WEEKLY WHINE

Let the truth be told

It's a Month of Action for the 2006 Men's World Cup qualifiers. Starting yesterday, when the second round started up in the OFC, there's a 37 day span wherein 110 matches are being contested. They'll get rid of sixteen teams from the list of potential qualifiers, they'll illustrate strengths and weaknesses, and they'll start to separate some of the other teams.

OFC

Australia and New Zealand.

Right?

Maybe. If anyone's going to give the regional royalty some problems, it would be the Solomon Islands and Fiji. The Solomon Is won Group 1 of the first round, and Fiji won Group 2. Both had only small amounts of difficulty with their opponents, but experience tells us that doesn't necessarily map well to their results against the Socceroos and the All Whites.

Australia defeated New Zealand 1-0 yesterday, and they finish up with a meeting against the Solomon Is that could well decide everything. Two of the six teams are going to move through to a playoff - held more than a year hence - to determine the OFC representative in the playoff with CONMEBOL's number five team.

CONMEBOL

Meanwhile in CONMEBOL, prepare for Brazil-Argentina.

Can you believe they'd never played a Men's World Cup qualifier against one another until four years ago?

See, what happened was, half the time one or the other qualified automatically as the host or the defending champion. And then the rest of the time, CONMEBOL divided the participants into groups, and they were always seeded into different groups. And this time, Brazil are the defending champions, so they get in automatically... oh wait, never mind. Thanks, FIFA.

Anyway, at the moment Argentina are in first place, Brazil third. Argentina have rarely had trouble in qualifying: only once [Mexico 1970] have they entered qualifying but failed to make the tournament. Brazil, of course, are the only nation never to miss a Men's World Cup, though for Korea/Japan 2002 they made it interesting.

So that match is coming up soon. Argentina get to follow up their trip to Belo Horizonte with a match against Paraguay, who are currently second. The big surprise in CONMEBOL qualifying right now is the Vinotinto, Venezuela. They're in fourth, which would be good enough to qualify if there weren't any matches left. But bad news for them: There are 13 matches left. Good news for them: Their next two are against mid-table Chile and Peru.

By SUN 06 JUN 2004, we'll have played seven out of eighteen matches. That's about the point at which the standings start to tell us something meaningful.

CAF

Good news everyone! FIFA finally decided to put away all this nonsense about docking Cameroon points!

For those of you who slept through it, Cameroon were penalised six points because they didn't listen when FIFA told them to stop wearing ridiculous uniforms. But a couple of weeks ago, at the FIFA congress, the 52 members of CAF - including Cameroon's Group 3 opponents, no less - put forth a request to have Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, repeal the punishment. He needs a vote from the member nations to do that, and he got it: all 201 eligible voters said it was okay for him to give them their six points back. So he did.

That's democracy in action: You get the right answer... eventually.

Anyway, Cameroon have three matches within the next five weeks. They've got Benin at home, Libya away, and Côte d'Ivoire at home. Pencil in five points for them, maybe seven. So by that point, we should be seeing Cameroon and Egypt near the top of the table - and remember, if the deduction had stood, Cameroon would be in last place for months.

Elsewhere on the big board, how about Congo DR-Burkina Faso? That'll be a big tilt over in Group 2. And the Ghana-South Africa match will be going on at about the same time, too. Those four teams will be just beating one another up trying to get to the top of the group, which is where you have to be if you want to play in Germany 2006.

AFC

Humberto Coelho last year: "South Korea? Good footballers, just went to the World Cup semifinals, sweet gig!"

Humberto Coelho last month: "%&@*!"

Yes, Coelho resigned from his position as the Korea Republic's coach a month ago, for the heinous crime of not defeating the Maldives in Male. And a week and a half before a key match with Vietnam, the Korean Football Association still has yet to select Coelho's successor. Way to go.

And you know what's really messed up about this whole thing? Korea Rep are still in first place in Group 7. Granted, there's not a lot of room for error, as you have to win your group to get through to the next round, but there you go. First place.

Elsewhere, there are no fewer than three meetings next week between teams who are tied for first: Iran-Jordan in Group 1, Uzbekistan-Palestine in Group 2, and Saudi Arabia-Turkmenistan in Group 8. Keep an eye out for Palestine, who had a good debut performance in qualifying for Korea/Japan 2002 and are off to a good start this time, including firing eight past Chinese Taipei.

CONCACAF

Twelve matchups. Twenty four matches. Twelve winners. Twelve losers.

The Netherlands Antilles lost their first leg against Antigua-Barbuda 2-0. But there's nothing like home cooking: when they got back to Willemstad, they won 3-0 and earned a place in the Group 7 final against Honduras and Bora Milutinovic. Some reward.

But Honduras's results have not been spectacular of late, with draws in friendlies against Jamaica and Panama. The Neth Antilles are at home for the first leg, which could be an advantage for them if they can take an early lead and unsettle Honduras. But knowing Milutinovic, it'll be tough to unsettle a team that has him at the helm.

Perhaps the biggest meeting in the final pairings of the first round is in Group 3, where Haiti meet Jamaica. With the unstable political situation back home, the Haitian side hasn't been home for some months now - they've been training in Miami, FL, USA, which is where their "home" leg will be played.

The US will also host the first leg of the Dominica-Mexico series in Group 9. Dominica don't have any international quality pitches, so they're going to the Alamodome. Word on the street is that they're trucking in temporary grass as we speak.

Cuba face a severe test in Costa Rica, whereas Trinidad-Tobago meet up with the Dominican Republic. By the end of JUN 2004, we'll have a semifinal round lineup for you.