Four More World Cup Berths To Be Decided on Wednesday

October 13th, 2009 | by: Daryl |

The World Cup 2010 picture is getting clearer and clearer. Right now 19 of the 32 available spots are booked. Qualified teams are: South Africa, Japan, Australia, S. Korea, Netherlands, N. Korea, Brazil, Ghana, England, Spain, Paraguay, Cote d’Ivoire, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Chile, Mexico, USA.

So that leaves 13 places still to be filled. Four of these will be decided on Wednesday: Two in Europe plus one each in South America and CONCACAF.

Also decided on Wednesday: The playoff teams from CONCACAF and CONMEBOL (who’ll play each other for one golden ticket) and the eight from UEFA (who’ll be drawn to play each other for four spots).

The most interesting showdown looks to be in South America, where 4th place (and automatic qualification) will be decided. Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador are still in the hunt. Table looks like this:

October 14th games to watch:

Uruguay vs Argentina
Chile vs Ecuador

Argentina need a win to guarantee fourth place. Fifth place gets a playoff vs the fourth place CONCACAF team. Sixth place gets a box of tissues.

Speaking of CONCACAF…

It’s either Costa Rica or Honduras for third place and automatic qualification. Costa Rica goes into the final game with a two point advantage. Fourth place gets that not so coveted playoff vs a South American team.

Games to watch October 14th:

USA vs Costa Rica
El Salvador vs Honduras

In Europe, seven of the nine group winners (and therefore automatic World Cup qualifiers) have been decided. Switzerland or Greece can still claim Group 2, while either Slovenia or Slovakia can take Group 3.

Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France and the Republic of Ireland have all secured second place in their groups, and will be drawn against each other in four (seeded) playoff matches. More on that tomorrow.

Teams looking to make the playoffs include Portugal and Sweden in Group 1 (though Portugal need only a win against played nine, won none Malta), Israel and Latvia in Group 2 (assuming they can catch Greece or Switzerland), Czech Republic and Northern Ireland in Group 3 (assuming they can catch either Slovakia or Slovenia), Ukraine and Croatia in Group 6 (Ukraine need only to beat Andorra).

Here’s the complete European standings if you want to study in detail. Everything will make a lot more sense by Thursday morning.

Games to watch October 14th:

Portugal vs Malta
Greece vs Luxembourg
Poland vs Slovakia

So, who will you be supporting in Wednesday’s games?

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

Seth

“Sixth place gets a box of tissues”

LOL.

Anyway, I’ll be supporting Portugal and Argentina!
Ryan

I’ll be supporting America, top of the group finish.
Joseph

Any of the South American games on US tv?
Richie

Switzerland v Israel is another game to watch – an unlikely victory for Israel in that game would allow Greece to go top of the group.
MattyDub

Would quite like to see Honduras at the WC…
And they have a good chance with Costa Rica playing USA
alex

joseph – watch it online atdhe.net at 6pm et

games all over the world…i just watched germany vs finland

uruguay vs argentina is a must…love messi…hate argentina…
Shane

Slovakia have made their first ever World Cup as an independent nation today. The Swiss are also going back to the World Cup.
no name

Stupid USA team stold the game from the Costa Rica team. The ref need to get his balls burned. I hope the USA team losses and get gets ridiculed in Africa becuase the entire team plus the head couch are a pile of worthless pieces of nothing. The Ref are ALWAYS giving them the game. I HATE LANDIN DOVAVAN, I HOPES HIS BALLS FALL OFF.