The Romanian national team has started the Nations League campaign perfectly, with three wins out of three matches and 9 goals scored.
Romania, coached by Mircea Lucescu, who returned to the technical bench of the national team after 38 years, is very close to winning Group 2 in League C, and we can get closer to this on Tuesday evening when we play away against Lithuania at 21:45.
Until then, it must be noted that according to the latest calculations, Romania is almost certain to be in the second pot in the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, a draw that will take place in December on a date yet to be determined.
After the first 3 rounds of the Nations League, only 3 teams out of the 48 participants from the top 3 Leagues have accumulated the maximum points: Portugal, Greece, and Romania, with our country being the only one in this position from League C.
According to the latest calculations by the Football Meets Data portal, Romania is currently in 21st place in the coefficient ranking, being almost certain to be there with 1485 points. Scotland, in 25th place, is the first team below the line with 1457 points. Scotland is at the bottom of its group in League A, with Portugal, Poland, and Croatia. In the unlikely event that the Scots would earn 9 points in the last 3 matches, they would reach 1488 points. In this scenario, Romania would still need two wins and a draw in the remaining matches, away in Kaunas and at home against Cyprus and Kosovo, to ensure staying in pot 2.
If we stay in the second pot, we can avoid a second tough opponent, and our chances of at least securing the 2nd place increase. At this moment, according to the probability calculation, this is how the pots for the draw in December would look like:
16 European national teams will reach the playoffs as follows: 12 that will finish in 2nd place in the qualifiers and the 4 best-placed teams that won their groups in the Nations League but did not secure 1st or 2nd place in the World Cup qualifiers groups.