COLEMAN’S INJURY IS ‘NOT A BIG PROBLEM’
CARLO ANCELOTTI has confirmed Séamus Coleman will be absent for ‘two or three weeks’ with a recurrence of the hamstring issue that forced the full-back to limp off during last Saturday’s Merseyside derby. The Everton manager regards his injury as ‘not a big problem’ but Coleman is unlikely to return for the Premier League leaders before the next international window. Everton are away to Southampton and Newcastle on successive Sundays before the visit of Manchester United on November 7. It remains to be seen if Coleman, 32, is fully fit for Ireland’s triple-header next month, against England, Wales and Bulgaria. He missed the games earlier this month with a hamstring strain. While still regarded by manager Stephen Kenny as the Irish captain, Coleman has been replaced as right-back in the international team by Matt Doherty. Ireland have moved up one place to 36th in the latest FIFA rankings in spite of the disappointments of the October games which included the Euro 2020 play-off penalty loss to Slovakia and a 1-0 defeat to Finland in the Nations League. Crucially, Ireland are 20th in Europe and hold the final provisional place among the second seeds for the 2022 World Cup qualifying draw. Much hinges on how they perform next month as only a handful of ranking points separate Kenny’s crew from Slovakia (21st), Iceland (22nd), Northern Ireland (23rd), Norway (24th) and Romania (25th). Ireland will learn their 2022 World Cup qualifying fate on Monday, December 7. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions, the ceremony in Zurich will be held as a virtual event. Europe’s road to Qatar will feature a group stage comprising five groups of six teams and five groups of five teams. The 55 teams will be allocated to six pots based on the FIFA world ranking update on November 26. The 10 highest-ranked teams will be allocated to Pot 1, the next ten highest to Pot 2 and so on until the last five remaining teams have been allocated to Pot 6. All teams within a group will play each other twice in a home-and-away format between March and November 2021. The 10 group winners will qualify directly, with the 10 runners-up advancing to the play-offs. The play-offs will also include the two best group winners from the UEFA Nations League 20202021 overall ranking that did not qualify directly for the finals or playoffs as runners-up. The 12 teams will be split into single-leg knockout matches to determine the last three European nations to book a place.