Eleven nations have already unplugged the ticket! : England, Holland, Spain, Brazil, Paraguay, South Africa, Ghana, Australia, South Korea, North Korea and Japan. Many other national between Saturday and Wednesday will get also on their way to win the world championship in South Africa. In the European series three nations have already qualified: England under Fabio Capello, the Netherlands and European champions Spain that have scored eight wins in eight games, pulling off a pass to South Africa well in advance.
In group 1 Portugal is at risk in the most balanced group with Denmark and Sweden. The Danes are leading with 18 points, followed by Ibrahimovic's Sweden with 15 points and then the Lusitanian team with 13. Saturday there will be Denmark vs Sweden and everything could be reopened with a Swede win whilst Portugal faces Hungary and look doomed unless the Danes will defeat Sweden.
Balance is prevailing also in Group 2: Switzerland has three points ahead of the pursuers Greece and Latvia that in ! the weekend will meet each other in a decisive battle for the ! fate of the second place, whilst the Swiss are expected for an easy ride away in Luxembourg. Ready to pull the ticket are Slovakia (Group 3) which need just a draw against Slovenia for its historic first participation in a world championship.
In group 4 has the sparkling flavor of a final showdown on Saturday between Russia and Germany, with the formation coached by former Chelsea coach Hiddink which has the chance to overtake the Germans in the standings (which have with 22 points ahead of and Russia with 21). In Group 5 Spain has already qualified, it remains to define the second position, with Bosnia with 16 points that on Saturday will faces the Estonia. With England in Group 6 also already qualified the choice for the second place is left between Croatia and Ukraine with the latter meeting Fabio Capello's White Lions on their own turf.
In Group 8 a victory for Serbia against Romania will fence off the latest assaults from France (which will deal with the F! aroe Islands) to avoid the playoff. The World Cup holders Italy (Group 8) need just a draw against Ireland in Dublin. Otherwise the Azzurri need to beat Cyprus on Wednesday. Everything has already been decided in Group 9 with the Netherlands and Norway already secured the second place at the expenses of George Burnley's Scotland..
As for the South American group, Brazil and Paraguay are already in South Africa. Those who risk the shocking exclusion are Argentina. Maradona's team cannot afford any mistakes and are forced to win Saturday against Peru and Wednesday against Uruguay. They need six points in order to hope to qualify directly but especially to avoid being excluded with a fifth place. Should things go wrong however Argentina has always left - as a the last resort - to qualify via the play-off with the fourth classified in the Concacaf zone.
Elsewhere qualification is rather near instead for Chile but more difficult however for Ecuador despite! been one point ahead of Argentina. Uruguay, Venezuela and Col! ombia in turn hope to overcome Maradona's team. Yet to be defined the qualification picture also in the Central American group where the four places will be played amongst the United States, Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica.
For the African group, South Africa (host country) and Ghana have already qualified. From races scheduled this weekend could see the qualification of the Ivory Coast which only need a point to win their group. Algeria faces Rwanda while Egypt is away in Zambia. Nigeria need the three points against Mozambique to continue the run on Tunisia and Cameroon (first on their group) play Togo.
In the Asian group Japan, South Korea, Australia and North Korea are already through. It remains to define the last place shared with the oceanic zone. It will be contended between Bahrain and New Zealand.
