Following a night of drama across the globe last night, Jason Crame looks at how things are shaping up for next summer’s big event …
Once again the World Cup Finals are on the horizon and it’s been a hard fought campaign across the world for teams trying to secure their ticket to Rio.
It will always be easier for some to qualify than others. There are those that just make up the numbers and those that are expected to make it to the finals. Expectation is growing with the tournament kicking off on 12 June 2014 with the final taking place on 13 July 2014. And with that, the list of countries that will take part is taking shape.
While the European qualfiers came to a near conclusion last night, several teams had already booked their hotel and flights. There are 32 places available in total with one taken up by the hosts. Here is the full run down of how things stand at the moment;
Hosts – Brazil
Europe – thirteen teams of which Belgium, Bosnia, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland take up nine places with the remaining four to be decided through the play offs next month. Taking part in the play offs are Croatia, France, Greece, Iceland, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine and Sweden.
Africa – five teams from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia who are taking part in play offs.
South America – four teams which are Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile.
Asia – four teams which are Australia, Iran, Japan and South Korea.
North/Central America/Caribbean – three teams which are Costa Rica, Honduras and United States.
Inter-confederation play offs – two teams from Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand and Uruguay.
So, eleven places remain and the fight to go to Brazil continues with play offs taking place place across the world.
From an English perspective, I’m a fan that remembers the disatrous qualifying campaign that failed to see us make USA 94. It just is not the same following the Word Cup Finals without your country being there and we were not going to miss out again, particularly the party in Brazil next summer.
A nervy 2-0 win at Wembley against Poland saw us through but it was only made secure by captain Gerrard in the dying minutes. England breathed a sigh of relief amongst the ‘visting’ Polish fans that made the atmosphere something to remember. They really do know the meaning of ‘No Pyro, No Party’.
This is what some of our followers on Twitter had to say after the game –
“Great game end to end stuff better team won” – @AdAmCpFc91
“Hart stopping in every way!!” – @SiBoy74
“The first time I have managed to watch 90 minutes of a qualifier on TV without falling asleep, since 1997. If we play like that in Rio and end up getting stuffed, I’d be far happier than defending for our lives, and losing on pens.” – @pnm1979
A very special mention to Bosnia who make their first ever finals which is a fantastic achievement. But while they have secured their place there are several big names that have failed. The likes of South Africa, Czech Republic and Denmark will not be there along with those that will not get through the play off process.
From a Palace perspective it has been pretty minimal but we can always rely on captain Jedinak who has booked his seat to Brazil with Australia. The only other that has a chance to qualify is Pep Guedioura’s Algeria who lost their first leg play of game against Burkina Faso 3-2 with the second leg to come.
You can find out everything you need to know on the official website – http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/
