Official World Cup 2010 Qualifying Thread

[Echoes]

The World Cup is less than two years away and qualification has already started for most countries. South Africa is the only country currently qualified since they're tournament hosts.

CONCACAF's qualifying is really easy, so the US will probably make it. Their first games were in June. They beat Barbados 9-0 over two legs to advance to the first group stage.

Group 1
USA
Guatemala
Trinidad and Tobago
Cuba

Group 2
Mexico
Jamaica
Honduras
Canada

Group 3
Costa Rica
Suriname
El Salvador
Haiti

These games start in August and go through November. Top two teams in each group advance to the final group. The top three teams from the final group qualify for the World Cup. The 4th place team plays in a playoff against the 5th place South American team.

[ysabel]

Europe hasn't started yet. I was wondering about South America (where they take top 4 countries). Fifth placer gets another chance, playing off with other groups 4th placer or something. What happened to Brazil? They're ranked 5th. I heard if they lost against Argentine in their last game they probably would have ranked lower and....not qualify? Can't imagine the WC without Brazil.

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by ysabel

I was wondering about South America (where they take top 4 countries). Fifth placer gets another chance, playing off with other groups 4th placer or something.

Top 4 automatically qualify. 5th place plays the 4th place from CONCACAF (North and Central America and Caribbean) for the extra spot.

What happened to Brazil? They're ranked 5th. I heard if they lost against Argentine in their last game they probably would have ranked lower and....not qualify? Can't imagine the WC without Brazil.

They're in 5th right now, but they've only played 6 games out of 18.

1. Paraguay - 13 points
2. Argentina - 11
3. Columbia - 10
4. Chile - 10
5. Brazil - 9
6. Uruguay - 8
7. Venezuela - 7
8. Ecuador - 5
9. Bolivia - 4
10. Peru - 3

[ysabel]

oh 18 games, that's a lot

Did you see the African groups. I wonder how many games they had to play to qualify.

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by ysabel

oh 18 games, that's a lot

Did you see the African groups. I wonder how many games they had to play to qualify.

I think the African teams play 12 teams. 6 in two different group stages.

USA has to play 18 games to qualify too. I think Europe only has 10.

[padd]

sure, Italy plays off against Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, and Montenegro. Easy group for them, they'll be defending their title in 2 years for sure.

groups of 6 will play 10 games each, top 2 spots make it to the world cup.

the US has it easy in the qualifications as usual.

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by padd

sure, Italy plays off against Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, and Montenegro. Easy group for them, they'll be defending their title in 2 years for sure.

Italy probably has the easiest group.

groups of 6 will play 10 games each, top 2 spots make it to the world cup.

The 9 group winners qualify. The 8 best second place teams have a playoff for the four remaining spots.

the US has it easy in the qualifications as usual.

So does Canada. How come they never get there. Just kidding. Yeah, CONCACAF is probably the easiest region to qualify from. That or Asia.

[padd]

Italy probably has the easiest group.

HA for a 2nd i thought you were gonna say they have an easier group than the US.. yeah, pretty much Italy has the easiest group in Europe.. they have no competition with them. The Czechs may also breeze through their qualifiers.

[kdmillz72]

So the United States, Mexico and Costa Rica advance to World Cup 2010.

Done and done lol

[Bananas]

European Groups: 13 teams qualify; The 9 group winners qualify directly, 8 best runner-up have home and away play-offs for remaining 4 places


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