The preliminary rounds were played earlier in the summer and threw up some big results...St.Lucia beating Aruba 5-4 on penalties having drawn 6-6 on aggregate...Montserrat being beaten 8-3 on aggregate by the relative might of Belize...Mongolia being turned over 2-1 on aggregate by Myanmar...the Philippines beating the Sri Lankans 5-1 over two legs...and in a genuine grudge match, the mighty Bengal Tigers from Bangladesh beating Pakistan 3-0 on aggregate, only to be beaten by Lebanon in the next round.
This has meant that the next round of qualifying in the America's (both North and South) has begun, along with the Asian section, and the African qualifying due to begin in November with big hitters such as George Weah's former team Liberia taking on Mauritius and the Seychelles taking on Kenya.
In the North American section Canada, Haiti, Guatemala, Panama, Guyana and El Salvador have all won their first three group games (just a quick note, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Cuba and Jamaica haven't entered yet, all six teams have had a bye into the next round) with Canada and Haiti clocking up 7-0 wins against St.Lucia and US Virgin Islands respectively. Amongst the Canadian scorers were Iain Hume and Simeon Jackson who are very well known in the English leagues.
Similarly in Asia, the Australians and Jordan have 100% records after three games, with former perennial qualifiers Saudi Arabia struggling with just two draws (with Oman and Thailand) from their opening three games. Japan have made a strong start with 7 points from three games, including an 8-0 humping of Tajikistan.
Just one game so far in the South American section, and obviously with Brazil having qualified already as hosts, its no surprise to see Argentina sitting on top of the rankings, I wouldn't be expecting to see them shifted from top spot for the next two years, Copa America Champions from the summer Uruguay beat Bolivia and Peru made a winning start by beating Copa America Finalists Paraguay.
And in case you think I'm forgetting the Oceanic region, the first round of their tournament is to be a mini league featuring American Samoa (203), Cook Islands (197), Samoa (203) and Tonga (201)...the number in brackets shows the FIFA ranking...203 puts you bottom of the FIFA rankings...anybody got a Cook Island passport I could borrow? Might be a nice little holiday with a bit of World Cup experience...
No comments:
Post a Comment