The schedule for the first round of North American qualifying has been set.February 3, 2008
Cayman Islands at Bermuda 3 PM Hamilton
February 6, 2008
El Salvador at Anguilla Washington D.C., United States of America
Antigua and Barbuda at Aruba Oranjestad
Saint Kitts and Nevis at Belize Guatemala City, Guatemala
Barbados at Dominica Roseau
Netherlands Antilles at Nicaragua Diriamba
Saint Lucia at Turks and Caicos Islands Providenciales
March 26, 2008
Anguilla at El Salvador San Salvador
Aruba at Antigua and Barbuda Saint John's
Belize at Saint Kitts and Nevis Basseterre
British Virgin Islands at Bahamas Nassau
Dominica at Barbados Bridgetown
Dominican Republic at Puerto Rico Bayamón
Nicaragua at Netherlands Antilles Willemstad
Turks and Caicos Islands at Saint Lucia Vieux Fort
U.S. Virgin Islands at Grenada Saint George's
Suriname vs. Montserrat
March 30, 2008
Bermuda at Cayman Islands 7 PM George Town
Bahamas at British Virgin Islands Nassau, Bahamas
Round two will take place on June 14 and June 21.
June 14, 2008
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at Canada
June 21, 2008
Canada at Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Here is the date of the postponed New Zealand home match against Fiji. The match is being played on neutral ground.
June 23, 2008
Fiji at New Zealand 11 PM Apia, Samoa
The list of fixtures for the African first round has been announced, but the dates for each individual match have not. When they are announced, they will be posted here.
The first round of matches will take place on May 30, 31, and April 1. The second rotation will occur on June 6, 7, and 8. The third cycle will happen on June 13, 14, and 15.
The fourth round of matches will take place on June 20, 21, and 22. The fifth rotation will occur on September 5, 6, and 7. The sixth cycle will happen on October 10, 11, and 12.
Group G fixtures were the first to be determined on December 8, 2007 in Vienna. Group I fixtures were determined on December 14, 2007 in Amsterdam. Group I will finish in September 2009, but Group G will finish in October 2009.
The fixtures begin in February with the top seeds hosting the lowest seeds in each of their groups. The meat of the qualification cycle takes place in June 2008. There is a home-and-away series in early June for match days three and four.
We will get to see how worthy South Africa are of hosting the World Cup by their results in the first round of qualifying against mighty Nigeria. Three of the top four African seeds (Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco) are looking to validate their rankings by qualifying for the World Cup finals after missing out in 2006. Togo and Angola are looking to prove that they were no flukes last qualification cycle by marching into South Africa 2010. A * denotes a Germany 2006 participant. A # signifies a Ghana 2008 qualifier. The numbers are the teams' current ELO ratings.
England just cannot catch a break. Less than one week after being eliminated by Croatia from Euro2008, the two foes are drawn against each other again. Denmark and Sweden are also drawn together again, giving the Danish fans a chance to redeem themselves as a civilized audience. The toughest groups appear to be Groups A, C, F, and G. A * denotes a Germany 2006 particapant and a # represents a Euro2008 qualifier.
The top seeds in each group are the United States of America, México, and Costa Rica. The second seeds in each group are Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, and Panamá. The other seeded teams were Guatemala, Cuba, Jamaica, Canada, Guyana, and Haiti. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines received a first-round bye. Note that Guadeloupe are not members of FIFA and therefore cannot participate in the World Cup despite their semifinal appearance at the 2007 Gold Cup.
Australia were the top seed coming into the draw, but they left with the toughest group of any of the top five Asian countries. Group E will certainly put southwest Asian braggin rights on the line and will have the least travel time required for its contestants. South Korea appear to have been given the easiest route to round four, but none of these labels matter once the games begin.
New Zealand looked to distance themselves from the rest of their group by adding another three points to their haul with a win at home against Vanautu. They did just that, taking a 3-0 lead into the half and finishing with a 4-1 win at the final whistle. Unfortunately, the New Zealand captain Tim Brown picked up a second yellow card in second half stoppage time and was sent off the pitch. He will be inelgible for New Zealand's next qualifier. They will still have Shane Smeltz, who with four goals in three games is the top scorer in Oceania's second round of qualifying.
In perhaps the most back-and-forth affair of World Cup qualifying so far, Venezuela came back from being one goal down three times to obtain a home victory against Bolivia. The man to save Venezuela the first two times was forward Daniel Arismendi, a beneficiary of Venezuela's decision to start a second forward for the first time in qualifying. Tied 2-2 at the half, Bolivia took a commanding 3-2 lead with only thirteen minutes left in the match. Venezuela managed to tie the game at three and then caught a break when Bolivian goalie Carlos Arias suffered a leg injury with no substitutions remaining. The Venezuelans received two goals from forward Giancarlo Maldonado, who took advantage of Arias's inability to jump for his first strike. His second goal and his team's fifth came against a stand-in goalie who was out of position.
Chile went into Montevideo looking for crucial road points against Uruguay. They got the job done with a 2-2 tie. Both Chile and Uruguay have earned four points so far in qualifying. Chile managed a tie despite being outshot eleven to four; in fact, Chile actually held a 2-1 late in the second half after being down 1-0 at the break. The game became very heated, though, as both teams picked up four yellow cards apiece.
In the first match of the day, Singapore took its 2-0 aggregate lead to Tajikistan. Tajikistan got off to the best possible start with a goal in the first minute and were looking desperately to tie the aggregate. What they got instead was a tie game at the half. Neither team was able to hit the back of the net and Singapore came out with a 1-1 tie and a 3-1 aggregate victory. Singapore goes on to round three after pulling consecutive upsets.
Argentina started off match day three of South American qualifying with a shutout victory at home to Bolivia, 3-0. Juan Riquelme netted two more scores, including one on a free kick, and pushed his tournament total to four, leading CONMEBOL in scoring. Bolivia did its best to slow Argentina's attack by any means, committing nineteen fouls to Argentina's eight.
In the first FIFA World Cup qualifier ever in Comoros, the home territory was overtaken by Madagascar's attack. With a 6-2 lead in the aggregate coming in, Madagascar were all but guaranteed a slot into the final 48, yet they came out looking to win. A 1-0 lead at the half grew to 4-0 by the end of the match, and now Madagascar will await their fate in Durban.
New Zealand, the favorites to win the OFC Nations Cup, started off their home-and-away qualifier with Vanuatu in the underdog's capital city, Port Vila. New Zealand had a 2-0 in Fiji last month, and today ran their point total in qualifying to six with a 2-1 victory. Vanuatu certainly had to have been pleased with their halftime lead of 1-0, but the New Zealanders answered early in the second half and put away a back-breaking goal in stoppage time to topple Vanuatu.
Djibouti put their name into the pot for the preliminary draw on November 25 by winning their one-off tie versus Somalia. Because Somalia was deemed unsafe for play, FIFA decided to shorten this tie to a single game in Djibouti. In fact, Somalia have not played at home since 1986. With the shutout victory, Djibouti have become team number 46 to qualify for Africa's second stage; only two more spots remain.
The AFC seedings have changed among the top five teams.
In the first of two legs, the final two teams to begin second round play in Asian qualifying played a scoreless draw. Turkmenistan saw four of its players draw yellow cards, but no one for Hong Kong was booked. The return leg will be in Turkmenistan on October 18.
Round two of AFC qualifying started off today with two interesting matches setting up close ties and one potential blowout.
Indonesia will finally make their World Cup debut when they play their home leg on November 9, 2007. The second legs are to take place on November 18, 2007.
After being washed out in Chennai two days prior, the two teams met in Goa to decide their World Cup fates. It looked plausible for India to close the three-goal gap early on as they struck within the first half hour. Unfortunately for them, things were no better by the seventy-first minute. Here, disaster struck as their goalkeeper Subrata Paul took a red card. After his substitute came in, the Lebanese buried a penalty kick and with a subsequent goal buried India. Lebanon advance to round three. All eleven of the highest seeds won their first-round ties.
Jordan avoided the biggest first-round upset that any Asian team would have suffered. The Jordanians pushed one across in the first half at home in Ammān. They struck again in the second half and took the game into extra time. The aggregate remained tied at two after extra time, so the two teams went into extra time to keep their World Cup dreams alive. With the support of the home crowd, Jordan won the shootout 6-5 and move on to Asia's third round of qualifiers.
In the return leg between Bahrain and Malaysia, things got feisty early on. Both teams had a player ejected in the 12th minute. Bahrain lost Abdulrahman and Malaysia lost Zafuan Abd Radzak. Despite this initial wackiness, the games itself was devoid of action, resulting in a scoreless draw and the advancement of Bahrain to round three.
In the first match of fifteen today, Hong Kong put away East Timor for good with a massive stomping at home, 8-1, although the lead was just 2-0 at the half. Hong Kong win the aggregate 11-3 and advance to the second round.
Afghanistan were down three goals coming into the match. Still, a goal early on gave the Afghans hope to come back. Unfotunately for them, the Syrians netted a goal a mere one minute later and then went on to win the contest outright in the second half with a second goal. The final aggregate score was 5-1. Syria need only one of the top eleven seeds to lose in order to gain a bye to the third round.
In the first of the five matches, the North Koreans took a 3-0 halftime lead in Mongolia before coasting to a 4-1 aggregate lead.
In a humongous upset, the Kyrgyz were able to overthrow the Jordanians with a 2-0 victory at home. With a goal scored just before the half, the Kyrgyz continued the charge with a second-half goal that essentially sealed the game. With the all-important shutout, Kyrgyzstan need only a two-goal loss with one goal scored (such as 1-3 or 2-4) to advance into the second round of Asian qualifying. Jordan, at number eleven, are the highest seed so far to suffer a loss in Asian qualifying.
In the first CONMEBOL qualifier of the day, Colombia garnered only one disappointing point from their match in Bolivia. The scoreless draw gives Bolivia their first point and Colombia their second. Bolivia had a much stronger attack going, putting five shots on goal to Colombia's two, but a red card to Leonel Reyes in the 69th minutes shut down the Bolivian offense.
In the day's first matchup, the New Zealanders put the controversy of the last week behind them as they shutout the Fijians in Lautoka, 2-0. They scored once in the first half but almost saw their lead vanish when the tournament's top scorer Vakatalesau hit the crossbar. Smeltz buried two goals in the second half off of headers, but both were disallowed due to offsides violations. He broke through onside with under five minutes to go to complete the tally. Both teams' next games are on November 17th.
In a match that proved their superiority, the Argentines defeated the Venezuelans on the road convincingly. The Argentine defense was in shutout form the entire game, except for the first ten minutes of the second half. Still, they pitched a shutout and could have won by four goals or more had Messi taken it upon himself to shoot the ball more often when he had open looks. Messi's unselfishness cost his team somewhere between one and three goals on the night. Still, it did not matter as the Argentines cemented their place at the top of the South American group table. Both teams resume play on November 17th.
Thailand completed its mauling of Macau on Monday with a 7-1 road victory. They won the first half 3-0 and then coasted to the finish with a 13-2 aggregate victory. Thailand will have to have three of the top eleven Asian seeds lose in order to get a bye to the third round.
Madagascar opened the two-game slate for World Cup qualifying today with a high-scoring win over neighboring Comoros. Down a goal within the first ten minutes, Madagascar fought to a 2-1 lead at the half. They went on to win the second half as well, using their 4-1 second half advantage to push the final score to 6-2. The teams travel to Comoros for the second leg on November 17th.
Venezuela became the first country to win a road match in Quito in over six years with a stunning 1-0 victory over Ecuador. Ecuador had gone undefeated at home in its previous qualifying campaign and had defeated Venezuela 2-0 in each of the last two qualifcation cycles. That all changed with one 45-yard blast off of a free kick by a Venezuelan defender, José Manuel Rey. It was the first time that Venezuela had ever scored a goal in Ecuador during World Cup qualifying, and it was also the first time that Venezuela had not lost its qualifying opener. Ecuador will try again on the 17th. Venezuela plays on the 16th against Argentina.
Uzbekistan smashed Taiwan in the first of their two meetings this month, with a hat-trick scored by Shatskykh within the first 35 minutes. They won in shutout form, 9-0. The return leg will be on October 28th. Taiwan will be hosting the Uzbeks in the second match.
The New Zealand government refused to grant a visa to Fijian goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau. FIFA postponed the October 13 meeting between the two sides, deeming that it would have been unfair to make the two countries play each other when one team was forced to play without a full squad.
Turkmenistan scored the only goal in today's lone World Cup 2010 qualifier. As visitors to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, Turkemistan held tough until the final five minutes of the match when they finally broke the scoreless tie. Turkmenistan will be looking to advance to the second round of Asian qualifying because they are most likely not going to be one of the top eleven seeds to progress. They simply need a tie in their home match against Cambodia to advance. The second leg takes place on October 28.
In the most highly anticipated of the day's matchups, UAE took a victory on the road in Vietnam and, more importantly, now own an advantage in the aggregate score before going home to face Vietnam in Abu Dhabi on October 28. The lone goal came just eleven minutes before time was called.
Here is the final schedule for October and November 2007, according to FIFA.com. All times are local to the host country or site.
Bhutan withdrew from AFC qualifying, making Kuwait the second team to receive a walkover in the first round, along with Indonesia.
New Zealand will begin its World Cup qualifying campaign in October. In an interesting setup, the OFC Nations Cup is made up of three home-and-away ties, the first in October 2007, the next in November 2007, and the last in September 2008. All four teams remaining in Oceania will play each other twice within a period of a week. The numbers are the squads' current ELO rankings.
The withdrawal of two of the ten African teams in the preliminary rounds has caused chaos in the AFC qualification system. São Tomé e Príncipe and the Central African Republic exit the tournament, giving two teams a newfound pass into the second phase. These teams are not the teams that were drawn against São Tomé e Príncipe and the Central African Republic, but rather the two highest seeded African teams in the first phase. Swaziland and Seychelles advance. The new match dates and ties are below.
In Group B action, the Solomon Islands clinched the group with a solid 3-0 win over Samoa, putting the hosts down a goal immediately after stealing the opening kickoff.
The Solomon Islands took the lead in Group B with a hard-fought victory over Vanuatu, putting themselves in a position to likely face New Caledonia in the next round. Vanuatu will most likely have to meet Group A giants Fiji in the other semifinal. Still, with Samoa and Tonga yet to be eliminated, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are not yet in the clear.
In the two early games on day four of the South Pacific Games, Tonga and the Cook Islands avoided mathematical elimination with wins over last-place teams.
1. Cameroon
