2005-10-12 - 2006 World Cup Qualifying - Europe
The group stage has now been completed and 11 countries have now qualified for the finals:
- Netherlands - group 1 winner
- Ukraine - group 2 winner
- Portugal - group 3 winner
- France - group 4 winner
- Italy - group 5 winner
- England - group 6 winner
- Poland - group 6 runner-up (second best runner-up overall)
- Serbia and Montenegro - group 7 winner
- Croatia - group 8 winner
- Sweden - group 8 runner-up (best runner-up overall)
- Germany - 2006 World Cup hosts
The Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey
qualified for the playoffs. Due to their FIFA ranking (in brackets) the
Czech Republic (4), Spain (8) and Turkey (12) will be seeded, and will
each be drawn against one of the remaining countries. The draw for the
playoffs, to be played on a home and away basis on 12 and 16 November,
will be made on 14 October (this Friday).
In group 1 the Netherlands defied the odds to finish well ahead of
group seeds Czech Republic. They will however be disappointed not to
have taken maximum points following home and away wins against both the
Czech Republic and Romania. The Czechs qualified for the playoffs
following a decisive 0-3 away win in Finland on the final day and
Romania will be pleased to have at least taken the Czechs all the way.
Group 2 saw Ukraine qualify for their first ever finals with two games
to spare ahead of Turkey, Denmark and European Champions Greece, each
of whom lost too many points in the beginning of the campaign. They
were always playing catch-up and never managed to catch the eventual
group winners. Turkey secured a playoff place on the final day with a
narrow 0-1 victory away to Albania.
In group 3 Portugal never looked in trouble as they easily topped the
group that saw Slovakia and Russia lose too many points from their
matches to challenge for top spot. On the final day Slovakia secured
their playoff place on goal difference ahead of Russia who they held to
a 0-0 draw on the final day. Latvia, who qualified for the finals of
the 2004 European Championship will be disappointed to finish well down
the order in fifth place behind neighbours Estonia.
Group 4 was always the closest of all the groups and could have gone
any of fours ways even in the last few minutes of the last matches. In
the end France, the only team to take points of any of the other three
top teams when they beat Ireland away 0-1, narrowly won the group. In
the end the top three teams all finished the campaign unbeaten
following 11 draws in the 12 games between the top four in the group.
Having scored only 14 goals in their 10 matches, despite fielding of
the most potent forwards in Europe in their team, France will hope to
improve drastically before the finals next year if they wish to avoid a
repeat of their awful showing in the last World Cup in South
Korea/Japan.
Italy never looked like their usual selves in group 5. Despite that
they qualified with a game to spare but that was more due to the fact
that their group rivals all took points off each other. Slovenia will
be disappointed to finish in fourth following home defeats against
Norway and Scotland towards the end of their campaign. Despite losing
0-1 at home to Belarus, Scotland will have hope for the future
following two away wins to group rivals Norway and Slovenia, and a draw
at home to Italy after leading for much of the game. Norway will be
difficult to beat in the playoffs especially if they draw Spain to whom
they lost in the playoffs for the 2004 European Championship qualifying
campaign.
Group 6 could well be remembered as the 'ironic group'. Despite having
a poor campaign in a relatively lightweight group, England managed to
top the group whereas Poland, who will be extremely happy with their
performances, finished as the runner-up, albeit the second best out of
all the runners-up. England fans will be wondering which team turns up
in Germany next year, whereas the Poles will be hoping that they don't
flop like their did following an equally impressive qualifying run for
the 2002 World Cup.
Spain always looked out of sorts in group 7 and in the end they dropped
10 points as a result of five draws against their opponents, including
two against the eventual group winners Serbia and Montenegro. Spain
will look back to a lapse in concentration that meant a late equaliser
at home to Serbia and Montenegro towards the end of the campaign.
Bosnia and Herzegovina will take heart from a strong performance that
still saw them in with a chance of the place in the finals on the final
day of qualification.
In group 8 Croatia and Sweden were too strong for the other group
contenders and although Croatia beat Sweden at home and away, both
countries finished level on points. Both will be strong contenders and
hard to beat in the finals next year.
To say Germany have had a poor year is quite an understatement but who
would bet that they won't pick up form before the finals take place in
June next year. It may even help them that not many are giving them
much of a hope of challenging for the trophy. With the home crowd
behind them they may well come out fighting like they always seem to at
the major championships. Not many gave them a chance in 2002 but they
somehow managed to get all the way to the final. They have only won six
of their 14 matches this year, with all of those wins having come
against mediocre nations (Slovenia 1-0, Northern Ireland 4-1, Australia
4-3, Tunisia 3-0, South Africa 4-2 and China 1-0). They now haven't
beaten one of the top footballing nations since October 2000 when they
beat England away in a World Cup qualifier. If they do have a poor
World Cup then, it won't be that much of a surprise.
Taking a look at Germany's record against all other nations above them
in the FIFA ranking since 01/01/2000 makes unbelievable reading:
P W D L
Brazil 3 0 1 2
Netherlands 4 0 2 2
Argentina 3 0 2 1
Czech Republic 2 1 0 1
Mexico 1 0 1 1
France 2 0 0 2
United States 2 2 0 0
Spain
2 1 0 1
Portugal 1 0 0 1
Sweden 0 0 0 0
England 3 1 0 2
Turkey 1 0 0 1
Italy
1 0 0 1
Denmark 1 0 0 1
TOTAL 26 5 6 16
(Where: P=Played, W=Won, D=Drawn, L=Lost)
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