Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

World Cup Qualifying Games to Watch on 09/09/09

Posted: 08 Sep 2009 03:53 PM PDT


Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 is a big big day for World Cup qualifying. Some teams will actually qualify. Some teams will be eliminated. And some will keep hope alive for at least another month.

For those with multiple televisions, here are seven games to keep an eye on:


Paraguay vs Argentina
After the 3-1 home defeat to Brazil, Diego Maradon’s Argentina are in serious trouble. Occupying the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot in South America, they need to start picking up points. But apart from Brazil, Paraguay is arguably the most dangerous team in the region right now.

Under head coach Argentinean Gerardo Martino, Paraguay are five points ahead of Argentina in third place and secure qualification with a win. If that happens, El Diego could find himself unemployed.

England vs Croatia
England famously failed to qualify for Euro 2008 when Croatia beat Steve McClaren’s team 3-2 at Wembley. But it’s Fabio Capello calling the shots now, and England can wash away the sins of Second Choice Steve by beating Croatia at Wembley and making their presence in South Africa next summer official.

Both sides are missing important players. Croatia are without playmaker Luka Modric, who fractured his fibula playing in the Premiership for Spurs, while England will be without Zagreb hat-trick hero Theo Walcott, who’s he’s been out injured since pre-season.

To add a little extra spice, Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has claims he’s spotted England’s secret weakness. Which will probably turn out to be Glen Johnson’s inability to stop Ivica Olić going past him.

Cameroon vs Gabon
Huge game in CAF Group A, where table topping Gabon travel to (surprisingly) third place Cameroon. Only the winner of the four team group qualifies, so Cameroon need a result while Gabon need to hang on. Second place Togo will be hoping both teams somehow lose.

Serbia vs France
Serbia lead UEFA Group 7 by four points, so if France want to catch the leaders then this is a must win. French preparations haven’t been helped by the Titi Henry vs Raymond Domenech bust up, and - if you ask me - their whole campaign hasn’t been helped by keeping the astrology loving manager employed. Serbia qualify with a win. Anything less than three points for France makes the playoffs a very real possibility.

Hungary vs Portugal
Let’s not beat around the bush here: Portugal are in deep deep doo doo. Fourth in Group 1 behind Denmark, Hungary and Sweden. A defeat here means an almost (but not mathematically certain) failure to qualify. And that would mean no C-Ron at World Cup 2010. Make of that what you will.

On the other hand, it seems that giving little Brazilian striker Liédson a Portuguese passport has solved their “striker? what striker?” problem. Liédson currently averages an international goal every 45 minutes (although to be fair he’s only actually played 45 minutes).

Scotland vs Netherlands
UEFA Group 9 (the one with only five teams) gets wrapped up this week. Netherlands are already qualified, but Scotland need a result to a) guarantee second place (Norway could still leapfrog them) and b) try and make sure they finish in the top 8 second place teams and therefore make the playoffs.

James the new Maradona? McFadden is suspended, but expect a classic gutsy Scottish performance whatever happens.

Saudi Arabia vs Bahrain
The Asian qualifying section is already in playoff mode, with these two fighting for the right to face New Zealand in a further playoff, and the winner of that game getting the golden ticket. This is the second leg, with the first leg finishing 0-0.

And yes, I know there are plenty of other games going on. There are actually 35 (I think) World Cup qualifying games happening on Wednesday. If there’s a big game not on the above list, and you want to share some info about it, please feel free to do so in the comments.
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