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| Bluffer’s Guide to the World Cup 2010 Qualifying Finale Posted: 07 Oct 2009 01:40 PM PDT
So it’s kind of important. It’s also about this time that people start asking things like “so, can Sweden qualify or not?”, because they haven’t been paying attention. Below is a bluffer’s guide, a rough overview to what’s happening in each confederation, which teams have already qualified, which teams can still qualify, who needs what. That kind of thing. It’s by no means complete, but reading it will hopefully get you through a casual conversation about World Cup 2010 qualifying and leave the other person thinking you know what’s what. Of course, if you’re one of the studious types that actually does know what’s what, then please feel free to add more detail in the comments. AFRICA Already qualified: South Africa (as hosts), Ghana. Nearly qualified: Côte d’Ivoire are running away with Group E. Big boys in trouble: Egypt and Nigeria. Incredibly, Senegal didn’t even make it to this stage of qualification. Group A is close between Cameroon (7pts) Gabon (6pts) and Togo (5pts). Group B has Tunisia leading Nigeria by two points. Group C has Algeria ahead of Africa Cup of Nations champs Egypt by three points. Games to watch: Nigeria and Tunisia are both at home (to Mozambique and Kenya respectively) and expected to win, but are both away in November. ASIA: Already qualified: Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea Big boys not going: Saudi Arabia, Iran Bahrain won the Asian playoff with Saudi Arabia and will play Oceania winners New Zealand in a two legged playoff. Winner goes to the World Cup. If it’s Bahrain than they can rightly claim to be the kings of World Cup playoffs. Game to watch: OCEANIA: Table/standings at FIFA.com (but it’s basically evidence that New Zealand is the new Australia). EUROPE: Already qualified: England, Netherlands, Spain Nealy there: Slovakia have a five point lead at the top of Group 3. Serbia and Italy have four point leads at the top of Groups 7 and 8 respectively. But nothing is guaranteed. Too close to call: Denmark lead Sweden by three points in Group 1, but the two meet in Copenhagen on Saturday. If Sweden lose, then they’re vulnerable to being leapfrogged by Portugal. Germany leads Russia by one point in Group 4, and the two play on Russia’s artificial turf the same day. Winner can take the group and automatic qualification (provided they don’t slip up in their final game). Group 2 is all very tight, with Switzerland leading Greece and Latvia by three points by three points, and all having two games to play. Big boys in trouble: France are trailing Serbia and could be looking at playoffs. Turkey are third in Group 5, four points behind Bosnia-Herzegovina, who they need to catch up with to make the playoffs. Czech Republic and Poland are fourth and fifth in Group 3, and looking close to kissing South Africa goodbye. But the big story is still Portugal. Even after last month’s mini-resurgence, Cristiano Ronaldo and co are still third in Group 1, and need to beat both Hungary and Malta while hoping Denmark or Sweden slip up enough for them to squeeze into the top two. Games to watch: CONCACAF Already qualified: No one yet. Nearly there: USA and Mexico are one and two respectively and are looking likely. USA need a win against either Honduras or Costa Rica, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. Mexico need a win against either El Salvador or Trinidad & Tobago, which shouldn’t be too difficult. Honduras just need to do better than T&T in the next seven days, and that way they can take third. Games to watch: SOUTH AMERICA Already qualified: Brazil, Paraguay Nearly there: Third place Chile just need one win, against either Colombia or Ecuador, and they’re on the plane to South Africa. Too close to call: The difference between finishing fourth, fifth or sixth is huge. Fourth is World Cup, fifth is playoff, six is staying home. But the difference between current fourth place Ecuador and current eighth place Colombia is just four points. This one was worth copying and pasting the table:
Big boys in trouble You don’t need me to tell you this one do you? Argentina are sweating. Maradona doubly so. All eyes are on him this week. Uruguay are currently in the not-going zone, but - lucky for neutrals - the two face each other in the final game, which will definitely determine who finishes where. Games to watch: So very many, with that epic battle to avoid finishing sixth or below. |
| The England and USA Games Will Not Be Televised Posted: 07 Oct 2009 08:49 AM PDT
Team USA is playing away to Honduras, and needs to keep picking up points in order to book a spot in South Africa. But unfortunately the game rights were sold in the USA on a closed circuit television deal, which means bars had to pay big money (I think in the thousands) to screen the game, and so will likely be charging an entry fee for people to come in and watch. According to USSoccer.com’s list of places to see the game, not many bars were keen on that deal. As most of our English readers will be aware by now, Saturday’s Ukraine vs England World Cup qualifier will not be broadcast on television in the UK. At all. Instead it’s being shown as an internet broadcast only. Those keen to see the England game can sign up to watch Ukraine vs England here (provided you’re not in a restricted territory) with prices beginning at £4.99 and rising to £11.99 as the game gets closer. The big questions are: Why and How? Why are two international football matches unavailable to watch on regular television? How did this happen? The common misconception is that the American and English soccer authorities are to blame. But that’s not really the case. In international games it’s the home team that gets to sell the TV rights. So the Honduran FA sold it to the highest bidder, which happened to be the closed circuit television people. With the England game, it’s basically Setanta’s fault. The Ukrainian FA had sold the UK rights to Setanta, which then famously folded, and so the game was open for bidding again. But… England had already qualified, making the game much less attractive to bidders. And so online broadcaster Perform stepped in. 101GreatGoals sound semi-optimistic that the England game could represent the start of an online football viewing revolution. I’m not so sure. Public reaction to the way this game is broadcast has not been smiley faces. And the internet broadcast deal is basically the deal of last resort. (Note: If you’re in North America, the England game is on Setanta USA and Setanta Canada, neither of which folded when Setanta UK did.) So what can be done? How could the rules be changed to ensure future international games are available on regular television? I’d quite like to see a situation where home teams don’t get to sell the TV rights in the away team’s nation. The Honduran and Ukrainian FAs have no interest in whether US or English fans can see the game easily, they just sell to the highest bidder. So maybe a simple new FIFA rule could mandate that the away team is allowed to sell it’s own TV rights in its own country. Downside is that the smaller home teams would miss out on a payday when they host a team with a lucrative media market. Tom Dunmore at Pitch Invasion has a similar, but maybe better idea:
If that was put forward, I’d vote for it. Not that we get to vote on such things. We’re just the paying public. |
We’ve got two World Cup qualifying dates in the next seven days: Saturday, October 10th and Wednesday October 14th. These are the final two games for the majority of teams.
Are you and England or USA fan? Planning to watch this weekend’s World Cup qualifiers on television? You better start making new plans then.| You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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