FIFA World Cup’s Last Stand
The United States qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Saturday but not all teams were so fortunate. With FIFA World Cup qualifying drawing to a close with the final matchday in the final group stages set for Wednesday, Soccer 365 takes a look at what teams need to book their ticket to South Africa.
The United States qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Saturday but not all teams were so fortunate. With FIFA World Cup qualifying drawing to a close with the final matchday in the final group stages set for Wednesday, Soccer 365 takes a look at what teams need to book their ticket to South Africa.
After Wednesday’s matches, 26 of the 32 teams will have their tickets booked for South Africa with the only remaining spots to be determined in the four two leg playoffs in UEFA, the play-off between the fourth place CONCACAF and fifth place CONMEBOL teams, and the completion of the second leg of the play-off between Bahrain and New Zealand on November 14. The first leg finished 0-0.
CONCACAF
Mexico joined the United States in qualifying in the penultimate CONCACAF hexagonal match on Saturday and only Costa Rica and Honduras remain in the battle for the third and final automatic while the other team will finish fourth and face the fifth place finisher in a home and away playoff.
The Ticos are currently in third place on 15 points but must travel to face the United States in Washington D.C. They will face an eager U.S. side that want to win to seal the top spot from the region but Costa Rica know they only control their fate with a win.
"We're thinking one game at a time, and that is that,” Costa Rica's Brazilian coach Rene Simoes told FIFA.com. “We have a very tricky test ahead of us [against the USA] and that is the game that we must think about. We have a chance to qualify directly and we will try to seize it.”
Honduras faces an eliminated El Salvador but these two teams have a long history and will leave everything on the line making this a tough matchup. The bright side for Honduras is that they hold a +5 goal differential over Costa Rica so will go through with a win combined with a Costa Rica loss or draw.
The fourth place team will face Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador or Venezuela in a home and away two leg playoff.
Brazil, Paraguay and Chile have qualified from CONMEBOL. Argentina are in fourth place and control their own fate but still have an uphill battle to South Africa. Diego Maradona’s side travel to face fifth place Uruguay in Montevideo and need to take points to have a chance to advance. A win and Argentina are through and with a draw they sneak in if Ecuador fail to beat Chile by at least five goals.
Despite being in fifth heading into the final match, Las Charrúas will feel confident hosting a struggling Argentina. If Uruguay win they are in as the fourth place team and a draw combined with an Ecuador draw or loss will see them take the fifth place playoff spot.
Ecuador’s most realistic chance of making the World Cup is by winning against Chile to finish fifth and advance through the playoff. But if they win by 5 goals over Chile and see Uruguay and Argentina draw they would advance as the fourth place team. And for the dreamers, Ecuador could tie and finish fifth if Argentina beat Uruguay by a whopping 13-goal margin.
Venezuela’s hopes are a long shot at best. La Vinotinto need Argentina to post a big win over Uruguay while putting on their own clinic against Brazil just to earn the fifth place play-off spot and to make matters more difficult have Chile defeat Ecuador as well. It is probably time to start thinking about Brazil in 2014.
The biggest battles will take place on the European continent with groups still with teams playing for their ticket to South Africa. This is not the case, however, with groups 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 where the first and second place finishers have been finalized. The first place finisher automatically advances to South Africa while the second place team will be paired with another second place finisher from UEFA in a home-and-away tie to determine who advances.
The teams that will advance and listed in their first and second place finish are from Group 4 Germany and Russia, Group 5 Spain and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Group 7 Serbia and France, Group 8 Italy and Republic of Ireland. The Netherlands advances as the top team from Group 9. Group 9’s second place finisher does not advance to a play-off as the group has only 5 teams unlike the 6 in all other groups.
Denmark has won Group 1 but Portugal and Sweden are fighting for the second place finish. Portugal has the 1 point advantage on the table and face cellar dwellers Malta who have scored 0 goals and only managed 1 point in their first 9 games.
Sweden will face Albania and need for Portugal to fail to win to jump into second place.
Group 2 is still wide open. Switzerland tops the table and control their fate with a draw or better against third place Israel. The table turns on its head with a Swiss loss as it will allow Greece to win the top spot with a win over Luxembourg which would see Switzerland go to the play-offs.
But if Switzerland and Greece lose, it would send Israel to the play-off with the Swiss winning the group. And finally fourth place Latvia can see the finish line but probably don’t have enough to cross it. They need to have a big win over cellar dweller Moldova have Greece lose by a large margin and have Israel draw Switzerland and that only gets them a place in the play-off.
Slovakia hold a two point lead in Group 3 and place fifth place Poland in the final match and will advance as the group winner with a win. If they draw, Slovenia will have a chance to overtake them to the top with a win over San Marino but it will come down to goal differential but with San Marino bleeding goals, 44 thus far, it should be possible for Slovenia to overcome Slovakia.
The group is up for grabs if San Marino can beat Slovenia. If that happens the winner of the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland match would advance to the play-off. Northern Ireland would need to win big as they only have a +4 goal differential and would need to make up for the +11 Slovenia has as the two teams would be tied on points.
The Group 6 winner is England but Ukraine and Croatia are in a tussle for the play-off spot. Ukraine hold the edge needing only a win against Andorra to advance. But if Andorra can hold Ukraine to a draw or hand them a loss, Croatia can finish second with a win over Kazakhstan.
Ghana and Ivory Coast have advanced to South Africa.
The most notably game for the World Cup hosting continent is Egypt hosting Algeria. The Pharoahs are three points back and need to win and win by two goals to have a chance to advance. In this scenario, their hope to advance would come down to a FIFA draw of lots as they would be tied on goal differential and head-to-head.
Cameroon leads Group A and need a win over bottom place Morocco to seal their place. Gabon can take advantage if the Indomitable Lions slip up with a win over Togo. The group would come down to goal differential if Cameroon were to draw and Gabon tied. Gabon are currently
Tunisia need a win over Mozambique to punch their ticket. With a draw they leave the door open for Nigeria to advance with a win over Kenya.
In the Oceania and Asia play-off, Bahrain hosted and dominated New Zealand in the first leg but could not find the back of the net in the 0-0 draw. They now hit the road trying to become the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup finals.
As seleções do Uruguai e Costa Rica jogam a repescagem panamericana. Seleções como Portugal, França e Russa, entre outras, farão a repescagem européia, cujo sorteio de partidas será realizado na segunda-feira.

Somente restam nove vagas disponíveis para a próxima Copa do Mundo FIFA que será disputada na África do Sul e uma delas será panamericana, e surgirá da repescagem que jogarão Uruguai e Costa Rica, após conhecer os resultados desta qurta-feira à noite na diferentes regiões.

Enquanto na regiões panamericanas já foram confirmados os classificados diretos, também na Europa completou-se suas cotas efetivas. América do Sul definiu seus quatro classificados, que são: Brasil como líder das eliminatórias sulamericanas com 34 pontos, Paraguai e Chile com 33 pontos e Argentina com 28, enquanto que o Uruguai ocupou a quinta posição e irá para a repescagem.

Na CONCACAF os classificados que ontém a noite foram definidos são: Estados Unidos como líder das eliminatórias centro-norteamericanas com 20 pontos, México em segundo com 19, e Honduras que somou 16 pontos e passou a Costa Rica, pois teve melhor saldo de gols. Por sso, a seleção da Costa Rica irá à repescagem frente aos uruguaios.

Na Europa, a Suiça, que empatou em 0 a 0 com Israel e Eslováquia que venceu a Polônia por 1 a 0, completaram a lista de seleções do velho continente com passagem direta ao primeiro mundial que se realizará no continente africano.

Enquanto isso, Portugal –com o famoso jogador Cristiano Ronaldo–, Grécia, Eslovênia, Ucrânia, França, Rússia, Bósnia-Herzegovina e Irlanda, irão às repescagens e a definição da ordem das partidas será conhecida no sorteio que se realizará na segunda-feira.

A repescagem Ásia-Oceania, entre Barém e Nova Zelândia já teve sua partida de ida, onde empataram em 0 a 0 na Riffa, Bahrein. A partida de volta definirá o classificado no próximo dia 14 de novembro em Wellington, Nova Zelândia.

A etapa classificatória na África ainda não foi concluída e seguem na "corrida" Tunísia, Camarões, Argélia, Nigéria, Gabão e Egito.

Desta forma, já são 23 os classificados para Copa do Mundo FIFA 2010 na África do Sul, de um total de 32 vagas. A lista dos que já asseguraram seu lugar é a seguinte:

;Europa: Alemanha, Dinamarca, Espanha, Países Baixos, Inglaterra, Itália e Sérvia.
;Ásia e Oceania: Austrália, Japão, Coreia do Norte e Coreia do Sul.
;África: Gana e Costa do Marfim, e a anfitriã África do Sul.
;América do Sul: Brasil, Paraguai, Chile e Argentina.
;Américas do Norte e Central: Estados Unidos, México e Honduras.