World Cup Qualifying Final Weekend: UEFA Predictions!

The final European qualifying weekend presents quite a lot to chew on.  Only three teams out of 13 have booked a place in South Africa 2010, The Netherlands, England, and Spain.

Six more teams will qualify this coming weekend, and eight will earn the right to play off in November for the last four spots.

Group 1

Denmark 18

Sweden 15

Portugal 13

Hungary 13

Albania 7

Malta 1

The Danes have a stranglehold on this group.  After a disappointing 2006 campaign in which a very good Danish squad missed the second place playoff spot by 1 point, they've taken control this time around. 

Both of their remaining games are at home versus Sweden and Hungary.  Beating the Swedes is enough.

Denmark takes 6 points from their next two games, as does Portugal.  Sweden gets 3 more against Albania, but it's not enough.  The Swedes become the disappointed Scandinavians of 2010.

Denmark wins the group, and Portugal finishes second with 19 points to Sweden's 18 and Hungary's 13. 

Group 2

Switzerland 17

Greece 14

Latvia 14

Israel 12

No traditional football powerhouses in this group.  It's not quite anyone's bag, though, as the Swiss can guarantee qualification with wins away at Luxembourg and at home against Israel. 

Greece wins its remaining games against Latvia and Luxembourg, both at home, to earn a playoff spot. 

Group 3

Slovakia 19

Slovenia 14

Northern Ireland 14

Czech Republic 12

Poland 11

Slovakia is the surprise of this group, one win away from qualifying for their very first World Cup, and they do with a home win against Slovenia. 

The only other game on Matchday 14 is the Czechs beating Poland at home, and the fight for second place gets messy when the standings look like this on the final Matchday.

Slovakia 22

Czech Republic 15

Slovenia 14

Northern Ireland 14

Matchday 15 Poland beats Slovakia at home, Slovenia creams San Marino, but to no avail, the Czechs beat Northern Ireland at home and book a playoff spot with 18 points.

Group 4

Only two teams in this group matter. Germany is in first with 22 points, and Russia in second with 21 points.  Third place Finland, with 14 points, is out of contention.

Germany at Russia is the premiere matchup of Matchday 14.  The winner of this game wins the group.  The loser has to enter the dreaded playoff. 

Okay, okay, there is a Matchday 15, but with Russia playing at Azerbaijan and Germany hosting Finland at home, expect both teams to earn 3 points. 

Germany does what they need to do and play Russia to a tie in Moscow, preserving their group lead and qualifying on Matchday 15.

Group 5

Spain has already qualified with a perfect record through eight games.  Newcomers Bosnia-Herzegovina are a surprising second with 16 points, leading traditional contender Turkey by 4. 

One win seals a playoff spot, and since they play host to Spain in Matchday 15, Bosnia-Herzegovina gets their win on Matchday 14 at Estonia, shredding a leaky defense that's given up 22 goals while only scoring 7.

Group 6

England has already clinched a berth with a perfect 8-0 record.  Croatia, 17 points, and the Ukraine, 15 points, are fighting it out for the playoff spot. 

Unfortunately for the Ukraine, Croatia has a match in hand, and gets to shred Kazakhstan for 3 points, while the Ukraine needs to get at least 5 points between hosting England and playing at Andorra.  Not gonna happen.  Croatia gets the playoff spot.

Group 7

Serbia leads this group with 19 points, and France struggled early, and is in second with 15 points.  Will France overtake Serbia?  No.  Both teams will win their last two matches and maintain the status quo, making France the third big name, behind Russia, and Portugal to be relegated to a playoff spot.

Group 8

This is the Italy-Ireland group.  It was shaping up to be a Russia-Germany type of confrontation, but it's not quite gonna happen that way.  Italy leads the group with 20, and Ireland trails with 16, and Italy plays at Dublin and will lose on Matchday 14, making the standings Italy 20, Ireland 19, but then on Matchday 15, Italy plays creampuff Cyprus, and Ireland Montenegro, maintaining the status quo.  Ireland enters the playoffs.

Group 9

The Dutch are perfect at 8-0 and have secured a place in South Africa.  Second place Norway has only 10 points, meaning the 8 other second-place teams in Groups 1 - 8 will earn playoff spots.

The nine group winners that will book a spot to the 2010 Finals this weekend are:

Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy, and the Netherlands

The eight countries that will be relegated to playoffs for the four remaining UEFA spots are

Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Ireland

It's quite a hefty group.  FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced that the UEFA playoffs will be seeded by the FIFA team rankings, the top 4 in one bucket and the bottom four in another, then randomly drawn.  

The top four seeds currently are Russia (6), Croatia (9), France (10), Greece (12).

The other four are Portugal (17), Czech Republic (18), Ireland (38), Bosnia-Herzegovina (46).

Well, this creates some serious potential matchups with everything on the line.  France - Portugal? 

I say Russia, Croatia, France make it through, and Greece gets surprised by their matchup.