draws, four of which came after Wales held a lead, left them in third place behind Serbia and Ireland. Three straight wins then followed – at home to Austria (1–0), and away to Moldova (2–0) and Georgia (1–0) – putting Wales in second place, a point behind Serbia with a game to play. A draw against Ireland would guarantee Wales at least a play-off spot, and potentially automatic qualification if Serbia lost to Georgia by at least two goals, while a win would leave Serbia also requiring victory to claim top spot. Serbia ultimately won their match to leave Wales and Ireland battling for the play-off spot, which Ireland claimed thanks to a single goal from James McClean. Qatar 2022 In qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Wales were drawn in UEFA Group E along with Belgium, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Estonia. After losing 3–1 away to Belgium in their opening game in March 2021, Wales went unbeaten in their remaining seven matches to finish second in the group ahead of the Czech Republic and qualify for the play-offs as one of the six seeds. Drawn in a play-off path against Austria and then the winners of the semi-final between Scotland and Ukraine, Wales beat Austria 2–1 in March 2022, but were made to wait until June for the final, after the match between Scotland and Ukraine was postponed due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine beat Scotland 3–1 at Hampden Park to qualify for the final in Cardiff, where a Gareth Bale free kick was diverted into his own net by Ukraine captain Andriy Yarmolenko to give Wales a 1–0 win and send them to the World Cup for the first time in 64 years. The draw for the finals took place before Wales' play-off path was concluded, which meant despite Wales being ranked 18th in the FIFA World Ranking at the time, which should have put them in Pot 3, they were placed in the bottom of the four pots for the draw. Wales were drawn into Group B along with England (with whom they had shared a group at UEFA Euro 2016), Iran and the United States. Wales announced their 26-man squad for the tournament on 9 November 2022. Wales drew their first fixture against the United States on 21 November 2022; after Timothy Weah opened the scoring for the United States, Wales