FIFA World Cup – and then there were 32
November 19, 2009
Wednesday November 18, 2009 marked the last day that spots were up for grabs at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals to be held in June in South Africa.
On this night we saw four spots from the Europe zone claimed along with one from Africa and the playoff between the CONCACAF and South American zone teams.
The teams that booked their spots for the finals were Algeria, Greece, France, Portugal, Slovenia and Uruguay.
Uruguay grabbed the final spot in the 32 team finals. They had to fight off Costa Rica who not long ago were leading the CONCACAF zone. The score in the deciding match was 1-1 giving Uruguay a 2-1 aggregate. Uruguay know how it feels to fall at the final hurdle after bowing out in a penalty shoot-out to Australia four years ago.
In Europe it was Greece who advanced from their play-off with Ukraine. Both teams failed to score int he first leg in Athens and it was a single goal from Dimitris Salpingidis that sent Greece to South Africa. It will be the second appearance in the FIFA World Cup finals for Greece and the first time in 16-years. Greece were of course the 2004 European Champions.
Guus Hiddink was not able to get Russia to the finals after they took a 2-1 home win into the second leg. Russia will be left to think what might have been if they kept a clean sheet in Moscow. They conceded a late goal to give Slovenia a crucial away goal. The return match in Slovenia saw the home team get the advantage when Zlatko Dedic scored just before the break. The 1-0 win sent Slovenia through on the away goals rule.
France were very lucky to advance at the expense of Ireland. France had beaten there opponents 1-0 in Ireland and suffered an early setback when Robbie Keane levelled the tie with a 32nd minute goal. The match then went into extra time and it was a controversial goal from Wiliam Gallas that sent the former champions through to South Africa.
France skipper Thierry Henry handled the ball before crossing to Gallas for the winning goal. The Irish protests were waved away by match referee, Martin Hansson. Television replays left fans around the world in no doubt that it was a blatant handball. I wonder how Henry will feel about the incident in years to come.
Portugal completed their mission to reach South Africa with a second 1-0 result over Bosnia.
In the African play-off it was Algeria who advanced past Egypt after a 1-0 win. Antar Yahya scored the winner in the 39th minute. The play-off was played in nuetral Khartoum, Sudan as after group play both teams were deadlocked on points and goal for and against.
The full list of qualified teams is as follows:
ASIA – Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
AFRICA – Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa (host)
EUROPE – Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN – Honduras, Mexico, United States
OCEANIA – New Zealand
SOUTH AMERICA – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
The all important draw for the FIFA 2010 World Cup finals will take place at 7pm local time on December 4 in Cape Town, South Africa.
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[...] Soccer ball Wednesday November 18, 2009 marked the last day that spots were up for grabs at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals to be held in June in South Africa. On this night we saw four spots from the Europe zone claimed along with one … NORTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN â Honduras , Mexico, United States OCEANIA â New Zealand SOUTH AMERICA â Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay. The all important draw for the FIFA 2010 World Cup finals will take place at 7pm …Continue [...]