Talking about surprizes in World Soccer?

-Ghana makes it to their first WC, and yet the "European Champion" Greece didn't.
-Cote d'Ivore qualifies and Uruguay is out.
-Togo is in, and yet Cameroon with E'too are not going.
-Angola will make its first appearance, and Nigeria an Olimpic Champ is out.

Whats World soccer comming to??

I beleive that Uruguay can beat Argentina (weds) to qualify as the 5th place team and play Australia in a play off to get there?

In fact i dont even think they have to win. Just hope other results go for them. But a win would send them to the playoff.

Awesome to see some Different African Teams qualify. Ivory Coast is going to be under the radar and really could do well this summer.

Cameroon missed a 90th minute penalty to not go. Etoo was going to take it, but then Rigobert Song told him he would take it and crashed it against the post....GUTTED!

Dude that is surprising that cameroon and Uruguay! That is in fact a disappointment not to see Nigeria and Cameroon as good as they have been doing in the world cups!

Nigeria was 0-2-1 in 2002, finishing last in their group and scoring only 1 goal the whole tournament. they havent been doing THAT good.

they are still a fun fast team to watch

It was Pierre Wome that missed the penalty for Cameroon, just to clarify.

Updated: Oct. 11, 2005, 7:00 AM ET
Wome blasts Eto'o over penalty story

MILAN, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Pierre Wome, whose missed penalty cost Cameroon a place in the World Cup finals, says he could have been killed by fans after Saturday's match and that his family is now living under police protection.

Wome, who plays for Inter Milan, struck an injury-time penalty against the post in the qualifier against Egypt, leaving the game to finish 1-1 which allowed Ivory Coast to qualify for the finals ahead of Cameroon.


'It could have ended very badly indeed,' Wome told the Italian news agency ANSA after returning to Inter's training camp on Tuesday. 'They wanted to and could have killed me.

'Even though I am a tough lad and I have never been afraid of death, my concern was about the safety of my relatives,' added Wome, who joined Inter from Bologna this season after playing in England for Fulham and in Spain for Espanyol earlier in his career.

Wome said that some fans had mistakenly attacked vehicles they thought belonged to him and that his family in Cameroon were now being protected by police.

The defender disputed Cameroon captain Samuel Eto'o's version of Saturday's events in which the Barcelona forward said he had not taken the penalty because Wome wanted to convert it.

'I'm very angry with Eto'o because what he said isn't true,' he said. 'We did not talk on the pitch but I took into account that he and the captain didn't feel up to it so I went to take it myself given that I was on the list of penalty takers.

'No one wanted to take that penalty. No-one. Neither Eto'o nor our captain, because they knew what could have happened if they missed. I have always had the courage and I went to the spot.'

PROPERTY DAMAGED

Wome said that Cameroon had a list of three players who were designated penalty takers - himself, Eto'o and Chelsea midfielder Geremi who was suspended for Saturday's match.

'I knew it would be tough if I had missed. Apart from my own personal regret, I think about what happened in the whole of Cameroon. I also think of my relatives who live there.

'I thought about them a lot and before going back to the dressing room at the end of the match I asked the police how they were. They told me they would take care of my family's security.

'The fans have caused some damage to property but the most important thing is that my family is okay.'

The left back said that he would consider continuing his career with the national team.

'I'll think about it. For now I'm just going to concentrate on where I am now. All the rest isn't important because I have seen many other similar, if not, worse situations. Always in Cameroon,' he said.

that sucks.....people are crazy...i wish soccer would be half that important in our country.

I don't see how people can over react on those type of situations! I mean the team plays as a whole not just one person makes a team. So if the team didn't make it to the WC its because of the team. And just a reminder do the people from Cameroon not remember what happened at the WC when one of their players died on the middle of the field? Do they really want another great player gone from the field too?

The Final Draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ will take place in Leipzig on December 9th. You can follow it live on FIFAworldcup.com.

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Ecuador
England
France
Germany
Ghana
Iran
Italy
Ivory Coast
Japan
Korea Republic
Mexico
Netherlands
Paraguay
Poland
Portugal
Saudi Arabia
Serbia & Montenegro
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Togo
Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia
Ukraine
United States

How is it that Mexico will be seeded and the United States will not? Not only did the U.S. finish ahead of Mexico in CONCACAF qualifying, but we beat them in the last World Cup. What gives?

The official method for ranking can be found at:

http://www.fifa.com/documents/fifa/events/FinalDraw_Pot1.pdf

The quick and easy answer as to why Mexico is seeded and the US is not goes back to the 32nd place finish at the 1998 World Cup. That cost a lot of points in the FIFA system. Mexico finished 13th then. Also, Mexico has been consistently ranked in the World Rankings as a few places higher than the US.

It's not actually Mexico that was our competition for seeding, but Argentina and Italy, who each finished with one point higher than the US in the seeding algorithm. Mexico was four points above the US.

I'm sure that if the US was seeded, and Italy or Argentina were not, there would be a lot of interesting discussion on Italian or Argentinian message boards...

[Post Edit]: If you look closely, there are some errors in the points attributed to Italy and the US in the row for FIFA World Ranking. It doesn't amount to enough to change the overall classification, but it does shake my confidence in FIFA. Plus, it makes for a good conspiracy theory.

[Post Edit Part Deux]: Nevermind. There are no errors, it's just that the algorithm was not explained simply enough for my over-taxed noggin.

I guess I'm just sad that we missed out on a seed by just one point...

The rankings are very well done and it will be very interesting to see the draw on friday. There is certainly going to be a group of death, and Serbia and Montenegro are already a little bit unadvantaged as they will be in either the Mexico, Brazil, or Argentina group no matter what happens, with 2 of these teams being very formidable opponents.

U.S. misses a seed by one point.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/soccer/12/06/bc.soc.wcupdraw.seeding.ap/index.html

how is it already determined that serbia is already placed in one of those 3 groups?

Otherwise there would be three Euro teams in one group, and FIFA wants to avoid that.

seeing how the us wasn't ranked and will probably not get a favorable draw, what do you think of their chances? also, who do yall think will actually win the whole thing?

dude expect a win from either Germany, The Netherlands or The MIGhty Brazil.