Drink in the jeopardy of Tuesday's World Cup playoffs - it’s the last we’ll get for a bit

The expansion of this summer’s 48-team tournament mean Tuesday’s play off games - even without Ireland - will be the best we see until the tournament round of 16

Kosovo's Fisnik Asllani celebrates after the play-offsemi-fonal win over Slovakia in Bratislava. Pic: Joe Klamar / AFP via Getty Images

THERE is always a slightly odd rhythm to the World Cup. The final round of qualifying games is almost invariably more exciting than the early games at the tournament itself, and now with 32 teams making it through the group stage and into the knockout rounds, that is likely to be even more true for the 2026 edition. 

Those final qualifiers in November were thrilling and meaningful – Troy Parrott’s hat-trick! Scotland scoring two absurdly good goals in the same game! DR Congo beating Nigeria on penalties as bottles rained down from the stands! Honduras failing to score against Costa Rica! – and Tuesday will be too as 12 teams battle for the six remaining slots.