Asian World Cup Qualifying - The Road to South Africa 2010

There are 370 days to go before the World Cup kicks off in South Africa. The Asians will be the second region to finish their qualifying schedule. If you are curious Oceania finished theirs quite some time ago with New Zealand emerging as the top team. New Zealand will face off against the 5th place Asian team in October. In twelve days time we will know the identity of four teams representing Asia. Asian qualifying has two groups each of five teams the two top teams from each group will advance. The two third placed teams will have a playoff and the winner of that playoff will meet New Zealand in October.

The teams competing in Group One are Australia (13 points), Japan (11 points), Bahrain (7 points), Uzbekistan (4 points), & Qatar (4 points). Australia & Iran both have three matches remaining while the other teams have two. Australia need to get only a point from their match against Qatar tomorrow. The Qataris will hope to use home field advantage to keep their hopes of third place alive, however the Socceroos should manage at least a point to become the first country to qualify for the World Cup. Looks like their decision to switch conferences has paid off. Japan face the difficult task of traveling to Uzbekistan, who drew them in Japan, for their next match. Because of this I think that the Uzbeks will get a win postponing Japanese qualification until they host Qatar on the 10th of June. I think that Japan will defeat Qatar which means that Japan can book their ticket to South Africa, while Qatar is eliminated from the World Cup. The battle for third is between Bahrain & Uzbekistan and they play a crucial match on the 17th of June in Bahrain this match will determine which of these teams advances to the playoff. I think that it will be Uzbekistan that emerges from this group in third.

Group Two features South Korea (11 points), North Korea (10 points), Saudi Arabia (10 points), Iran (7 points), & United Arab Emirates (1 point). The South Koreans & the Iranians both have three matches remaining while the other sides have two. The Emirates are already eliminated from qualifying. Due to the congestion of the teams at the top no team can secure qualification from the round of matches on June 6th. However I am backing the Taeguk Warriors of South Korea to qualify at home to Saudi Arabia on the 10th. I think that the North Koreans will secure their berth in South Africa away to the Saudis on the final day. You may have noticed that I don't have the Saudis winning either of their remaining matches, which is why I think that Iran will just pip them for the playoff place.

So the playoff will be between Iran & Uzbekistan. Playoffs can go either way, but I think that the surprising Uzbeks will continue their great run and advance to face New Zealand. In the playoff for the World Cup spot, I feel that the edge has to go to the Asian side. However if the Kiwis are able to advance to the second round of the Confederations Cup, I think that they will be confident that they can advance. That said I think that I am still going to have to pick Uzbekistan to join the Koreas, Japan, & Australia in South Africa.

Hopefully I will get the European preview up later today, Cheers

African World Cup Qualifying - The Road to South Africa 2010

Welcome back for another look at World Cup qualifying, in case you forgot the World Cup is only 370 days away. African qualifying is only one game in to the second and final round, and it is going to get very interesting. There are five groups of four teams, the winner of each group gets a place in the World Cup. The first, second, and third place teams all qualify for the African Cup of Nations in Angola in January 2010.

Group One consists of Gabon, Togo, Morocco, & Cameroon. This group had some strange results on the first day when both Cameroon and Morocco lost. Cameroon lost away to Togo, while Morocco lost at home to Gabon. This sets up a very tight race for the World Cup place, I think it will be a two horse race between Gabon & Cameroon, with Togo grabbing the other place in Angola. This will be a big disappointment for Morocco who would have entered qualifying believing that they had a shot to make it to South Africa. The deciding matches will be the home and home series between neighbours Cameroon & Gabon. In the end I think that the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will make their return to the World Cup.

Group Two has Tunisia, Mozambique, Nigeria, & Kenya. Much like Group One this group had a bit of an upset in the first match day with Nigeria only managing a draw away to Mozambique. The race for top spot in this group is only between Nigeria & Tunisia. Kenya should beat Mozambique to the other place in the Cup of Nations despite Mozambique's strong first result. For me the key to this group is consistency, Tunisia certainly aren't the best team in the group but they are the most consistent which is why I am predicting more heart break for the Super Eagles and their fans as Nigeria miss out on the World Cup.

Group Three features back to back African Champions Egypt, along with Zambia, Algeria & Rwanda. All of the first round matches ended in a draw, which is bad news for the Pharaohs given that they hosted Zambia in their first match. The next matches are key to the outcome of this group. Egypt travels to Algeria ahead of their trip to South Africa for the Confederations Cup. And they need to have three points in the bag, if they want to go to South Africa again next year. By the same token Zambia needs to get all three points at home against Rwanda to put pressure on the favoured Egyptians. If Algeria wins at home they have a shot at South Africa, and this easily becomes a three way battle. Rwanda will finish fourth and whichever team they take points off of will be in trouble. I think that Zambia will make their first trip to the World Cup in 2010, ahead of Egypt and Algeria. The Chipolopolo Boys have been playing extremely well under their new coach and I expect that to continue throughout qualifying.

Group Four is where we find Ghana, Sudan, Mali, & Benin. The next two games are crucial for Ghana as they play their two strongest opponents away. That means trips to Mali & Sudan if the Black Stars manage 4 points there then I think that they will book themselves a place in South Africa. This group is more of a three way battle for the remaining two Cup of Nations places. I think that Mali and Sudan will grab those in a hard fought battle.

Group Five is home to the West African showdown (and Malawi) with Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea, Burkina Faso, & Malawi. Malawi qualified for the second round on the strength of their home form knocking of Egypt, Djibouti, & DR Congo if they are going to get anything out of this group they will need that form to continue, as you may have guessed I don't think that is going to happen. Anyone of Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, or Burkina Faso could qualify for South Africa. What it comes down to for me is that both Guinea & Burkina Faso will be up for their matches with their neighbour Côte d'Ivoire and will take some points from Les Elephants. Which means I think that it will be Burkina Faso advancing just ahead of Côte d'Ivoire & Guinea.

In summary I have Cameroon, Tunisia, Zambia, Ghana, & Burkina Faso joining with host nation South Africa as the six African nations vying to win the first World Cup in Africa.

I am interested to hear what you think , drop me a line and let me now what you think of my predictions. The next preview post will look at Asian Qualifying which wraps up in June. I will endeavour to get this post and the European preview up before the matches on Saturday. It is starting to get quite interesting in Asia & Europe as by the end of next week we could have some teams qualified for South Africa 2010!

Portsmouth's next boss

Now that Portsmouth have been bought by Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim, a billionaire businessman from Abu Dhabi, there is no shortage of managers being linked with the vacant post.

The first candidate is current interim boss Paul Hart. The players responded to him and he led us away from the relegation zone. However the results weren't spectacular and the team seemed unable to score, it was however an improvement over Tony Adams. So far both Kanu & Distin have said that they would like him to stay on. I think that the most likely scenario is that Paul Hart will return to being in charge of the youth players as Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim has an interest in developing the academy.

The second candidate is former Lazio, England, Man City, & Mexico boss Sven-Goran Eriksson. Eriksson has been a solid club manager and in my opinion was unlucky to be dumped out of Manchester City at the end of last season. That said he is currently looking for work since being fired by Mexico after it started to look like El Tri could miss the World Cup.

The third candidate is current Croatian boss Slaven Bilić. Bilić is young and came to managerial fame by leading Croatia to Euro 2008 at the expense of England. That said I was unimpressed by his choice of playing Niko Kranjcar as a striker to accommodate Luka Modric in the midfield during the Euros. It is always a risk to appoint a manager without any club experience. Hopefully, if he gets the job, he will be like Mark Hughes or Gianfranco Zola who both made successful club management debuts in the Premier League.

I was surprised to see that a fourth candidate might be Harry Redknapp! This move would be a disaster. Harry quit us and moved to Southampton and then we brought him back. I thought it was a bad idea and it took a long time to get used to the idea of him being our manager again. Then Harry quit us again for Spurs, if we brought him back again it would make a mockery of all of us as fans. If Pompey are foolish enough to offer him the job I hope that he has enough sense not to come back.

A fifth candidate has now emerged, the former Fiorentina & Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini. He has wealth of club experience and trophies to his name. He was sacked by Inter after winning a third straight Serie A title because of his failure to win the Champions League. I think that he would be an excellent hire.

I imagine that Portsmouth will announce who will be charge sometime in the next few weeks and I have no idea who it will be but I would guess that it would be either Mancini, Eriksson or Bilić. Though as we have seen with Harry moving to Spurs and Bruce moving to Sunderland it really could be anyone.

Confederations Cup Pool

Well looking at the poll results it seems that no agreed with my pick of New Zealand to advance along with Spain and most people went with Iraq. The Iraq - New Zealand match will be the key match in the group. Which brings me to the title of this post Confederations Cup Pool, it is an opportunity to battle wits and see who can predict the outcome of the matches.

Not too long ago I was introduced to SuperBru by a friend. SuperBru is a South African pool manager that runs pools for Super XIV Rugby, The Indian Premier League (Cricket), F1, and football, namely the Confederations Cup. I have started a pool there and you invited to join. Here is the information:

Website: http://www.superbru.com/confedcup
Pool code: votepale
Pool name: PompeyCanuck′s Pool

If you don't know much about the Confederations Cup you can read my preview, that way you should know what I know or at least what I think.

Unfortunately there are no prizes other than to say "I kicked Pompey's ass" or "at least I am as smart as I pretend to be" so I hope that I will see you there,

Cheers & Good Luck

Thoughts on the Champions League Final

United came out flying for the first 8 minutes and Barcelona looked a little lost, for the next 82 minutes Barcelona were in absolute total control.

I think that Park was definitely the man of the match for United - he was the only player in white that was putting in any effort. If he was a step quicker (or had longer legs) and could jump higher (or was taller) he would have had two goals, which leads me to believe that Crouch would have scored twice...

I don't have a man of the match for Barcelona - It was a victory for teamwork everyone worked hard and made good passes, without a doubt a great display from the best team in the world.

What I didn't like, 3 dives When Ronaldo leapt at Pique to draw a yellow from Pique, When Iniesta collapsed at the top of box to draw a free kick, it was disgraceful and when Puyol dove when Ronaldo got the ball.

I was surprised that throughout the match United kept attacking Puyol, in the lead up to the match there was a lot of talk about whether or not Sylvinho could deal with the pace but he was never tested.

I thought that Evra was playing too central and Barcelona kept having plenty of space on the right. Though I did think that Ferguson made the right move in bringing on Tevez at half time and moving Rooney to the right to have a go at Sylvinho, unfortunately these moves ended up not having an impact on Barcelona's domination.

United passing was poor, but Barcelona fiercely attacked loose balls, by the second half they had stopped being 50/50s and started being Barcelona possessions.

I think that Ferguson should have taken Ronaldo off after his aerial challenge with Puyol in the 62 min, his head was out of the game. After the Messi's goal Rooney seemed to stop running all together it was a disappointing lack of effort. United seemed to not have any stomach for the comeback.

Barcelona dominated the match so thoroughly that I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear about some food poisoning scandal etc to try to explain why United looked so slow out there.

I also have to mention that the dummy by Henry in the 50somethingth minute was one of the best that I have ever seen.

And as Kristian Jack pointed out in his blog if you were a football fan you watched the match with a smile on your face as Barcelona put on a wonderful display of the beautiful game.