WCQ re-cap

We are that much closer to knowing the participants in next summer's World Cup. Cameroon, New Zealand, and Nigeria punched their tickets. I made some predictions before this round of European and American play-offs, some right some wrong. Quick thoughts:

I saw a 1-1 in Athens and it turned out to be a draw, but without goals. This puts Ukraine in an interesting position. They have to win one game at home and they are through... but the classic conundrum of a nil draw in the first leg (away) is that a score draw at home puts the opponent through on away goals. I still think Ukraine do it.

Russia got by 2-1 and although I didn't see the game the reports indicate it was closer than I had expected. Going away to Slovenia there is a chance this gets complicated but I still think Russia go through.

I thought Bosnia would get a point in the first leg but they came up a bit short. A few fortunate bounces off posts ensured Portugal's one goal was enough. To be completely honest I would still be willing to bet Bosnia win this series. Let's see what happens in midweek.

Ireland played hard but France was just too much to overcome. Going home with a win in their pocket France is likely to be back in the World Cup. Although for the record they did lose to Scotland in Paris during qualification for last year's Euros. Still, there is probably too much quality in the French side.

Uruguay got an away win in San Jose by the minimum. I was not at all surprised by this and it could have been by more. I saw a little more than half of this game and a few things came to mind: 1, the ball bounced off the pitch as much yesterday as it did when the US played there in the spring. At what point does the CR federation just say "okay this is absurd we are going to do something about it". 2, the Uruguayans seemed bent on forcing passes through tiny slivers of holes in the Costa Rican defense (it was usually the final ball) and often it didn't work. With other options available they could have done more damage. If they correct this they might run up the score in Montevideo. 3, most of the game was shot as a close up with the camera quickly following the ball. This gave the awkward feeling of not seeing most of the field and not really knowing what was going on in a larger sense. It is strange and kind of amusing at first but robs the viewer of the usual experience of watching a game on television.