On Thursday, Timor-Leste will play Mongolia.

Well that’s exciting isn’t it? Two teams battling it out with national pride on the line?

OK, Fox Sports and SBS probably aren’t rushing to Dili to cover the match.

Nevertheless, this match is unlike any other that’s been played since Germany claimed global bragging rights by defeating Argentina 1-0 in Rio in July of last year. For it is a FIFA World Cup match.

This may seem incomprehensible given that only nine months have elapsed since the 2014 World Cup ended and the tournament is played every four years (and Timor-Leste and Mongolia surely aren’t World Cup teams).

But yes, it’s a World Cup match. Two hundred and nine teams have entered the 2018 World Cup and they will all play in it.

For convenience, we call that quadrennial month-long international tournament the World Cup. That’s not incorrect but it is more descriptive to call it the World Cup finals. This distinguishes it from the World Cup qualifiers which, as unglamorous as they may seem, are part of the same competition.

For 177 countries, the long road will end before Russia 2018.

Given that soccer is popular nearly everywhere, this means that millions of people will never see their country participate in the World Cup’s glamour month. For most, qualifiers are the World Cup.

Being at the World Cup finals is earned but it’s also a privilege. Wealth, high population and even helpful geographic placement are advantages enjoyed by relatively few nations. That’s why only 77 different countries have played in the tournament phase of the 20 World Cups held.

Africa provides the best examples of how poverty makes World Cup dreams difficult to fulfil. It has 54 teams entering the 2018 competition – one more than Europe – but only five African teams went to Brazil last year (none of which reached the quarter finals) while 13 European teams made the trip.

Most African nations are soccer crazy and the continent has a much bigger population than Europe. FIFA estimates that there are more soccer players in Ethiopia than there are in Spain.

We tend to see Spain’s economy as a drag on the rest of Europe but it is still one of the biggest 15 in the world. It can afford top coaching, top training grounds and equipment, and can easily add to its own extensive expertise from nearby countries. Want managers or techniques from Italy, Germany or Netherlands? No problem.

But these things are out of Ethiopia’s reach. With the more serious problems caused by poor health and nutrition as well, you can see why, despite all those extra players, the Ethiopians haven’t been able to develop enough to reach the World Cup finals. Usually they don’t even get close (though they did have a fine run in the qualifiers for 2014).

There’s no revelation here of course. It’s just that we don’t think about it much. And that means that when the 2018 World Cup begins in two days’ time, most soccer fans will be discussing whether Chelsea and Bayern München advanced to the next round of the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s premier competition for clubs.

I’m not suggesting that you should try to become an overnight expert in poor or small, or poor and small, nations’ teams (I haven’t scanned the Ulan Bator Times for a preview of the national team’s trip to Timor yet either).

Children play football at a beach-side field in the East Timorese capital of Dili. AFP photo

Still, it’s worth recognising the scale of what’s about to unfold. For the 2014 World Cup, more than 800 qualifiers were played. The World Cup finals, with 64 matches, are tiny by comparison.

You can also guarantee that these matches will give us some wonderful stories and there will probably be controversies too.

There were no qualifiers for the inaugural World Cup in 1930; they were first established for the 1934 edition and there was drama straight away.

Poland had to play Czechoslovakia for a spot in the finals but narrowly lost the first match in Warsaw.

The return match in Prague was eagerly anticipated and would be played six months later. But by then the relationship between the two nations had deteriorated. The Polish government didn’t let its team travel across the (disputed) border; the Czechs went to the World Cup finals and the Poles had to wait another four years.

For the 1974 tournament, the qualifiers included a playoff between a European team and a South American team for the first time. The two countries involved were the Soviet Union and Chile.

The first match in Moscow finished 0-0. In the lead up to the return match in Santiago, the Soviets learned that they were going to play in a stadium that was being used as a detention centre for left-wing political prisoners.

The Soviets decided not to turn up which allowed Chile to qualify at their expense. But the match still went ahead with the Chilean team, a referee, thousands of fans and a scoreboard attendant. It has to be seen to be believed.

For 12 years, the greatest victory in the history of Norwegian soccer was in a World Cup qualifier. They were the weakest team in a group of five countries when they faced England in Oslo in 1981. England had scored four goals when the teams met at Wembley a year earlier and another thrashing was on the cards.

After Norway’s shock 2-1 win, the scenes of jubilation were accompanied by an extraordinary piece of commentary. Switching between his native tongue and English in his excitement, Norwegian caller Bjørge Lillelien shouted:

“… Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana … Maggie Thatcher can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!”

England took a hell of a beating in Oslo again in 1993 and this time the Norwegians qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1938 (and at England’s expense). Sadly, Lillelien didn’t live to see it.

In 2004 I was lucky enough to see one of the great World Cup qualifying stories because it happened at Hindmarsh Stadium. This would be Australia’s last qualification series through Oceania and a six-team round robin was held in Adelaide from which the top two countries (expected to be Australia and New Zealand) would advance to a home and away playoff in the following year.

While Australia rolled to victory in its first four matches and wrapped up a spot in the playoff with a game to spare, the rest of the normal script wasn’t followed. In front of just a few hundred spectators, Vanuatu scored a stunning win over New Zealand.

This meant that Solomon Islands, which had lost to New Zealand but won its other three matches, could claim second spot with a draw in its last game.

But the Solomons would now have to face Australia. And though they weren’t yet household names to those who don’t follow the game, the Socceroos team included John Aloisi, Brett Emerton and Tim Cahill.

Even when they were warming up, you sensed the islanders were ready to play the game of their lives. They did and the final score was 2-2. The Solomons’ celebration will not be forgotten by anyone who saw it.

Yes, Australia had nothing to play for but big wins against the Solomon Islands were routine. The two nations have now met ten times. Australia has scored 55 goals in those matches… and has won nine of them.

Like the Norwegians of 1981, the Solomons wouldn’t reach the World Cup finals and, even after that draw against the Socceroos, it’s unlikely they expected to. Australia, under new coach Guus Hiddink, defeated them easily when the teams played off in 2005. This meant we went on to face Uruguay and you know the rest.

For Timor-Leste and Mongolia, the stakes couldn’t be higher. They will meet in Ulan Bator five days after the match in Dili and the winner over the two legs advances to the second round of qualifiers to play in a group of five countries (which will include a top Asian team like South Korea, Japan or Australia). The loser is eliminated.

Just think about that for a moment. One of these two countries will be out of the 2018 World Cup after playing just two matches and more than three years before the finals.

Nevertheless, someone will be celebrating. Neither of the teams have ever reached the second round of qualifiers so one of them will be breaking new ground.

Timor-Leste v Mongolia is one of six match ups which will reduce the field of Asian teams from 46 to 40. The others are: India v Nepal, Yemen v Pakistan, Cambodia v Macau, Chinese Taipei v Brunei, and Sri Lanka v Bhutan.

You might have noticed that there are some big countries there; you’d also know that three of them are more interested in another World Cup at the moment.

But it’d be disappointing if soccer fans showed no interest. If we’re going to use lofty epithets like “the world game”, we should acknowledge that the entire world is playing and that our greatest competition is about to begin.

Paul Marcuccitti’s soccer column is usually published in InDaily on Mondays. He is a co-presenter of 5RTI’s Soccer on 531 program which can be heard from 11am on Saturdays.