World Cup Update Part 2

I'm sitting here tonight watching the start of the college football season and I'm reminded of one of the reasons I enjoy watching soccer so much. No commercials, no time outs, no long boring breaks. College football has good passion, but its hard to go from seeing commercials only during halftime (soccer) to every 3-5 minutes (most other sports).

Anyway, lets get back to the matter at hand. Tonight we are looking at the current state of the World Cup 2010 qualifying in Europe, it is just that large.

UEFA (Europe):

• UEFA Current Tables. 53 teams competing for 13 spots in 9 groups. Group winners automatically qualify and the 8 best second place teams will via for 4 additional spots.
• Group 1: Denmark has a surprising lead over the group with no losses to this point. Sweden (Zlatan Ibrahimović) and Portugal (Ronaldo) are both falling out of the World Cup as they struggle in 3rd and 4th place behind Hungary (no that is not a typo). The top 4 all play each other this Saturday which could see two major teams and two of the world biggest stars getting close to World Cup exile.
• Group 2: Greece and Switzerland are tied at the top of the group and face off this Saturday. I look for Switzerland to take advantage of the home match-up and take the group lead over the defensive minded Greek team. Israel takes on Latvia on Saturday as well in what shapes up to be a must-win for both teams trying to reach the playoff spot in Group 2.
• Group 3: Surprise leader Slovakia could eliminate their former countrymen Czech Republic this weekend. Their closest competition, Northern Ireland, sits only 2 points back and is also looking to make an unexpected visit to South Africa over traditional favorites Poland and Czech.
• Group 4: This group started as a two team show, no surprises here thus far and we still stand at two contenders - Germany & Russia. The teams meet again on October 10th which could decide the auto bid and both have easy wins next Wednesday against countries already eliminated.
• Group 5: Spain has had a perfect run in qualifying coming off the heels of their Euro 2008 victory. The other storyline besides Spain's form heading into 2010 is if Turkey can rebound to get the playoff spot from Bosnia and Herzegovina (one of a multitude of potential underdog qualifiers).
• Group 6: England is a perfect 7 for 7 and will clinch a spot in South Africa next wednesday with a victory over Croatia. If that happens, third place Ukraine will look to capitalize with a victory over last-placed Andorra and move into a tie for the playoff spot.
• Group 7: Another interesting traditional vs. surprise story line developing here. France sits in 2nd place with a game in hand behind Serbia. A win on Saturday puts France 2 points back leading into a match-up with Serbia on the 9th.
• Group 8: The 2006 World Cup winner, Italy, looks clear to qualify even with their struggles in South Africa in the Confederations Cup. Ireland seem poised to follow in line and complete the pre-qualifying predictions to grab the playoff spot.
• Group 9: The Netherlands aka Holland aka The Dutch are the first and only European team to secure a bid for 2010 so far. Only 1 point separates 2nd to 4th to grab a potential playoff position.

UEFA has a ton of great teams and there are bound to be several which are left out that would normally be considered contenders for the World Cup itself. I'll take a look at how South America and Africa are shaping up tomorrow. Your thoughts on UEFA?