Around the World for a Ticket to the World Cup By ANDREW DAS Published: November 12, 2013 The qualifying process for next year’s World Cup, which began almost unnoticed more than two years ago with Belize’s 5-2 victory over Montserrat, will conclude over the next week with 22 teams playing 17 matches for the final 11 spots. The final burst of games — spread over the next week in places as far-flung as Iceland and New Zealand, Ukraine and Uruguay — will complete the field for the tournament in Brazil and set the stage for the finals draw Dec. 6. For some teams, the matches are a life preserver, a chance to make up for earlier disappointments. Others see a just reward for bad draws, bad luck or bad calls. All know this, though: There will be no more chances. “There’s no place for doubt or uncertainty,” France Coach Didier Deschamps told reporters this week. He could have been speaking for everyone. African Playoffs Ethiopia at Nigeria; Ivory Coast at Senegal; Tunisia at Cameroon; Ghana at Egypt; Burkina Faso at Algeria Second-leg games, Saturday through Tuesday Ghana all but booked a ticket to Brazil by thrashing Egypt, 6-1, in their first-leg match, and Ivory Coast — a pretournament favorite and post-tournament disappointment in the past two World Cups — is in an enviable position after its 3-1 home win over Senegal. Like Iceland and Jordan, Ethiopia is bidding to reach the World Cup for the first time, but it hurt its chances by surrendering two second-half goals in a 2-1 loss to visiting Nigeria last month. ... The other two matchups are tossups. Cameroon and Tunisia, who played a scoreless draw in their first game, offer a case study in how African teams are put together: Tunisia has a core of players from the country’s top club, Esperance, and Cameroon’s players all ply their trade in Europe. Burkina Faso beat Algeria, 3-2, in a goalfest in Ouagadougou, but those two away goals could loom large in the return leg Tuesday. Intercontinental Playoffs Uruguay-Jordan, Mexico-New Zealand Home and home, Wednesday and next Wednesday A Uruguay team led by strikers Edinson Cavani and Luis Suárez is capable of winning the World Cup — it reached the semifinals in 2010 — so Jordan figures to be merely a speed bump. Mexico faces a more difficult road, but its problems are largely self-inflicted. It won only two of its 10 qualifiers in the final round of Concacaf qualifying, and only one of its five games at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, where it will host New Zealand on Wednesday. Manuel Herrera, Mexico’s fourth coach this year, has dropped European-based stars like Manchester United’s Javier Hernández and picked a team of players from Mexico’s domestic league. It was a brave move for a squad that has struggled to score, and perhaps he thought things could not get worse. By next week, he will know. European Playoffs Sweden-Portugal, Romania-Greece, France-Ukraine, Croatia-Iceland Home and home, Friday and Tuesday The only thing certain in the four European playoffs is that they will keep one of the world’s best players from playing in the World Cup. In the marquee matchup, Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal will face Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sweden. Their first meeting will be in Lisbon on Friday; each prepared for it by scoring three goals for his club Saturday. ... Keep an eye on France’s goal when it plays Ukraine in Kiev, as goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is expected to start. He was knocked unconscious in a game for his English club, Tottenham, 10 days ago. While he finished out that game, to the dismay of many, he has not played since. ... Iceland (population 360,000) can become the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup if it can get past Croatia, and in doing so also introduce young talents like Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson to a wider audience. ... Greece and Romania emerged from group play feeling aggrieved: Romania had the misfortune to be thrown into a group with the Netherlands, and Greece lost out on an automatic berth on goal difference after it tied Bosnia-Herzegovina on points. Greece and Romania no doubt feel they deserve the reward of a place in Brazil, but it is likely that the winner will only make fans pine for the Portugal-Sweden loser instead.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:13:10 +0000
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