So according to criterion 2... Egypt 16 Cameroon 15 Ghana 14 Ivory Coast 13 Tunisia 12 Angola 11 Nigeria 10 Guinea 9 Zambia 8 Mali 7 Morocco 6 Senegal 5 South Africa 4 Namibia 3 Benin 2 Sudan 1 As of now, criterion 3 Ghana 20 Cameroon 19 Ivory Coast 18 Egypt 17 Senegal 16 Mali 15 Nigeria 14 Guinea 13 Morocco 12 Tunisia 11 Angola 10 Eq. Guinea 9 Zambia 8 South Africa 7 Togo 6 Congo DR 5 Algeria 4 Congo 3 Mozambique 2 Libya 1 Sub Totals Ghana 34 Cameroon 34 Egypt 33 Ivory Coast 31 Nigeria 24 Tunisia 23 Mali 22 Guinea 22 Senegal 21 Angola 21 Morocco 18 Zambia 16 S Africa 11 E Guinea 9 Togo 6 Congo DR 5 Algeria 4 Namibia 3 Congo 3 Mozambique 2 Benin 2 Sudan 1 Libya 1 In terms of criterion 1 the really interesting groups are going to be Group 4 (Nigeria South Africa, Eq. Guinea) Group 10 (Mali Congo Sudan) It seems pretty safe to assume that once the 4 ANC semi finalists qualify that they'll be top seeds. The fifth top seed spot is somewhat up in the air and may come down to just how many points Nigeria drop to South Africa. Assuming Nigeria qualify and do end up as a second seed, whatever group they're drawn in will probably be the group of death.
Assuming no other teams drop out, there will be 11 groups of 4 teams. Since I think it is irrelevant whether Team X is the best or eighth best second place team of the 12 groups, the problem can be simplified to comparing two teams that played an unequal number of games rather than comparing all 12 second place teams at once. The top seven second place teams from the groups of 4 will advance, the eighth best second place would need to be compared to the second place team from the group of three, and the bottom three second place teams would not advance. Considering that the second place team from the group of three will be playing two games less than they expected unless something like this happens, I would have the eighth best second place team from a group of 4 and the second place team from the group of 3 playing either a two leg series or one game at a neutral site to see which one of them advances if the matchdays were available for this to happen. Are you the same Michele who posted on Planet World Cup when they had a message board?
The president of the Eritrea National Football Federation, Tesfaye Gebreyesus, has confirmed his country's withdrawal from the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Gebreyesus told BBC Sport that internal problems within the federation meant that Eritrea would not be able to take part in the qualifying campaign. Eritrea were due to play in Group 11 of the joint 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, alongside Swaziland, Togo and Zambia. Earlier this moth, Eritrea's club champions Al Tahrir pulled out of their African Champions League second round tie against Al Ahly of Egypt. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/7316753.stm
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP)—World soccer’s governing body suspended Chad from international competition Friday because of government interference. FIFA said it was reacting to the Chad sports minister’s decision to dissolve the executive committee of the Chadian soccer federation, a move that FIFA officials claim undermines the guarantee of independence of FIFA’s member associations. FIFA officials said the suspension began immediately. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-fifa-chadsuspended&prov=ap&type=lgns
Several African countries are also expected to forfeit the right to host World Cup qualifiers because of the poor condition of their stadiums. Africa’s qualifying campaign starts in June. http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-africadrcongo&prov=reuters&type=lgns Lesotho already decided to play matches in South Africa.
Update about the African stadiums that FIFA has not approved yet : Guinea DR Congo Sierra Leone Gambia Could be more... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/7337384.stm Lesotho will play all home matches in South Africa Matches that are confirmed played in home stadium : 31 May Malawi - Djibouti 31 May Botswana - Madagascar 1 June Liberia - Gambia 1 June Cote d`Ivoire - Mozambique 1 June Ghana - Libya 1 June Tunisia - Burkina Faso 7 June Cape Verde Island - Tanzania 7 June Seychelles - Tunisia 7 June Libya - Gabon 8 June Mozambique - Botswana
I was in Gambia not long ago and im supprised to here this as there stadium seemed pritty decent. I dont know what the requirments are so suppose i cant say...
Madagascar will probably withdraw from World Cup qualifiers . http://www.mtnfootball.com/live/content.php?Item_ID=14447
What makes these countries think they can get away with this? Even Spain couldn't hint at interfering with the federation without FIFA coming down hard...
Lesotho , Cote d`Ivoire and Namibia have now scheduled matches at home according to fifa.com. This should mean that fifa has accepted these stadiums ? http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/africa/matches/index.html
I think FIFA is ridiculous. What do they expect? Pitches like at WC 2006 in Germany? This is third world and they should be allowed to play on third world pitches.
This is consistent with the theory proposed in the La Paz stadium ban thread that the big European club are worried about the health of their "investment" and some how influence FIFA to ban stadiums.
This is 2008, countries need to step up. If they're not forced to raise the bar, they never will. I agree with FIFA here...eek
http://fifa.com/aboutfifa/federatio...l#suspension+chad+football+association+lifted says Chad is no longer suspended.
I don't know. There are times were it would be very good for the government to come down on a federation, and for FIFA to step the hell away.
LOL... Preaching to the choir there, my friend! I didn't say I agreed with the state of things, just that FIFA doesn't abide meddling in their golden cash cow...
Madagascar suspension lifted . http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/r...ension+madagascan+football+association+lifted Just 4 countries have not scheduled home matches : Sierra Leone Chad Congo Madagascar http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/africa/matches/index.html Togo was fined and has to play first home match in Ghana.