Who will be first-timers and returns in 2014?

Hi, I'd try guessing who will qualify to 2014 wc for the first time and who will return...

Europe
First-timers:
Bosnia
Returns:
Sweden, Norway, Romania, Russia

N&C America
First-timers:
Guatemala, Panama
Returns:
El Salvador, Jamaica (and will Honduras get a second straight berth?)

South America
First-timers:
Venezuela
Returns:
Colombia, Peru, Bolivia

Africa
First-timers:
Mali, Guinea, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Gabon
Returns:
Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt (It's incredible that they won three straight African Cups but thay haven't qualified to WC since 1990)

Asia
First-timers:
Uzbekistan, Jordan
Returns:
Saudi Arabia (If they qualify, they'll lose one of three group matches at least 4-0), Iraq

Oceania:
Well It's unlikely, but Fiji beat NZ in a 2010 WCQ so whoever knows?

I'm eager to know if you like my predictions...

You don't think either Mexico or the U.S. will qualify in North America?

CONCACAF only gets 4 spots and that's if they win the playoff with Oceania, so all of Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador and Jamaica can't make the World Cup unless Mexico or the U.S. fail to qualify. And the U.S. wouldn't even make the final qualifying round because Guatemala and Jamaica are both in their semifinal round group, and only the top two qualify for the final.

Only 5 teams qualify in Africa. You have 8 listed.

No Croatia there? Hm. I would not bet on that.

i could be wrong but i think he's just pointing out the possibilities related to his thread topic. as in, panama is a good chance for a first time, or jamaica is a good shot to return after not being there in 2010. perennials like USA and mexico are by default non-topic.

Don't take offence, but you should take some text comprehension classes.

I think the issue is more your need for English classes (please don't take offense either - but your original post certainly isn't clear on your intent).

why isn't my post clear? It's blatant I didn't consider USA and Mexico in my prediction beacuse they qualify to every WC....and so on for the other confederations...Cloak understood what I meant to....

It is possible to guess what you meant - but you didn't actually write it in your post. You didn't make any predictions in there, for example, despite using that word. What you meant was "most likely teams to either return or qualify for the first time" (I suppose), but what you actually wrote indicates you predict that all those teams will qualify for the next WC.

Which is no big deal - the only reason I brought this up is that's quite unneccesary to blame the reader for mistaking what you wrote if your text wasn't all that clear.

Ok, probably I didn't underline the prediction pattern of this thread but I'd be a moron if I thought that lots of powerhoues wouldn't get a ticket to Brazil....I'm actually very interested in international football.

Returning on topic, do you agree with my "not clear predictions"?

i hope you're right about Guatemala making it to the world cup. i wanna see it before i die!

I don't see Bolivia making it.

UEFA
Newbies:NONE
Returns: Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Russia

CONCACAF
Newbies:NONE
Returns:Jamaica

CONMEBOL
Newbies: Venezuela
Returns: Colombia

CAF
Newbies: NONE
Returns: Tunisia, Egypt
I'm not sure how you had Egypt and Guinea both qualifying when they are in the same group...same goes for Gabon and Burkina Faso. Only one can make it to the next round

AFC
Newbies: NONE
Returns: Iran

Oceania:
None - will lose in playoff

I didn't mean to state Guinea and Egypt will both qualify...the same goes for Gabon and Bukina Faso...my intention was only to predict some surprise packages...regardless of qualifying round schedule...if Egypt will qualify Guinea won't and so on....

Good idea for a thread.

I'll go with

Asia: Iran (return)

CONMEBOL: Ecuador and Colombia (return)

CONCACAF: Costa Rica (return)

CAF: Egypt, Cameroon, Senegal (return) [ but difficult since we don't know the complete draw yet.]

UEFA: Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark (return)

AFC
Newbies: Jordan
Returns: None
Jordan seems to be a power on the rise in AFC, I like Iran's chances of a return, but I don't think AFC will win the playoff.

CAF
Newbies: Gabon
Returns: Tunisia maybe
Some of the groups look really hard to predict(H, J) and it doesn't help that the two best 2nd seeds Zambia and Morocco drew the two best teams in Africa in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

CONCACAF
Newbies: None
Returns: Costa Rica
Panama is a team on the rise, but I don't see them overcoming Honduras.

OFC
Newbies: None
Returns: None
Although New Caledonia and Fiji have significantly closed the gap on New Zealand.

CONMEBOL
Newbies: Venezuela
Returns: Ecuador

UEFA
Newbies: None
Returns: Croatia, Sweden, Russia.
The France-Spain pairing is nice, but this draw didn't really produce that many compelling groups. Groups E or H will be the one that sees the second place team eliminated outright.

Came here to say this.

I have to go with Group A as far as the one that sees its 2nd place team eliminated. Too much parity among Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland, Macedonia and Wales. There are no freebies (San Marino, Malta, Andorra, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, etc.) in this group

Denmark was in WC2010. The got thrashed by Japan and went 3 and out.

I second this.

Europe:
Croatia
Italy
Germany
Holland
Switzerland
Russia
Bosnia
England
Spain
France
Portugal
Sweden
Belguim

Asia:
Australia
South Korea
Japan
Iran

Asia:
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Nigeria
Tunisia
Mali

North America:
United States
Mexico
Costa Rica
Canada

Oceana:
None

South America:
Brazil
Uruguay
Argentina
Paraguay
Venezuela
Colombia

I have to say I see El Salvador taking the fourth or third spot in the hexagonal round for the first time since 1982, back when they had one of the greatest players of all time, "El Magico" Gonzalez, a player who had a game almost identical to the game of Messi.
http://youtu.be/OMemVOhSLRw

Zambia and Mali reached the CAN semi-finals...they are good enough to qualify to 2014 WC.

Yes, but Zambia have Ghana in their World Cup group. I doubt Zambia can come out on top over two legs (both teams should easily dispatch of Sudan and Lesotho).

Mali on the other hand has a winnable group with Algeria, Benin and Rwanda.

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Looking at the groups the final 10 vying for 5 World Cup spots should be South Africa, Tunisia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Gabon, Nigeria, Egypt, Mali, Cameroon, Senegal.

From that group it all depends on the draw. What if Ghana have to battle Cote d'Ivoire for the WC finals?

well, Egypt won it three times in a row and they haven't been good enough to qualify for recent tournaments.