| Soccer Forums Rookie Offline Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 20,159 vCash: 23720747 Rep Points: 1487 | Code: Live Commentary -
 17:52’ So interesting stuff - England with Croatia AGAIN - stay logged onto eurosport.yahoo.co.uk throughout the day when we will have all the news, views, and reaction for South Africa. - 17:51’ And the draw ends with the African three tenors performing "Nessun Dorma." An impressive performance - but still - nobody beats Pavarotti.
- 17:49’ Because it doubles up as the draw for the 2010 African Cup of Nations - South Africa were in the draw - so they can do their bit to knock Nigeria out of both the World Cup and the African Cup of Nations.
- 17:48’ 12 groups winners and eight best runners-up advancing to the second group round. The 20 remaining sides will be split into five groups of four. The winners of each group will qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the top three in each group will also qualify for the African Cup of Nations.
- Grp12’ 12 - Egypt, Congo DR, Malawi, Djibouti
- Grp11’ 11 - Togo, Zambia, Eritrea, Swaziland
- Grp10’ 10 - Mali, Congo, Sudan, Chad
- Grp 9’ 9 - Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Seychelles
- Grp 8’ 8 - Morocco, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mauritania
- Grp 7’ 7 - Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Botswana, Madagascar
- Grp 6’ 6 - Senegal, Algeria, Liberia, Gambia
- Grp 5’ 5 - Ghana, Libya, Gabon, Lesotho
- Grp 4’ 4 - Nigeria, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone
- Grp 3’ 3 - Angola, Benin, Uganda, Niger
- Grp 2’ 2 - Guinea, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Kenya
- Grp 1’ 1 - Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Tanzania, Mauritius
- 17:31’ Last draw up will be the draw for the African section and Lucas Radebe - who always seems to be at these things - is back again.
- So what a tasty looking draw - gasps when England were paired with Croatia. Tough draw for the Scots and also Wales. "Could have been worse" might be the attitude of the two Irelands.
- Grp 9’ Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland
- Grp 8’ Italy, Bulgaria, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro
- Grp 7’ France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands
- Grp 6’ Croatia: ENGLAND, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra.
- Grp 5’ Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia
- Grp 4’ Germany, Russia, Finland, WALES, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein
- Grp 3’ Czech Republic, Poland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino
- Grp 2’ Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg
- Grp 1’ Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta
- 17:07’ There will be nine groups drawn - top nine go through automatically - best eight runners-up play-off for four more spots. Ok - we will now have nine comments with all the groups updating - so keep refreshing.
- 17:06’ So if your team get a nasty draw - Christian Karembeu and Abedi Pele are the ones to hunt down - they will make the draw.
- 17:04’ As McBain would say in the Simpsons "let's get silly" - time for the European draw!
- 17:02’ We've just had the South American group video - their 10 team home-and-away group is already well underway - top four go through with the fifth placed team playing-off with a CONCACAF team.
- 17:01’ Judith Sephuma was the jazz singer and the song was called "A cry. A smile. A dance" - well the first part rings through.
- 17:00’ Group 3A: Costa Rica plays US Virgin Islands or Grenada. Group 3B: Guyana plays Suriname or Montserrat. Group 3C: Panama plays El Salvador or Anguilla. Group 3D: The winner of Nicaragua v Netherlands Antilles gets a bye
- 17:00’ Group 2A: Mexico play the winner of Belize v St Kitts and St Nevis. Group 2B: Jamaica play the winner of Bahamas v British Virgin Islands. Group 2C: Honduras play the winner of Dominican Republic v Puerto Rica. Group 2D: The winner of Canada v St Vincent and the Grenadines gets a bye.
- 16:59’ CONCACAF (sounds like a brand of coffee don't you think?) draw in full for uber-nerds! Group 1A: USA v the winner of Dominican Republic v Barbados. Group 1B: Guatemala will play the winner of Turks and Caicos Islands v St Lucia. Group 1C: Trinidad and Tobago will play the winners of Bermuda v Caymen Islands. Group 1D: Cuba will play the winner of Aruba v Antigua and Barbuda.
- 16:56’ Ok let us forget about football for a moment - the host has told us to "get down and boogie" with some South African jazz singer. Sorry I didn't catch her name, but listening to her I'd advise you to stick to your Miles Davis records Jazz fans.
- 16:55’ Personally I'm really looking forward to the match between Turks and Caicos Islands and St Lucia and not just because the captial of the Turks and Caicos Islands is called "Cockburn Town". The massive prize of a meeting with Guatemala in the play-offs for the winner.
- 16:50’ No easy games in international football? Will Mexico find that out in their playoff game in Belize or St. Kitts and Nevis? Ahem, maybe not.
- 16:47’ Basically in CONCACAF they are looking to get 35 teams down to 24 and then down to 12 for the Group Stage. To get to the final 12 the USA have to negotiate a really tough home match with Dominica or Barbados - no sarcasm here honest!
- 16:44’ We are now going through what can only be described as the ridiculously complicated North and Central America draw as "1.5" teams look to join Mexico and the USA (who will inevitably qualify) in South Africa.
- 16:42’ The Ocenia Group have just played their little video but their draw has already been made. It must feel strange for them without the Aussie this time.
- 16:40’ The two teams finishing 3rd in the fourth round groups play each other for 5th place overall. The 5th place team will then play the winner of the OFC qualification in a home and away play-off. Confused? You're not the only one!!
- 16:38’ Ok time to tell you what happens after THOSE groups in Asia. In the fourth round, the 10 remaining teams will be drawn into 2 groups of 5 teams. The top 2 teams in each group will qualify for the World Cup.
- Grp E’ E - Iran, Kuwait, UAE, Singapore.
- Grp D’ D - Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Singapore
- Grp C’ C - South Korea, North Korea, Jordan, Turkmenistan (ohh a Korean derby!!!)
- Grp B’ B - Japan, Bahrain, Oman, Thailand
- Grp A’ A - Australia, China, Iraq, Qatar
- 16:32’ There have already been some preliminary rounds that have take place in the Asian section - and at the moment we are down to just 20 teams. They will be drawn into five groups of four. The teams in each group play each other twice, home and away. The teams which finish first and second in their group qualify for the fourth round.
- 16:25’ OK first up we have the Asian draw - with George Weah and Ali Dai conducting this one. Time to get excited if you are a Qatar or Turkmenistan fan.
- 16:24’ There is now some ad on for a rubbish website that you would never want to go to because of course you get all your footballing needs here at eurosport.yahoo.com - ugh - I feel dirty after that plug.
- 16:22’ FIFA General Secreatary Jerome Valcke has now been introduced and the draw is being explained.
- 16:21’ Every single shot in sunshine of course - makes me feel extra cold looking out at that nasty London weather.
- 16:20’ Now this is the time when you want to be in front of a TV screen (like me) and not in front of a computer (like you) because we are doing the whole South African tourist board videos of all the host cities bit. And that of course means plenty of pretty girls in bikinis - sorry folks - you're missing out!
- 16:17’ He also says there "no doubt" that the World Cup will be here and will be "a success" - so I guess that dashes the hopes of the Americans and the Aussies that South Africa might "do a Columbia 1986" and not be able to host it with them then sneaking in to host it.
- 16:14’ Sepp Blatter now talking about how it is "justice" that Africa has been giving the World Cup after all that Africa has given to football. Sepp Blatter talks some sense in speech shock!
- 16:09’ South African President Thabo Mbeki is currently mumbling through a peace, love and understanding speech. "Football is a school of life" is the soundbyte he seems to be emphasising. So remember kids - stay in school! Thabo aint no Mandela though - too much looking at your notes mate!
- 16:07’ Ok folks we are underway - we have just opened up with some guy with a funny hat singing with a bunch of kids wearing very little clothing. Ahem - it is tempting but you won't find any Gary Glitter jokes here.
- If you're wondering about that rogue result on the left, that was the final game of Euro 2008 qualifying, Serbia's postponed game against Kazakhstan. Yeah, we know it's not the World Cup. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it? Just deal with it, OK? We're not in the mood.
- All clear? Right. We cross over to Durban at 3pm UK time for all the dignitaries, back-slapping and perspex balls you can handle.
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 Pot 6’ Liechtenstein, Estonia, Malta, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Andorra, Faroe Islands, San Marino -
 Pot 5’ Georgia, Albania, Slovenia, Latvia, Iceland, Armenia, Austria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan - Pot 4’ Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, Moldova, WALES, Macedonia, Belarus, Lithuania, Cyprus
- Pot 3’ Norway, Ukraine, Serbia, Denmark, NORTHERN IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium
- Pot 2’ ENGLAND, Romania, SCOTLAND, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Israel
- Pot 1’ Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Croatia, Greece
- As they are rubbish, England have missed out on a top seeding and go into pot two along with Scotland. That means they will go into a group with one of the big boys, but will be hoping it is Greece or - ha! - Croatia. Both Irelands are in pot three, while it's pot four for poor old Wales.
- How it works: There are 53 teams divided into six pots. One team from each pot will go into each of the nine groups, with the exception of one five-team group. The nine group winners qualify for the World Cup, while the eight best runners-up will play off for the final four places.
- GLUTTONS FOR PUNISHMENT: Hot on the heels of a disastrous Euro 2008 campaign for the home nations comes today's 2010 World Cup qualifying draw. Follow it all LIVE from 3pm UK time.
Here's the draw commentary for everyone who missed it, I read it and it was pretty good.
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11-25-2007, 02:44 PM 
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