The Road to the FIFA World Cup - South Africa 2010

Damn Nigeria has like 150 million people! Christ that's a lot of niggers

And yet they cant produce the amount of talent Ivory Coast and Ghana are doing lately!

Nigeria have talent in abundance. The application process on the pitch is a different story though.

So can anyone list the teams who have qualified ? I know the Euro ones but not all the African and asian etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup#List_of_qualified_teams

EMP wrote:

Khadrim wrote:

EMP wrote:Algeria won 3-1, but what happens if Egypt wins by two goals. Everything will be equal, points, goal difference and head to head. Do away goals count? If not how do they separate them?

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/africa/standings/index.html

@Khadrim: Egypt played poorly in the first half. It required one moment of magic from Hosny abd Rabou to give them three points yesterday. They are still a good team, but not as good as they were in ACN, but they do seem to qualify badly and then put it together in the tournaments at least in ACN.

Isn't it head to head. If Egypt wins 2-0 the other relevant Algeria's 3-1 win over them would put Egypt through courtesy of the away goal. If Algeria score a two goal victory isn't enough as Algria have scored more goals than them over the campaign.

That would depend on which of head to head or goals scored counts first

If Algeria win, draw or lose by one goal, they go through, but if Egypt win by two then everything will be equal including goals scored and conceded. If it ends 3-1 to Egypt absolutely everything will be the same including away goals, so I think they subtract the results against the last placed team and that will put Algeria through unless Rwanda thrash Zambia. Hopefully it doesn't come to that as it is a horrible way to decide who should goto the World Cup.

There is no away goal rule by head to head comparison, meaning it doesnt matter if the result is 2-0, 3-1 or 4-2 for egypt. It would result in drawing of lots UNLESS rule 7 applies. Which means that there will be a match on neutral ground to decide it.


In the league format, the ranking in each group is determined as
follows:
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria,
their rankings will be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between
the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the
teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the
teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
7. With the approval of the FIFA Organising Committee and should the
coordinated international match calendar allow, play-offs may be
played instead of drawing lots to decide ties within groups (cf. art. 17,
par. 6g). If any such play-off ends in a tie, extra time of two periods
of 15 minutes each will be played. If the score is level after extra time,
penalty kicks will be taken to determine the winner in accordance with
the procedure described in the Laws of the Game.

Crucial/can't miss matches coming up:

Uruguay-Argentina (HOLY SHITE!)
Chile-Ecuador (HOLY SHITE!)
Egypt-Algeria
Switzerland-Israel (boring football, but tense match, kind of)
Czechia-N.Ireland (oh FFS! European qualifiers are SO FUCKING BORING!)

Sgoater1 wrote:Play-offs looking like France, Russia, Slovakia, Rep of Ireland, Portugal, Ukraine, Bosnia and the last team will be either Switzerland or Greece.

Anyone know how the seeding works - is it just based on the current FIFA rankings?

From a neutral's perspective, I hope France, Russia, Ireland, Portugal and Bosnia make it. Don't really care about the others.

Won't be possible though, since one of Switzerland/Greece go through directly thanks to their joke of a group. Same applies for Slovenia/Slovakia

Khadrim wrote:

EMP wrote:

Khadrim wrote:

EMP wrote:Algeria won 3-1, but what happens if Egypt wins by two goals. Everything will be equal, points, goal difference and head to head. Do away goals count? If not how do they separate them?

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/africa/standings/index.html

@Khadrim: Egypt played poorly in the first half. It required one moment of magic from Hosny abd Rabou to give them three points yesterday. They are still a good team, but not as good as they were in ACN, but they do seem to qualify badly and then put it together in the tournaments at least in ACN.

Isn't it head to head. If Egypt wins 2-0 the other relevant Algeria's 3-1 win over them would put Egypt through courtesy of the away goal. If Algeria score a two goal victory isn't enough as Algria have scored more goals than them over the campaign.

That would depend on which of head to head or goals scored counts first

If Algeria win, draw or lose by one goal, they go through, but if Egypt win by two then everything will be equal including goals scored and conceded. If it ends 3-1 to Egypt absolutely everything will be the same including away goals, so I think they subtract the results against the last placed team and that will put Algeria through unless Rwanda thrash Zambia. Hopefully it doesn't come to that as it is a horrible way to decide who should goto the World Cup.

On the contrary, I think thats great. Shows every game and every goal counts.

I remember in the last qualifying for WC where the result between Armenia and Andorra could've determined if the Czechs went through as best-placed second team or into play-offs on goals scored (they smashed something like eight past Andorra). Didn't matter in the end but the thought of Czechs cheering Andorra against Armenia was great. Makes you care about teams and countries you would otherwise not give a second thought about. A real world cup.

Disagree. It means that goals scored against the bottom team, which could be close don't matter. At the very least there should be a play-off in a neutral country. If Europe and other confederations can have them why can't Africa?

@ kas: Yes its on ranking. Portugal are lucky that croatia is 99% out of 2nd place, otherwise they would have been unseeded.

Seeded:

Russia
France
Greece/Switzerland
Portugal

Unseeded:
the others

@ Antarion: Sorry hadn't seen your post when I responded to Khadrim. Hope they play-off if all things are equal. It should be decided on the pitch.

EMP wrote:@ Antarion: Sorry hadn't seen your post when I responded to Khadrim. Hope they play-off if all things are equal. It should be decided on the pitch.

No problem.


I also hope fifa will avoid drawing lots at all costs. I think as long as both teams agree on a decider it should be doable.

Sean St Ledger said it gave him "chills down his spine" to stand next to Big Vince in the tunnel

Iaquinta? He is like the Italian Koevermans!

The Seleccao fully expect to clinch second place in World Cup qualifying group one against Malta in Guimaraes tomorrow. A win of any sort will suffice to book Portugal’s place in the play-offs, but coach Carlos Queiroz has fired a warning that it will not be a straight-forward task.

“Nothing is easy in football; nothing falls in your lap. The more we are sure that we are going to win, the more difficult it is to win. That’s why we have to be fully focussed on getting the victory. If we start by playing with low intensity or without rhythm things won’t work out how we want them to.

“We have a strong sense of responsibility. We have to start winning right from the first minute. We respect Malta and we will try to be the best Portugal possible.”

Midfield question mark
As for his team selection, Nani will come in for the injured Ronaldo and the only real doubt concerns the midfield. Pepe has been a mainstay during the campaign, and only missed the Hungary game because he was suspended. However, his replacement Pedro Mendes put in a sparkling performance on Saturday, and has the added incentive of playing in his home town.

Queiroz alluded to the fact that Malta do not constitute a big threat in the air, which could be interpreted as suggesting that Mendes will keep his place instead of Pepe.

“We have to analyse the strong points of each team. Malta’s assets are not the same as Sweden’s or Denmark’s. It is not exactly their aerial game that makes the difference,” said the Portugal coach. Juventus’ Tiago is also now available after injury but is unlikely to be risked.

Why so much talk about Portugal ?

They've only been to 4 World Cups FFS

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Why so much talk about Portugal ?

They've only been to 4 World Cups FFS

I didn't realise that.

Yeh i don't remember so much talk about Portugal missing out on WC98, and that was their golden generation at their peak.

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Why so much talk about Portugal ?

They've only been to 4 World Cups FFS

His name is Cristiano

Cristiano Ronaldo.

Italy

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:Italy

2-0 down at home to Cyprus.

L r dd wrote:

Pierre Littbarski wrote:Why so much talk about Portugal ?

They've only been to 4 World Cups FFS

His name is Cristiano

Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pretty much.

The headlines are more "CR will miss the WC", than "Portugal Will Miss Out"

Doesn't matter 2-0 up

Has there ever been a duller last round of World Cup qualifiers?

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:Italy

2-0 down at home to Cyprus.

You've gone and jinxed it now.

Malta haven't scored a single goal in this qualifying campaign, what a waste of time.

3-2 Italy now

Chins

Sheffield gunner wrote:

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:Italy

2-0 down at home to Cyprus.

You've gone and jinxed it now.

Malta haven't scored a single goal in this qualifying campaign, what a waste of time.

Gilardino

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:

Sheffield gunner wrote:

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:Italy

2-0 down at home to Cyprus.

You've gone and jinxed it now.

Malta haven't scored a single goal in this qualifying campaign, what a waste of time.

Gilardino

You're such a twat Rosicky!

Sheffield gunner wrote:

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:

Rosicky Mk. 3 wrote:Italy

2-0 down at home to Cyprus.

You've gone and jinxed it now.

Malta haven't scored a single goal in this qualifying campaign, what a waste of time.

They will only get strong by playing the best though. In the 24th century they will be right up there competing with Latvia and Ireland.

Italy are such a shite team. And people say they have more chance than England

Good to see Nani proving once again he is a more than able replacement for Ronaldo

L r dd wrote:Italy are such a shite team. And people say they have more chance than England

Good to see Nani proving once again he is a more than able replacement for Ronaldo

Are you being serious?,please tell me you are joking.

L r dd wrote:Italy are such a shite team. And people say they have more chance than England

Maybe because they can pass ?