The national football team is in tears? Europe s 3 dark horses return to the World Cup + end the 28-year wait! Iraq is only 2 games away

On November 19, the European group matches of the 2026 World Cup preliminaries all came to an end. Scotland and Austria won the top spot in the group at the final buzzer, thus advancing directly to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Together with Norway, which had already qualified, the three European dark horses all returned to the World Cup stage after 28 years.

Due to being in the fiercely competitive European region, Norway, Scotland and Austria have failed to break through in the past six games. However, in this session, they finally had no regrets.

Norway, led by Haaland, won all 8 games and double defeated Italy, the former World Cup champion. Austria withstood the pressure and defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina with a 2-point advantage. As for Scotland, they were the most enthusiastic. Even though they were 1 point behind before the final round, they returned to the World Cup stage after counterattacking Denmark 4-2 in a direct conversation at home.

This is the first time since the 1998 World Cup in France that Scotland, Austria and Norway have qualified for the World Cup finals. These three teams will also set foot on the World Cup again after 28 years.

In addition, in the Asian region, Iraq relied on a penalty kick in the countdown period to eliminate the United Arab Emirates with a total score of 3-2 and won the last half of Asia. They will compete with opponents from 5 other continents for the last 2 spots.

Iraq has been away from the World Cup for 40 years. The last and only time they participated was in 1986. Now they only need to win 2 more games to return to the World Cup stage.

The realization of dreams of Norway, Austria and Scotland after a long wait, as well as the imminent realization of Iraq's dream, have made the Chinese men's football team and Chinese fans who have been waiting for 24 years have mixed feelings and at the same time feel envious.