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2010 World Cup Qualifying
Topic Started: Sep 9 2008, 05:12 AM (3,176 Views)
Mr. Pither
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The netherlands play England this Wednesday in what should eb a fascinating friendly betwene two teams dominating their respective qualifying groups. This is the team van mmarwijk ahs named,

Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Michel Vorm (Utrecht)

Defenders: John Heitinga (Atletico Madrid), Joris Mathijsen (SV Hamburg), Dirk Marcelis (PSV Eindhoven), Andre Ooijer (PSV Eindhoven), Edson Braafheid (Bayern Munich), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax Amsterdam), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord)

Midfielders: Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax Amsterdam), Stijn Schaars (AZ Alkmaar), David Mendes da Silva (AZ Alkmaar), Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid)

Forwards: Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (AC Milan), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid).

As you see there are a lot of home based players in defense and midfield, and some such as Brafheid just were transferred to foreign clubs. Should be a good sparring match for both the Netherlands and England.
P-I-T-H-E-R ...as in Brotherhood, but with PI instead of the BRO and no HOOD
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Merengue
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The next week should help clarify World Cup qualifying throughout Europe,

European World Cup Qualifying

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World champions Italy could lead a procession of as many as seven European countries into next year’s World Cup in South Africa over the next few days.

Netherlands are the only European side certain of a place in the finals and Italy, Denmark, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England and Serbia are well placed to join them.

All nine group winners qualify for the finals with the eight best runners-up entering the two-legged playoffs in November.


I didn't realize Denmark were that close to qualifying and they can take a giant step towards the World Cup if they beat Portugal in Copenhagen this weekend (plus practically sink Portugal's qualifying hopes.)

A big week ahead for France too as they host Romania before traveling to play group leaders Serbia.

Another big match between Switzerland and Greece who battle for the top spot in their group.

We need Simon to come back from holiday and gives us a more complete summary of each group! :D
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Don Balon
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Portugal finally got the citizenship of Brasilian born striker Liedson through and he is joining their team for these two vital games over the next week, away to Denmark and at Hungary. Liedson should help Portugal's chief weakness, a lack of a true goalscoring forward but is his arrival too late?

I enjoy watching Portugal play and hope that we can see players like Ronaldo, Simao, Deco, Liedson, Bruno Silva and Carvalho in South Africa next year but qualifying is by merit and so far Portugal have been the biggest disappointment in European qualifying.
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Simon
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Merengue,Sep 3 2009
07:38 AM
We need Simon to come back from holiday and gives us a more complete summary of each group!  :D

Haha, I seem to have found my niche!

Here are the full standings:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries...ings/index.html

Group 1:
Denmark (1st - pld 6, 16 pts) v Portugal (3rd - pld 6, 9 pts) 19:00
Hungary (2nd - pld 6, 13 pts) v Sweden (4th - pld 6, 9 pts), 19:00

All the top four are in action in what could be a decisive set of matches. As others have said, Denmark are close to getting themselves back to the World Cup while the table makes for grim reading if you’re Portuguese or Swedish. However I think there’s still a chink of light for those nations. Even if Portugal lose on Saturday they still have two games to play against Hungary before ending on a home match against Malta, so I would rate their play-off chances as pretty reasonable. Their main rivals may well be 4th-placed Sweden (I just can’t see Hungary maintaining their challenge, especially as they’ve already got all their ‘easy’ games out of the way). Sweden still have 3 away games to play, but the ones in Hungary and Malta are winnable, while they should beat Albania at home in their last match. Their other game is the Scandinavian derby at Denmark! Group 1 still looks to have a twist in the tail, and I think the battle for 2nd place could go to the wire and not necessarily involve the team that currently occupies that position.

Group 2:
Israel (4th - pld 6, 9 pts) v Latvia (3rd - pld 6, 10 pts), 19:00
Moldova (6th - pld 6, 1 pts) v Luxembourg (5th - pld 6, 4 pts), 17:00
Switzerland (2nd - pld 6, 13 pts) v Greece (1st - pld 6, 13 pts), 19:30

The fixtures have fallen quite nicely here, as 1st plays 2nd, 3rd plays 4th and 5th plays 6th. The smart money may be on Greece to win this group and tomorrow’s match should be the decisive one. If Rehhagel’s team can secure at least a point against his compatriot Hitzfeld’s Switzerland then Greece should be able to finish the job in their remaining matches against Moldova, Latvia and Luxembourg. Any loser between Israel and Latvia would probably be out of contention, while the winner would have a decent outside shot at a play-off place. There’s even a modicum of interest in the other game as Luxembourg aim to finish above last place in a qualifying group!

Group 3:
Slovakia (1st - pld 6, 15 pts) v Czech Republic (5th - pld 6, 8 pts), 19:30
Poland (4th - pld 6, 10 pts) v Northern Ireland (2nd - pld 7, 13 pts), 19:30

It’s quite incredible that the Czech Republic should go into the final few qualifiers with only San Marino below them, while their Slovak cousins sit on top of the group with almost twice as many points. I suppose we knew that the Czechs stuck with their old guard for two long, and that has made the transitional period more abrupt and painful. And yet, if they can win this one they will be back in the frame for qualification as they end on 3 home matches (one of them against San Marino). I would like to see NI advance but they can’t really afford to drop any points from 3 tough matches against Poland, Slovakia and the Czechs. The erratic Poles also have a tough run-in and it may yet be that Slovenia or the Czechs make a late run for the play-offs.

Group 4:
Azerbaijan (5th - pld 6, 1 pt) v Finland (3rd - pld 6, 10 pts), 16:00
Russia (2nd - pld 6, 15 pts) v Liechtenstein (6th - pld 6, 1 pt), 16:00

I reckon this is a more interesting group than it may at first appear. On the face of it it looks cut and dried that Germany will take first spot and Russia second, but Finland’s next 3 matches are against Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein and home against Wales, and that represents a tantalising opportunity to put 9 points on the board. Even if they manage it, it may still not be enough but there might just be a few nervous moments for Russia who can be superb when on their game and dreadful on their off days.

Group 5:
Armenia (6th - pld 6, 1 pts) v Bosnia-Herzegovina (2nd - pld 6, 12 pts), 16:00
Spain (1st - pld 6, 18 pts) v Belgium (4th - pld 6, 7 pts), 21:00
Turkey (3rd - pld 6, 8 pts) v Estonia (5th - pld 6, 5 pts), 19:00

The European champions’ progress has been serene, and so the main interest in the group comes in seeing if Bosnia can take 2nd place. We’ve seen some green shoots of recovery for Belgium in their good crop of young players, but home and away defeats against the Bosnians have ended their hopes and Spain shouldn’t have any problems at home. So Turkey are Bosnia’s main rivals and we can probably expect them to beat Estonia and thus set up a crunch game on Wednesday between the two nations in Sarajevo. The last day of matches will feature Bosnia at home to Spain while Turkey play a politically-charged game against Armenia.

Group 6:
Croatia (2nd - pld 7, 14 pts) v Belarus (4th - pld 6, 9 pts), 19:30
Ukraine (3rd - pld 6, 11 pts) v Andorra (6th - pld 7, 0 pts), 15:00

England have maximum points from 7 games and yet have not qualified yet and are unlikely to do so on Saturday. That would require both Croatia and Ukraine to drop points – but Ukraine will win at home to Andorra while Croatia should beat Belarus at home having beaten them 3-1 away last month. Interestingly, a glance at the fixtures reveals that Ukraine have the easier run-in and will fancy their chances of finishing second and eliminating Croatia.

Group 7:
Austria (4th - pld 6, 7 pts) v Faroe Islands (6th - pld 6, 1 pt), 19:30
France (2nd - pld 6, 13 pts) v Romania (5th - pld 6, 7 pts) 20:00

France continue to struggle and it’s difficult not to lay the lion’s share of the blame at Domenech’s door. For a time, France were in danger of not qualifying after their shaky start, but wins over the Faeroes and home and away against Lithuania have removed that threat. The nature of those wins, all by 1-0, have hardly convinced the French that Domenech is the man for the job. Saturday’s fixture is hardly one to excite anyone who remembers the horrible game between France and Romania at last year’s Euros. Dropped points here or, more particularly, in midweek at leaders Serbia, would force France into the play-offs.

Group 8:
Bulgaria (3rd - pld 6, 8 pts) v Montenegro (5th - pld 6, 4 pts), 18:30
Cyprus (4th - pld 6, 5 pts) v Rep of Ireland (2nd - pld 7, 13 pts), 19:30
Georgia (6th - pld 7, 3 pts) v Italy (1st - pld 6, 14 pts), 19:00

Italy blooded a few youngsters in their friendly with Switzerland last month and they should really continue that process. They are a point clear with a game in hand and should have enough to win the group, even if they do still have to play away in Dublin.

Group 9:

Iceland (5th - pld 7, 4 pts) v Norway (4th - pld 6, 6 pts), 19:45
Scotland (3rd - pld 6, 7 pts) v FYR Macedonia (2nd - pld 6, 7 pts), 15:00

The only 5-team group has been an odd one. Holland have barely been tested en route to recording 7 wins from 7 and qualifying for South Africa. Meanwhile, the other four countries sit within just 3 points of each with just four matches remaining. Scotland were quite nicely placed until the wheels fell off spectacularly last month in a 4-0 defeat in Oslo. Thus Norway, despite that being their first win, are probably now favourites to take 2nd place. Victory at Iceland and at home to Macedonia should do the job. Macedonia have two away matches to play while Scotland play both of their final games at Hampden Park and need to win both, including Wednesday’s game with Holland. Remember though, the weakest of the 9 runners-up doesn’t actually even enter the play-offs. I haven’t done the maths (it’ll be weighted to account for the fewer games in this group) but I still wouldn’t be surprised if that applied to the second-place team in group 9.
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Manzanares
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Tan, rested and already back in good form. Great job in setting up the positions in each group going into this weekend's games. Much appreciated Simon.

I am of course most interested in Spain but they should be able to assure qualification if not on Saturday then by Wednesday. As Simon pointed out it is Bosnia ahead of both Turkey and Belgium and now in second place. And when you think about it, the Bosnians are putting together a pretty talented team, think of the many Bosnian attackers now in the Bundesliga like Wolfsburg's Dzeko and playmaker Misimovic, Hoffenheim's Ibesevic and their midfielder Salihovic. Should be interetsing to see how the Bosnians do next Wednesday at home against Turkey but first things first and they must win their weekend games.

The way Simon points out the schedule it looks like Portugal and Sweden may end up coming down to how they each do playing Hungary, a team who have surprised so far but now are heading to the meatier portion of their schedule. Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic at least one of them will be missing from South Africa 2010. let us see which of those two is best able to lift their national teams when most needed.

You know Slovakia would love to put the fina nail in their neighbors Czech Republic's coffin this weekend. Like Simon wrote, the Czechs did get old but few expected their drop off to be this drastic while underachieving Slovakia are doing most everything right.
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hobbes
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Former Canadian international keeper Asmir Begovic is in the squad for Bosnia and I suppose could get the start.

We are six weeks removed from Begovic saying on a Vancouver radio program: “I have played for Canada for a very long time. I don't want to switch.”

Switching nations is one thing. Lying and then doing it is something else.

This is all slightly compounded by the fact that he had his own Adidas ‘impossible is nothing’ ad that seemed to air five times during every soccer broadcast in the last three years. I’m guessing that ad won’t air again.

He can now follow in the great footsteps of Owen Hargreaves (who pledged his future to Canada on national TV and was playing in a WQC for England less than a year later). I eagerly await for him to say that growing up he always felt Yugoslavian.

I think it’s fair to say there will be a lot of Turkish supporters up here come Wednesday.

All of that being said I have no idea if he expects to figure at all? He’s at training, which gave a little closure to the “who’s lying” arguments about his comments and the Bosnian press reports.

Of course in classic Dale Mitchell fashion he started a shocking team in our final qualifier that featured no hopers Adrian Cann, Chris Pozniak and Charles Gbeke. With nothing to play for but 2014 he played old, fringe players and started Hirschfeld in goal, leaving Begovic on the bench, failing to senior cap tie him to Canada. There was no way of knowing FIFA may change the rules or that Begovic (who had always come when called before) would turn his back on us, but he should have started on principle anyway. We started Cann ahead of Jakovic and David Edgar in that match!?

Sorry for the threadjacking. Carry on . . .

cheers,
hobbes
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Don Balon
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I was reading an EFE article this morning about Bosnia, they are coached by Miroslav Blazevic the coach who led Croatia to the semfinals at France 98. The article said Bosnia's normal goalkeeper in qualifying has been Emir Spahic but that Begovic is expected to start today against Armenia in his international debut. So more bad news for you and Canada hobbes.
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Nkono
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France continue to struggle and it’s difficult not to lay the lion’s share of the blame at Domenech’s door. For a time, France were in danger of not qualifying after their shaky start, but wins over the Faeroes and home and away against Lithuania have removed that threat. The nature of those wins, all by 1-0, have hardly convinced the French that Domenech is the man for the job. Saturday’s fixture is hardly one to excite anyone who remembers the horrible game between France and Romania at last year’s Euros. Dropped points here or, more particularly, in midweek at leaders Serbia, would force France into the play-offs

Excellent work Simon and a good rundown on France's situation. Romania don't look to be as good as they were a few years ago but they always remain a dangerous foe, as they usually defend well and are opportunistic on the break. It should help France that Romania's star, Adrian Mutu will miss this game. Domenech has fallen in love with Gignac as his striker and he and not Benzema will play up top with Henry, Gorcuff and Ribery behind him. The quality is there to score goals but as Simon notes, this team has not been a prolific scoring group under Domenech. The defense though is solid as ever and France will make it tough for anyone to score on them which on Wednesday in Belgrade is where it will really be needed. But tonight is where Les Bleus will need to show they can score.
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hobbes
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Simon,Sep 4 2009
01:14 PM
Remember though, the weakest of the 9 runners-up doesn’t actually even enter the play-offs. I haven’t done the maths (it’ll be weighted to account for the fewer games in this group) but I still wouldn’t be surprised if that applied to the second-place team in group 9.

Actually Scotland is in good shape there. They drop the results against the sixth place team in the other groups and that knocked four teams down to 7 points in the playoff tie-breaker. Scotland with 10 now are sitting in third (tied with France).

As I type (with matches still going on) it's currently Northern Ireland in the ninth spot. Which would be a real shame. I'd hate to see them miss out on the playoffs in such a fashion. That being said it's incredibly tight and should right until the last ball is kicked.

cheers,
hobbes
Saskatchewan for the CPL: multis e gentibus vires
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Yogi
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Keep those calculators out as we will need them for these final 3 qualifying matches!

Kakha Kaladze saved Italy with 2 own goals to give Italy a 2-0 win in Georgia. A poor overall game from the Azzurri and you can't help but think it will only increase calls for Antonio Cassano's recall. If the team is not functionally well offensively then Lippi needs to swallow his pride and do what is best for the team. Ireland with an important 2-1 win at Cyprus with Robbie Keane scoring the game winner setting up a fascinating duel between Ireland and Italy.

Sweden used a 90 th minute Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal to defeat Hungary in Budapest to take a big step forward in their group. Denmark and Portugal drew 1-1 as debutant Leidson scored late to tie it up after Niklas Bendtner had put Denmark in front. So now Potugal who play at Hungary on Wednesday will need to imitate Sweden's result there in order to keep pace.

And a Julien Escude own goal cancelled out Thierry Henry's goal as France could only draw with Romania 1-1!
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hobbes
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And Iceland held Norway to a 1-1 draw, putting Scotland back in the driver's seat for second in Group 9. A draw at home against the Dutch will get Scotland through, but they'll likely need the point as their goal difference is terrible (giving up four to your nearest rivals will do that to you) and I figure Norway will beat Macedonia at home.\

I was going to watch the France game, but it wasn't on. What a disaster they are right now . . .

And no Begovic for Bosnia.

A few more thoughts from today, Italy seemed extremely lucky today. Buffon made a pair of very good saves off of chances that were much better than the two goals that Kahka Kaladze managed to bury into his own net.

Portugal’s finishing was shocking (I guess that’s nothing new this cycle), but credit to Andersen in the Danish goal for making some great saves while filling in for Thomas Sorensen.

And Group 2 got turned on its head by a pair of extremely harsh yellow cards to Greece’s Loukas Vyntra. I don’t know if the Swiss would have won at home anyway (probably), but the Greek hopes were pretty seriously dented after that.


cheers,
hobbes
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Don Balon
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Other than the already qualifed Netherlands and the near to classifying Spain and England, every other group is very tight and Saturday's results made thsoe even tighter. Of the four noted teams in trouble (France, Portugal, Sweden and Czech Republic) none lost but only Sweden won and their victory was important over Hungary. Ibrahimovic is often accused of not producing in important matche sbut he did now with that late game winner.

Good result for Northern Ireland tying away to Poland as their group becomes even more congested following Slovakia's 2-2 draw at home to Czech Republic. A potential decisive win for Switzerland, 2-0 at home over Greece too. But a shobbes writes that wa shelepd by the Greece red card.

This is going to get really fun in these final 3 match days!
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gaviota
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Spain have maximum points from their 7 games and a comfortable lead so their only issue is when not if they'll qualify but with 3 games remaining the fight for 2nd is close and Wednesday's game between Bosnia and Turkey will be decisive. Bosnia currently have 15 points from 7 games, Turkey 11 from the same amount of matches. So Turkey must win in order to have any realistic chance of finishing 2nd and getting into the playoff. On match day 9 Turkey play at belgium while Bosnia will be at Estonia then as Simon wrote they finish with Bosnia home to a by then already qualified Spain while Turkey in their home game against Armenia with all of its political meanings. So Turkey have their backs against the wall here as underdog Bosnia are better placed going into their big match on Wednesday.

In Group 1 Portugal saved themselves with that late goal to tie Denmark but they still have alot of work to do in order to make the playoff. These are the standings of the top 4 in the group, each with 7 games played:

Dinmark 17
Hungaray 13
Sweden 12
Portugal 10

The remaining games:
Round 8
Hungary-Portugal
Malta-Sweden
Albania-Dinmark

Round 9
Portugal-Hungary
Dinmark-Sweden

Round 10
Dinmark-Hungary
Portugal-Malta
Sweden-Albania

In order to finish 2nd Portugal will need to win all of it's rmeianing games and then hope for some help from Dinmark against Sweden.

Oh and for those talking about how Zlatan Ibrahimovic came through ina decisive moment yesterday for Sweden scoring a late goal, well it was an extremely fortunate one, his defender fell down, Ibra pushed the ball forward, the goalie came out and beat him to the ball outside the penalty area but his attempted clearance rebounded off Ibra and into the goal! More luck than anything else but a valuable goal for Sweden who collected 2 extra points with the win over Hungary.
CHAMP13NS
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Winslow
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Yeah, anything less than a win on Wednesday will sink Portugal, as Sweden is likely to finish qualifying with at least 18 points.

Saturday also had a disappointing result from Israel, losing to Latvia 1-0 at home. The Israelis made a good run in Euro '08 qualifying, but even if they beat Luxembourg on Wednesday they'll still be fourth with two matches to go. Note that if Greece beats Moldova and Latvia beats Switzerland, there'll be a three-way tie for first place in Group B--and the Swiss would likely be third on goal difference.

Northern Ireland is in a ticklish situation. It'll take the group lead if it can beat Slovakia at home Wednesday, but the Ulstermen have played one more game than their rivals. If Slovenia beats Poland at home, the Slovenes have the best chance to sneak into second.

As Simon notes, Finland could end up with 20+ points and still not make the playoffs. Is Finland better than Bosnia? How about Scotland? (Yup.)

And I'd like to worry about France, but who's going to make the run to get past Les Bleus? That's been a pretty poor group.
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Merengue
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Quote:
 
nd I'd like to worry about France, but who's going to make the run to get past Les Bleus? That's been a pretty poor group.


Very true. Serbia are doing well which explains their first place position but have any of you recalled Romania being as bad as they are now? 5th place in a 6 team group trailing even Lithuania! Austria are a team with limitations as they've been recently, Lithuania is usually one of the better "small" national teams in Europe but still no threat to qualify while Faroe Islands must be one of the 5 weakest teams in UEFA.

Amazingly France are struggling against this group of nations! 9 goals in 7 matches for Les Bleus. And this might explain it,

France Players Are Lost On The Pitch Says Henry

I think we have all seen it but if true this story is the first I have seen of the players expressing their concern over Domenech's methods.

Quote:
 
France players are getting bored during training sessions and are lost on the pitch, striker Thierry Henry was quoted as telling coach Raymond Domenech on Monday.

Speaking to Domenech last Friday at France’s training camp, Henry was quoted by daily Le Parisien as saying to Domenech: “Coach, we have something to tell you. I am speaking in the name of the squad.

“We are getting bored during your training sessions. In 12 years with the French team, I have never been in such a situation.

“We do not know how to play, where to be on the pitch, how to organise. We do not know what to do. We have no style, no guidelines. It is not working,” said Henry, France’s top scorer with 49 goals from 112 caps.
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