32 Are In

Following this week's action, we now know the 32 teams that will be joining FGOC in South Africa next June.

EUROPE ZONE (13 places available):
England
Spain
The Netherlands
Italy
Serbia
Denmark
Slovakia
Switzerland
Germany
Greece
France (Cheaters)
Portugal
Slovenia

ASIA ZONE (Four automatic places, plus one play-off place):
Australia
DPR Korea
Japan
Korean Republic

AFRICA ZONE (5 automatic places sealed, plus South Africa automatically qualify as the host nation):
South Africa (Hosts)
Algeria
Cote d’Ivoire
Nigeria
Cameroon
Ghana

SOUTH AMERICA ZONE (Four automatic places, plus Uruguay, who beat Costa Rica to qualify):
Brazil
Chile
Paraguay
Argentina
Uruguay

NORTH, CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN ZONE (Three automatic places, plus one play-off place - Costa Rica, who lost to Uruguay in the playoff's):
Mexico
Honduras
USA

OCEANIA ZONE (New Zealand beat Asia Zone runners-up Bahrain 1-0 in play-off to qualify):
New Zealand

Now it gets interesting. We won't know who Australia will play until December 4 (December 5 in Oz). I must say that there aren't many teams here I wouldn't want to see.

But if I had to pick: England, France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and Brazil would be my top choices in addition to the USA and Australia. Of course, it'll probably be the other ones that are the most fun - I like that it'll be unexpected - like one of the African teams or something.

I've seen Japan, Greece, USA, Mexico, Australia, and Argentina in person before.

Who do you want to see?

Encore: Le Main de Dieu

Here’s the video of Thierry Henry’s “Le Main de Dieu,” as some are calling it, although I have to beg to differ on the nomenclature here. Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” resulted directly in a goal; Henry’s hand ball simply allowed him to control the ball so he could pass it to William Gallas, who then scored a goal.



So perhaps it’s not a “Hand of God” so much as it is the hand of some saint. Who’s the patron saint of hand balls?

To his credit, Henry admits it was a hand ball, but he promptly passes the buck to referee Martin Hansson:

“I will be honest, it was a hand ball. But I’m not the ref,” Henry said. “I played it. The ref allowed it. That’s a question you should ask him.”

And while we’re goofing on Les Bleus, here’s a classic “Family Guy” riff on Zinedine Zidane:

Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys Cheaters

N Zed Is In

Despite the very uncomfortable nickname of the All Whites, which I've blogged about before, New Zealand has just defeated Bahrain to advance to its first World Cup since 1982.


Good on 'em.

New Zealand is kinda Australia's Canada. Has a fraction of the population (4 million to 22 million), they sorta sound alike - but have dead giveaway words that bring out their true native land, and the smaller country has a "nice guy" reputation *until* you accuse them of being from the larger country.

Just watch Flight of the Conchords.

I just did the math, and since my mother-in-law is a Kiwi, that makes my two boys one-quarter Kiwi. I gotta cheer for the All Whites.

Ed Note: If my kids are now 1/4 Kiwi, that means they are only 1/4 Australian - and 1/2 American. Just told my wife this and it did not sit well.

So, my New Zealand brethren - see you in South Africa!

Tour of South Africa

It looks like FIFA is turning tour guide. On the official site (not to mention the official Twitter feed) for the World Cup, they’re pointing us to some tourist guides for host cities in South Africa. Today, it’s Cape Town.

As we approach the final lap of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers, the spotlight will inevitably fall on next month's Final Draw which will decide the destination and the fate of the 32 qualified teams that will participate in Africa's maiden FIFA World Cup next year.

And, it is therefore no surprise that Cape Town, the city that will host the Final Draw on 4 December is now the centre of attention. In South Africa, Cape Town is often fondly referred to as the ‘Mother City’, and after a short tour of the place, it is probably not hard to imagine as to why this artistic centre that sits at the foot of one of the most majestic peaks, Table Mountain, holds such significance for the Rainbow Nation.

Renowned for its beautiful beaches, bright sunshine and artistic places, Cape Town will provide the perfect setting for the draw and, with its summer weather, the city is now gearing itself up to welcome visitors and teams alike. Known as a melting point of different cultures, languages and ethnic groups, Cape Town is one of the highly coveted destinations in South Africa for tourists.

The “Mother City”? That’s kind of lame. Other than that, though, I can’t wait to get to Cape Town. I hear it’s beautiful. And the stadium is practically in the ocean.

I think we’ll do a roundup of host cities once we know where Australia is playing (i.e., where we’ll actually be and when). But does anyone have any advice on South Africa? None of us has ever gone, so we’ll be looking for non-football things to do and see, particularly if they’re off the beaten path.

Bought the Book

Well, we're getting a little closer to South Africa.

I went out and bought a f*cking Lonely Planet.

Australians love Lonely Planet. It was apparently founded thirty some-odd years ago by travel loving Brits that made Melbourne their home. Every upper middle-class home in Australia has a f*cking bookshelf full of their own Lonely Planet collection to show off to their visitors.

Wow, you went to Peru? I've always wanted to go there.

My home in Melbourne even has the USA and Texas editions of the Aussie travel bible - how's that for irony.

They love to tell you about how Australians are so cultured because they spend so much of their lives overseas - but it usually means a few trips to cheap Asia, the compulsory year in London, and a two week long trip to New York and LA.

I know that Americans suck at international travel, but good lord stop with the preaching about world travel already.

Anyway, I bought the Lonely Planet - South Africa edition the other day. Why is costs $45 AUD in its hometown but I can get get it on Amazon.com for $19.73 AUD is beyond me.

Then, like true American tourist dorks - Herrmann and I went to one of those hip Melbourne laneway bars last Friday afternoon to look through it and decide that we really need to get serious about the trip.

The strangest thing about the Lonely Planet is that it doesn't have a separate World Cup section, it just sorta talks about WC venues in respective cities. That and headlines like this:

"The 2010 World Cup will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but Southern Africa offers a plethora of memorable activities such as the following:"

Which then lists 10 random active sports activities such as paragliding, bungee jumping, and pony trekking - three things I can guarantee will not be part of our "once-in-a-lifetime experience."

So, I'll dive into the book and try to find out more, and I've been hunting around a few other travel Web sites such as the official South Africa travel site.

We're almost a month away from the official draw when we'll know where we'll need to be - now we just need to get there.