No shock after all as Argentina made it to the Finals after downing Uruguay 1-0 in Montivideo thanks to an 84th minute goal from Mario Balotti. Emotional scenes followed the final whistle as Diego Maradona and old Carlos Bilardo hugged each other in ecstatic relief. The albiceleste's task had been made easier by Chile eliminating Ecuador, ensuring at least a play-off spot, Uruguay's consolation.
I spent the night at Wembley with 77,000 others waving a fond farewell to England's almost perfect qualifying campaign. Peter Crouch's telescopic legs struck twice to beat an elegant yet slight Belarus 3-0. The biggest cheers of the night were for David Beckham's 115th outing and the LA Galaxian did not disappoint by assisting on a goal and working some telepathic passes. Surely Fabio Capello will bring him to South Africa now, completing a remarkable turnaround from Becks' tearful 'resignation' speech four years ago.
Europe's play-offs should be a final feast next month. The lucky seeds are France, Portugal, Russia and Greece and their less fortunate opponents Bosnia, Eire, Slovenia and the Ukraine; the draw is on Monday. Only then will we know who will join Croatia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Turkey on the quayside looking on. Incidentally, only Croatia of FIFA's top ten ranked teams will definitely not be at the World Cup, though France could yet miss out.
Spare a thought for Andorra and San Marino, who finished with ten losses from ten games, but at least scored 1 and 3 goals respectively, unlike Malta, who failed to find the net in their entire qualifying campaign.
Remaining places up for grab, Nov 14th & 18th:
CONMEBOL/CONCACAF - One of Uruguay/Costa Rica
UEFA - Four out of Bosnia, Eire, France, Greece, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia & Ukraine
ASIA/OCEANIA - Winner of Bahrain v New Zealand (First Leg 0:0)
AFC - Three spots left - Cameroon/Gabon, Tunisia/Nigeria, Algeria/Egypt
The winner-takes-all North African derby of Egypt v Algeria on Nov 14th looks the pick of them to me.
Our prayers are with you, Charlie x
-Sean O'Conor, London
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2 comments:
I thought they were using the straight FIFA rankings to seed the European play-ins? If they did that, Greece is ahead of Ukraine (and Portugal for that matter).
What method are they using?
The official seeding data won't be out until tomorrow, but this is what they should look like"
POT 1
Russia
France
Greece
Portugal
POT 2
Ukraine
Ireland
Slovenia
Bosnia
The only possible change I can see would be the Ukraine nipping past Portugal for a place in Pot 1, but it seems unlikely.
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