Big make-or-break matches over the coming week:

Honduras at Mexico -- who ever wins this qualifies -- probably Mexico

Ukraine vs. Germany
Belgium vs. Czech Republic
Slovenia vs. Romania
Austria vs. Turkey
Ireland vs. Iran
These are home-and-away pairings -- I'd pick Germany (they're just so darned cute -- thanks Jim and Cyd for the picture), Czech Rep., Romania, Turkey and Ireland.

Uruguay vs Argentina
Brazil vs Venezuela
Paraguay vs Colombia

Uruguay and Brazil are vying for the 4th automatic bid from South America -- the 5th place team has to play Australia for the last spot. Brazil's coming off a hard loss at La Paz -- may find the going tough in Venezuela too.

And don't forget that the U.S. hosts Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday -- it will be on ABC -- if you can tear yourselves away from football -- real AMERICAN football!

Some interesting results...GER manages the 1-1 tie at the Ukraine, and Turkey wins in Austria. Remember, the teams that advance are those who score more goals than their opponents in the home-at-home series.
Anyway, for what it's worth:
UKR vs GER 1:1
Ireland vs Iran 2:0
AUS vs TUR 0:1
Slovenia vs Romania 2:1
Belgium vs Czech 1:0 (Cze played 10-man ball)
So, if Germany and/or Turkey win at home, they go to WC02. The other winners just have to win, but they have to do it on the road. Bruce is over in Korea and the rest of his boys will follow soon enough.

Here's a great picture taken prior to the U.S. v. Trinidad & Tobago match. This is what
sportsmanship is all about

[ November 13, 2001: Message edited by: DCBucky ]

Well Germany and Brazil finally qualified. Uruguay (or as Homer Simpson put it -- "Look! That country's called 'You are Gay'!") will face Australia in a play-off for the final berth. Also qualifying are Belgium, Turkey (first time since 1954)and Slovenia (first time ever). Ireland, barring disaster, should wrap up its bid today.

Happy Turks pile it on!

Brazil was very happy to finally make it through qualifying, as was Germany. Then both teams needed to play, they did (GER winning 1-0 at the Ukraine) and then Brazil did what did had to do.
Slovenia--what a great job!
As usual, the WC is going to be very exciting with some new faces.

The seeds were just announced -- with the rest of the draw to be held on Saturday -- co-hosts Japan and S. Korea, defending champ France, then Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Spain. Did England get rooked??

While it's true that Germany is in a freefall, they are still ranked 11th in the world while England is ranked 10th. In addition, the Germans have finished 7th and 5th in the last two WC while England was 9th in 98 and MIA in 94. Did England get rooked? They followed up the Germany win with ties against Greece and Sweden. No knock on the English (they are an incredible football squad) and they should use this as motivation.
I would have seeded them in this way:
1. France
2. Brazil
3. Argentina
4. Italy
5. Portugal
6. Germany
7. Japan
8. Korea
(also leaving out England, but then JAP and KOR get seeds as hosts)

Teams that are going to cause havoc in the pools will be Portugal, England and Denmark. I wonder who will be the top seed in this Cup's Group of Death? .... we'll see!

Group F. The Group of Death. No Question.
I said whoever gets England would not be happy, and I know the Argentines are not happy. What's worse is that the #2 team from F plays (most likely) France right away.
ANYWAY, some early thoughts...
A. France wins going away, with Denmark looking to advance.
B. Spain has the group if they want it, but they've been known not to want it. If they slide, look for Slovenia to step it up. If Paraguay puts together a nice game against either European team, they could slide into the top 2.
C. Brazil might have barely qualified, but they are here now. They'll make it out of this group. The Turkey-Costa Rica winner will also advance out (I say a resurgent Turkey). China, though, could bring thousands of people to every game.
D. The USA's draw....and Portugal is in this one. I think that the draw is favorable in that the USA got the host site (S Korea) as a draw. The Americans can take second in this group, but the Yanks will have to combat the S Koreans at home and also deal with a gritty Polish team. Not easy, but given the groups, not a bad draw at all.
E. Like the Brazilians, the Germans might have been lucky to qualify, but they did. They also should advance out of this group. The Irish, who needed extra games to qualify, should also come out. Cameroon is always a dark horse, but the Irish are hungry.
F. England is coached by a Swede. Nigeria gives everyone fits. Argentina has been installed as the favorite. Oh yeah. England and Argentina hate each other. Got to go with Eng and Arg here though.
G. Again, this group features the Italians and a good fight for 2nd. Mexico slumped early but put it together in CONCAF long enough to qualify. I think their luck has run out, so the Croatians, who had a great run four years ago, will look to get back to the knockout round.
H. The Belgians and the Russians can both lay claim to this group, but they are both battling past demons. Japan is playing at home, but if the European nations come to play, they both should advance.

Group F is really the Group of Death. Knowing that finishing second probably will mean playing France, the teams in this group have another incentive to finish first.

Is there a weakest group? Maybe one of the two with the host nations? (group D and H) Group H has no big favorite in it.