The next to last World Cup 2010 qualifying match day was held yesterday (Saturday November 14th, 2009) and three new teams secured their bid to South Africa next summer. Here is a recap of all the action yesterday as well as the qualifying teams for each region:
UEFA:
Already Qualified: Netherlands, England Spain, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia.
The top 8 second place teams in group play were placed into four home-and-away series to decide UEFA's final four spots. There was a lot of controversy surround the playoff matches since UEFA decided to group an 'A' level team against a 'B' tier team in each match-up instead of using a random drawing. Leaving many to criticize that UEFA was only concerned about getting the 'big' nations in the World Cup. The results from the first leg were:
- Russia 2-1 Slovenia
- Greece 0-0 Ukraine
- Ireland 0-1 France
- Portugal 1-0 Bosnia Herzegovina
The second leg of matches will be played this Wednesday (18th).
CONCACAF:
Already Qualified: United States, Mexico, Honduras.
The fourth place team, Costa Rica, entered into a playoff spot with the 5th place team from South America, Uruguay. The first leg took place on Saturday in Costa Rica and saw the hosts fall 1-0.
CAF:
Already Qualified: South Africa (Automatic bid for the host), Ghana, The Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon.
One spot remains open for Africa since Group C ended in a tie between Egypt and Algeria - tied on points, goal differential and direct match-ups. The two sides will one additional, winner-takes-all games on the 18th in Sudan. The November issue of World Soccer magazine has a great article on this rivalry.
CONMEBOL:
Already Qualified: Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina.
The fifth place team, Uruguay, entered into a playoff spot with the 5th place team from North America, Costa Rica. The first leg took place on Saturday in Costa Rica and saw the South American country take the early lead 1-0.
AFC:
Already Qualified: Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea.
Qualifying ended for the AFC region in October with Bahrain winning a chance at a final spot against the OFC group winner.
OFC:
Already Qualified: New Zealand.
New Zealand won the OFC group then entered into a home-and-away series against Bahrain. The two teams tied 0-0 in the first leg in Bahrain on October 10th. Saturday, in the second leg New Zealand secured a spot as the only OFC team by winning 1-0 at home.
The draw for the finals will take place on December 4th in Cape Town, South Africa.
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