The Road to the FIFA World Cup 2010

We Bet on the Best

Mohamed Zahran

The 2010 World Cup Qualifications have been going on for quite a while. The qualifications are divided into six factions: Africa; Asia; Europe; North, Central America and Caribbean; Oceania; and South America.

Currently, the teams in the African Zone are divided into five groups. The top team from each group will advance to the World Cup 2010. In the Asian Zone, the teams have reached Round Four with ten teams divided into two groups. The winner and the runner-up of both groups will advance to the World Cup. The third-placed teams from each group will play a home-and-away play-off, with the winner advancing to the inter-confederation play-off with New Zealand.

　
There are 53 teams in the European Zone that are divided into eight groups of six and one group of five. The eight best group runner-ups advance to Round Two and all the group winners will advance to the World Cup. In Round Two, the eight teams will be paired in four, and they will play a home-and-away series. The winners of these four games will advance to the FIFA World Cup.

In the North, Central America and Caribbean Zone, there are six teams left. The top three teams will advance to the World Cup, and the fourth seed will play the fifth seed team in the South American’s Zone in a home-and-away match.

The winner will advance to the World Cup. In the Oceania Zone, the winner of the group is New Zealand. It will now play-off against the team that finishes fifth in the Asian Zone for a place at South Africa 2010. In the South American Zone, the top four teams qualify for the FIFA World Cup. The 5th-placed team enters a home-and-away playoff with the 4th-placed team from the North, Central America & Caribbean.

This year, some great teams are performing below expected. On the other hand, developing teams are doing better than expected. It is hard to determine who will eventually qualify for the World Cup, but I can predict which teams will make a great entrance to the World Cup. Brazil is doing very well in the qualifications as well as Germany. It is still too early to determine which teams are strongest in the African Zone. At the other end of the world, Australia and New Zealand are doing very well, both being on the leader board in their zones. Finally, USA is first in its group. It is quite clear that this year’s competition is tough. We all wonder who will drive on the road to South Africa.