SeeTheCup.com » World Cup Qualifiers

6 more qualify: 2010 World Cup in South Africa is complete.

Ana — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:06:15 +0000

No more. Done. Finito. Acabou. The fight for the 32 golden spots to play the most exciting football (and sports) tournament on the planet has ended. Some big ones almost did not manage. And some return after 24 years.

Today was the day for the last 6 squads to qualify. The brave (or lucky?) one were: Algeria, France, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece and Uruguay.

Algeria beat Egypt 1×0 and qualifies after 24 years. Last time the world saw Algerians playing World Cup football was in 1986.

France tied Northern Ireland 1×1 and Stade de France, with an illegal goal. The ball hit Henry’s hand inside the box and the referee refused to see it. Unfair. Very unfair.

Watch Henry’s handball.

Slovenia kicked a big one out of South Africa. They beat Russia 1×0 and sent home a team who was, in theory, supposed to be one of the great ones. Not only that, but this is the first time they ever qualify. Job well done!

Portugal had no problems to send Bosnia Herzegovina home. They beat them 1×0 today and made Cristiano Ronaldo a happier man. He will now be able to show off his everything (football, fashion, cockyness) in South Africa.

Greece beat Ukraine 0×1, in Donetsk, and came back to the World Cup. The Greek could not manage to qualify since 1994.

Uruguay tied Costa Rica 1×1 after winning 1×0, in Costa Rica, and took the last spot available. The 2-time World Champions can now breathe after a very tense match.

Here is the complete list of countries playing in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, USA, Honduras, Netherlands, Spain, England, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, France, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, Australian, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, New Zealand and South Africa.

Cameroon and Nigeria going to South Africa.

Ana — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:38:59 +0000

Cameroon and Nigeria have guaranteed a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa today. Cameroon beat Morroco 2-0 (second goal by Eto’o) and Nigeria beat Kenya 3 – 2.

So far 26 countries are going to South Africa next June: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Mexico, USA, Honduras, Netherlands, Spain, England, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, Australian, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, New Zealand and South Africa.

6 spots remaining!

End of qualifiers story: Brazil 0 – 0 Venezuela

Ana — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:57:29 +0000

It wasn’t the prettiest match in football history, nor was it supposed to be. Brazil had already qualified and Venezuela had almost no chances of qualifying (unless they beat Brazil 6-0 and Argentina beat Uruguay 9-0!), so it was what it was. Dunga did some experimenting and some things are definitely clear: Robinho should never come back, neither should Filipe Luiz, who plays anything but good football. Nilmar is becoming a good choice up front – fact. Maicon, Luis Fabiano and Kaká are absolute stars on this team and will make the difference in 2010. Brazil is lucky to have Julio Cesar.

The game started a bit boring with Venezuela closed on the back and trying to counter attack. The hype only came on the 20th minute with Maldonado almost scoring an Olympic goal for Venezuela. After that, Nilmar gave Kaká a good pass which resulted in a free kick very close to the goal. Luis Fabiano took it and showed Brazil has no man, whatsoever, who can properly take a free kick. Maicon created some good chances with Kaká and Luis Fabiano but nothing that made Venezuela’s net shake.

The second half brought new energy into the game and Brazil almost scored with Nilmar. After that it was Luis Fabiano’s turn to almost score: he hit the post on a header and Maicon got the rebound but Venezuela managed to take the ball out. Miranda got a red card on the 55th minute but Brazil was still a better squad even with 10 men on the pitch.

Luis Fabiano, our goal man, had plenty of opportunities to score, but if he didn’t miss it, Vega was always there to prevent the ball from going in. Dunga took Ramires and Filipe Luiz out to put Elano and Alex. Nothing much changed. With few minutes left in the game, Kaká had a brilliant moment and almost scored a beautiful goal. Did not happen.

Brazil finished first with 34 points. It’s all good.

Oh, one last thing: I still think Dunga should consider bringing Ronaldo (the original – now a bit fat – one) to the bench as a surprise element (I promise this is NOT a biased opinion of a Corinthians fan).

See who has already booked a ticket to the World Cup in South Africa 2010.

Ana — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:06:23 +0000

The day was busy. Many important matches going on at the same time and some countries can already rest assured to be visiting South Africa next June. The happy faces of the day? Paraguay, Spain and England.

Paraguay played in style and beat Argentina to give the hermanos more headache. La Albiceleste is now 5th in South America and runs the risk of not making it to South Africa if they do not manage to get up and win some matches. Diego Maradona is in some serious trouble. Paraguay had a great campaign and a well deserved spot.

Spain finished first of the group, as expected. The Spaniards beat Estonia 3 – 0 and are sure to be showing up as one of the favorites next year.

The other European nation to qualify was England by beating Croatia 5-1. That was comfortable with goals from Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney.

Switzerland, Serbia, Slovakia and champions Italy are close to qualifying after valuable results today.

So far, the following have qualified: Ghana, Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, England, Netherlands, Spain, New Zealand, Brazil and South Africa.

Brazil 3 – 0 Peru.

Ana — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:00:22 +0000

Yesterday Brazil took on Peru, in Porto Alegre, for the World Cup Qualifiers. The 3-0 victory gave Brazil (and coach Dunga) some space to breathe, especially since Chile tied and Argentina took a beat from Bolivia. Brazil now stands second on the Qualifiers, behind leaders Paraguay.

The match was as expected: easy. Peru is the worst team in the competition and with a match in Brazilian ground winning was not difficult. Dani Alves was great on the pitch, Kaká played in great style and Robinho managed to do some ok moves. Luis Fabiano went back to being fabuloso and even Felipe Melo surprised us all.

All good. Next matches for Brazil are crucial: against Paraguay at home and Uruguay away. Then Argentina…
Watch all the goals from Brazil vs. Peru:

Historic Loss for Argentina

Ana — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:51:10 +0000

Today Argentina lost a historic match to Bolivia. A 6-1 loss which had not happened since 1958′s World Cup, against (then) Czechoslovakia. Of course there is the high altitude, but no excuses. Especially because Dieguito Maradona was one of the big defenders of matches being played in high altitude (FIFA wanted to prohibit – but El DIego was all pro). Today, it was Maradona’s team who played a match to be recorded in the hall of shame of Argentina’s football history. How ironic.

Watch all the goals from Argentina vs. Bolivia for the World Cup Qualifiers below.

Julio Cesar saves Brazil.

Ana — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:32:19 +0000

Yesterday Brazil played Ecuador in Quito, for the South American World Cup Qualifiers. The match ended 1 – 1 but if one is to consider who deserved to win (by many goals), it would be Ecuador. Brazil got outshot by 21 and if it weren’t for glorious Julio César, the match would have been 4-0, maybe 5-0. Something easy to take when your defence suck and you have got no midfield to work with.

While Ecuador presented beautiful football, with good passes and great runs, coach Dunga’s team was lost on the pitch. Ronaldinho, along with Elano and Gilberto Silva could not do a thing and Brazil had to go for the long passes which never really resulted in anything. There was no connection with the forwards.

The man of the match, without any doubt, was Julio Cesar. His saves were miracles and it is still hard to believe how many of them he pulled off. That was the first half: Ecuador attacking and Brazil relying on Julio Cesar.

The second half did not change much except for Dunga’s smart choice of taking Ronaldinho off. On his place came Julio Batista, who managed to score for Brazil on his first and only shot. Amazingly enough, Brazil was winning 1-0, and only needed to hold Ecuador off for around 10 minutes. Mission failed. Ecuador finally scored on the 88th minute. A well deserved goal.

Now Brazil sits 4th in the Qualifiers and truly needs a victory this Wednesday in Porto Alegre against Peru.

A World Cup Qualifiers Week

Ana — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:03:05 +0000

This is one of those great weekends where you can watch great football matches all weekend long. Tomorrow, there are some great matches to look for: Spain vs. Turkey at 5pm, US Eastern Time, on Gol TV. Argentina vs. Venezuela at 6:10pm, only on PPV (time to hope for an Argentinian loss). Netherlands vs. Scotland at 3:45pm. Uruguay vs. Paraguay goes on at 4pm, with coverage from ESPN Deportes (Paraguay are the leaders of South American Qualifiers – so we, the people from Brazil, truly hope for a Uruguayan victory).

On Sunday, I’ll be completely wired on Ecuador vs. Brazil, at 5pm, showing on PPV and Sky Sports 2 – a very important match away from home.

On April 1st, Wednesday, there is more: Turkey vs. Spain, yes again, this time in Turkish solo – should be a great match, at 2pm. Italy vs. Republic of Ireland at 2:50pm showing on Setanta Premium. Bolivia vs. Argentina at 3:30pm (and here are the reasons why Bolivia might upset Argentina). England vs. Ukraine at 3pm, showing on iTV 1. And Brazil vs. Peru, in Porto Alegre (a lot of pressure on Dunga here to win a World Cup Qualifiers match at home – something that hasn’t happened in a long time), at 9:10pm, showing on Sky Sports 1 and PPV.

And yes, I know there are plenty of other very important matches. However, I’ve listed the ones most relevant to me at my present location, US Eastern time. To see a list of all matches and where to watch, as well as to translate the times to where you are, see LiveSoccerTv.com.

Cheers!

Time to go home Dunga.

Ana — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:52:03 +0000

It was too good to be true. Truth be told (for the 100th time): Dunga is not a good boss, not even close to it. Brazil tied 0-0 today with Colombia, at home, in Maracanã. It is the 3rd consecutive home match that ends up in frustration for us, Brazilians. When things are fine, like Sunday’s 4×0 win over Venezuela, Dunga sits on his ass and pretends it was hios merit. But when it’s time to really do his job and sub player to improve the game, he is a total stupid bloke.

And to top it with a cherry, Brazil had zero creativity. The midfield with Gilberto, Elano, Josué and Kaká missed more passes than me playing football at night with no lights and sunglasses.

Kaká was the only creative mind on the pitch. And that is sad. Remember Brazil? That team with yellow shirts and a bunch of great football players. Well, maybe they went for a walk… Today’s Seleção was dull.

Robinho has a fame issue where he thinks he is too good to be replaced by Pato (thus sort of faking a last second injury after realising he was being replaced). He did absolutely nothing.

Kudos to Lucio and Juan (as always). But even that Dunga managed to ruin. He replaced Juan with Thiago Silva. Luckily, Globo TV gave a nice close up on both Lucio and Juan at the exact time they realised Juan was out, showing their disatisfaction with the weird decision.

Mancini got a bit more playing time, created some good opportunities but needs to do more.

This is so really frustrating. Brazil is still second on the World Cup Qualifiers (thanks to Argentina losing to Chile, yay!).

Time to go home Dunga. Long overdue.

WC Qualifiers Europe – Katsoyranis and Gourcuff scored amazing goals.

Ana — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:32:31 +0000

I guess Raymond Domenech is keeping his job a little longer. France tied 2×2 with Romania thanks to Ribery and the young Gourcuff. Greece got the job well done with a glorious goal from Katsoyranis (Roberto Carlos style). Here are the goals:

Katsoyranis

Gourcuff