South Africa 2010: Six Teams Qualified Already (07.09.2009)
Fred VUBEM
Brazil, Australia, Japan, Netherlands North and South Korea have already picked up their tickets for the final round of the World Cup.
While the battle for qualification is still raging on in earnest, six teams have already picked up the coveted tickets to the most prestigious world football jamboree. Brazil is the latest country to join the list of the countries qualified for the first world cup on African soil thanks to their 3-1 victory over their fellow South American rivals, Argentina. However Argentina still stands the chance of making it to the world cup given that four teams qualify from the South American zone and the 5th is expected to play an away and return playoff with the 4th teams from the North, Central and Caribbean zone. In Asia, four teams have already assured the participation in South Africa 2010. Australia and Japan qualified in group I while the two Koreas qualified in group II. The will be a play off between the two third placed teams from
the two groups, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and the winner will face the Oceania zone winner, New Zealand for a ticket to the World Cup. The Netherlands are the only country to have qualified for South Africa 2010 from Europe from group 9. Italy, Serbia, England, Spain, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland and Denmark are on the path of success as they lead their respective groups. France looks to be heading for play offs as they failed to consolidate their chances of direct qualification by playing a one-all draw against Romania. No team has yet qualified from Africa but countries like Cote d’Ivoire are just one step away from their second consecutive world cup participation after trouncing Burkina Faso 5-0 over the weekend. Cameroon also rekindled hopes of qualification after a stunning 2-0 victory over the Panthers of Gabon in Libreville. However, favorites to clinch a place in the final round of the world Cup remain countries like Gabon, Tunisia, Algerian and Ghana as they are leading in their respective groups.
