it'll decide if sk will be grouped with iran or saudi arabia. so the draw is quite important. i wouldnt want sk to be grouped with all middle eastern countries, as that will be tiresome to travel back and forth.
Well if the they can't be in a group with Japan, then they are bound to be doing a lot of travelling. That is unless you think that a trip to Central Asia (Uzbekistan) is a great improvement. Isn't Iran considered part of the Middle East?
True, a trip to central Asia is tiresome from the Middle East as well. Iran is a part from the Middle East, however, travelling to Uzbekistan is much easier from there I think.
will also decide between north korea and kuwait as well. they're halfway across the globe from each other.
theres no way asia will get 5 spots for the world cup. no way that asia's5th will beat concacaf's 4th. And Guatemala is not crappy. although Panama, and T&T is crappy.watch as u asians will lose to concacaf.
And you obviously don't know the level of CONCACAF soccer. Which is why this particular match will be *very* interesting. All of us here on the boards will use it to settle once and for all which confederation is better.
But South American stars play in Europe. hehe I agree that South America is most advanced.. Brazil has won 5 which is traditionally the best of the best.
5 spots? Just give Asia 10 berths. There will be 64 national teams to participate in WC, and EU has 28, Asia has 10, South America has 10 (no preliminary is need) Africa 12, and 4 for Oceania. All they have to do fight for is get another stage'final 32" after passing group stage in WC. Although it sounds ridiculous, it's not a bad idea either
If you assume that the two groups finish true to their standings, the #5 would be either Uzbekistan or Bahrain. According to the FIFA site, these teams have only met twice, with Uzbekistan coming out on top both times, once on PKs (in this year's Asian Nations Cup), and the other time a 2-0 win in a friendly in Uzbekistan. So, the most likely #5 is Uzbekistan. In the previous round, there was only one real 'surprise', with Kuwait making it in over China. From the looks of comments on this thread, it could actually be any of Uzbekistan, Bahrain, NK or Kuwait finishing as the #5 (though from my largely uninformed perspective, I can't believe NK would be the one). If there is to be a 'surprise', I think it'll come in KSA ending up in the #5 spot playoff. I still firmly believe that Guatemala is better than any of those teams. Besides giving us a view of how our confederations compare, it'll also give us another point of reference in the "FIFA rankings are crap" discussion. All of the Asian teams except NK are ranked above Guatemala, so FIFA agrees with all the folks claiming that the Asian team will win the #5Asia/#4CONCACAF playoff.
Rankings are really iffy. I have serious reservations about any ranking system. However, I have long thought that the ELO system gives a more accurate ranking of teams. World rank according to ELO: 53 Saudi Arabia (1610) 56 Uzbekistan (1604) 59 Guatemala (1580) 62 Bahrain (1571) 76 Kuwait (1506) 87 North Korea (1474) Considering that a big victory in major tournament can earn a team 30 points or so, there isn't much of a difference between most of these teams. For example, Guatemala dropped 30 points by losing a meaningless qualifier to Canada at home. I, too, believe that Guatemala will beat the majority of these teams. But a win or a loss for either side won't prove any thing. Take a look at matches between the two confederations over time to get a good idea of which confed is stronger-- for example, the World Cup. The answer is pretty clear.
Does anyone touting either Bahrain or Uzbekistan as likely to beat Guatemala/Panama/T&T want to venture any explanation as to why they're a quality team? For example, does either side have a player in a top-flight league or a dangerous one in one of the major Asian leagues? Does either team have promising youth prospects? Has either team notched any impressive wins recently? Does either team possess an intimidating home-field advantage? I ask the question only because the current discussion seems nothing more than boastfulness, continental chauvinism, and comparison of largely meaningless rankings. If the AFC boosters have any real reasons for touting their confed's likely playoff teams, I'd like to hear them.
Uzbekistan has more than a few top players in Europe and Russia. I think Uzbekistan has what it takes to beat Guatemala, Panama, T&T and even Costa Rica.
im just really looking forward to the concacaf/asia playoff game.theres no way that Panama can win against asia's 5th.but for trinidad and tobago might have what it takes to beat them.Guatemala and Costa Rica will battle hard for the 3rd spot.i hope Guatemala comes in 3rd if not then they jsut beat asias 5th and make it to the world cup.
I'm also looking forward to it. Hopefully, they'll show the games on the Spanish channels. Finally, I'll get to see an Asian team play.
With any luck you'll get to see South Korea play the US on January 22, 2004. Maybe they'll play Mexico the same week?
Names? Teams? Do either Uzbekistan or Bahrain have anything like the prolific natural goalscorer Ruiz or Guatemala's intimidating home-field advantage?
Yes they do! Ilyas Zeytulayev of Juventus Maxim Shatskikh of Dynamo Kyiv Aleksandr Geinriks of CSKA Moskva And...
The most exciting thing about the second round for the Asian WC2006 Qualifiers is that anything can happen. Every single team has a chance.
I guess that Juventus guy plays with the first team as often as the Halley comet visits our solar system