NINE OUT OF TEN AIN'T BAD!

 

 

Well even before we beat Belarus 3-1 at the Dinamo Stadium, we knew that the Fabio Capello era was a seriously good thing for England. Now the first part of the Italian gaffer's legend is complete and we just had to dot the i's and cross the ts with one last 2010 World Cup UEFA qualifying Group 6 match at Wembley. No repeat of the online streaming farce, this time around it was back at the Walkabout with a high quality TV reception. What there wasn't was the best England team available due to various injuries and suspensions. Foster in goal, Bridge left back, Lampard and Barry centre mid, Wright-Philipps left mid, Crouch and Agbonlahor up front.

Well we didn't hang around. In the 4th minute Barry fed Agbonlahor who slid it forward for Crouch to bundle into the net! After that we should have put Belarus to bed early doors but failing to do that, seemed to go into cruise mode. Again, the team had every right not to take things seriously and let's face it, this was an experimental lineup, this was certainly not one of our finest hours. In the meantime, the visitors looked to have their uses and our defence was given a wake up call when Sergei Omelyanchuk sent the ball goalwards. Overall, I was happy with the first half performance in that we were winning but still, everyone knew we could do better.

That apparantly included Fabio who had some strong words to say at half time. Early on in the second half, the gaffer sent Becks on to see what he could do. The answer was, use a 59th minute corner to set up Wright-Philipps who smoothly stuck it in the far corner. Belarus weren't done yet and we continued to need our goalie to take care of business but this was still our show. Late on Carlton Cole came on and though he couldn't hit the net in the 76th minute, Crouch certainly could. After that well we weren't awesome but we didn't need to be awesome. We have already got people's attention and though I wouldn't bet on us winning the trophy, no one is going to want to face us in South Africa.

In UEFA qualifying Group 4, Wales faced Leichtenstein at the Rheinpark Stadium. The Welsh opened the scoring through David Vaughn but it wasn't the smoothest of performances, John Toshack's men knowing that they had nothing to gain and a lot to lose from this encounter. Overall though, his guys managed to keep the edge over one of Europe's definitive footballing minnows and Aaron Ramsey got his first international goal to put a bit of extra gloss on the result. Wales finish 4th in the grup and Toshack may well have dodged the axe for now. The fact is though that it's been over 50 years since Wales have qualified for a major competition and that run doesn't look like ending any time soon.

In UEFA qualifying Group 3, Northern Ireland faced the Czech Republic at the Sparta Stadium. NI looked smooth early on but the Czechs looked to be the sharper side overall in the first half even though neither side could hit the net. The Czech's weren't done though and Jaroslav Plasil gave NI a headache early in the second half. Again though, neither side could get the goal they needed, the Czechs have one last attempt blocked by the NI goalie. That left Northern Ireland 4th in the group, five points behind Slovenia and a spot in the playoff mixer. The traditional underdogs of British football can't complain about staying in the qualifying race till the end but still, it's back to the drawing board.

In UEFA qualifying Group 8, the REpublic of Ireland faced Montenegro at Croke Park. The Irish had the edge in the first half but they were still very much cruising, partly due to fielding a weakened team for what was now a dead rubber. The Montenegrins started to show their had in the second hald and the Irish arguably only kept a clean sheet due to a Paul McShane handball that the ref missed. Overall, a goalless drawis not how the men in green would have wanted to end their qualifying campaign. Having said that, at least they got a degree of succsess from in. 2nd in the group books them a spot in the playoff mixer as a reward for a solid if not spectacular campaign.

Elsewhere, well in UEFA qualifying Group 1, Denmark are off to South Africa with Portugal heading into the playoff mixer. In UEFA qualifying Group 2, Switzerland are heading to South Africa with Greece heading for the playoff mixer. In UEFA qualifying Group 3, Slovakia have qualified for the World Cup for the first time since the former Czechslovakia split up in 1993. In UEFA qualifying Group 4, Germany are off to South Africa while Russia still have the playoff mixer to come. In UEFA qualifying Group 5, Spain are off to South Africa with a 100% qualifying record with Bosnia doing well to make the playoff mixer. In UEFA qualifying Group 6, the Ukraine are in the playoff mixer. In UEFA qualifying Group 7, Serbia are off to South Africa while France of all teams have to face the playoff mixer. In UEFA qualifying Group 8, Italy get to take their defence of the World Cup trophy to South Africa. From UEFA qualifying Group 9 it's the Netherlands off to South Africa with Norway in the playoff mixer.

So, the UEFA playoff mixer for the 2010 World Cup is made up of the following teams: Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Russia, Bosnia, Ukraine, France, Republic of Ireland and Norway. Out of that bunch it's the Irish that are the main team of interest and accounting for point reductions, they lie 8th place in the mixer, two points ahead of Norway and so have qualified for the playoffs! From here on in though, the men in green are likely to have their work cut out. They are not seeded for the playoffs much to their annoyance. This is still though their best qualifying campaign since they made it to the '02 World Cup. Congratulations and best wishes to them - it would be good to see a second team from this part of the world on football's biggest stage again.

So, what's been happening in the rest of the world? Well in Africa there are no playoffs and so the second round group stages are still running. Group A involves Cameroon, Gabon, Morrocco and Togo. Cameroon are the ones on course for South Africa but Gabon still have something to say about it. Group B involves Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tunisia. Tunisia are on course for South Africa but Nigeria are still in the picture. Group C involves Algeria, Egypt, Rwanda and Zambia. Algeria are on course for South Africa but Egypt aren't out of it yet. Group D involves Ghana, Mali, Benin and Sudan with Ghana having already booked their spot in South Africa. Finally Group E sees Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Malawi fighting it out and the Ivory Coast have already secured a spot in South Africa.

In Asia, well the second round group stages have finished. Group 1 saw Australia and Japan secure their spots in South Africa with the Aussie performance being particularly impressive as it was their first time keeping this sort of qualifying company. Bahrain had to settle for a spot in the playoff. In Group 2 South Korea got their ticket to South Africa but what no one could have predicted was North Korea coming through to join them for their first World Cup since catching the footballling establishment on the hop in 1966! Saudi Arabia got the consolation of a spot in the playoff. In the playoff, Bahrain drew 2-2 with Saudi Arabia and it was the people of the tiny rock that had the away goals advantage! Bahrain have not got a spot in South Africa yet though, they still have an Oceania team to deal with.

In North America the final qualifying group looked like this: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago. Someone a Sven Goran Erricson gaffered Mexico didn't rip the opposition to shreds, in fact Sven didn't even manage to see out the campaign. Mexico did manage to secure a spot in South Africa though as did the USA, the other heavyweigh in that part of the world. The biggest unanswered question then was, who would join them and it was Honduras that got the prize, making it to the World Cup for the first time since 1982! Costa Rica come away dissapointed, but with a shot at redemption in a playoff against a South American side.

The big South American group proved to be a messy affair. It was Paraguay of all teams that were the first to secure a spot in South Africa and after they were joined by Brazil and Chile, the question was, what had happened to the Argies? The answer was, Diego Maradona was goaching them! England's old nemisis failing to do the business would have been quite a laugh. However on the final day they pulled through to take 4th spot and probably rescue Maradona from execution! They did so at the expense of Uruguay but they've been handed the lifeline of a playoff against Costa Rica in what looks like a potentially tasty encounter with both sides seeing potential non-qualification as a dissapointment.

Finally we head for Oceania where New Zealand were so dominant in the final qualifying group that even though in theory New Caledonia were due to face them in a final playoff tie, that rumble failed to happen. Which goes to prove yet again that the OFC confederation without the Aussies is a joke. What it does mean is that New Zealand have their best chance of reaching a World Cup for the first time since 1982! And in a trip to football's twilight zone the only team standing in their way is Bahrain! That tie is already underway and whichever team wins is sure to be anhiliated in South Africa but in the meantime it's a fantasy come true for both teams!

So, here are the teams that have secured spots in South Africa:

Denmark

Switzerland

Slovakia

Germany

Spain

England

Serbia

Italy

Netherlands

Ghana

Ivory Coast

Japan

Australia

South Korea

North Korea

USA

Mexico

Honduras

Brazil

Paraguay

Chille

Argentina

Some unusual names up there - and even more unusual names still have a chance to qualify either through playoffs or incomplete group stages:

Portugal

Greece

Slovenia

Russia

Bosnia

Ukraine

France

Republic of Ireland

Cameroon

Gabon

Tunisia

Nigeria

Algeria

Egypt

Bahrain

Costa Rica

Uruguay

New Zealand

 

It's going to be a very interesting World Cup.

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