Europe’s 8 play-off contenders in numbers

• Denmark and Northern Ireland are appearing in a play-offs for a initial time
• Switzerland, Croatia and Italy all have 100-percent play-off records
• Eight teams schooled their play-off opponents on 17 October

The best 8 second-placed sides in a European subordinate foe for a 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ now know who they have to beat if they are to make subsequent year’s universe finals. We take a demeanour during a 8 nations’ particular play-off annals to see if they offer them any drift for optimism.

European #WCQ play-offs@NorthernIreland @SFV_ASF
@HNS_CFF @EthnikiOmada
@DBUfodbold @FAIreland
Sweden@azzurri pic.twitter.com/7pDzPTnIPT

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) October 17, 2017

NORTHERN IRELAND
Three prior World Cup appearances, a final of that came during Mexico 1986.
Reached a quarter-finals during Sweden 1958 and a second turn during Spain 1982. 

• Previous play-offs (0/0)
Northern Ireland have never taken partial in a play-off before.

SWITZERLAND
Ten prior World Cup appearances. 
Korea/Japan 2002 was a final universe finals a Swiss unsuccessful to reach.
Best performances came in reaching a quarter-finals during Italy 1934, France 1938 and Switzerland 1954.

• Previous play-offs (2/2)
The Swiss kick Sweden 2-1 in a singular play-off compare en track to Chile 1962 and modernized to Germany 2006 on a away-goals order after sketch 4-4 with Turkey over dual legs.

 

CROATIA 
Four prior World Cup appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2014.
Best opening was during France 1998, where they finished third. 

• Previous play-offs (2/2) 
Croatia won both their dual prior play-offs, violence Ukraine 3-1 on total en track to France 1998 and Iceland 2-0 in reaching Brazil 2014.

GREECE
Three prior World Cup appearances: 1994, 2010 and 2014.
Best opening came during Brazil 2014, where they reached a Round of 16.

• Previous play-offs (2/3)
Greece mislaid a initial of their 3 play-offs, to Hungary in a qualifiers for France 1938, yet kick Ukraine 1-0 on total on a highway to South Africa 2010 and Romania 4-2 en track to Brazil 2014.

 

DENMARK 
Four prior World Cup appearances: 1986, 1998, 2002 and 2010.
Best opening came during France 1998, where they reached a quarter-finals.

• Previous play-offs (0/0)
Denmark have never taken partial in a play-off before.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Three prior World Cup appearances: 1990, 1994 and 2002.
Best opening came during Italy 1990, where they reached a quarter-finals.

• Previous play-offs (1/4)
Republic of Ireland mislaid 1-0 to Spain in a play-off on neutral belligerent in a England 1966 subordinate competition. They also mislaid 3-2 on total to Belgium in a qualifiers for France 1998 and 2-1 on total to France (after additional time) in a South Africa 2010 preliminaries. Their one and usually play-off win was a 2-1 total better of Iran in an intercontinental tie in a Korea/Japan 2002 preliminaries.

 

SWEDEN
11 prior World Cup appearances, yet they have missed a final two.
Best opening came on home dirt in 1958, when they finished runners-up.

• Previous play-offs (1/3)
Sweden’s usually play-off success was a 2-1 better of Austria in a tie hold on neutral belligerent in a qualifiers for Germany 1974. They mislaid 2-1 to Switzerland in another one-off compare in a Chile 1962 preliminaries and went down 4-2 on total to Portugal in a play-offs for Brazil 2014.

ITALY
Four-time universe champions: 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006
Absent from usually dual universe finals competitions: Uruguay 1930 and Sweden 1958.

• Previous play-offs (1/1)
In their one and usually play-off appearance, a Italians degraded Russia 2-1 on total in a qualifiers for France 1998, with a good Gianluigi Buffon creation his general entrance in idea in a initial leg in Moscow on 29 Oct 1997.

Article source: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2017/m=10/news=europe-s-eight-play-off-contenders-in-numbers-2915338.html