a1118868 wrote:

Posted: Thursday, 16 June 2011 12:47:53 AM


I'm sure the vast majority of people who have better things to think about don't realise that at 8.00am Eastern tomorrow, the qualifiers for Brazil 2014 kick off in Couva, on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. I thought I'd start this thread for discussion about the qualifying process (fully aware that it will probably sink into the depths of the board for at least the next month or so before the preliminary draw ceremony in late July). The OP will set out in brief the qualifying process for each confederation and a summary of results so far. I'll try to edit it to stay as up to date as possible. The substantive discussion of results etc can come later.

AFC: Asia (4.5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Winners advance to round 2)
Malaysia v Chinese Taipei
Bangladesh v Pakistan
Cambodia v Laos
Sri Lanka v Philippines
Afghanistan v Palestine
Vietnam v Macau
Nepal v Timor Leste
Mongolia v Myanmar

Round 2 (Winners advance to round 3)
Thailand v Afghanistan/Palestine
Lebanon v Bangladesh/Pakistan
China PR v Cambodia/Laos
Turkmenistan v Indonesia
Kuwait v Sri Lanka/Philippines
Oman v Mongolia/Myanmar
Saudi Arabia v Hong Kong
Iran v Maldives
Syria v Tajikistan
Qatar v Vietnam/Macau
Iraq v Yemen
Singapore v Malaysia/Chinese Taipei
Uzbekistan v Kyrgyzstan
UAE v India
Jordan v Nepal/Timor Leste

Round 3 (Top 2 of each group advance to round 4)
- 5 groups of 4 teams.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
Australia
Bahrain
Japan
Korea DPR
Korea Republic

Round 4 (Top 2 of each group qualify for World Cup, 3rd advances to round 5)
- 2 groups of 5 teams

Round 5 (Winner to progress to intercontinental playoff)
- The 3rd placed teams from Round 4 play over 2 legs.



CAF: Africa (5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Winners to advance to round 2)
- 12 matches played over 2 legs.
- 24 lowest ranked nations (July 2011 world rankings) to enter at this stage.

Round 2 (Group winners to advance to round 3)
- 10 groups of 4 teams.
- 28 highest ranked nations (July 2011 world rankings) to enter at this stage.

Round 3 (Winners qualify for World Cup)
- 5 matches played over 2 legs.



UEFA: Europe (13 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Group winners qualify for World Cup, 8 best runners-up advance to round 2)
- 8 groups of 6 teams and 1 group of 5 teams.

Round 2 (Winners qualify for World Cup)
- 4 matches played over 2 legs.



OFC: Oceania (0.5 qualification slots)

Round 1, Pacific Games (Top 3 finishers advance to round 2)
- Tournament played in New Caledonia, to comprise 3 groups of 4 teams followed by knockout stages.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
American Samoa
Cook Islands
Fiji
New Caledonia
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tahiti
Tonga
Vanuatu
- Kiribati and Tuvalu to take part in tournament but not eligible to progress to round 2.

Round 2 (Group winner to advance to intercontinental playoff)
- 1 group of 4 teams.
- New Zealand to enter at this stage.



CONCACAF: North America (3.5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Winners advance to round 2)
Montserrat v Belize (first leg: Montserrat 2-5 Belize)
Anguilla v Dominican Republic
US Virgin Islands v British Virgin Islands
Aruba v St Lucia
Bahamas v Turks and Caicos Islands

Round 2 (Group winners to advance to round 3)
- 6 groups of 4 teams.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
Antigua and Barbuda
Barbados
Bermuda
Canada
Cayman Islands
Curacao
Dominica
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Nicaragua
Panama
Puerto Rico
St Kitts and Nevis
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago

Round 3 (Top 2 of each group advance to round 4)
- 3 groups of 4 teams.
- Teams to enter at this stage:
Costa Rica
Cuba
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
USA

Round 4 (Top 3 qualify for World Cup, 4th advances to intercontinental playoff)
- 1 group of 6 teams.



CONMEBOL: South America (4.5 qualification slots)

Round 1 (Top 4 qualify for World Cup, 5th advances to intercontinental playoff)
- 1 group of 9 teams.
- Brazil qualify automatically as host and will not take part.

a1118868 wrote:
So imo, the major talking points from our perspective are the following:

Australia's path

Much the same as last time for us, need to negotiate a 4 team group made up from the last 20 in qualifying, and finish top 2, followed by a 5 team group from the last 10 survivors in Asia. The only point of slight difference is how the teams are seeded for our first group stage - this time around it will be done by FIFA ranking in July 2011. When the July rankings are released, this will make more sense but as it stands it would leave China in pot 1 with us, which means we would definitely avoid them in our first group.

However, it would also leave very dangerous floaters like Saudi Arabia and North Korea floating in the lower pots, giving a definite opportunity for an ugly group of death (a bit like we had last time, in fact).

New African system

The notoriously unpredictable African qualifying process has an added degree of spice this time around, as their 5 qualifiers will all be determined by a 2 legged playoff at the final stage. This means a total of 11 qualifiers (4 in Europe and 2 in intercontinental playoffs) will be decided over 2 legs. Which I personally love, as long as it's not my team giving me a heart attack.

Playoff seeding

FIFA have, once again, in their infinite wisdom remained completely silent on whether the European playoffs will be seeded. After what happened last time, this is disgusting and unfair. I was happy to give them the benefit of the doubt last time around, but the issue has now been given global attention and FIFA's silence on this issue smacks of arrogance and corruption. All teams deserve to know the rules they are playing by from day one.

6 South American teams?
Amazingly, 60% of the confederation could end up in the World Cup. Personally, I don't mind this. There is plenty of strength in depth in the region and the more local flavour given to the World Cup the better.

Would love to hear anyone else's thoughts/reactions.

Preliminary draw takes place in the early hours of July 31 Australian time, after which the Road to Brazil will really take shape and this thread will probably be a lot more relevant.

There's no point it'd be dry for months on end between qualifiers.

Already have started to plan my trip of America and South America. Going to be in Brazil during the tournament with or without tickets. Best place for a World Cup.

Already have started to plan my trip of America and South America. Going to be in Brazil during the tournament with or without tickets. Best place for a World Cup.

:lol:

It doesn't deserve to be stickied.

On that note, I wonder if we'll get a seperate Euro 2012 sub forum.. Doubt it.

We didn't have a sub-forum for Euro '08...don't think there'd be one for '12 either.

This. WF doesn't get enough traffic to warrant another sub forum that could easily be handled in WF imo.

We didn't have a sub-forum for Euro '08...don't think there'd be one for '12 either.

FIFA panel looks to improve 2014 World Cup

Graham Dunbar
October 30, 2010 - 7:59AM

A new FIFA task force will suggest ways of improving football at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said on Friday he wants "a more attractive World Cup" than the one he saw in South Africa, where seven of 64 matches ended goalless - including six in a cautiously played opening phase.

Called "Task Force Football 2014," its brief will include looking at new ways to decide group-stage matches and how games are refereed.

The panel will include members of existing FIFA committees and will mirror the one set up after the low-scoring 1990 World Cup in Italy, Blatter said.

"In 1990, football was not at its best level. Twenty years later we are doing it again," he said after a two-day executive committee meeting.

FIFA also wants fans to see improved ticket operations at the next World Cup.

The ruling executive approved the creation of a FIFA company to have "stronger control" over ticketing, which was widely criticised in South Africa.

FIFA said in a statement it wants to ensure "clearer allocation of tasks and decision-making power" between the local organising committee and British-based company MATCH, which had exclusive rights to distribute World Cup tickets.

Group matches were played with thousands of empty seats in most stadiums, yet FIFA and MATCH directors Jaime and Enrique Byrom failed to explain why.

Blatter said he will check Brazil's World Cup preparations after FIFA completes investigations into alleged bribery and collusion in bidding for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

"In the third week in November I will be visiting Brazil and I hope to shake hands with the newly elected president," he said.

Dilma Rousseff and Jose Serra are candidates contesting an election Sunday to succeed President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In other decisions:

- The 2011 FIFA Congress in Zurich was scheduled to take place May 31-June 1, when national members are set to vote in their own presidential election. Blatter will seek a fourth term in office though no challenger has yet been confirmed.

- Prize money of $US7.6 million will be paid to teams at the 2011 Women's World Cup, an increase of $US1.2 million. The tournament is played June 26-July 17 in Germany.

- FIFA approved an additional $US2 million in funding for Pakistan's federation to renovate football infrastructure damaged by floods.

© 2010 AP


http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-sport/fifa-panel-looks-to-improve-2014-world-cup-20101030-177t9.html

Brazil: Rio violence will not affect World Cup
Reuters - 1 hours ago
More News on...
Home BetWorld Cup 2010 BetBrazil BetBet £10 get £20 FreeRIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Brazilian football authorities have promised that the 2014 World Cup will take place in a "climate of normality" despite this week's violence between police and drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro.

Organisers of the 2016 Olympic Games in the city also expressed their faith in security measures.

At least 30 people have been killed this week in Rio in five consecutive days of fighting.

The city will be a key venue when Brazil stages the 2014 World Cup and is widely tipped to host the final at the Maracana. Two years later, it will become the first South American city to host the Olympics.

"I ratify the confidence in the public authorities and recognise the effort by the state government of Rio de Janeiro with the aim of reducing urban violence," said Brazilian Football Confederation president Ricardo Teixeira in a statement.

"It can be seen that society is reacting strongly against the incidents provoked by criminals, in a demonstration that public opinion supports the security policies.

"As a consequence, I can assure the sporting community that host city Rio de Janeiro will have the climate of normality necessary to stage the Confederations Cup in 2013 and the World Cup in 2014."

Brazilian authorities have claimed that recent attacks by drugs gangs are a desperate response at police efforts to take control of their turf in more than a dozen slum areas.

The local organising committee of the Rio Olympics also promised a trouble-free games.

"The Rio 2016 committee has full confidence in the security plans which have been elaborated jointly with the three levels of government (municipal, state and federal) and presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)," it said.

Urban crime is a major worry for both events.

Gang violence has spilled over several times since Rio was awarded the 2016 Olympic Games in October 2009.

Gang members shot down a police helicopter weeks later, sparking police raids and violence that resulted in 30 deaths.

In August, gunmen from a slum armed with automatic weapons and grenades invaded a five-star hotel in one of Rio's richest neighbourhoods and held 35 people hostage for two hours.

This month's Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo was marred by armed attacks on world champion Jenson Button and a group of team engineers.

Cities such as Rio are also plagued by bus hold-ups, in which armed gangs board buses and rob all passengers between stops, car-jackings and so-called express kidnappings, in which victims are taken to cashpoints are forced to withdraw money at gunpoint.

http://fourfourtwo.com/news/worldcup/69042/default.aspx

Brazil's free pass
Tim Vickery


04 Dec 2010 | 00:00


Members of those seven unsuccessful bids to stage the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will have made a frustrated retreat from Zurich and could feel entitled to cast an envious glance at the next host of the tournament.



The countries involved in the race that ended in the Swiss city on Thursday have gone through years of meticulous planning, presenting to FIFA reports on the stadiums to be used, the transport infrastructure, and so on.

Brazil went through none of this. It was handed the tournament on a plate.

Brazil knew as far back as March 2003 that it would be staging the 2014 World Cup. So you might think that it would have all the planning in place for when the official announcement was made in October 2008.


Not a bit of it.


The host cities had not even been decided. For the first time ever. FIFA had to do it and did so at the end of May 2009. Effectively, six years of preparation time was thrown away.


Even now, with three and a half years to go, there is plenty to be done. S switch of stadium was made in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, where the opening game will take place - as long as the new ground is ready in time. At the moment it is wasteland, with work not set to start until next year.

Brazil received this leeway because of a short-lived rotation policy. FIFA had declared that 2014 was South America’s turn. Rotation was the way Sepp Blatter found to ensure that the 2010 tournament would be the first to be staged in Africa.


The policy was retained for an extra turn of the wheel to ensure that the World Cup would return to the continent where it was first played, but which had not staged the circus since 1978.

The lack of a competitive bidding process is the key difference between Brazil 2014 and the decisions made on where to hold the subsequent two World Cups.


And there is also a key difference between Brazil and the country that preceded it as World Cup host, though the similarities may be more immediately apparent.


Both South Africa and Brazil are part of the developing world, countries with great potential and huge social problems. In take off phase, the hope and expectation is that a mega event can do wonders for the infrastructure and international profile of the countries.


The difference between them is that for South Africa hosting the World Cup was part of a giant political process involving a mass transformation of power. This is exemplified in the figure of Danny Jordaan, anti-apartheid campaigner turned chief organiser of the 2010 tournament.


Jordaan spent years fighting the white supremacists regime precisely because he wanted his country to take its place in the international community of nations. For him, the anti-apartheid struggle and the 2010 World Cup are part of the same process.


Brazil has gone through nothing similar. The extraordinary, poverty-to-power biography of President Lula tends to obscure the fact that no dramatic change of control has taken place.


Football highlights this perfectly.

The ever controversial Ricardo Teixeira has been president of Brazil’s football association since 1989. Some of his support base, the presidents of the various state federations, have been around for even longer.


In South Africa, then, it was only logical and coherent that civil society was strongly represented on the World Cup Local Organising Committee.

In Brazil, meanwhile, civil society is not represented. It is just Teixeira and his gang.


Brazil’s sports daily Lance! recently broke the story of the legal composition of Brazil’s Organising Committee. Originally a non-profit organisation, the status was changed to a business once Brazil was officially named as 2014 host.

Brazil’s football association, the CBF, holds 99.9% of the capital. Ricardo Teixeira holds 0.01%.


A clause states that any profits do not have to be distributed according to the percentage of capital held. The partners are at liberty to dole out the profits as they see fit. This looks like a good deal if your name is Ricardo Teixeira.


Brazil’s Sports Minister, the impressively fluent Orlando Silva, clammed up on the subject. First he said that this was purely a private matter, of no interest to the government. The absurdities of this position were obvious.


First, the World Cup receives all sorts of tax breaks.

Second, the government will have to spend a fortune to get the show on the road and not just on infrastructure.


The original line was that no public money would be spent on stadiums. It would all come from private investors. But these never appeared, and almost all the money being spent on stadiums will end up coming from public funds.


Orlando Silva has not spoken again on the subject.


A member of the Communist Party, does he really believe that one of the objectives of the 2014 World Cup should be to enrich Brazil’s feudal barons?


http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/tim-vickery/blog/1034667/Brazil's-free-pass

England could host 2014 World Cup if Brazil run into a roadblock - report

19 Dec 2010 09:43:00

England are believed to be on standby to host the World Cup in 2014, if Brazil are unable to do so.

And The People claims that senior members of the FA will have a meeting this week to discuss the timing and strategy of the rescue plan, should one be necessary.

This comes only a fortnight after Fifa executive committee members decided not to pick England over other bidders when it came to selecting the host for the 2018 edition of the tournament.

Progress in Brazil is reported to be worryingly slow, although it is not thought to have become a crisis situation just yet.

But it is said that the FA will hold talks with Fifa as a contingency position, so there is a back-up plan in place if Brazil cannot get their stadia and airports built by the time the governing body takes the final decision about whether or not the tournament will go ahead there in four years' time.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2880/england/2010/12/19/2267991/england-could-host-2014-world-cup-if-brazil-run-into-a-roadblock-

2014 can't be Europe anyway because Russia is 2018. World Cup can't be on the same continent twice in a row. USA in 2014 is perfect for Europe gets USA out of the way for 2026 and gives Europe that WC.