USA finished 1st in CONCACAF - World Cup Update

A wild and crazy day of soccer around the globe as the CONCACAF, UEFA, and CONMEBOL qualifying wrapped up the group stages. 23 of the 32 spots have been finalized, however at least 1 team from each of the six world regions still have qualifying matches to played on November 14th and 18th. Here is a look at teams who have qualified, teams who are still fighting, and the ones who now have to look ahead to 2014 (Brazil) for each region.

CONCACAF:
- In the final 30 seconds of the match in DC last night Jonathan Bornstein changed the entire group standings. Heading into stoppage time, Mexico was going to win the group on goal differential, Costa Rica had clinched a World Cup bid and Honduras, even with a victory on the night, would be forced into a play-off against Uruguay. However, Bornstein's last second strike pushed the US to the top of the group table, gave the South African ticket to Honduras and sent Costa Rica into a home-and-away series against Uruguay.
- Here is a look at the final CONCACAF Table
- Costa Rica will host Uruguay on November 14th, then travel for the return leg on November 18th in the Inter-confederation Play-offs

CONMEBOL:
- After all turmoil, resignation calls, and bad losses Argentina was still able to pull out a World Cup bid based on their own victory, instead of other countries failure to capitalize. Make no mistake about it, this team struggled and vastly underperformed during this group stage. But no team, from about region will want to see Argentina sitting in their group next June.
- Final CONMEBOL Table - Uruguay held onto the 5th place, play-off, spot despite losing to Argentina, since Ecuador loss to Chile, who moved into 2nd place overall in the table.
- Uruguay will travel to Costa Rica on November 14th, then play at home for the return leg on November 18th in the Inter-confederation Play-offs

AFC & OFC:
- New Zealand finished a top of the Oceania group and Bahrain finished 5th in the Asian group to qualify for an inter-continental play-off. The two teams met on October 10th in Bahrain and ended with a 0-0 draw. They will meet for the second-leg on November 14th in New Zealand. If Bahrain qualify they will be the smallest nation in the 2010 World Cup - population less than 800,00 (half the size of the metro-Raleigh, NC area).

CAF:
- In Africa three groups have already qualified - Ghana, Ivory Coast, & South Africa (host)
- Three spots remain open between Cameroon, Gabon, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and matches being played on November 14th

UEFA:
- The European group stage wrapped up Wednesday night with nine bids secured thus far - Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy & Netherlands.
- The eight best second place teams advance to four home-and-away series to determine UEFA's final four bids - UEFA Second Round matches will take place on November 14th and 18th.