Olivier Mbaizo’s World Cup dreams are on the ropes | Soccer on TV

Note to readers: Our preview of Wednesday’s final round of Concacaf men’s World Cup qualifiers will be in a separate piece.

Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. (ESPN2, UniMás, TUDN)

North Macedonia pulled off one of the great upsets in recent international soccer history when it won 1-0 at Italy in Thursday’s first round of Europe’ World Cup qualifying playoffs. Now the nation where U.S. women’s team manager Vlatko Andonovski was born aims for another stunner, visiting Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.

» READ MORE: The U.S. women’s soccer team is returning to the Philly area in April

Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. (ESPN+, PrendeTV)

After getting a bye to the final playoff round when Russia was expelled, Robert Lewandowski’s Poland now needs to win just one game at home to book a ticket to Qatar. But it won’t be easy. Sweden’s forward line is stacked with talent in Alexander Isak, Dejan Kulusevski and star of stars Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Tuesday, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)

Cameroon lost its home game of this African World Cup qualifying playoff series 1-0 on Friday. Now the Indomitable Lions must try to turn things around on Algeria’s home turf, or else Olivier Mbaizo’s hopes of becoming the first Union player to play at a World Cup will end up just short.

» READ MORE: After living a dream at the Africa Cup of Nations, Olivier Mbaizo wants to help the Union win a trophy

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. (Pay-per-view, FuboTV)

We have not featured South America’s World Cup qualifiers here because it’s so hard — and expensive — to watch them. You have to buy each game on pay-per-view TV (details here) or stump up a lot of money for fuboTV’s subscription streaming service: over $70 (plus taxes) for the English-language tier with games, and $33 for the Spanish tier.

But if you have the money, the last night of the campaign has the potential to be unforgettable. Though the top four spots (and their automatic berths) are set, there’s a three-way battle for fifth place’s intercontinental playoff ticket between Peru (21 points), Colombia (20), and Chile (19).

If you don’t want to pay for the broadcasts, you’ll at least see highlights posted to fuboTV’s Twitter feed.

» READ MORE: Union midfielder José Andrés Martínez reflects on playing against Lionel Messi and Neymar and his love for Philadelphia

Wednesday, 12:45 p.m. (YouTube, DAZN, atafootball.com)

This will be one of the great scenes in women’s soccer history. Barcelona has sold out its famed Camp Nou stadium for its home game in this El Clásico UEFA women’s Champions League quarterfinal series. In the series opener, Alexia Putellas led Barcelona to a 3-1 win, but the Blaugrana had to come from behind after giving up an early goal.

Wednesday, 3 p.m. (YouTube, DAZN)

PSG will host this game at the Parc des Princes, another legendary soccer venue. The club had sold over 25,000 tickets for the contest, and comes home having won the first leg in Munich 2-1. Star striker Marie Antoinette-Katoto scored both goals for the Parisians. Bayern is currently dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak of at least seven players, and it requested to have this game postponed. But UEFA said no.

Wednesday, 7 p.m. (Paramount+)

Gotham’s Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger return to Orlando for the first time since their dramatic offseason move north to New Jersey.

Wednesday, 10 p.m. (Paramount+)

After scoring a terrific goal to lead the Thorns past Alex Morgan’s San Diego on Saturday, Sophia Smith now gets to welcome Christen Press to Providence Park.

» READ MORE: More NWSL Challenge Cup games to watch this week

Thursday, 12:45 p.m. (YouTube, DAZN)

This series started with a 1-1 tie in London. That gives Wolfsburg an edge coming home, and we’ll see if that pays off against Arsenal’s better-on-paper talent.

Thursday, 3 p.m. (YouTube, DAZN)

Juventus scored a 2-1 upset win at home to kick off this series, with two goals late in the second half after Catarina Macario’s eighth-minute opener. That was further confirmation that Juve beating Chelsea to a quarterfinal berth was no fluke. But Lyon is favored to take care of business at home and advance to the semis.