The nerve-shredding World Cup qualifying play-offs take place in March’s international break, featuring the remaining 16 European countries, who will be whittled down to fill four of the final six places at the 2026 World Cup this summer. There’s plenty of intriguing friendlies taking place too as nations fine tune their preparations, including England’s clash at home to Uruguay on Friday.
Below, we’ve picked out the best of the potential stats from the play-off semi-finals featuring Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, plus high profile friendlies featuring England, France, and Brazil.
Stats you might see
Czech Republic vs Republic of Ireland
- The Republic of Ireland will need to beat the Czech Republic away from home for the first time, having lost all three of their three previous trips.
The Republic of Ireland must overcome the Czech Republic and their new boss Miroslav Koubek in Prague on Thursday night as they bid to reach the play-off final – which would be at home – against either Denmark or North Macedonia. It’s been 24 long years since the Boys in Green last reached a World Cup, so it goes without saying that this is a simply colossal game.
The Republic of Ireland and Czech Republic will do battle for the first time in 19 years and, unfortunately for Ireland, their record away in this fixture is poor, having lost all three of their visits. Meanwhile, the hosts boast an impressive home record in general, winning seven and drawing twice in their last nine in front of their own fans.
The visitors do, however, have the in-form Troy Parrott in their ranks. The forward has scored five goals in his last two competitive games for his country, including a brace at home to Portugal and a dramatic hat-trick against Hungary.
Italy vs Northern Ireland
- Northern Ireland will be looking to beat Italy for the first time since 1958.
Northern Ireland make the trip to Gennaro Gattuso’s Italy looking to conjure up an almighty shock in Bergamo. Since they lifted the World Cup trophy for a fourth time in 2006, Italy have won only one World Cup match and didn’t even qualify for the 2018 and 2022 editions. A third successive failure to qualify would be a new low for the Azzurri.
As for Northern Ireland, their last World Cup appearance dates back 40 years ago to 1986. The odds are against Michael O’Neill’s side progressing from this tie, but they do catch Italy at a low moment. That said, Northern Ireland have only beaten Italy once in 11 meetings, with that sole victory coming back in the 1958 World Cup qualifiers. Since then they’ve lost six and drawn twice, while they’ve lost all seven away games.
Wales vs Bonisa-Herzegovina
- Harry Wilson will equal Craig Bellamy’s goal tally for Wales if he scores twice at home to Bonisa-Herzegovina.
Wales ended their own lengthy wait (64 years) for another World Cup appearance after they featured last time out in Qatar, now they’ll be aiming to reach the finals for just the third time in their history. Before they can start thinking about that, though, they must first get past Bosnia and Herzegovina in Cardiff. Victory would set up a home final against either Italy or Northern Ireland.
Wales can take confidence from a strong recent home record, having won five of their last six competitive matches on their own turf. The Dragons are also boosted by the form of Harry Wilson, who has been involved in 17 goals across his last 20 international appearances, and scored five in qualifying. He now needs just two more goals to match Craig Bellamy’s tally (19) for Wales.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, meanwhile, have reached the World Cup finals just once (2014) and have notably struggled in the play-offs, failing to progress from any of their four previous attempts to a major tournament, without registering a single victory (D3 L4).
England vs Uruguay
- England have the chance to record a seventh successive win to nil, and tenth win in 11 games under Thomas Tuchel.
Thomas Tuchel has enjoyed an impressive start to life as England manager, with nine wins from 10 games. The Three Lions waltzed through qualifying, stamping a maximum 24 points on the board from eight games, and smashed in 22 goals without reply, winning each of their last six games to nil.
England will look to continue this form at home to Uruguay, who they lost to in the 2014 World Cup, and have only beaten once in the last six matches. However, Uruguay arrive in London with only one win from their last nine away games, and were thumped 5-1 by the USA back in November.
Brazil vs France
- Kylian Mbappe (55) needs two goals to equal Olivier Giroud’s all-time France goalscoring record of 57 goals.
Kylian Mbappe has scored 55 goals in just 93 caps for his country, which has propelled him to within two goals of Olivier Giroud’s all-time France goalscoring record of 57 goals, which he scored across 137 caps.
What a moment it would be if the French skipper equals – or even surpasses – that landmark in a high-profile friendly against Brazil in the USA (Foxborough, USA) on Thursday.
Mbappe may have just returned from injury, but he does boast an impressive recent record for his country, having scored seven goals in his last six games. In fact, he last failed to score for Les Bleus in March 2025.
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