World Cup 2010 Participants

Yesterday, the World Cup field was finalized. There were 6 play-off games that were all pretty exciting. My favorite was Algeria sending Egypt home. I'm also glad that Ireland were eliminated on such a controversial goal.  I've never liked them. I'm happy the Hand of Frog (or some call it the Hand of Gaul) knocked them out.

Here are the 32 teams that will compete.

UEFA -Europe - Denmark, England, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia, France, Spain, Slovakia, Switzerland, Greece,  Slovenia, Portugal, Germany
CONMEBOL - South America - Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay
CONCACAF - North America - USA, Mexico, Honduras
CAF - Africa - Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria Host - South Africa.
AFC - Asia - Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
Oceania - New Zealand

The World Cup starts in mid-June, but right now, Brasil and Spain are clear favorites. World Cups outside of Europe tend to be riddled with the most upsets, and I expect at least one African team to get pretty far. My confidence in the Yanks is pretty low. Our roster is thin, and we are not clicking at all.

Climbing the Ladder has a great writeup on the elimination of teams  ranked 33 - 208. The first teams were eliminated in March of 2007. Qualification is a grueling marathon.