World Cup Standings
by Jason Green of Predictem.com
The World Cup qualifiers are, for the most part, over and while many of the teams have already booked their tickets to South Africa there are still a few playoff games that will determine if teams will be playing in the World Cup or watching it from home. Africa is the only region that is not totally over, as there is still one more qualifying match, which will take place on November 14th.
Here are the World Cup standing from each region:
Europe
Automatic qualifiers are Italy, Denmark, Germany, Spain, England, Netherlands, Serbia, Switzerland, and Slovakia.
Eight teams that each finished second in their group will have a playoff to see which four teams will be playing next summer. Those eight teams are Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Portugal, Slovenia, Greece, and Ukraine. The match ups for the playoffs have not been determined yet.
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Asia
Japan, Australia, South Korea, and North Korea have automatically qualified while Saudi Arabia and Bahrain both finished third in their respective groups and had a home and away playoff to determine which team would face New Zealand for the right to play in the World Cup.
In the first match in Bahrain the two teams played to a 0-0 draw and in the 2nd game in Saudi Arabia the Saudis led 2-1, but Bahrain scored in the 90th minute to knot the score at 2-2, which would stick. Even though both games were draws Bahrain scored two away goals and won the right to play New Zealand.
In the first match between Bahrain and New Zealand in Bahrain on October 14th the two teams played to a 0-0 draw and the second match will take place in New Zealand on November 14th.
Africa
Ghana and Cte d’Ivoire are the two teams from the African region that have automatically qualified.
In Group A Cameroon leads with 10 points and Gabon has 9. In their last game Cameroon plays Morocco and Gabon plays at Togo. In Group B Tunisia has 11 points and Nigeria has 9 points. In their last game Nigeria plays at Kenya and Tunisia plays at Mozambique. In Group C Algeria has 13 points and Egypt has 10 point. In the last match both teams play at Egypt, who has to win the game to advance to the World Cup.
South America
The teams from the South American region that have automatically qualified are Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina. Uruguay finished fifth in the group qualifying and they will face Costa Rica (the fourth place team from North-Central America & the Caribbean) in a playoff for the right to play next summer.
North-Central America & the Caribbean
The automatic qualifiers from the CONCACAF zone are the United States, Mexico, and Honduras. Costa Rica finished fourth in the group qualifying and they will face Uruguay (the fifth place team from South America) in a playoff for the right to play next summer.
Oceana
New Zealand won the group stage for the right to play Bahrain from the Asian region in a playoff.
In the first match between Bahrain and New Zealand in Bahrain on October 14th the two teams played to a 0-0 draw and the second match will take place in New Zealand on November 14th.
