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World Cup decision day

Live blogging the final five qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup

We'll be kicking off our coverage of The Final Five -- the play-offs for the last five World Cup places still up for grabs at around 1730 GMT.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:31:00 PM
by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:40:04 PM
The Final Five is not a reference to Battlestar Galactica, by the way. en.battlestarwiki.org

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:48:24 PM
Instead, we'll be looking at the following matches:

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:55:28 PM
Algeria v Egypt 1730 GMT
Ukraine v Greece 1800
Bosnia v Portugal 1945
Slovenia v Russia 1945
France v Republic of Ireland 2000

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:55:35 PM
It's not quite the final five ... as we also have the Uruguay v Costa Rica decider in Motevideo ... but I'm afraid that falls out of my time zone and I won't be able to stay on for that

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:57:22 PM
by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:59:48 PM
Algerian fans try to climb inside Al Merreikh Stadium before the start the 2010 World Cup qualifying playoff soccer match between Egypt and Algeria in Khartoum November 18, 2009. Western embassies and the United Nations in Sudan warned staff and citizens to steer clear of a World Cup playoff between Algeria and Egypt, fearing violence in the fight for Africa's last berth in the finals. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 3:59:56 PM
There are fears of violee in Khartoum, where Western embassies and the United Nations have warned staff and citizens to avoid the playoff between Algeria and Egypt. Read our story from Opheera McDoom and Andrew Heavens here: af.reuters.com

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:01:24 PM
And our main preview of the European matches is here: football.uk.reuters.com

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:05:15 PM
Tonight's tie winners.....France, Ukraine, Algeria, Portugal and the night's only surprise...Slovenia. Now for a bet......

by milominder edited by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:09:58 PM
Brave words, milominder ... Anyone else care to stick their necks out? We've had a lot of people talking up Ireland's chances on another blog... Do you think they stand a chance?

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:10:52 PM
Running off for coffee, cheese and biscuits before we actually get going ... but by popular demand i'll leave you with another photo of the Irish in Paris.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:15:01 PM
by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:15:26 PM
Pix taken by Gonzalo Fuentes of Reuters. I think they're great.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:19:17 PM
Each time I make a prediction, I jinx the team I am rooting for. So I will just say, hoping for an upset or two somewhere in the play-offs...

by Diana 11/18/2009 4:19:22 PM
Hi Diana. If Portugal or France are upset it will, ahem, upset a lot of people. However, as we've discussed on another blog, it's nice to see rising stars at the World Cup as well. Ibrahimovic will be missing, we already know ... Could he be joined on the sidelines by Andrei Arshavin, Cristiano Ronaldo and Franck Ribery? We'll know soon enough...

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:21:02 PM
There's some entertaining build-up to the France v Ireland game here www.eleven-a-side.com They did start early, didn't they? If anyone sees any other good sites out there let us know

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:22:42 PM
@ReutersSport I will not be among those upset, that is for certain. But I am torn regarding the case of Arshavin. He's one of my favourite players in the Premier League...though I am not an Arsenal supporter!

by Diana 11/18/2009 4:24:41 PM
Diana: Arshavin is forgotten sometimes when they do the list of Big Name Absentees. At least Samuel Eto'o will be there. I was sad he missed out last time.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:26:11 PM
It would be dead funny if France lost I guess but would devalue the tournament with no Ribery, Henry, Benzema etc. No, sod it...come on Ireland!

by milominder 11/18/2009 4:28:31 PM
milominder ... Robbie Keane, Shay Given, Richard Dunne.... they don't quite compete with Ribery, Henry, Benzema do they? Keane is a pretty well known player, I suppose....

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:30:57 PM
To get us in the mood, here is my favourite World Cup joke.
In 2006, Wayne Rooney is struggling for fitness and Eriksson tells him ahead of the semi-final: "Wayne, before the Portugal game, you will get a cortisone injection."
David Beckham, sitting next to him, pipes up :"If he's getting a new car, I want one too!"

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:33:55 PM
In an unrelated matter, Serbia have beaten South Korea 1-0 in a friendly, played at Craven Cottage in London (of all places). Nikola Zigic got the only goal.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:36:08 PM
Thanks for the heads-up! Yep, busy all day here looking forward to France-Ireland. As for our chances - head says "no", heart says "maybe". Shane @ eleven-a-side.com

by Shane 11/18/2009 4:36:51 PM
@ReutersSport Good grief, I have never heard of that before!

by Diana 11/18/2009 4:36:57 PM
@Shane We at Reuters are entirely neutral, of course, but we can certinaly wish you the best of luck... And good work from the fans out by the Eiffel Tower (see the pictures below...)

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:38:03 PM
@Diana There must be better football jokes out there...

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:38:55 PM
In another interesting friendly result, Chile won 2-1 away to Slovakia. Chile are coached by the legendary Marcelo Bielsa and I've got a feelign they're going to do very well at the World Cup. Here's what Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss said about them after the match: "At times it seemed like we were playing Barcelona. They don’t let you get near the ball."

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:41:14 PM
@ReutersSport I am the worst person to ask for a football joke, so none from me. :(

by Diana 11/18/2009 4:41:21 PM
@ReutersSport Wow. Confirming what I have thought about Chile all along. I am having them as among the dark horses in the World Cup actually. They were due to play Germany just over the previous weekend but we all know what happened.

by Diana 11/18/2009 4:48:01 PM
@Diana Yes, that was just tragic. I think they made the right choice not to play. I don't think the team would have been capable of playing before the funeral.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:48:47 PM
Remcindingly, here are this evening's matches from Europe and Africa: Algeria v Egypt 1730 GMT
Ukraine v Greece 1800
Bosnia v Portugal 1945
Slovenia v Russia 1945
France v Republic of Ireland 2000

Predictions, comments, mad rants and reasoned arguemtns are all welcome as we see who will book the five tickets.

Kevin Fylan, Reuters

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:49:49 PM
@ReutersSport Agreed. And to imagine Robert Enke would have been part of the Germany squad for the tournament...oh well.

by Diana 11/18/2009 4:50:57 PM
One prediciton on the Soccer Blog tonight suggests a hat-trick for Richard Dunne. Optimism indeed!

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:53:12 PM
by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:55:50 PM
Algerian fans are seen before their World Cup 2010 playoff qualifying soccer match against Egypt in Khartoum November 18, 2009. REUTERS/Louafi Larbi

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:56:09 PM
A lot of confidence from Mohamed Saad in the comments. He says: Egypt to the world cup ISA. Sorry Algeria, but this is our time, our dream, our hope, our destiny and our fate. OHHHHHH MASSSRRRAAAWYYYYYYYY
Do you agree?

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 4:59:59 PM
30 mins to go now before Algeria v Egypt. ... stay tuned for text commentary on this and the four European games this evening.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 5:03:47 PM
Remember, comments, tweets, jokes, predictions all received with open arms. We'll get going properly at 1730 GMT.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 5:09:58 PM
Our reporter Karolos Grohmann is in Ukraine for the second leg of the play-off against Greece. He's just found his seat and sends the following:

"As stunning as the Donbas Arena may be, it looks unlikely that it will be sold out. Less than an hour to go and less than 2,000 fans in the 50,000 seater stadium. High ticket prices may have taken their toll on sales, it seems."

More from Karly later

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 5:13:34 PM
More from Karly: Greek team now on pitch for warm-up. Only a few scattered whistles and jeers from Ukrainian fans.

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 5:17:23 PM
And finally, we have the teams in for the first game:

Algeria: 16-Faouzi Chaouchi; 2-Madjid Bougherra, 4-Antar
Yahia, 5-Rafik Halliche, 3-Nadir Belhadj; 6-Yazid Mansouri,
12-Hassan Yebda, 11-Mourad Meghni, 15-Karim Ziani; 9-Abdelkader
Ghezzal, 10-Rafik Saifi

Egypt: 1-Essam El Hadari; 5-Abdelzaher El Saqqa, 4-Wael
Gomaa, 6-Hani Saied; 3-Ahmed El Muhammadi, 14-Sayed Moawad,
17-Ahmed Hassan, 7-Ahmed Fathi, 18-Mohamed Aboutrika; 10-Emad
Motaeb, 13-Amr Zaki.

Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seychelles)

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 5:18:12 PM
Remember, Algeria v Egypt is a straight play-off, winner take all

by ReutersSports 11/18/2009 5:18:53 PM
@ReutersSport What if it is all-square at full-time? Will there be extra-time or straight into the penalty shootout?

by Diana 11/18/2009 5:20:24 PM

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World Cup decision day

Live blogging the final five qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup

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