Judgement Day in Europe - Part One

The first legs of the European zone play-offs has some intriguing ties. Ireland - France will be full of passion at Croke Park, but will the French have the skills to overcome the Irish onslaught? This tie is extra juicy thanks to the war of words in the lead up to the match with French coach Raymond Domenech referring to Ireland as "England B" and Irish defender Richard Dunne responding with attacks on Domenech. My prediction? Ireland to win by 1 goal tonight, but to lose out overall.

Portugal face a youthful and exciting Bosnia-Herzegovina without Cristiano Ronaldo who is injured. Can playing Nani in his place possibly get them to the World Cup? My prediction is for Portugal to answer Sepp Blatter's prayers and make it to South Africa, but only just.

Will the World Cup be a poorer place for the absence of France or Portugal should they lose? Maybe. But there's been many a great player to miss out on the tournament because their team didn't do the business, and the only thoughts of loss should be within those countries themselves. If they'd played better they both had the class to have secured qualification before now.

Highgly rated Russia face off against possibly the weakest playoff team Slovenia, and in the last tie Greece face Ukraine. My predictions for those are for Russia to win home and away and ease through, and for Ukraine to edge past Greece.

Nothing will be decided conclusively tonight of course, although a good win for anyone could see the tie effectively over before Wednesday's judgement day part two.

My viewing choice will be Ireland - France, where I'm expecting a green onslaught against a potentially fragile France team, although their more recent run of form shows the runners-up from the 2006 World Cup aren't to be taken lightly.

All White On The Night

New Zealand's All Whites scraped through in a close encounter in Wellington to beat Bahrain 1-0 and qualify for only their second World Cup Finals. A header from Rory Fallon was enough to win this intercontinental playoff, although Bahrain missed a second half penalty which would have seen them through on away goals.


To be honest, it was two poor teams scrapping it out. On this evidence New Zealand will need to up their game somewhat next summer, although the tension of the occasion may account for some of the scrappiness. Bahrain did more of the attacking, including a late onslaught, but in truth never really threatened aside from a couple of long shots, up until their penalty.

New Zealand threatened in patches, but the goal was well taken and they also hit the woodwork twice in the few chances they did create. All in all, a decent game with few chances, played out in great atmosphere as the Kiwi fans donned white instead of black to cheer their team through.

Neither team would have caused much of a ripple next summer, but it's New Zealand who will get the chance. What price being paired with Australia or England in South Africa? But let's not take away from New Zealand's big moment.

They may only have had to scrape past New Caledonia, Fiji, Vanuatu and Bahrain to qualify - surely the easiest route to the Finals ever? - but qualify they have, and you can only beat what's put in front of you. Their fans will I'm sure bring a party atmosphere to proceedings in South Africa and will enjoy every moment, however short lived it will be.