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World Cup Qualifications 2006

Yesterday, the US national squad, despite a dominating effort, only managed to defeat the 'Spice Boys' from Grenada 2-0. This goes to show how football (soccer) is such a hard game to predict, because on any day, at any time, an upset can occur. Even though the US team won, it was still considered to some a small victory for Grenada, since this is the goal aggregate round of the qualifications. This means that total goals are used to advance, not victories or losses. If the US continues to play the way they did on Sunday, I cannot imagine them losing the followup game in Grenada on Sunday, but they will need to understand that pouring on goals is the name of the game at this stage, and it wont get any easier as they advance. Congrats to the US team on a solid start!

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I thought I responded to this one already? Maybe it was in the TT board, anyways, Trinidad is trying hard to qualify, but I really do not see that happening. I find that there is not enough emphasis placed on qualifying for the World Cup. Recently T&T came back from a trip in the East where they lost their matches, but they were wallowing in that they did not lose too bad - HELLO - only by winning games do you qualify for the World Cup. Greece where are you? Care to give some lessons?

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T&T held Korea to a 1-1 draw the other day which I must say is impressive, seeing that Korea is ranked 20th in the world and reached the semi-finals of the last World Cup. However, with Mexico, USA and Costa Rica in CONCACAF, it will be difficult for Trinidad to advance.

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The qualification process for World Cup 2006 is now fully under way with the European regions beginning their Group play. Here are some recent scores from early September games that may be of interest since they involve high profile football teams.

USA 2 - El Salvador 0
The US now leads Group 1 with 1 win and 1 draw in 2 games. The other teams in this group are Jamaica and Panama.
Panama 2 - Jamaica 1
Jamaica now at the bottom of the group with a draw and a loss.

Argentina 3 - Peru 1

Trinidad and Tobago 2 -St. Kitts/Nevis 1
T&T now has 2 wins in 2 games and look good to move out of their Group 3. They meet powerhourse Mexico next who has not played a game yet in group play.

Austria 2 - England 2
This was considered an upset really because England was favored to win this match handily. These 2 teams are in Group 6 and now see Poland atop the group with a win over Northern Ireland.

Italy 2 - Norway 1
The Italians get a win they were supposed to get and hope they can put away the performance of Euro 2004 and go into 2006 with a bang. They are tied atop Group 5 with Slovenia

France 0 - Israel 0
Another upset really as powerhouse France should have been able to put away the Israeli team. The French will need to rebound from this match with a tough game coming up with the Irish.

For more details on the qualifications for all 6 conferederations, visit:

https://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/

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A lot of World Cup qualification took place this weekend. UEFA and CONCACAF saw quite a bit of action. My beloved Italian squad took care of business with a 2-0 victory over Scotland. England pounded the Northern Irish 4-0 and in a shocker, Israel and Ireland played to a 1-1 draw. In CONMEBOL, Argentina beat Bolivia 2-1 and Brazil barely got by Peru 1-0. In CONCACAF, Mexico defeated the US 2-1 and Costa Rica beat Panama 2-1.
You may have heard about the stampede in Iran when they defeated the Japanese 2-1. 5 people were killed. Guatemala will play the US this Wednesday and it will be televised, so I plan on watching that intently, as the US need this win to stay afloat.

World Cup Qualifications 2006

Argentina is through thanks to a brilliant win over the world's best side.

Can I just say, and I don't mean ANY offence, I think it is absolutely criminal CONCACAF, easily the world's second weakest confederation gets 3 1/2 qualifying spots and Oceania can't even get one.

On paper Australia would be the second best team if it were in that region after Mexico and we have to play a South American team in a home and away tie after winning our own confederation just to make the finals. We don't even get to play a walkover fourth placed CONCACAF side.

I understand I'm raising this point in a primarily American forum, but I would like to know what you guys and gals think about this.

I believe Europe has way too many spots, but is it fair the world's most successful region CONMEBOL should effectively get one more spot than the second weakest?

World Cup Qualifications 2006

I have to agree with you Arvhic. Although, if you take Australia out, the rest of the Oceania region is very weak. I guess this is why FIFA has decided that if the Oceania winner can beat a CONBEMOL middle team, then they certainly have earned the right to go to the World Cup. Otherwise, Australia will go to every World Cup tournament. On the flip-side, they haven't qualified for World Cup yet because of this very rule.

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I agree Oceania is easily the weakest confederation, but it is a confederation nevertheless. I can't think of any other sport in the world where a team from my region doesn't qualify for a world championships solely through an Oceania qualifying competition.

The real reason for all this inequality is of course politics and the number of votes certain confederations have compared to our own. We have made one World Cup, Germany 74. For the 2000 WC we were the only team that didn't qualify after going through qualifying undefeated. We were extremely hard done by drawing 2-2 against Iran when we were so dominant. They went through on away goals rule.

The simple fact of the matter is, we will always win Oceania, but very few teams in the world can seriously be favoured to knock off the fifth South American team in a home and away tie. The atmosphere over there is horrendous, it's very difficult for any nation to compete in that environment. And you have to remember South America is the strongest region in the world, their fifth top team is always going to be very strong.

The US and Mexico are virtually gifted world cup berths every time because apart from those two sides the rest of the region is fairly weak. It would actually make a lot more sense for us to play the fourth top Concacaf team to see who goes through. Or better yet Europe should concede a couple of spots because I just don't think they are worth that many teams, the rest of the world is catching fast.