Now that we know who is going to the World Cup in Brazil and what groups they will be in I expect awhole bunch of predictions from a whole lot of folks, to the pundits on your TV screen, to the guy that stands in front of you every morning in the cafe when your trying to get life saving cup of Joe. Everyone will be an expert and I'm actually looking forward to that. I want to hear the bandwagons and crack pot theories that will accompany the World Cup this time around. People will thrust their favorites and dark horses in your face and you will be wondering how your friend that thought only a few months ago that Cote d'Ivoire was a type of men's cologne is now the guy that knows Honduras' third choice right back. I love it! I myself am going to try to play super analysis and bury myself into a world of player stats and historical clashes between sides and will do what I did a time back. Which is do some team previews and look to pick a winner for this World Cup but before I get trigger happy with predictions there is the matter of facts. They are 32 teams that will compete in Brazil come 2014 for the prestigious World Cup. If my math is correct and it usually isn't there is about 193 countries according to the United Nations at the moment. So…that would leave like 161 nations literally not doing anything football wise when the summer of 2014 rolls around. Not all in that number are bad, some are fairly useful and some really good. Ages ago I compiled a list of countries that I think could have made the World Cup and I'm back at it again. Like last time I'm very disappointed in teams on this thing for one reason or another. I've picked 32 sides to best mirror the World Cup number. Here is the best of the lot that didn't make the cut.
New Zealand- It's hard for New Zealand. The way how Oceania's qualification process is set up it almost ensures failure just ask Australia. Having to wait so long to enter the next phase of qualifying is not beneficial and the level of opposition the "Kiwis," face just to enter said phase is so poor it's a wonder how New Zealand keeps it's competitive edge. However, New Zealand knowing the scenario should be able to ready themselves for the test of a mental and physical layoff. It's not like they haven't been through it and they have made World Cups before via the same route.
Paraguay- Having seen Paraguay youth teams excel in tournaments it is a bit perplexing to see a nation that always seem to be at World Cups not in this one. CONMEBOL has always been tough and they have managed to get out of there alive but this time around it just hasn't happen. Having a strike force of Roque Santa Cruz, Lucas Barrios and Oscar Cardozo you would think they would have been okay but instead they finished last in CONMEBOL behind a quirky Bolivia. Disgraceful.
South Africa- FIFA loves to make a speech about how when they award a World Cup to a nation it is allowing football to grow in that land. Well obviously they forgot to water the plant that is South Africa because having host the last tournament the African nation has done very little. South Africa finished behind Ethiopia in group play in World Cup qualifying, last time I checked being out muscled by one of the minnows of your qualifying zone was not progress.
Egypt- Bob Bradley's Egypt absolutely put on the blinders when it came to qualification for the 2014 World Cup. It's been well publicized over the past few years the north African nation has had it's fair share of political turmoil and way of life for the citizenry has been tough but the "Pharaohs," really pushed hard to make it to the summer tournament in South America. Despite forwards Mohamed Aboutriaka and Mohamed Salah finishing as the region's joint top scorers in World Cup qualifiers the might of Ghana was too much for Egypt and the sub-Saharans waltzed by them.
Morocco- Adel Taarabt, Mauroane Chamakh, Younes Belhanda, Mounir El Hamdaoui, Omar El Kaddouri…If you let me I could name all their first team regulars and have a pop and their U-21s as well. All that talent could not get them past the magnificent Ivory Coast in group play. It's a shame they could have been nice to watch in Brazil.
Burkina Faso- Every year or two an African team seems to just appear out of the blue and really start to wow people. One of my wows has been Burkina Faso. Losing finalist in the 2013 African Cup of Nations, Burkina Faso was gaining real momentum at the tail end of 2012. That wave of good energy took them deep into World Cup qualification in Africa but I don't know if it was inexperience or Algeria's toughness that halted their march to Brazil.
Tunisia- Traditionally a leader in African football, Tunisia set about their qualifying campaign in fantastic fashion. The Tunisians topped Group B breezing pass the likes of Sierra Leone and Cape Verde. It all went wrong when they met Cameroon. Long story short Cameroon are in the World Cup and the Tunisians have to contend with watching the tournament back home in Tunis.
Senegal- I actually do feel for Senegal. After going through a lull the Senegalese look to be back amongst the big boys in African football. Top heavy upfront with the likes of Demba Ba and Papiss Demba Cisse, Senegal looked very dangerous. That being said so did Cote d'Ivoire. The Ivorians snuffed out the Senegalese Brazilian dream.
North Korea- North Korea actually has a pretty decent record when it comes to World Cup qualification. They were in South Africa in 2010 and they have been to prior tournaments. As a country the secretive DPR Korea tend to keep everything under wraps. What wasn't a mystery was how badly they were outclassed by Japan and Uzbekistan in the first stages of Asian qualifying. It always surprises me how well North Korea do but maybe now they are now dropping where I think they should be. Which is a difficult side to play but not hard to beat.
Saudi Arabia- What is plaguing Saudia Arabia is the fact that their players are very homogeneous. If your were to look through the Saudis national team in recent years you would see that her players never play outside of the Gulf. It's okay to have homogeneous players but you have to make sure there is a strong domestic league for them to flourish. Despite having a cash laden league the Saudis are not producing the players they once were thus no World Cup place.
Uzbekistan- I am very impressed by the Uzbeks. This is a country that just plugs along. May it be regional competition or World Cup births Uzbekistan is always battle ready. My kind words however can not mask the truth. Uzbekistan does not have the quality of Japan, South Korea, Iran and now Australia has come to the party the Uzbeks have been moved down the pecking order. The only thing they can do is look to play the role as spoiler moving ahead. Losing out to Jordan in a World Cup to face Uruguay just shows how far behind they really are.
Panama- My grandmother is from Panama so I have a huge soft spot for Central Americans and I was really pulling for them to make it out CONCACAF. As with most things I don't ever get what I want so now I am left here to complain. "The Canal Men," loss out to due to sloppiness. Beating the USA in Panama City in the final game of qualifying, they concede two goals allowing an avenue for an awful Mexico to slip through. The Mexicans faced New Zealand for a spot in Brazil and we all know how that went. I had Panama to beat New Zealand too.
Jamaica- The strongest of the West Indian sides, Jamaica really struggled in CONCACAF's Hexagonal. Couldn't score goals or keep them out. My problem is the players Jamaica used. Jamaica really needed to settle on a set strike force in qualifying and generally needed to move the ball better. There was Premier League, MLS and European based players in that side. I don't understand why they really had such a difficult time. Could have easily been in the mix at the end of qualifying.
Gabon- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is one of the best players on the planet right now. I believe in him, so much I thought he could have dragged a lowly Gabon across the line and get them to the World Cup. Granted the Gabonese have never really been good at the sport but their massive improvement in recent times really had them posturing to come out of African qualifying.
Venezuela- Venezuela as far as I can remember was the team in CONMEBOL that everyone use to beat up on. Teams literally walked into Caracas and said thank you for the three points. Some how Venezuela has become much more sturdier and their FIFA ranking in the top 50 currently suggests that a lot of work was put in. As I said before to qualify out of South America is difficult and Venezuela to date have never made it to a World Cup themselves but I feel the strides they have made and cleaning up their reputation from being the whipping boys of the continent really had them on course for a World Cup birth.
Qatar- You know when FIFA picks nations to host World Cups one of their prerequisites should be that the country doesn't suck at the game. Qatar are awful at football. Plain and simple. I don't know how good they will be in 2022 when the World Cup goes there but let's hope they find some talent. Qatar could not even secure a playoff birth so they could have potentially face Uruguay. I heard the Qatari league has a ton of money. They should start investing heavily into their national team set up asap.
There you go that is half of teams I think had a case to be in Brazil in 2014. If you notice no European sides were mentioned. That's for the next installment. Some really good teams didn't qualify out of Europe anyone of the teams on my list could have easily been in the running in Brazil.
