The qualifying for the 2014 World Cup for the European nations will begin September 7, 2012, with 53 nations competing for 13 berths in the Brazil World Cup. Nine teams that will win the groups will qualify, and the 8 best runner ups will compete in a 2 leg playoffs, determined by a draw, to decide the last 4 qualifiers.
Group A
Quite a tight group, with one very intense match between the two favorites to finish on top, Croatia and Serbia. Belgium and Scotland will probably be eyeing the second spot as well.
Croatia
Serbia
Belgium
Scotland
Macedonia
Wales
Group B
Italy will face most of their problems from Denmark in this one, but nothing much else. They tend to finish first with boring fashion every time.
Italy
Denmark
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
Armenia
Malta
Group C
Germany should make it through with little disturbance from Ireland and Sweden, both probably battling for the second spot.
Germany
Sweden
Ireland
Austria
Faroe Islands
Kazakhstan
Group D
Forget about 2002. The Netherlands, along with Spain, are usually the best team across the continent during the qualifiers. No one in this one is even close. The battle for second is wide open though.
Netherlands
Turkey
Hungary
Romania
Estonia
Andorra
Group E
A very tight and open group. Norway, Switzerland and Slovenia are hardly apart and will finish in the top two spots.
Norway
Slovenia
Switzerland
Albania
Cyprus
Iceland
Group F
Portugal haven’t been having it easy in recent qualifiers. Russia can be a handful. The rest? Maybe, maybe Israel can cause some problems. Maybe.
Portugal
Russia
Israel
Northern Ireland
Azerbaijan
Luxembourg
Group G
Another wide open group. Each of the first three teams can finish on top. Advantage? Probably Greece, by an inch.
Greece
Slovakia
Bosnia
Lithuania
Latvia
Lichtenstein
Group H
England have a rather comfortable draw with known opponents. Some of them haven’t made it easy for Capello’s men in recent clashes.
England
Montenegro
Ukraine
Poland
Moldova
San Marino
Group I
One mega match, well actually two. France vs Spain. No chance those two don’t finish as the best 2 teams. Spain are clear favorites, understandably.
Spain
France
Belarus
Georgia
Finland
5 responses to “2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification (UEFA) Draw”
Won’t be easy against Spain but games are starting in 2 years ? the France team is already quite young so there shouldn’t be any problem but what about spain ?
Capdevilla will be 35
Puyol – 35
Xavi – 33
Well, I try to be optimistic but it will be complicated.
Does the fact that we’re in a 5 teams pool affect anything ?
@Sando I don’t think it matters. In other groups they take away the result with the team that’ll finish sixth in the calculations for the second spot. Right now, Spain look like the better side. Do you see anyone who will turn the tide for France in two years time?
Well i’m an optimistic person so I think France will be much stronger in 2 years.
Benzema should have proven by now that he is Real Madrid top forward and world class striker. Same goes for Gameiro & Hoarau (both sub and both play at PSG). Makes 3 differents type of forward
Benzema – overall excellent
Gameiro – fast strike. Kinda like djbril Cissé but with skills ^^
Hoarau – good header and knows how to defend.
In midfield, Nasri – M’villa (my guess is he won’t be there in WC) – Matuidi – Gourcuff are all young (less than 24y old).
Chantome could also be in that team. Versatile player and incredibly consistent player. (and also plays at PSG so he knows Gameiro-matuidi-hoarau-sakho-menez very well). Marvin Martin could also be a very good playmaker in 2 or 3 years.
We’re still lacking wingers.
In defense. I believe Mexes is world class and now plays in AC Milan. Rami is good but should be a sub. Sakho is a beast, by far the strongest CB france has and his fate is to be France captain at some point.
Sakho is PSG captain this season, he’s only 21. He was elected the strongest CB of ligue 1 last year by the other players. With all the changes to PSG this year, if Sakho manage to still improve then he will be a starter with France. (Bisevac, serbian CB, compared Sakho to a younger version of Vidic 😉 )
There’s Varane too even if he’s still a bit young, but will learn a lot from Carvahlo & Mourinho.
Problem is our LB & RB. Sagna & Evra will probably be too old.
And no problem with our Goalkeeper. Mandanda is world class and Lloris is among the best GK in the world. And both are under 25.
For spain, I think Xavi is the most important player and probably the greatest spanish player ever. Him & Puyol are the heart of that team and they might have retire from national team in 2 years.
@Sando The potential is there… In my mind the most solid stock is Lloris, one of the top 4 keepers in the world (in my opinion)… Too many Ifs and players needing to develop.
I agree. Most of them are 24y old and that’s very young in a national team (compare to spain, england, netherland, … )
Also, I agree for Lloris. I’ve seen him play a lot of time and to me is the best GK in the world. But i’m not objective ^^
But, PSG is building something similar to barcelona now.
Similar because the backbone of Spain are players from Barcelona (puyol-pique-xavi-iniesta-villa). And at PSG, we now have (Sakho – Matuidi – Chantome – Menez – Hoarau – Gameiro)
Matuidi is much better than M’villa. More versatile, he’s kinda of a younger version of Makelele with an amazing left foot.