Monday, October 14, 2013

Who's Going to Brazil?

Hello Monday!

Brazil 2014. Who's going? So far we've got:

Brazil (Host With The Most), Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, United States of America, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Iran, Colombia, South Korea, Australia.

Tomorrow is another round of qualifying. We'll deal with that...tomorrow. For now, let's take a look back at the shit that that went down over the weekend and Friday.

Mexico busted out a massive sigh of relief Friday night when Raul Jimenez's insane bicycle kick gave them a late win at home against Panama. It kept El Tri in the hunt for a ticket to Brazil. Check it:



Is Mexico better off without its European-based players?

Meanwhile, up north in Kansas City, the U.S. didn't really impress too much but still cruised to a 2-0 win over The Reggae Boys. Local hero and K.C. Wizard (we don't like change) Graham Zusi came on for Donovan at the half and helped the Yank cause quite a bit. As is customary after such events, Grant Wahl has Three Thoughts. And Jeff Carlisle looks into Lando's half-time benching.

Roy Hodgson was another who was massively relieved on Friday night. England won at Wembley and boosted their hopes of a trip to South America. Dominic Fifield was on hand to see Andros Townsend make his mark. Here's a wrap of all the UEFA action.

As noted earlier in this post, Colombia will be in Brazil next summer. How? Falcao! He grabbed a brace in Colombia's draw with Chile. Here's a wrap of all the CONMEBOL action.
Colombians are quite pleased...
Spain have yet to qualify for Brazil. We're certain they will, but Sid Lowe has an interesting piece on the lack of a national stadium for the Spaniards and how that is such a disadvantage when it comes to any sort of home field advantage for qualifiers.

Africa! There are rains. We have blessed them. Nigeria has defeated Ethiopia and Tunisia and Cameroon have drawn. Those were some of the results of the first legs of the playoffs. Other results? Ivory Coast managed to cruise while Algeria managed to lose.

We'll finish back here. Major League Soccer. Still no breakdown, sadly, but there is a wrap. Portland beat Seattle, among other things...

The week is off and running.

-SSN

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