Soccer Goals Safari

Now that the preliminary qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa have been completed, things are hotting up, and next summer’s competition is looking like it will be a soccer goal fest.

The groups each now have definite qualified teams, and there will be a series of two-leg play-offs to decide the final line up of countries going to South Africa. In the latest twist, Argentina managed automatic qualification from the South America Group and Portugal, as expected, grabbed a play-off ticket.

Let’s see which teams are already through, and promise to provide us with a feast of soccer goals. First up, the South America Group.

South America Qualifying Group

• Brazil (34 points)
• Chile (33 points)
• Paraguay (33 points)
• Argentina (28 points)

As you can see, this was a fairly close affair, but the World Cup just wouldn’t feel right without teams like Brazil and Argentina, so it’s nice to see them in the mix. And if it’s goals you are after, then Brazil will surely deliver!  There is potentially one place left for the trip to South Africa. It might be Uruguay.

North and Central America and the Caribbean

• USA (20 points)
• Mexico (19 points)
• Honduras (16 points)

Another close one for honor at the top of the table, but the USA reached out and took it. It is the fourth place in this group which enters the playoff with fifth place from the South America Group. So it looks like Uruguay will be playing Costa Rica for a ticket to the Soccer World Cup, Costa Rica narrowly missing out on automatic qualification due to goal difference.

Europe Qualifying Group

• Denmark (21 points) – Group 1 Winner
• Switzerland (21 points) – Group 2 Winner
• Slovakia (22 points) – Group 3 Winner
• Germany (26 points) – Group 4 Winner
• Spain (30 points) – Group 5 Winner
• England (27 points) – Group 6 Winner
• Serbia (22 points) – Group 7 Winner
• Italy (24 points) – Group 8 Winner
• Netherlands (24 points) – Group 9 Winner

Many of these were expected to qualify, and will hopefully come up with the goods at the finals. The remaining four places from the Euro Group will be decided by the playoffs, involving the eight best group runners up. These teams will be: Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, France, and Republic of Ireland.

Asia Qualifying Group

• Australia (20 points) – Group 1 Winner
• Japan (15 points) – Group 1 Runner Up
• Korea Republic (16 points) – Group 2 Winner
• Korea DPR (12 points) – Group 2 Runner Up

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain played off for the chance to play New Zealand for a place at the Finals. Bahrain won and will meet New Zealand next month.

Oceania Qualifying Group

New Zealand won the group with 15 points, the other teams being New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu. They are not through yet though. They have to beat Bahrain in a two-leg playoff next month.

Africa Qualifying Group

The qualifiers in the Africa zone are not complete yet with one match remaining. However, out of the five groups two cannot be caught and therefore automatically qualify:

• Ghana – Group D
• Ivory Coast – Group E

So next summer is looking promising. I’ll update again once the playoffs are done and dusted; at that point we’ll know all the teams going off to South Africa for a soccer goals bonanza – hopefully for each team the goals will be for, not against!