2010 World Cup Qualifying Roundup - Part 2

Wednesday, September 9th of 2009 (that's right, 09/09/09) was the second round of qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. Here are some of the results:

Spain 3 - 0 Estonia
Serbia 1 - 1 France
Hungary 0 – 1 Portugal
England 5 - 1 Croatia
Italy 2 - 0 Bulgaria
Germany 4 - 0 Azerbaijan
Wales 1 - 3 Russia
Scotland 0 - 1 Netherlands
Uruguay 3 - 1 Colombia
Bolivia 1 - 3 Ecuador
Cameroon 2 - 1 Gabon
Paraguay 1 - 0 Argentina
Brazil 4 - 2 Chile
Venezuela 3 - 1 Peru

With these results, England, Spain, and Paraguay have now qualified for the World Cup in South Africa.

Germany and Russia are guaranteed at least a playoff match. Germany will play Russia next, and a win will automatically qualify them with Russia securing the playoff match.

Portugal still has a chance to qualify either directly or via a playoff match as long as they win both of their remaining games, but that will also depend on the results from Denmark and Sweden's last 2 matches.

2010 World Cup Qualifying Roundup

Some of this weekend's results:

Argentina 1 – 3 Brazil
Colombia 2 – 0 Ecuador
Peru 1 – 0 Uruguay
Paraguay 1 – 0 Bolivia
Chile 2 – 2 Venezuela
Denmark 1 – 1 Portugal
Hungary 1 – 2 Sweden
Switzerland 2 – 0 Greece
Slovakia 2 – 2 Czech Republic
Turkey 4 – 2 Estonia
Spain 5 – 0 Belgium
France 1 – 1 Romania
Georgia 0 – 2 Italy
Costa Rica 0 – 3 Mexico
United States 2 – 1 El Salvador
Ghana 2 - 0 Sudan

Brazil and Ghana have now qualified for the 2010 World Cup along with Japan, Australia, South Korea, Korea DPR (North Korea), Netherlands, and host nation South Africa, who have all qualified already for the tournament.

Portugal and France have put themselves in a tough situation after both teams tied at 1-1 against Denmark and Romania respectively. France can still qualify directly depending on other results, but most likely they will at least have secured a second place finish in their group, which will qualify them to play a second round playoff match for one of the final spots given to European nations. Portugal on the other hand, is in a much tougher situation. They can only qualify for a second round playoff match at this point, but that will be very hard to do as the scenarios needed for this to happen are very unlikely. One thing is for sure at this point...It'll be either Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimovic going to South Africa, not both.

This is a real coach

Very controversial, but he definitely knows how to put together a great squad. Personally, I'm not a big fan of his coaching style as he tends to play for a draws sometimes depending on the situation, or even instruct his players to play dirty, but I respect the fact that he's a intelligent coach that knows what it takes to win.

I'm talking about Inter Milan's coach Jose Mourinho. This thought hit me the other day, when I started looking into it, the evidence was clear that all the moves he makes is carefully thought about and the results are always positive.

This is what I mean: Most, if not all, of the players currently playing for Inter have either played with or against each other several times, meaning they are very familiar with how everyone one the team plays.

Inter signed Diego Milito and Thiago Motta away from Genoa this season as a packaged deal. That means they know each other and if you look at Genoa's success last season, they play well together. Not to mention these to played against each other in Spain several time when Motta was at Barcelona and Milito at Zaragoza.

And Lucio. His goalkeeper is Julio Cesar and on his right is Maicon. All three players are on the Brazilian national team and they've played numerous matches together and have had great success. And don't forget last year's signing of Mancini.

Eto'o has played with Motta at Barcelona, and against Milito and Sneidjer while in Spain, so he knows very well how to play with those players because he has seen how they play numerous times.

And last but not least, he still has Cambiasso, Zanetti, and Samuel who have played together for the Argentine National team. He also signed Quaresma last summer, and although they haven't really coincided on the same team, I bet you Mourinho had inside information from some friends over at FC Porto (Mourinho coached Porto from 2002-2004 and Quaresma signed with Porto in 2004 after Mourinho signed with Chelsea) and the Portuguese national team before giving the green light on the signing.

All in all, you might not like or be a fan of Jose Mourinho, but you have to show this man some respect because he is a very intelligent coach and knows how to win!

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE!!!

So let me get this straight...You hurt your opponent so badly that they won't be able to play for the next 10-12 months at the least, with a possibility of never being able to play again. This foul was so ugly, that instead of red carding the player, he should have been HANDCUFFED!!!

Axel Witsel, 20 year-old midfielder playing for Standard Liège, was suspended for almost 3 months because of the following play against Marcin Wasilewski of R.S.C. Anderlecht. That's right...just a little less than 3 months suspension, 11 matches to be exact, while the other player could very well have played the last game of his career!

(WARNING: Graphic Images!)



And this leads me to this question: When is FIFA going to make an example of these criminals and set some kind of a precedent to prevent plays like this from ever happening again?

As far as I know, plays like the one you just saw were rare in the world of soccer. As the game being played today is much more physical than it used to be, I think this might start to become a widespread problem if someone doesn't take action. Don't believe me? These are just 2 of the most recent and publicized injuries in the past year and a half:

May 24, 2009 - South African First Division (Mpumalanga Black Aces F.C. vs Carara Kicks)
Félix Mwamba-Musasa "foul" on Oupa Ngulube




February 23, 2008 - English Premier League (Arsenal vs. Birmingham City)
Martin Taylor "fouls" Eduardo



Here's my solution: For the next player who does this, he won't be allow to play until the player he injured is fit to resume his career. If the injured player is never going to play again, oh well, I guess the offending player's career is over too. On top of that, they must pay a hefty fine ($10,000+), and still get suspended for an additional 6 months. How about that? I bet you every player will get the message if they do this. These aren't soccer players we're talking about here, they're criminals and should have never been allowed to play!!!