Looking Forward to World Cup in 2010
Entry posted by The AUT
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Well for us soccer fans the World Cup is less than a year away. For those looking forward to it we also know that World Cup Qualifiers are currently underway. But who can we expect to be in and who's going to be out? Well I'll give you all a breakdown of who to expect in 2010 competing for the World Cup. First off let me just say for those who want to get into soccer yet don't quite get the qualification system here's a breakdown.
The games are segmented into three types of end results:
- A win. Which grants you 3 points.
- A draw. Which grants you one point.
- A loss. Which grants you no points.
Now there is no sudden death overtime to determine a winner. If a team is even in terms of points at the end of group play, they take it to goals for and goals against differential. If that's even, then it's taken to who has scored more goals will get the tie break. Now how the groups are played are based on the confederations themselves. It differs from continent to continent.
There are 6 Confederations:
- Africa
- Asia
- Europe
- North, Central America and Caribbean
- Oceania
- South America
Now here's a breakdown of who you should expect come 2010:
Africa:
- Gabon
- Tunisia
- Algeria (damn it
) - Ghana
- Cote D'ivoire
- South Africa (automatic qualification, host nation)
)Africa has 5 groups and the winner of each group qualifies for the World Cup. Simple enough? 
Asia/Oceania:
- Australia
- Japan
- South Korea
- North Korea
- Saudi Arabia/New Zealand
Asia breaks down to two groups. The top two nations of each group automatically qualify and the third placed nation of each group awaits to play one another then the winner of the Oceania Confederation for that last Asian spot. In this case it's New Zealand.
Europe:
- Denmark (Group Qualification)
- Switzerland (Group Qualification)
- Slovakia (Group Qualification)
- Germany (Group Qualification)
- Spain (Group Qualification)
- England (Group Qualification)
- Serbia (Group Qualification)
- Italy (Group Qualification)
- Netherlands (Group Qualification)
- Hungary
- Greece
- Croatia
- France
- Russia
This is most likely to change from here until 2010. Greece may very well overtake Switzerland and the Danes may give in to the Hungarians. There are 13 places. The winners of the groups qualify automatically and the runner ups of the group play square off against one another in a playoff. This is the hardest to tell Confederation since there are so many nations.
North America:
- Costa Rica
- United States
- Mexico
-
Honduras
The first three teams qualify for the World Cup. The fourth place teams takes on the fifth place team of South America.
South America:
- Brazil
- Chile
- Paraguay
- Argentina
-
Ecuador
I'd take Honuras over Ecuador in that situation.
All a year away. When the time comes I'll be sure to update the list and provide results of all matches on my profile. Until 2010, ciao! 
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