Where Can I Find World Cup Qualifiers On U.S. TV?

The first World Cup in Africa starts in only 9 months! We should have some fun with this tour­na­ment given the inter­na­tional affil­i­a­tions of the group.

Most coun­tries have only 2 or 3 matches left to qual­ify; some have already fin­ished qualifying.

The 28th through 32nd teams will make it to South Africa on Novem­ber 18, when the fifth place South Amer­ica team (cur­rently Colom­bia) hosts the fourth place Con­ca­caf team (cur­rently Costa Rica) in the return leg (first leg Nov 14) and the 8 best UEFA [Europe] 2nd place teams play their sec­ond legs.

There are very key matches com­ing up this Wednesday:

In South Amer­ica, Brazil has qual­i­fied and Chile and Paraguay are on the doorstep.  Argentina lies fourth just ahead of Colom­bia and Ecuador, with only 5 to qual­ify, and one via play­off.  Uruguay and Venezuela still have out­side shots, but Uruguay very hurt by their 1-nil loss to last place Peru Sat­ur­day (sorry, Arturo).  Uruguay hosts Colum­bia Wednes­day (tape-delayed on Setanta at 1:45 am Thurs­day night) while Argentina vis­its Paraguay (live on PPV, 7pm).

In Asia. Aus­tralia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea have all qual­i­fied already.  Bahrain and Saudi Ara­bia meet on Wednes­day (tape-delayed on FSC Thurs­day at 3pm) for their sec­ond leg play-off.  The win­ner will then play-off against New Zealand (Ocean­ian zone) for the final Asian side.

In CONCACAF, no one has qual­i­fied yet.  The best 4 should be Hon­duras (13pts), USA (13), Mex­ico (12) & Costa Rica (12), with only 3 auto­mat­i­cally qual­i­fy­ing and the fourth hav­ing to play-off against a South Amer­i­can side.  While Mex­ico strug­gled early, they should be in the driver’s seat hav­ing already played both matches against the US & Costa Rica, so only have to play Hon­duras, El Sal­vador & Trinidad.  Wednesday’s matches find the US in Trinidad (live @ 7pm:  ESPN Clas­sic and espn360.com), Mex­ico host­ing Hon­duras (9pm:  Uni­vi­sion), and Costa Rica in El Sal­vador.

In Africa, only one match this week (Cameroon v Gabon).  Only Ghana and host South Africa have qual­i­fied.  In the four remain­ing groups, Cote d’Ivoire are the pro­hib­i­tive favorites in Group E (need­ing just one more point from 2 matches), Alge­ria ahead of Egypt in Group C, Tunisia ahead of Nige­ria in Group B, and Gabon ahead of Togo & Cameroon in the Group of Death.

Finally, Europe.  13 teams qual­ify:  the 9 group win­ners and four play-off win­ners from the 8 best second-place teams.  Only Hol­land has qual­i­fied.  Den­mark is the sur­pris­ing leader of Group 1, with Hun­gary in sec­ond, and Swe­den and Por­tu­gal (!) fur­ther back.  Por­tu­gal go to Budapest for the fea­tured match Wednes­day (live on Setanta at 2:40).    In Group 2, Switzer­land has a 3 point lead on Greece & Latvia.  In Group 3, Slo­va­kia is the leader, North­ern Ire­land 2 points back, then Poland, Slove­nia, and finally Czech is 7 points back.  In Group 4, it looks like Ger­many (19) or Rus­sia (18) as group win­ner, with the two meet­ing on Octo­ber 10 in Moscow.  Rus­sia go to Wales Wednes­day (live on Fox Sports Espanol and espn360.com at 2:30; tape-delayed on FSC at 5 pm). In Group 5, Spain have dom­i­nated (7 wins in 7 matches) but still haven’t qual­i­fied.  They will with a home win against Esto­nia Wednes­day.  In Group 6, Eng­land will qual­ify with a home win against Croa­tia Wednes­day (live on PPV 2:45 Wed, and tape-delayed on Setanta at 6:45 pm Fri­day night).  In Group 7, Ser­bia has a 3-point lead over France, with the teams to meet Wednes­day in Belgrade.

In Group 8, Italy or Ire­land should qual­ify, with the sides meet­ing Octo­ber 10 in Dublin.  Italy host Bul­garia Wednes­day (live on GolTV at 2:45) with a game in hand.  Finally, in Group 9, Hol­land has already won the group, and Scot­land are fight­ing with Nor­way and Mace­do­nia for the play-off spot.  Scot­land host Hol­land at 2:45 Wedned­say (live on espn360.com).