Six teams qualified for next year's World Cup in South Africa today, finalizing the field that will compete in the first World Cup in African soil.
France, Slovenia, Uruguay, Portugal, Greece and Algeria advanced to the finals ending the dreams of Ireland, Russia, Costa Rica, Ukraine and Egypt in the process.
That means that Costa Rican and current (for now anyway..) Fire Defender Gonzalo Segares will not participate in the World Cup, something that will be very disappointing for Gonzalo personally (he told me yesterday he was hoping Costa Rica would "come up with a big upset") and the nation of Costa Rica as a whole -- who looked to be a shoe in to qualify for nearly the entire CONCACAF Qualification process.
I've provided a full list of the 32 finalists after the jump but I wanted to share my early favorites here. My pick to win it all (and again this could change during the course of the next 6-7 months) is Brazil with Spain following up closely. My early sleeper is Serbia -- I think they could surprise a lot of teams next summer.
3 Comments
milicz said:
What happened to France and Henry's "Hand of Destiny"?
patrickhattrick said:
NOOOOOOO! I'm Irish and Ireland is my second team. We don't deserve this kind of exit after our qualifying campaign. This week is just not going my way, between the Fire and Ireland. Stupid Henry. Messing up everything with his dumb handball. Stupid FIFA. With their unfair seeding. Stupid France. Not getting into the World Cup earlier and taking advantage of the unfair seeding.
You have just read a venting comment by patrickhattrick. GO IRELAND!
Doug said:
Bad no-call on the hand ball though it was a bit crowded and not completely obvious in the heat of the moment. This will push the call for replay review.
But, my sympathy for Ireland is muted considering that France should have been given a penalty a few minutes earlier. So it's all karma.
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