The UEFA Champions League Final typically marks the end of the club football season and the beginning of the off-season for club teams. However, fans know that the sport never really stops with quality games being played all year round.
Most eyes now shift to the European Championships, the most prestigious international tournament after the World Cup, which begins on June 8th. Meanwhile, every other confederation will be resuming World Cup qualifying starting on the first of the month.
In Asia, 10 teams remain as the fourth round consisting of two groups of five gets underway. Group A is made up of favorites South Korea and Iran, the popular sleeper choice Uzbekistan, the 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar and the Cinderella story of Asia, Lebanon. Group B has heavy favorites Australia and Japan with hot Jordan and Iraq hoping to knock them off with the surprising Oman rounding out the field. The top two in each group will qualify directly to the World Cup while the two third place teams play off against each other with the victory progressing to the AFC v CONMEBOL playoff for one of the final spots.
The second round of African qualifying begins on June 1st with 40 teams in 10 groups of four. The 12 winners from the round one home and away series join the top 28 ranked teams in the confederation with only the group winners moving forward to the third and final round where the 10 of them will be paired in a home and away playoff for the five World Cup spots. Group A sees Botswana, Central African Republic, Ethiopia and South Africa together. Group B has Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and Tunisia. Groups C is Gambia, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Tanzania while group D sees Ghana, Lesotho, Sudan and Zambia square off. Group E has Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon and Niger in it and F is composed of Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and Nigeria. Egypt, Guinea, Mozambique and Zimbabwe were placed in group G and Algeria, Benin, Mali and Rwanda make up group H. The final two groups are I which is made up of Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya and Togo and J which Angola, Liberia, Senegal and Uganda fill up.
The big boys in CONCACAF get their campaigns underway in the third round with just 12 teams remaining. The three groups of four begin play on June 8th. with the top two squads advancing to the final hexagonal round. The United States and Jamaica are the favorites in group A with Guatemala and Antigua and Barbuda attempting to knock them off. Mexico is expected to cruise through group B as the heavy favorite and Costa Rica and El Salvador are expected to fight for the second spot while surprise Guyana looks to wreak havoc with those plans. Group C is the most competitive with Honduras, Cuba, Panama and Canada all having high hopes of progession.
The next round of Oceania qualifying also doubles as the OFC Nations Cup. The eight teams remaining are in two groups of four with the top two in each group advancing to the third round. Group A is made up of the tiny island nations of Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa and Tahiti while favorites New Zealand are in group B with Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. The four advancing teams will also play semifinals and a final to determine the winner of the tournament and who will represent the confederation in the 2013 Confederations Cup, but these results have no bearing on the third round of qualifying.
Finally, CONMEBOL resumes its long qualifying round with matchdays five and six coming up. Uruguay currently holds the top spot on goal difference and is even with Argentina and Venezuela on seven points. Ecuador sits in the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot with six points while Chile occupies the playoff position, also with six points, but a negative three goal differential.
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