Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Assuming you don't hire Souness I think Scotland will be above Norway.

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I really hope the SFA has enough sense to not hire him! Gary McAllister's name has been mentioned as a favourite, and I would take him, as long as he is teamed up with a more experienced number two.

I think I've made a marginally +EV bet, but it's definitely close!

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Will Diego be playing for Brazil in the future? I was very impressed by him playing for Werder Bremen.

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Diego didn't play particularly well for Brasil this summer at Copa America. He was an unused substitute for their last two World Cup qualifiers.

Diego plays phenomenally for his club team. The problem he faces internationally is that Brasil's attacking mid-field ranks are crowded to say the least and Dunga likes to play two (relatively) defensive-minded midfielders.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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I think I've made a marginally +EV bet, but it's definitely close!

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Hmm, well you did bet on a seed 2 team against a seed 3 team. If you're getting 2:1 it should be a good bet.

But yeah, it's close. Norway has a lot of interesting new young players (a couple of them playing in Champions League tonight), and hopefully we'll see a stronger national team in the future.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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I think I've made a marginally +EV bet, but it's definitely close!

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Hmm, well you did bet on a seed 2 team against a seed 3 team. If you're getting 2:1 it should be a good bet.

But yeah, it's close. Norway has a lot of interesting new young players (a couple of them playing in Champions League tonight), and hopefully we'll see a stronger national team in the future.

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Bet was even money, and I agree that it's close. Not so much about EV anyway... just kind of a national pride thing between a couple of colleagues/friends - I never bet on sports!

Will try and catch the Rosenberg match tonight.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Wow, Japan is a huge lock to qualify, what a draw.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Wow, Japan is a huge lock to qualify, what a draw.

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There is still a stage after this one.

The top 2 from each group advance to form two five-team groups. Top 2 from each of those go to the finals, two third-place teams have a playoff to determine who plays Oceania.

They would probably be favored to advance from most possible draws but it's no lock. If in the next stage they get drawn with say Australia, South Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia it will be tough.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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CONCAF qualifying is more confusing then UEFA.
For example Domininca plays Barbados in a home and home then the winner plays a home and home vs the USA and the winner will be one of 4 teams in group 1. Then the top 2 teams in each group get though to the final qualifying stage.

Group 1
Dominica/Barbados vs. USA
Turks and Caicos Islands/S. Lucia vs. Guatemala
Bermuda/Cayman Islands vs. Trinidad and Tobago
Aruba/Antigua and Barbuda vs. Cuba


Group 2
Belize/St. Kitts and Nevis vs. Mexico
Bahamas/British Virgin Islands vs. Jamaica
Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico vs. Honduras
Canada vs. St Vincent and Grenadines

Group 3
US Virgin Islands/Grenada vs. Costa Rica
Suriname/Montserrat vs. Guyana
El Salvador/Anguilla vs. Panama
Nicaragua/Netherlands Antilles vs. Haiti

Canada has a tough draw, and the US will likely play down in Havana which will be interesting to say the least.

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Out of curiousity how does Guyana/Suriname go through CONCACAF and not CONMEBOL (S. America's Qualifying)

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

according to wikipedia: Even though they are located in South America, Guyana, Suriname and the French département d'outre-mer of French Guiana are not members of Conmebol - for historical, cultural and mainly sporting reasons their national associations are members of CONCACAF.



basically they wouldn't win a damn thing in conmebol, but in concacaf, the powerhouses are mexico and the us, and beyond that... who knows.