Losing 0-1? England may be upset by the dark horse, and it cannot escape the first defeat in the World Cup. It becomes difficult to go straight to the World Cup

The World Cup qualifiers on all continents are currently in progress. There are 6 direct quotas in Asia, 6 direct quotas in South America, 1 direct quotas in Oceania, and 1 direct quotas in Africa. In addition to the three hosts of the United States, Mexico and Canada, 17 teams have locked in the 2026 World Cup tickets, as follows:

Hosts: United States, Canada, Mexico

Asian : Japan, Iran, South Korea, Jordan, Australia, Uzbekistan

South America: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia

Africa: Morocco

Oceania: New Zealand

As the continent with the largest number of places in the World Cup, the World Cup qualifiers in Europe have exceeded half, but no team has qualified for qualifying in advance.

As the strength of traditional strong teams continues to decline, second- and third-rate teams have been given an opportunity to be upset, such as the German team losing 0-2 to Slovakia, and the Italian team losing 0-3 to Norway. In addition, Portugal, England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium are also facing the impact of other teams in the same group, and qualifying is not sure.

According to the schedule, the 6th round of the Group K of the World Cup European Group Squad will usher in a focus match, with the Serbian men's football team at home against the England men's football team. This is also the competition between the top two in this group and will be played at 2:45 am on September 10.

According to statistics, England has qualified for the World Cup 16 times and has almost qualified in the European World Cup qualifiers, but Serbia also has a high qualifying rate. Since its first independent competition in 2006, it has participated in the World Cup three times, including 2010, 2018 and 2022. The last World Cup qualifiers beat Portugal and won the first place in the group to go straight to the World Cup. Therefore, this team still has strong strength at the World Cup qualifiers.

According to statistics, Serbia has achieved unbeaten record of 4 wins and 2 draws in the past six home games, including defeating Austria and drawing Spain. At the same time, it has remained unbeaten in the last 7 games with 3 wins and 4 draws. Since it is 5 points behind England in one round less, Serbia will definitely try its best to win in this round of home games and narrow the gap with England.

In this game, Serbia can play all the main lineups, and the midfield ball control dispatch, the winger's breakthrough cross, and the center's point grabbing constitute the "trident" of the team's offense.

Although England has the advantage in strength, there are variables in this away game. After all, Serbia's home resilience, physical confrontation ability and counterattack efficiency cannot be underestimated. It is possible to complete a 1-0 or 2-1 upset, giving England the first defeat in this World Cup qualifier. At the same time, it has defeated England for the first time in the official game since 2006, setting a 19-year record.

Due to the expansion of the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams, the number of places in Europe has increased to 16. According to the rules, the top teams in 12 groups will go directly to the World Cup, and the second place in the other 12 groups will form a playoff with the other 4 teams to compete for the last 4 promotion places.