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3 weeks of qualifiers before official qualifying draw in Germany
By the time the official road to Germany 2006 is drawn for each confederation 27 nations campaigns will have already fallen by the wayside. Over the next three weeks these countries will be decided in Asian and African qualifiers while two rounds of South American qualifiers are thrown in for good measure.
We start in Africa where nineteen nations will book their place in the quaification draw on December 5 over three days of qualification matches.
November 14 sees three clashes. Zimbabwe looks certain to build on their 3-0 lead going into their second match against Mauritania. Meanwhile Guinea-Bissau will have a tough battle in turning a 1-2 deficit around away at Mali. Finally Algeria host Niger with a 1-0 advantage. Niger will still have the belief they can progress and Algeria will need to make certain of their lead to move into the next phase.
Six crucial clashes will be played on November 15 with the battle between Sierra Leone and Congo. both countries are rich with talent and a 1-0 win for Congo, a late goal coming from Gerard Lebaly, will see Sierra Leone with everything to play for. Burundi will go into the clash at Gabon with high hopes after escaping with a 0-0 draw at home. Gabon virtually has to win to progress giving the visiting nation a slight advantage. Tanzania too will have this advantage as they visit Kenya Rwanda look to be certain to progress with a 3-0 lead before heading to Namibia. Ethiopia will need a three goal win to counter the three goals Malawi put past them in their 3-1 first leg result. A difficult task for the visiting side. Finally Zambia hosts Seychelles in what is almost a dead rubber. Zambia goes into the match 4-0 ahead.
The remaining ten deciding matches sees Togo needing a win to get past Equitorial Guinea. Angola has an almost impossible task against Chad but will take heart from the goal scored in their 1-3 loss. Sao Tome e Principe and Libya will start on the same page after a 0-0 result in Libya. Benin has the away goal advantage after a 1-1 draw with Madagascar last month. Guinea goes into their away match at Mozambique a goal to the good while Lesotho can almost kiss their hopes good bye, trailing 4-1 to Botswana after the first leg. Eritrea and Mauritius also have a difficult tasks, both trailing Sudan and Uganda respectively by three. Cape Verde Islands and Swaziland is a more even affair however, 1-1 after the match in Swaziland. Finally Liberia hosts Gambia with two goals to make up from the first leg.
Their is one pairing that has yet to play either leg in Africa. Somalia's home game has been moved to Ghana due to security concerns and these two nations will now play both matches here within a three day period. Ghana are no overwhelming favourites to take out the two match qualifier.
Asia's initial qualifiers begin in Turkmenistan on November 19 when they host Afganistan. This is Afganistan's first world cup qualifier since returning to the world rankings earlier this year. The return leg will be played on November 22.
November 21 sees four qualifiers. Guam hosts Nepal, Laos hosts Sri Lanka, Maldives Republic visits Mongolia and Pakistan will host Kyrzgystan (no, I didn't misspell that!). The return legs all taking place on November 28.
The final two first leg matches sees Chinese Taipei host Macao on November 23 (return leg Nov. 29) while Bangladesh will attempt to please it's home crowd when it faces Tajikstan (return leg Dec. 2).
Finally two rounds of CONMEBOL matches will be played. The pick of the third round matches sees third placed Chile taking on fourth placed Uruguay in a match that could put either country above the traditional leaders of Brazil and Argentina. The top two will play Peru and Bolivia respecively. Once again, a slip up by either of the top four and they may fall down into the bottom half of the table. Paraguay and Ecuador also face off in what will be a thrilling clash. The 2002 finalists will be keen to reach germany while Paraguay will want to prove their strike force is one not to be reckoned with. Finally we see Colombia take on Venezuela in an early wooden spoon battle. Colombia's opening two losses have been met with distaste in Colombia so they will be eager to dispose of Venezuela. As if the task wasn't already big enough for Venezuela, they'll be fighting the uphill battle away from home.
The fourth round sees some big matches, the highlight being Brazil hosting Urguay on November 19. Colombia will host Argentina in what will be a massive clash again. The odds of the hosts being in good ladder position after four rounds don't look good. Chile will host Paraguay on November 18 while Venezuela will host equal favourites for cellar dweller honours Bolivia on the same date. Finally Ecuador will host Peru.
All of this will take place before the official qualifying draw on December 5 in Germany. 27 campaigns will be over before they began while others will just be getting started.
10 November, 2003 |
