My favorite Teams (WC, April 1st update)

Israel
The dream is over. We needed a win with a tie we could have kept on dreaming, but the loss in Crate ended it all. Not many of knew, that until this loss Israel had the longest active unbeaten streak in WC (qualifications and finals). Our last loss was on March 28th 2001 (19 games and more than 8 years) to Austria in Vienna (also 2:1 on a PK). We had some good results away from home (0:0 at France, 2:2 at Ireland, 1:1 at Switzerland), even an occasional loss like the one in Vienna or Crate should not have stopped us from progressing. The problem is our inability to beat our competitors at home (Spain and Austria for WC 2002; Switzerland, Ireland and France for WC 2006; Switzerland and Greece for WC 2010).

It took the Israelite 40 years to get to the promise land. It looks like Israeli soccer will need more than that. On the good side, as a Cubs fan, this futility streak doesn’t even come close.

Brazil
Round 12th of CSF qualifier started with good news from Puerto Ordaz Venezuela where 8th place Venezuela beat 6th place Colombia 2:0. Chile drawing with 5th place Uruguay and Paraguay doing the same with 7th place Ecuador while not ideal were not bad either. 9th place Bolivia beat Argentina 6:1 is unlikely to have any impact on Brazil. The must win over Peru was crucial, Brazil in now in 2nd place and more importantly, they have a 4 points lead on 5th place and are a full 7 point and 18 goals ahead of 6th place.

With 6 games to go, brazil seems to be on the right track for qualification, but they are not playing like Brazil.

USA
A young sticker showed that he belongs and that is a good promise for the future. So far the US is on track with 2 home wins and an away draw. However Costa Rica with two homes win and a loss at Mexico is not far behind. Mexico doesn’t look good right now with only 3 points, but they only have one tough away game left (@Costa Rica) and have yet to play the weaker teams (El Salvador and T&T). To feel good the US will need to stay on plan and get 4 points in the next two games (@Costa Rica and Honduras in Chicago). Three points will not be the end of the world, but anything else will force the US to battle the 2nd half of the hex.

Netherlands
What a great week, 3:0 over Scotland, 4:0 over FYRM a 5:0:0 record (15 points) and a goal difference of +11. What more can you ask for? The Netherlands can do no worse than 2nd place. All teams in the group have a negative goal differential. The max points to the other teams in the group are Norway 17, Scotland 16, Macedonia 15 (will have to make up 16 goals) and Iceland 13.

The Netherlands will be in the WC the only question is if they will qualify on June 6th (when they play in Iceland) or June 10th (when they host Norway).

Spain
Spain had almost as good a week as the Netherlands with two wins over Turkey they are now 6:0:0. With 4 games to go including home to Belgium and Estonia and away to Armenia, they should be a lock to qualify, if they can get 7 points, the last game in Bosnia will be meaningless. In case you were wondering, Spain has the longest active unbeaten streak in world cup qualifying (not including WC finals), their last loss was March 31st 1993 to Denmark in Copenhagen (16 years and 39 games if I counted correctly).

Spain is in a great position; they should clinch qualification with a game or two to go.