the final game to enter the World Cup. It is difficult for such a thing to happen to other teams. Do you think San Marino is magical? Welcome to leave comments and communicate together.