2010 World Cup AFC Qualifiers final round drawn

Finally we know the final groups of the Asian zone of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers. Two best teams from each group will advance to the World Cup finals in South Africa, the third teams will play each other in a continental play-off and the winner of this meeting will play an intercontinental play-off with the winner of the OFC zone qualifiers.

Group A:
Australia
Japan
Bahrain
Uzbekistan
Qatar

Group B:
South Korea
Iran
Saudi Arabia
North Korea
United Arab Emirates

Source: the-afc.com

2010 World Cup Qualifiers

As I wrote yesterday, New Caledonia had a chance to end Vanuatuan and Fijian hopes of World Cup qualification today when at 5:00 CET they were facing Vanuatu in Noumea. As predicted, New Caledonia won 3:0 and thus became the only team who can obstruct New Zealand's way to the final playoff with the fifth team from the AFC zone. Congratulations for Didier Chambaron's team for achieving that.

Meanwhile, other zones are also playing. Yesterday Canada defeated St. Vincent & The Grenadines 4:1 and Algeria won by single goal with Gambia. In the last African match Libya trashed Lesotho 4:0. Next matches are due to be played today and tomorrow. I will keep you informed.

Source: fifa.com/wikipedia.org

OFC prepare for decisive battle

Tomorrow at 5:00 CET in Noumea the home side of New Caledonia will have a chance to deny Vanuatuan and Fijian dreams of World Cup qualification when they meet the Robert Calvo's side. If New Caledonia defeats Vanuatu, they will remain the only team who can still jump ahead of group leaders - New Zealand - and win the OFC World Cup qualifiers. However, the winner will still have to play a playoff with the fifth team from the AFC World Cup qualifiers in order to advance to the final tournament. The winner will also be honored as 2008 OFC Nations Cup winner and will represent Oceania in 2009 Confederations Cup.

OFC World Cup qualifiers/2008 OFC Nations Cup table (after 3 matches played):

1. New Zealand 9
2. New Caledonia 5
3. Vanuatu 1
4. Fiji 1

Thanks to the great form of Fijian team in the pre-qualifiers, Osea Vakatalesau (Fiji / YoungHeart Manawatu [NZL]) remains the top scorer with 12 goals.

Source: wikipedia.org