In an ordinary World Cup year, we would either already be engro sed in the group stages or be a matter of days away from the big kick-off.But this is no ordinary World Cup year. We still have two of the 32 places to be confirmed for Qatar 2022, which is due to begin in November.Tuesdays intercontinental play-off between Costa Rica and New Zealand will complete line-up, with their contest falling exactly four years to the day since Ru sia thrashed Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening game of the 2018 World Cup.Before Troy Stecher Jersey that meeting, however, New Zealands neighbours Australia face Peru in the penultimate play-off on Monday.Both matches will give the victoriousteams a vital taste of what its like to play in Qatar, with the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium playing host to both winner-takes-all encounters.Peruvian shamans are expectantIt will be a long day for any Australia fans hoping to catch the game before work kick-off will be at 4am AEST.Those who do brave the early start will surely be doing so out of loyalty and hope, rather than expectation.The Socceroos route through the Asian qualification phase was unconvincing to say the least. They scraped third place in the third round, finishing just a point ahead of Oman and seven adrift of Japan. Australiamet the United Arab Emirates in thefourth-round play-off and edged the game 2-1 to find themselves in the familiar locale of an intercontinental play-off.This was how they reached Ru sia 2018, beating Honduras over two legs, with their 3-1 win at home in the second leg proving decisive after a 0-0 draw in San Pedro Sula.Mondays game will be only the second time Australia have ever played Peru. Coincidentally, that other instance was in Ru sia four years ago Los Derek Dorsett Women Jersey Incas won 2-0 to claim a first World Cup win since 1978, although the result mattered not as it was the final group game and neither side could reach the knockouts.Whichever team prevails this time will be in a familiar-looking group. France and Denmark, the other two teams in Group C four years ago, await in Group D alongsideTunisia.A group of 13 Peruvian shamans believeit will be Peru, with a spiritual ceremony which involved poking a picture of the Australia team with a sword conducted on Saturday, apparently reachingthe conclusion the Socceroos will be unsucce sful. If it is Peru who make it, it will be just the second time they have ever qualified for succe sive World Cups, a remarkable achievement in itself given the countrys domestic league is regarded as one ofif not the weakest in South America at the moment: none of their four representatives in the Copa Libertadores this year claimed a single victory.And yetRicardo Gareca ensured his team finished ahead of Colombia and Chile in qualifying. The much-vaunted Ecuador only registered two points more than Peru.Los Ticos back from the backNew Zealand fans will have a similar conundrum to their Au sie counterparts. Do they get up excruciatingly early to endure their nail-biting contest with Costa Rica, or do they just try to sleep through it and get the result a few hours later?Either way, its fair to Justin Bailey Women Jersey expect a few more Costa Rican eyes to be on the game. The countrys president Rodrigo Chaves has authorised an extra hours lunch on Tuesday for public servants and private sector workers to allow fans to tune in.The fact Costa Rica even made it this far is commendable given the difficult start they had to the third round of CONCACAF qualifying.After one win from their first seven matches, a 90th-minute winner by Gerson Torres in a 2-1 defeat of Honduras last November proved to be the turning point. Including that game, Costa Rica won six of their final seven qualifiers. The only game they didnt win was a 0-0 draw away to Mexico in the end, Los Ticos only finished Thomas Vanek Jersey behind the third-placed United States on goal difference.Succe s on Tuesday will see Costa Rica reach three consecutive World Cups for the first time, and in all likelihood they will make that four in 2026 given hosts Canada, Mexico and USA will qualify automatically.New Zealands preparations certainly dont go back as far as Costa Ricas, given the Oceania qualification section was only able to begin in March.The All Whites cruised through, as they usually do, racking up 5-0 and 7-1 wins along the way, but Costa Rica will provide much sterner opposition.Danny Hays men have since played warm-up games against Peru and Oman, losing 1-0 to the former and drawing 0-0 with the latter.It was Peru who prevented New Zealand reaching Ru sia 2018.While they will once again be considered underdogs, theres arguably greater reason for optimism this time around now they are not facing a CONMEBOL nation and have just one match to play, rather than a two-legged affair. In that sense, this is almost certainly the biggest match New Zealand have played Bo Horvat Kids Jersey since beating Bahrain 1-0 over two legs in November 2009 to qualify for South Africa 2010.On that occasion they ended the World Cup as the only undefeated side after drawing all three of their group games.A rather trickier group awaits this time with Spain, Germany and Japan already in place, but New Zealand wont care in the slightest if they just get the chance to cause an upset.