Almost is nothing in sport. Costa Rica played much better over 90 minutes in Montevideo than they ever did in San José, and they had Uruguay reeling toward the end, suffering as they always do, but at the final whistle it was the South Americans progressing on to South Africa and the Central Americans returning home without an official match for another 16 months. Click to continue reading...

Qualification is officially over. Playoffs won, tears shed, hearts broken and dreams renewed, it's all over. After Uruguay withstood the Costa Rican pressure late in the evening, the final 32 teams were written into stone though not without a fair bit of controversy.

The following are those 32 teams who will take part in South Africa 2010.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC-pF3OHY1c

Following the controversial decision to allow France's goal to stand as Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball prior to assisting William Gallas, it is only normal to have increased complaints and ever growing displeasure at the level of refereeing.

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The games didn't really have everything, did they? The results did some upsets, some heroics, a few of the expected teams going in but outside of the one game which forced a playoff (Egypt 2 Algeria 0), some of these games were completely zapped of the necessary drama.

(Not, of course, that one played in the Stade de France.

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Africa
Arguably the headline match of the day was the special play-off match between Algeria and Egypt to decide the final World Cup qualifier from Africa.
Both teams had finished with identical records in Group 3 of the final qualifying round which led to this hastily-arranged one-off match in Sudan to decide the winner. Click to continue reading...

The qualification for the World Cup is over, and the 32 countries that will be at the World Cup in South Africa are ready.South America:Brazil: the five-time world champions have participated in all previous 18 World Cups.Paraguay: One of the strongest and most stable South American sides are participating in their seventh world cup, and fourth in a row. Click to continue reading...

Irish Heartbreak - 1-0 loss to France in WC Qualifier

The following are those 32 teams who will take part in South Africa 2010. And perhaps what's a bit special is the 32 include every single World Cup winner in history, with Uruguayan defeating Costa Rica to advance.

And I assume you've heard about the controversy regarding the Ireland vs France game?

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Irish Heartbreak - 1-0 loss to France in WC Qualifier

The following are those 32 teams who will take part in South Africa 2010. And perhaps what's a bit special is the 32 include every single World Cup winner in history, with Uruguayan defeating Costa Rica to advance.

And I assume you've heard about the controversy regarding the Ireland vs France game?

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The World Cup winners in 1930 and 1950 became the last team to qualify for South Africa 2010 thanks to a draw with Costa Rica at the Centenario in Montevideo. Substitute Sebastian Abreu - who plays for Aris Salonika in Greece -Â put the hosts ahead 70 minutes but Costa Rica equalised when Deportivo Saprissa's Walter Centeno scored four minutes later.

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In my piece yesterday, I discussed all of the reasons that Ireland's potential qualification was better for World Football than France's would be. I detailed my reasoning without any mention that a group of hard working custodians of the game should not be denied by a group of talented but unsporting cheats.

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Thierry Henry does not have many fans in the Republic of Ireland tonight. The best footballer in the world, according to the Castrol Rankings, used his hand to put France through to the World Cup Finals next Summer. While the Boys in Green are red with fury and probably wouldn't object to a Hammurabi-like justice exacted on the former Arsenal ace, it should be kept in mind why France was playing Ireland at all.

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Raul Meireles scored to give Portugal a win and earn them a spot at South Africa 2010.

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A Thierry Henry handball cost Ireland a chance of a glorious win in Paris and France sneak into South Africa 2010.

0-1 Keane

1-1 Gallas

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A solitary goal from Dimitris Salpigidis was enough to see Greece through to South Africa 2010.

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World Cup qualifiers for South Africa 2010 started on 25 August 2007. Now, 847 days later, we're at the final day. By kickoff time in Montevideo, 31 national teams would have secured their places in the finals next summer. There is still room for one more, and it will be decided between Costa Rica and Uruguay. Click to continue reading...

Otra vez...SUERTE! - The HexagonalBlog Click to continue reading...

The following list of elite midfield players in the world will exclude the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka since they sometimes play as forwards or as support strikers depending on the strategy deployed by their team. Kaka has previously played as a second striker during his spell with Milan while both Messi and Ronaldo have played in various attacking positions for their club (mostly on the wing though).

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With less than 20 hours before kickoff in Montevideo, Costa Rica and Uruguay are just about out of time to make modifications ahead of the decisive second leg. René Simões will be back on the touchline after his suspension in the first leg on Saturday and is looking for "fresh legs" for tomorrow's match. Click to continue reading...

It would seem this vuvuzela thing is, at the very least, unpopular. As a direct result of its popularity, of course. Xabi Alonso left the Confederations Cup poo-pooing the vuvuzela and its effect on the field of play. The cacophony a bit too intense for such things as hearing the whistles and one's teammates not things entirely insignificant.

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According to Spanish daily MARCA, the bowls for the World Cup final draw have already been arranged. Now, the arrangements are pending approval by the FIFA Executive Committee, and MARCA tends to be wrong quite a bit, so take this with some grains of salt. Given all that, the composition of the bowls is the following: Seeds (Bowl 1): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England, France (if they beat Ireland) Bowl 2: the remaining UEFA teams Bowl 3: the CAF/CONMEBOL teams Bowl 4: the AFC/CONCACAF teams (Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Honduras) The. Click to continue reading...

A number of players can stake a claim for being part of the best team in the world at this early period of the European domestic leagues. However, very few players standout the way those listed below have in terms of their contribution to their team, their role as leaders, and certainly their crucial involvement in their respective clubs.

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The days of the great broad expressway to South Africa 2010 are decisively past: the struggle now has moved onto a narrow mountain pass. Every victory won today was as thin as it may be decisive. And it wasn't merely Europe – many held their breath across the world today. Few have cause to exhale yet.

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Big Story

While FIFA's decision to seed the European group playoff match-ups—basically a mulligan for underachieving powerhouses Portugal, France and Russia—worked according to plan, along came Egypt to remind us all why football is a sport like no other.

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New Zealand and Nigeria qualified for the World Cup yesterday, but other countries also either made sure they are going to be in South Africa, or took steps to it.In Africa Cameroon finally qualified with a 2-0 away victory over Morocco, and are now the African nation that has participated in most World Cups. Click to continue reading...

Cameroon made it through to the South Africa 2010 thanks to goals from Mallorca striker Pierre Webo and Inter Milan goal machine Samuel Eto'o.

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0-1 Webo

0-2 Eto'o

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After 0-0 in Bahrain, New Zealand had all the advantages to progress to their second World Cup ever. 35,000 spectators in Wellington were an all-time record for a football match in New Zealand, and they were not disappointed as New Zealand managed to pull a narrow 1-0 victory on a goal by the Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon. Click to continue reading...

Nigeria have just qualified for the World Cup after two dramatic matches in Nairobi and Maputo.In Nairobi, Kenya was playing Nigeria. Nigeria was forced to win, and at the same time hope that Mozambique take points from Tunisia in Maputo. The Nigerians, who had never lost to Kenya before, were 1-0 down at half-time, while the score in Maputo was 0-0. Click to continue reading...

This really isn't a CONCACAF-specific post, but congratulations to New Zealand on qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa this morning. And an even bigger congratulations to fellow Stanford alumni Ryan Nelsen and Simon Elliott who were key players of the All Whites' qualifying campaign. Click to continue reading...

New Zealand is headed to the World Cup.

After a scoreless first leg, New Zealand booked its passage to South Africa 2010 by defeating Bahrain 1-0 on Saturday in front of their home crowd at Westpac Stadium. It took a 45th minute goal from Rory Fallon and a penalty save from Mark Paston to give New Zealand the victory on aggregate, and a place in next year's World Cup.

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New Zealand is headed to the World Cup.

After a scoreless first leg, New Zealand booked its passage to South Africa 2010 by defeating Bahrain 1-0 on Saturday in front of their home crowd at Westpac Stadium. It took a 45th minute goal from Rory Fallon and a penalty save from Mark Paston to give New Zealand the victory on aggregate, and a place in next year's World Cup.

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A solitary header from Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon sealed qualification to South Africa 2010 against Bahrain in this World Cup play-off second leg.

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VS.
The drama of World Cup qualifying reaches its apex in the next 7 days as the final spots for South Africa 2010 will be set. Nations will be paralyzed as their teams fight for footballing glory. The CONCACAF vs. CONMEBOL playoff features Los Ticos of Costa Rica vs. Click to continue reading...

VS.

The drama of World Cup qualifying reaches its apex in the next 7 days as the final spots for South Africa 2010 will be set. Nations will be paralyzed as their teams fight for footballing glory. The CONCACAF vs. CONMEBOL playoff features Los Ticos of Costa Rica vs.

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Uruguay's national team is now in Costa Rica, and they've had their one (and only) training session on the artificial surface at Saprissa. (I had thought that FIFA regulations required at least two training sessions on artificial turf, but I could be wrong.) Óscar Washington Tabárez, Uruguay's coach, almost certainly has his starting XI ready, with the only doubt being Walter Gargano. Click to continue reading...

The last entries for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be decided this week, and there are some very interesting encounters.In Europe, FIFA changed the rules on seeding teams shortly before the play-off draw, giving the "big" teams a better chance at qualifying. The power of money and politics, but hopefully the underdogs can manage some upset in some of the following European play-off Click to continue reading...