90 Minutes Soccer Magazine - World Cup Qualifiers; 27 Down, 5 to go

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October 13, 2005

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS; 27 DOWN, 5 TO GO

After a whirlwind week of World Cup Qualifiers, we now know 27 out of the 32 nations that will compete in Germany next summer.

Here is the list of who will be there by confederation:

CAF
Angola
Ivory Coast
Togo
Ghana
Tunisia

AFC
Japan
Iran
South Korea
Saudi Arabia

UEFA
Germany
Ukraine
Netherlands
Poland
England
Croatia
Italy
Portugal
Sweden
Serbia & Montenegro
France

CONCACAF
U.S.A.
Mexico
Costa Rica

CONMEBOL
Argentina
Brazil
Ecuador
Paraguay

Five spots are left to be decided via the playoffs come November; three from Europe to be culled from Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey and Spain. The draw for the three ties will be on Friday, October 14th.

Elsewhere Trinidad & Tobago overcame Mexico 2-1 at home to snag CONCACAF’s playoff spot, holding off a courageous Guatemala who defeated Costa Rica in vain 3-1 at home. Trinidad & Tobago have the reward of CAF’s Bahrain in their playoff for a spot in Germany. Bahrain have little pedigree and T&T should be the favorites to progress.

Uruguay just barely beat out Colombia and Chile for CONMEBOL’s playoff spot. An emotional, unpretty 1-0 victory over local rivals Argentina got the job done. They will face Oceania’s Australia in a November playoff, where there is some bad blood as the two nations faced off in the same playoff four years ago. Uruguay prevailed then with what some thought to be overdone thuggish tactics, and will be expected to try repeat history.

After all this, the insane international soccer calendar grinds on as all leagues around the world will pick up again this weekend. No rest for the wicked, or soccer players apparently.

Edward Knowles, International Editor, 90:00™

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