ESPNsoccernet

 

Qualifying for the next World Cup is now in progress across the globe in the race to join South Africa in the finals.

Again there will be 32 participating nations. South Africa will be joined by five other African nations, plus 13 from Europe, four from South America and Asia and three from Concacaf. There will also be two places decided by an Oceania/Asia play-off and a Concacaf/South America play-off.

SOUTH AMERICA

As in previous years, Conmebol qualifying will be done on a single league basis of the ten nations. The top four qualify automatically with the fifth place team playing off against a nation from Concacaf.


ASIA

The minor nations in the Asia region will be play a first round of qualifiers this month, ranked based on previous World Cup performance. After Bhutan and Guam withdrew, Kuwait and Indonesia were given a bye into the second round.

In round one, there will be 17 two-legged ties. From the remaining 19 nations, the top 11 ranked teams will automatically move into round three (Kuwait are guaranteed this while Indonesia's fate depends which other nations win). The eight lowest ranked nations will play another two-legged play-off. This will take a total of 15 teams into round three.

Australia, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and now also Kuwait will not join in qualifying until the third round next year. The 20 nations will be drawn into five groups of four teams playing on a round-robin basis. The top two teams in each group qualify for the fourth round.

Match dates in 2008: February 6, March 26, June 7, June 14, September 6, September 10.

In Round Four, the ten nations which are left are drawn into two groups of five. The top two teams will qualify for the World Cup.

Match dates in 2008: October 15, November 19.

Match dates in 2009: February 11, March 28, April 1, June 6, June 10, June 17, September 5, September 9.

The two teams which finish third will then play-off and the winning nation then faces a further play-off against a country from Oceania for a place in South Africa.

Play-off dates: October 10, 2009 and October 14, 2009. Then November 14, 2009 and November 21, 2009.


AFRICA

The preliminary round initially was to feature the ten lowest-ranked nations but São Tomé & Príncipe and the Central African Republic both withdrew meaning Swaziland and Seychelles received a bye.

It means there are three matches remaining, of which Somalia-Djibouti will be played as a one-off match while Madagascar-Comoros and Sierra Leone-Guinea-Bissau will be two legged.

The five nations move into the first group round in which 48 nations will be drawn into 12 groups of four. The 12 group winners and eight best runners-up will go through.

The second group round sees the 20 remaining nations drawn into five groups of four. The group winners will qualify.

The qualifers will also double up for the 2010 African Nations Cup finals. The top three teams in the final group will qualify for this. Because of this South Africa will participate and if they win their group the second place team will go to the World Cup. Also, as Angola are the ANC holders all teams from their group will qualify for that tournament.


OCEANIA

The first stage of this region was completed last month as New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu made it through to the next stage.

Also part of the 2007 Pacific Games, ten nations were drawn into two groups of five. The top two went through to the semi-finals. Both finalists qualified for the next stage of World Cup qualiying along with the winner of the 3rd/4th place play-off.


Those three nations joined New Zealand in round two. This is also the 2008 OFC Nations Cup. The four countries play on a league basis with the top two then playing off for the right to take on the qualifying nation from Asia.


EUROPE

Eight groups of six teams and one group of five will be drawn on November 25.

The nine group winners qualify automatically. The best eight of the nine runners-up will play a two-legged play-off to qualify. Qualifying begins in August 2008.

CONCACAF

Qualifying will be the same as for 2006. The first round sees 11 preliminary matches between the lowest ranked nations, with qualifying beginning early in 2008.

The rest of the nations join qualifying in the second round when they will be seeded again based on FIFA World Ranking. The winners of the 12 two-legged ties will move into round three.

This next round is done on a league basis, with three groups of four countries. The top two teams in each group advance.

The final stage sees one, six-team group from which the top three will qualify. The fourth placed team earns a play-off against a nation from South America.

ESPNsoccernet

 

After their fleeting appearance in the World Cup, Asian soccer's strugglers are all but certain to leave the qualifying stages with no hope of a fairytale on Sunday when the 19 places in the next round are decided.

Uzbekistan, China, Singapore and Asian champions Iraq have one foot firmly in the next round thanks to clean sheets and a deluge of first round, first-leg goals, as do Qatar, Syria and North Korea.

But ahead of the likes of Taiwan, Pakistan and Myanmar lies the near-impossible task of reversing humiliating first leg defeats of 9-0, 7-0 and 7-0 respectively.

Hapless Macau, whose players train together only once a week, have already been eliminated after a 13-2 aggregate thrashing by a depleted Thai team.

East Timor, whose stadium has been deemed unfit to play in, have kept hopes of a shock victory alive, trailing Hong Kong by a single goal -- which they accidentally scored themselves.

Ranked joint bottom at 200th in the FIFA rankings and without a victory in international soccer, a place in history awaits the Timorese if they can turn around their 3-2 first leg defeat in Hong Kong.

Also within reach of a second round place for the first time are Cambodia, who trail Turkmenistan 1-0, and 149th-ranked Kyrgyzstan, who have a surprise 2-0 lead going into their away match with Jordan, Asia's 12th best team.

India have an uphill task to qualify after their 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Lebanon, as do Asian Cup quarter-finallists Vietnam after they went down 1-0 to Gulf champions United Arab Emirates in the first leg.

Their Austrian coach Alfred Riedl, however, believes it is not all over yet and told local media he had a strong, determined team and was "confident of a good result".

Of the 19 teams who pass the first stage, the eight highest-ranked will automatically qualify for round three in February 2008, where seeded sides Japan, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and newcomers Australia join the competition.

If the minnows are to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, they must get through three knockout rounds and two group phases and must win most of their 20 matches.

Four teams will reach the finals in South Africa, with the fifth Asian team playing-off with the winners of Oceania qualifying.

Lee Vilenski

Oct 26 2007, 05:28 PM

Isn't this a tad early?

rooneydabest

Oct 26 2007, 06:16 PM

looking at the first post
you wrote, "even though its 5 years away"
its not 5 years away is it?

Quote:

 

Uzbekistan, China, Singapore and Asian champions Iraq have one foot firmly in the next round thanks to clean sheets and a deluge of first round, first-leg goals, as do Qatar, Syria and North Korea.

Rosenborg91

Nov 11 2007, 08:54 PM

Norway seems to be second seeded in the WC qualyfing groups. 

ESPNsoccernet

 

SYDNEY, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The top Asian seedings for this month's preliminary 2010 World Cup draw have been modified by FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Sunday.

Australia are still the top-ranked team followed by South Korea but Iran have been moved up two places to third. Japan and Saudi Arabia are the joint fourth seeds.

The changes were made following the teams' performances in last year's World Cup.

The preliminary draw for the 2010 World Cup is due to take place in Durban, South Africa on Nov. 25.

The top five Asian teams begin their qualifying campaigns in February.