Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Group 1 - Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta

Group 2 - Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg

Group 3 - Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino

Group 4 - Germany, Russia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein

Group 5 - Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia, Armenia, Estonia

Group 6 - Croatia, England, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra

Group 7 - France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands

Group 8 - Italy, Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro

Group 9 - Holland, Scotland, Norway, Macedonia, Iceland


England get drawn with Croatia lol.


I think one thread suffices for all 2010 qualifying.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Is it still expected to take place in South Africa, or are they too far behind in getting the infrastructure built?

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

I'm pretty happy with Scotland's draw. Holland haven't been anything special, and hopefully they won't improve much in the next year or so. There were much stronger teams than Norway in pot 3 that I'm glad we've avoided (especially Serbia), and I'm fairly confident of taking 12 points from our fixtures with Iceland and Macedonia.

A couple of years from now I hope I'm not looking back at this post wondering how I could be so over-confident.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Group 2 is insanely weak.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

check out asian group 3:

North Korea, Jordan, Turkmenistan, South Korea

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

so how many teams get in? how many games do they play?

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Group 1 - Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta

Group 2 - Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg

Group 3 - Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino

Group 4 - Germany, Russia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein

Group 5 - Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia, Armenia, Estonia

Group 6 - Croatia, England, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra

Group 7 - France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands

Group 8 - Italy, Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro

Group 9 - Holland, Scotland, Norway, Macedonia, Iceland


England get drawn with Croatia lol.


I think one thread suffices for all 2010 qualifying.

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Thoughts:

Group 1: 3 competitive teams in this. Will likely come down to who does better in the battle of Scandy to see who gets 2nd.

Group 2: I expect this to be real, real close between the top 3 seeds who are almost equal in quality. Good chance for Israel to make it to the WC.

Group 3: Czech's shoudl win this one easy. Next 3 competing for P2.

Group 4: See group 3

Group 5: Gonna be a tough Spain/Turkey battle for 1st. Belgium will do real good to get 2nd.

Group 6: Bulldozer! As good a group as England could have hoped for. 3 absolute turkeys......... Ukraine and Croatia are both good sides tho so it's gonna be 2 easy. 3 way battle here.

Group 7: I fancy Serbia to grab 2nd.

Group 8: Should be Italy then ROI

Group 9: Good group. Looks like Scotland/Norway battle for 2nd,but Holland are no sure thing.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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so how many teams get in? how many games do they play?

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"The format for the European qualifying competition for the FIFA World Cup 2010™ was decided upon and will consist of eight groups of six teams, and one group of five. The nine group winners will qualify directly and the best eight runners-up will play home and away play-off matches for the remaining four places. The nine groups containing the 53 UEFA member associations will be competing for the 13 places made available to Europe in the final tournament."

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Anyone know how they calculate the "best 8" of the 9 runners up? It can't just be on points, since that would be unfair against group 9. Is it something like how many points they get v 1st, 3rd and 4th in the group?

Not that it matters since we'll win our group... but just in case.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Anyone know how they calculate the "best 8" of the 9 runners up? It can't just be on points, since that would be unfair against group 9. Is it something like how many points they get v 1st, 3rd and 4th in the group?

Not that it matters since we'll win our group... but just in case.

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It's best v 1,3,4 & 5.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Anyone know how they calculate the "best 8" of the 9 runners up? It can't just be on points, since that would be unfair against group 9. Is it something like how many points they get v 1st, 3rd and 4th in the group?

Not that it matters since we'll win our group... but just in case.

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It's best v 1,3,4 & 5.

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ty - makes sense.

England v Scotland playoff would be fun.

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I'm pretty happy with Scotland's draw. Holland haven't been anything special, and hopefully they won't improve much in the next year or so. There were much stronger teams than Norway in pot 3 that I'm glad we've avoided (especially Serbia), and I'm fairly confident of taking 12 points from our fixtures with Iceland and Macedonia.

A couple of years from now I hope I'm not looking back at this post wondering how I could be so over-confident.

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As a Norwegian, we are pretty happy with facing Scotland, as well [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] We're not happy with being in the third seeding group, though, as we were just moved down from the second group. We just missed the Euros cut, mainly because of huge goalkeeping errors in the two games against Turkey.

I think group 9 is fairly open. Holland isn't very strong these days, we'll see in the Euros. Unless they improve, Holland/Scotland/Norway could all take the group.

I'm also worried about how they rank group runner ups. I read that they supposedly rank them by average points/game. However, that isn't really fair either as our group runner up would get two games less against the easiest opponents.

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As a Norwegian who lives in Scotland our group could turn real interesting, hopefully Scotland/Norway will go 1/2nd and the dutch will blow up

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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.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Well that's probably the best we could have hoped for, although thats what was said about the Euro group. Why does England suck so bad traveling to eastern Europe?

Also I look forward to the England-Kazakhstan home game for the hilarious Borat references and costumes.....NOT!

Also can someone explain CONCAF qualification to me? 4 teams qualify with random matches during/after the group phase? Also will they let USA play in Havana or Cuba play in the US? May end up on neutral ground I suppose

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

How many Cubans will be left on their team a week after they play at the US? Similarly, how many North Koreans will abandon after they play in Seoul?

guilt,

Concacaf is confusing. Bump Bailey has given you the draw. So the US plays the winner of Dominica and Barbados in a home and home. The winner there is put into a group with the 3 other winners. These four teams play in a group, playing each team twice. The top two teams from that group are put with the top 2 teams in the other two groups to make a 6-team group. There you play everybody twice. Top 3 go to the finals and fourth plays the 5th team from South America.

It's actually not that far off from the Champions League when they did the group stage twice. It's basically:
Qualifying Round 1 (QR1)- bottom 24 teams versus each other
Qualifying Round 2 (QR2)- top 12 teams each face a winner from QR1
Group Stage 1 (GS1) - winners from QR2 put into 3 four-team groups
Group Stage 2 (GS2) - top two from each group in GS1 put in one 6-team group.

Top 3 advance, fourth plays 5th team from South America.

It would be much easier to grasp if they just played the rounds then did the draws.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

guilt,

I forgot to comment on England. I think they have trouble traveling to Eastern Europe because it's really freaking far away, the weather is often bad, and relative to before the gap in quality is much smaller.

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Yes, really unfortunate grouping for Canada. Why did they use the May rankings as the basis for the seeding and not the latest ranking, or the ranking following the Gold Cup?? The European seedings were based on the latest rankings.

Anyway, not an impossible task, but with the dubious officiating in CONCACAF, I think it will be tough for us to qualify.

What about the Aussie group? Maybe they will now regret joining the Asian federation. Not going to be easy for them either...

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Is it still expected to take place in South Africa, or are they too far behind in getting the infrastructure built?

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Sepp Blatter is insistent that WC 2010 is going to be in South Africa, barring a major catastrophe.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Cheers JaredL. The whole CONCACAF thing has confused the hell out of me for years. Just seemed very random with all the groups, leagues, matches and what not. They described how Trinidad&Tobago qualified at the last world cup and I was really stupified by the organisation

On an unrelated note boo you and your avatar (See Loc)

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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England get drawn with Croatia lol.




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Do you support Ireland or anyone but England? :/

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Group 7 - France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands


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I think that France got a very difficult draw. I'm unsure of Lithuania's strength relative to other teams from pot 4 and Faroe Islands are a joke. Besides that, Austria are a pretty good pot 5 team. More importantly the only team worse than Romania would be England. I also think that Serbia are the strongest team from pot 3.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Anyway, not an impossible task, but with the dubious officiating in CONCACAF, I think it will be tough for us to qualify.


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I think its more of the Canadian team being very mediocre than poor officiating.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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England get drawn with Croatia lol.




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Do you support Ireland or anyone but England? :/

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Yeah I support Ireland lol, but I thought that draw was funny as it came out.

I think Ireland should get the play off spot, Bulgaria ain't nothing special but our last campaign with Steve Staunton was a shambles but if we get our act together we should finish 2nd comfortably

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

How is anyone Irish cocky about their chances? I mean, when was the last time they played a tournament, 94?

Anyway, looking forward to this a great lot. I thionk a lot of interesting things have been said.

As for Sweden, I think we're a close 2nd favorite to Portugal. Lots of key games, as usual. Looking forward to have the fixtures set.

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How is anyone Irish cocky about their chances? I mean, when was the last time they played a tournament, 94?

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Obviously forgot 2002 then

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How is anyone Irish cocky about their chances? I mean, when was the last time they played a tournament, 94?

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lol i never said anything about finishing top of the group which would be cocky, every time we've gotten to the world cup we've gotten out of the group and performed well '90,'94 &'02. 1990 we got to the quarters lost 1-0 to Italy, 1994 we were the only team to beat Italy in normal time who were runners up, 2002 we got beaten on penalties by the Spanish who got lucky and drew against the finalists Germany in the group stages. How is saying we should get the play off spot being cocky our team isn't bad and Bulgaria is our competition? Everyone else here is expecting us to get 2nd if we don't [censored] up like last campaign, I know plenty of people who expected us to get out of the Germany & Czech Republic group for the Euros but our manager was terrible just like Englands for the last campaign.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

True, true. You should obviously expect at least 2nd, seeing how you have made it through one qual (my bad, it was a play-off against Iran, wasn't it?) in the last 6 atttempts [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Seriously, though, I kind of like Ireland and wouldn't mind seeing you go through - but Bulgaria aren't too bad. I agree that Ireland should be 2nd favorite, but it wouldn't come as a shock to me at least if they failed to do so.

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Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised either we could finish 4th easily too [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] we can be that bad, nothing surprises me with Ireland, well losing 5-2 to Cyprus shocked me a little i'll admit lol. They nearly beat us at home too and they were the better team.

Anyways enough about Ireland, we're only a small country who would be delighted to qualify.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

As an admirer of Brasilian soccer, I am disheartened by the play of the national team under Dunga.

I realize Kaka and Ronaldinho were missing this summer, but Brasil played very poorly for most of the tournament, struggling to beat lesser nations. To their credit, they played a solid tactical match against Argentina, disrupting their free-flowing attack and hammering them on quick counterattacks. However, it was Argentina who looked the superior side throughout the campaign. Despite having a wealth of talent, Brasil looked lost and required Robinho to almost single-handedly pull them to the final.

The World Cup qualifying campaign hasn't gotten off to the best start either. Eight points from four matches is certainly not bad, but the last home victory against Uruguay was very lucky.

The main issue I have with Dunga is player selection. If Ronaldo and Adriano regain their fitness, they should be included. Luis Fabiano is a solid striker, but I am not at all impressed by Vagner Love, who plies his trade in Siberia, or Afonso Alves, no matter how many goals he scores against second-rate Dutch competition. Also, Mancini, despite wonderful form in Roma, has not played for his country since 2004.

In Kaka Brasil have perhaps the world's finest player. Ronaldinho is starting to regain his form and Robinho is exploding in Madrid. Combined with Daniel Alves, Fabiano, Alex, Juan, Elano, Diego and talented teenagers, Brasil have the skill to match the run that the previous generation accomplished from 1994-2006.

One only has to go back as recently as the 2005 Confederations Cup, particularly the championship match in which their unmatched skill and deadly finishing shredded Argentina, to understand the benchmark for Brasil.

Once again Brasil are the oddsmakers favorites to lift the Jules Rimet trophy, but a stubborn coach and grinding style of play could prevent that.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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

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Canada's terrible

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Also I look forward to the England-Kazakhstan home game for the hilarious Borat references and costumes.....NOT!

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You seriously don´t want for something like this to happen? http://gaijintonic.files.wordpress.c...04/scouser.jpg

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U-S-A

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

Will Scotland be stronger or weaker without Mcleish?

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised either we could finish 4th easily too [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] we can be that bad, nothing surprises me with Ireland, well losing 5-2 to Cyprus shocked me a little i'll admit lol. They nearly beat us at home too and they were the better team.

Anyways enough about Ireland, we're only a small country who would be delighted to qualify.

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WE WON'T QUALIFY. Tough group. Drawing Montenegro was a HUGE beat. They will be miles better than a bottom seeding would suggest. Sigh.

Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Is it still expected to take place in South Africa, or are they too far behind in getting the infrastructure built?

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Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Is it still expected to take place in South Africa, or are they too far behind in getting the infrastructure built?

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Sepp Blatter is insistent that WC 2010 is going to be in South Africa, barring a major catastrophe.

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Re: Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread
 

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Will Scotland be stronger or weaker without Mcleish?

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I didn't want McLeish to go, but it was fairly inevitable. As long as we get someone decent in his place, I don't see this being a particularly big plus or negative for Scotland.

Btw, I have a $150 bet with a Norwegian colleague as to who will place higher in our group between our respective countries. Have I made a good bet do you think? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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

Best part of this group is that it's almost guaranteed I get either Norway or Scotland to cheer for (atleast in the play-offs)