Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

Let the revelry begin!

World Cup 2010 is a little more than two and a half years away, but there's no such thing as getting hyped up too early! Today the qualifying draw was held in Durban, South Africa. The only team qualified so far is, of course, the host (South Africa), but there are 31 other lucky spots to be had in the World Cup finals for 13 of 53 European teams, 4 or 5 of 10 South American teams, 3 or 4 of 35 North and Central American and Caribbean teams, 4 or 5 of 43 Asian teams, 5 of 53 African teams (excluding South Africa), and 0 or 1 of 10 Oceanic teams. Qualification works quite differently between each region (some of which has already begun!), so it's a bit much to post it all here, but Wikipedia is a good reference for all the information you could need:

UEFA qualification (Europe)
CONMEBOL qualification (South America)
CONCACAF qualification (North and Central America and Caribbean)
AFC qualification (Asia)
CAF qualification (Africa)
OFC qualification (Oceania)

As usual, I'm partial to the Irish squad; I'll try to forget the rather dismal qualifying campaign for Euro 2008. They are in a tough group with Italy, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Georgia. The only real pushover here is Georgia -- the Cypriots haven't only troubled the Irish in the Euro qualifiers, but even the Germans and Czechs as well. Italy's obviously the best contender for top place in that group. Of course I'll be supporting the U.S. as well, but as usual their qualifying campaign is relatively breezy and they're a sure bet to book a place in the finals.

Anyways, go nuts! Pull for your squad!

EDIT: I was glancing through the AFC qualifiers and noticed that the two Koreas are set to take each other on. Talk about a rivalry (although South Korea should walk away with a sure victory)!

This post has been edited by The_Pink_Nu1 on 26th November 2007 07:59

--------------------

SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

Well, we Scots have not got an easy group, but considering we only lost to Italy and therfore failed to qualify because of a dozy Spanish ref, we're in with a good shout at a runner-up place minimum I'd say.

Wales are officially jiggered. And if England don't ditch their crock players like Beckham and find some decent youth players fast, they're up the creek. But that's not easy considering any English player who makes a name for themselves signs for Madrid and promptly fails to adjust to Continental football.

The CONCACACACACACACACACAF qualifiers confuse me.

--------------------

"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

I gotta say, I was disappointed when I found out Scotland didn't make Euro - it's nice to see fresh faces in the major tournaments, such as how Japan and Australia have relatively recently come strong onto the international scene. So, I'm pulling for them to grab one of the UEFA spots.

Edit

Edit the second: Del corrected me on the way UEFA works, so now I see where he's coming from on them having an outside shot to point their way in. Draw against the Netherlands and the rest will become much easier.

For CONCACAF, once you figure out that the pots mean pretty much nothing, I'm feeling a US/Mexico/Canada draw for 2010. No surprises coming out of Asia or South America, as far as I'm concerned, and to be perfectly honest, African soccer has never really grabbed my interest, so I punt there.

Edit

Hm, does Fox Soccer have an HD outlet yet? If so, I predict an excellent summer next year if I'm in my same job.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 26th November 2007 17:05

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Del S @ 26th November 2007 06:35)

And if England don't ditch their crock players like Beckham and find some decent youth players fast, they're up the creek. But that's not easy considering any English player who makes a name for themselves signs for Madrid and promptly fails to adjust to Continental football.

Absolutely agreed. The thing is, England is bursting at the seams with young talent, but they don't get their deserved playing time (WHY IS AARON LENNON NOT STARTING?). As usual, I expect England to send to South Africa a poor squad composed of some of the best players in the world. They got saddled with a pretty easy group (the really shouldn't have any trouble with anyone but Croatia, who recently disqualified the English from Euro 08).

Re: lesser known teams. Agreed completely, Josh. The game becomes even more popular whenever a country's side finds success; anything good for the game is good with me. Football's popularity has ballooned in many parts of Asia thanks to the 2002 World Cup -- perhaps such a boost isn't necessary in Africa, where it's played by every child over the age of 4 anyways, but I anticipate great results from one African team this Cup. I had plenty to say in the 2006 WC topic; chief among them my praise for the African squads. They're among the most creative sides in the world and they play quick, offensive football and always complement it with tidy passes. They just can't finish for the life of them; if they could, I'd expect to see an African champion hoisting up the World Cup in 2010. As it was, the '06 semifinals was an all-European affair -- it'd be nice to see some Asian or African faces mixed in.

--------------------

SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

Even if we (Scotland) don't qualify for this World Cup there's still loads of hope for the future. We've got a mean array of young players who keep exceeding the expectations set for them by the media and the public. However, we didn't qualify because we THREW THE TOURNAMENT OUT THE WINDOW losing 2-0 to Georgia, not because of barely losing the the world champions.

I'd go further than you, TPN, and say that the African Cup is - by far - the best football tournament in the world. If you've never seen it expect the hardest tackles on the planet, the ball pinging from one end to the other, brilliant refereeing allowing play-on whenever he feels play is still moving (a player has the ball), unbelievable shots and awesome celebrations. The euro cup is gash by comparison. Going on the last world cup (Germany-Italy, Switzerland-Ukraine and Australia-Italy we're horrendous) I'm not expecting anything spectacular either. Nearly every team only put out only one striker. But if there's enough African teams qualifying it could be interesting. I hope Egypt prove their worth again.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

As always, I'm behind Italy entirely regardless of the public opinion of them as floppers/divers/cheats. I gotta say I'm surprised by the teams who have qualified, there seems to be a few new faces to the pack that should be interesting to watch. Especially in terms of the African/South American teams, there should be some real spectacular playing going on. I'm not too excited on English or French soccer work at all.

Still, I don't even want to think about World Cup Fever until after the Euros, which I'm hoping will equally be spectacular.

--------------------

Okay, but there was a goat!

Whoa, I just realized that Australia had been moved from the OFC to the AFC qualifiers. I have to say I support this move, since the OFC qualifiers were about as balanced as the Scottish Premier League. South Korea, Australia, Japan, and Iran are clearly the most likely teams to advance in the AFC qualifiers, but there could be a couple surprises (possibly from the Saudis, Iraq, and China) so that will be an interesting one to follow.

This post has been edited by The_Pink_Nu1 on 27th November 2007 08:40

--------------------

SPEKKIO: "GRRR...That was most embarrassing!"

I'm keeping an eye on what's happening in the Confederations Cup just to see who's looking good for the World, and I'm betting I'm not the only one. Also now we've seen some more of the qualifiers. What's your views on the teams so far?

I'm glad Egypt are rocking the boat in the Confed. Nearly drawing with Brazil, but still scoring three goals, and now a 1-0 win against Italy. I wrote earlier in this thread that I'm looking forward to seeing more of Egypt, and, well, here we are. Shame that they're all but out of the running for 2010 - or so it was last time I checked. Actually, it's thoroughly shocking that they've not managed to win any matches.

I've seen three U.S. games (Brazil, Costa Rica I think it was, Italy) and it seems like they get let down by poor control in attack and defence. That must be extremely frustrating for a supporter, no?

North Korea make it. I wonder if we'll see any fallout from this (politically speaking).

Germany, quality team as always. And, as always, I'm going to predict that they make it all the way to the final.

Spain probably boast the best team in the world right now. I can't remember who they were playing last but they were incomparable to the Spanish. The team that beats Spain will win the trophy.

England are not bad at all either. Rooney and Terry still seem to be the only players in the team who play better in international games than for their clubs. If only the others could do the same, what a team that would make.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Gogo Italy! World champions!

As usual, I'll be voting for South Korea. That said, I'm just looking forward to exciting 3 am matches and good 'ol fashion rivalries being rekindled on the field (and off, if you count the fact that the majority of my friends and I are going for different teams).

As an extremely proud Mexican, I will be cheering for MEXICO always. Although they are struggling in qualifying, I believe they will pull through =)

--------------------

"The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved."
- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

Spain vs. USA on in 20 minutes. Apparently if Spain win this then they'll go 36 games unbeaten, a new world record. I'm really looking forward to watching this. Aside from Iniesta the whole gang's playing. Hey I still don't think they'll win the World, but they're going to be a lot of fun to watch.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

crazy stuff USA 2 spain 0 very surprised they did so well =]

Yeah wow. I was expecting to see how well Spain were playing recently and instead I saw how well the USA are doing. What an absolutely amazing result for an amazing game. Probably one of the best I've seen all year. Each of those goals made me laugh my head off, especially the second.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

As an American who really likes Spain (hey, they're like half of Liverpool's starting eleven!), I had no way to lose that game yesterday. But I was as surprised as anyone with that result, even though it was largely made possible by the fact that Spain's midfield had no ability to feed balls to Villa and Torres, and even when they did, nothing was able to come from it.

I'm heartened by these last two matches from the US. There's no doubt they will be qualifying for the World Cup, but I wasn't expecting much to come from them then, given their recent form of playing like a group of U19s. If they can show up with this sort of grit next year and not get stuck in a group of death, a round of sixteen is not out of the question.

I can't wait to run a CoN World Cup Predictor League like I did for Euro.

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Go Italy! Win for us!

U.S. vs. Brazil on soon. Why don't we have a little prediction time to warm up for the World?

0-3 Brazil with goals from Kaka, Robinho and an O.G. from one of the central defenders (can't remember his name). I really hope this is totally wrong and the U.S. win a shocker, but I'm just going to throw my lot in with Brazil.

Edit

1-0. This team always makes me laugh. 'Against the run of play' just didn't give it credit.

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 28th June 2009 18:44

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

South Africa WHOO HOO! We only lost 2-0 to spain and 1-0 to Brazil! sure we may be outta the confed but we got further than ITALY I AM Amazed! (I laugh we win the world cup) Go Tshabalala and Modise!

It just goes to show how good soccer is. Even a Final Fantasy Site is running Forums on it!

This post has been edited by R8.50 Mango on 28th June 2009 19:42

--------------------

Since I advertise CoN there I think it's only fair that I advertise The Wiki here.

Congratulations to both England and Spain, two of the first three teams to qualify from Europe. I note them in particular as they're my favorite national sides aside from my own. Also, it's like half of Liverpool's starting eleven play for one of the two, so hey.

The US is one step closer, too, with a lackluster win in Trinidad last night. It's starting to look like another typical World Cup for us, failing to make the knockout round, unless we start learning how to produce goals like, say, England did yesterday.

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Dragon_Fire @ 27th November 2007 03:04)

As always, I'm behind Italy entirely regardless of the public opinion of them as floppers/divers/cheats. I gotta say I'm surprised by the teams who have qualified, there seems to be a few new faces to the pack that should be interesting to watch. Especially in terms of the African/South American teams, there should be some real spectacular playing going on.  I'm not too excited on English or French soccer work at all.

Still, I don't even want to think about World Cup Fever until after the Euros, which I'm hoping will equally be spectacular.

Spain v Italy penalties?

England won 5-1. I mean, sure, against Croatia. But we're England. What the hell?

Quote (footbigmike @ 10th September 2009 15:50)

England won 5-1. I mean, sure, against Croatia. But we're England. What the hell?

What a game that was. Croatia aren't a bad team at all. If England can play as good as that in all their important matches then we've got a potentially very strong team here. And to think there wasn't any Ferdinand, Walcott or Downing in that squad.

Shame Scotland got knocked out 1-0 against the Dutch. We really should've scored in the first half, that was disappointing. No McFadden up front proved fatal.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Well crap, having spent most of my life in Wales I'm tempted to root for them. But I'm an American now so I should probably be rooting for them.

I wonder if the Americans will do worthwhile this year, footie just isn't common enough there.

--------------------

If god is all-forgiving then why do we have to kill people in his name?

Quote (Messier17 @ 10th September 2009 12:17)

Well crap, having spent most of my life in Wales I'm tempted to root for them. But I'm an American now so I should probably be rooting for them.

I wonder if the Americans will do worthwhile this year, footie just isn't common enough there.

I'd like to think that it's not that simple. But it probably is - I'm obviously in a minority here.

Bumping this because I wanted to ask if everyone's favorite teams got in. As someone who follows the States, England, and Spain, I'm happy to know all three got in (even though at least two of them probably won't exit group play, heh).

Don't forget, I'm still planning to run a contest on WC2010, and people liked the Euro 08 one. So, stick around at CoN for eight more months, eh?

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I'm totally gutted that Ireland didn't qualify. Now I don't have any teams to support because of family or nationality. I was in an Irish pub with two of my Irish friends when the French knocked them out. What a laugh! I don't know if it's covered much in North America, but there's been a massive outcry over the game and Henry's left hand. The Irish asked for a rematch but were rejected by FIFA. I suppose the rules are strict for a reason and although it's not fair on the Irish I suppose it is fair on everyone else. Again, like Scotland not qualifying, it's not the fault of the French or Dutch or anyone else, it's themselves for not winning the smaller games they really shouldn't have lost or drawn.

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 21st November 2009 17:26

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote (sweetdude @ 21st November 2009 12:23)

I'm totally gutted that Ireland didn't qualify. Now I don't have any teams to support because of family or nationality. I was in an Irish pub with two of my Irish friends when the French knocked them out. What a laugh! I don't know if it's covered much in North America, but there's been a massive outcry over the game and Henry's left hand. The Irish asked for a rematch but were rejected by FIFA. I suppose the rules are strict for a reason and although it's not fair on the Irish I suppose it is fair on everyone else. Again, like Scotland not qualifying, it's not the fault of the French or Dutch or anyone else, it's themselves for not winning the smaller games they really shouldn't have lost or drawn.

Oh, it's covered, heh. Even ESPN did several minutes on it the day after, which is becoming increasingly more common with soccer coverage here (now that ESPN has the rights to show one EPL game a week, anyway, and shows lots of soccer on their online stream).

I'm pretty gutted myself, if for no other reasons than the fact that I never really liked Thierry Henry nor France, and that I do like Robbie Keane and feel a tangental connection to Ireland through my wife's heritage. In any event, I'll simply reiterate what I said on Facebook about the issue:

Quote

Josh Alvies
writes to FIFA: "Dear FIFA, please create this group C for next summer: Brazil, Spain, Italy, France. France must leave the group with zero points. Best regards, signed, anyone who watches soccer."

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

The French always seem to draw quite a bit of controversy when it comes time for the World Cup, don't they? At any rate, I would've also liked to have seen Ireland qualify. Not that I would've pulled for them at all, but I'll take any side over the French.

I'm not at all surprised to see Spain qualify with some of the, if not the highest points, but I'm hoping that they lose some of that steam when the tournament proper begins. There are a few other teams that I'm glad to see make it. The Netherlands and Cote D'Ivoire especially.

Have the US qualified finally? I haven't had a chance to check and I always found the North American/Caribbean/whoever else grouping to be a really messy sort to shift through.

And, of course, Forza Azzurri.

--------------------

Okay, but there was a goat!

Quote (Dragon_Fire @ 21st November 2009 14:18)

Have the US qualified finally? I haven't had a chance to check and I always found the North American/Caribbean/whoever else grouping to be a really messy sort to shift through.

And, of course, Forza Azzurri.

Yep, we qualified about six weeks ago, with one match left to play, IIRC.

Spain seem to have all the guys I care about these days, so of all the teams that have any realistic chance, I'm pulling for them.

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I'd take Ireland over any of the other underdog teams except perhaps Australia. They're a good team to watch and I like a lot of the players from both the English Premiership and the Scottish Premier League: Keane, McGeady, Dunne et al. The 2-2 draw against Italy was probably the best qualifying game I've seen. I'm still recovering from the Switzerland v. Ukraine game in the last world cup, which shows exactly why it's better to have interesting teams making it through.

As for Spain, well, I agree with DF that they'll run out of steam. I'm not doubting that at least half their team are the best players in the world, but I doubt their consistency. In the knockouts they'll need to play a solid game with little room for error and I think that teams like Germany and Italy do it a lot better. Having said that I wouldn't be at all surprised if they went out to SA, played brilliant football, and won every game.

--------------------

Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

France beat Ireland? Awww.

Quote (Gigantuar @ 22nd November 2009 15:45)

France beat Ireland? Awww.

Late, but, France did not beat Ireland. France gets to move on, sure, but they did NOT beat Ireland.

The draw for group play is at noon eastern time, 1700 GMT, today (just three hours from now!). I'm going to plan to watch it on ESPN360 before I work from home the rest of the day. You can also see it here: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/liv...?cc=5901&ver=us

Edit

There we go, the groups are set. How are you feeling about your groups? I'm liking the group that the States got quite a bit, and I think that a draw with England is not completely out of the question, which would open the door to second-place finish and a date with Germany in the round of sixteen. Unfortunately, though, I see the US playing more like WC06 and not Confed09, and they'll still struggle to get out.

Spain's group looks good for them as well, Switzerland will be decent but not to Spain's level, period. Chile's been impressive enough and might be able to get past Switzerland into the sixteen, and Honduras are a bit of a non-entity IMO.

I'm torn on France - I think they unfortunately might have the quality to leave their group and advance, but if the other teams show up, France could also leave with no points as I would love. Finally, I adore the group of death this time around, Group G. Brazil, Portugal, and Ivory Coast, and one of them has to go home. I think Portugal has been weak lately, but they're going to no doubt stitch it together enough with a win over IC to move on and be bludgeoned by Spain in the sixteen.

Finally, a question for everyone: We really should run a predictor tournament again like we did for Euro, which I thought was a big success. Do you want to do it again? Did you like the way we did it last time, picking both the result and the first scorer, or was that too much to handle?

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 4th December 2009 18:52

--------------------

"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?