who are your darkhorses for WC2006 qualification

Tough to tell as of right now, but I'll give it a shot:

Czech Rep.
Wales
Guatemala
Ghana
Bahrain
New Zealand

The Czech Rep. probably has the best chance of these teams to surprise, but any one of them has a good chance to surprise everyone and qualify.

 

Bolivia.

Their experimented defensive line still has one more world cup in them.

They have a new generation of attacking players that might be mature enough for the next world cup.

The midfield is not as great as they used to be but Bolivia always has good midfielders.

This will all depend on whether the offense will be mature enough and whether Valladolid's Alvaro Peña can do another class turn in the defense.

 

My money is on Wales all those players playing in the Premier League and Division 1 has to count for something. Look what its done for Ireland. Wales can match Ireland's success I think.

 

Ukraine
Wales
Venezuela
Trinidad & Tobago
Ivory Coast
Canada

 

Venezuala? They're definitely improving by leaps and bounds, but they're no where near qualifying.

Isreal. No. They'd absoluetly kick a$$ in Asia but in Europe it's just out of reach for them, especially not playing their home games on their home grounds.



I think Honduras won't choke like they did last time. They'll be force to be reckoned with next time. I think Iran might slip in next time too.

 

Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Egypt
Honduras
Iran
Norway
Wales

 

Holland

 

Wales
Canada
Mali

 

Switzerland. Watch out for the Swiss. Their U-17 team won the UEFA title last year. They are first in their qualifying group for Euro 2004. Their regulars on the national team are young. Plus they will want to make a good showing because they are co-hosting Euro 2008.

 

First,it's Venezuela not Venezuala!

The team has improved a lot under their new coach Richard Paez who took over with only 5 matches remaining for their World Cup campaign and God knows that they were eliminated way before that.They won 4 out of their last 5 World Cup qualifiers by defeating Uruguay 2-0,Peru 3-0,and Paraguay 3-1 at home.They were also able to defeat Chile 2-0 in Santiago.

Last year,they earned a draw against Colombia,defeated Bolivia,Ecuador and Uruguay.All home matches.

Their youth team is not bad either(Sub-20)!They recently defeated Argentina 1-0 in Uruguay...

Venezuela no longer wants to be the laughing stock of South American futbol!

 

Vietnam

 

I expect Iran to qualify out of Asia. They were just unlucky for 2002.

 

Liberia
Uzbekistan
New Zealand
Austria

 

Not as unlucky in 2002 as they were lucky in 1998.

 

Jim Mora: ISREAL!!! uh ISREAL!!!

In asia yea theyd have a strong chance of qulafying espically with the additional spots but in Europe it be like Dartmouth trying to beat Miami. That said i think Iran has a strong chance to qualify

 

Venezuela- they will be the Ecuador of the south american qualifier this time.
Honduras- they are getting old but the talent will still be there.
Martinique- they probably wont make the cup but in the qualifier they are going to give many teams trouble.

 

Isreal would have a strong chance of being dead if they played in Asia. I would guess that's why they play in Europe.

 

Martinique is ineligible to compete in the World Cup.

 

Martinique is ineligible to compete in the World Cup.

why????????????????????????????

 

It's considered part of metropolitan France.

 

Iran
Canada
Wales
Switzerland

 

Also expect Trinidad & Tobago to give a tough time to their CONCACAF rivals!