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We are one year away, almost to the day, from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa; the South African team, affectionately referred to as ‘Bafana Bafana’, has only qualified for two World Cups (1998 and 2002) in the nation’s History. However, as per the rules requiring the host nation to take part, the South Africans will be in action one year from now. The Asian qualifying section, one of the easiest regions, has already filled three of its four qualifying slots; with, Japan, Australia and South Korea having already qualified. Meanwhile in Europe, the attacking-minded, Holland have taken advantage of an easy group and qualified themselves. That leaves 27 other nations, currently taking part in their geographical regions’ qualifying round, left to make their summer of 2010 plans official. Lets take a look at which teams should and will qualify, which teams will surprise us when they qualify, and which teams will shock us when they don’t qualify

Should and Will Qualify: Lets start with England and Spain. Both of these sides have raced to qualify since day one. The Spanish are 6-0 in qualifying, while England have not looked back since stunningly missing Euro 2008; going 7-0 so far. Both of these teams could qualify without winning another game, so look for them to make it official on the next match day. Brazil is leading the South American qualifying section, 7 points clear of the danger zone with 4 games to play. South America is a very tightly-fought region, but Brazil has won three games in a row and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Italy is only one point ahead of Ireland. However, the Italians have played one less game and with Georgia, Cyprus and Bulgaria still yet to play them, its only a matter of time.  The U.S.A. is in second place in the North American qualifying group, where three advance, but has very few obstacles to overcome in order to qualify. So, expect the Americans to make the journey in a years’ time. Germany are leading their group by one point, as Russia is close behind. Expect both of these nations to qualify; the only question that remains, with one head-to-head remaining, is who will win the group.

Potential Qualification Surprises: The first one that comes to mind is the surprising run North Korea has made to attempt to reach this tournament. There is one guaranteed spot left in Asia; it is up for grabs between the North Koreans and Saudi Arabia. Whichever of these two teams misses out, will face a playoff round with the winner of the, laughable, Oceania region, New Zealand. In Europe we have Serbia, who did qualify in 2006 as well, however, the Serbs are currently leading a group, to which France belongs. France has played 2 less games than Serbia, as of now, and trails by a whole 8 points. Denmark currently leads Portugal’s Group 1 and looks to make amends for their absence in the 2006 tournament. Costa Rica has also qualified for recent World Cups, however they are leading the North American group, having just completed the 3-1 drubbing of the U.S.A. Chile, my former home, has jumped up to second place in South American qualifying having won, a group-high, 8 times. Chile, along with Brazil, could both qualify on the next match day.

Missing Out?: More notoriously talented nations than usual have run into problems in the qualifiers. The first one that comes to mind is Portugal. Having just seen Portugal claw a 2-1 victory away from Albania, has left me concerned about the nation’s chances. New manager Carlos Quieroz is proving, again, that life is hard away from Old Trafford. The Portuguese are going to need to sort things out, if they plan on overtaking Denmark and second place Hungary! After selecting, legend, Diego Maradona as the new manager, Argentina, somehow finds itself in fourth place in South American qualifying. And while the top 4 (currently: Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina, respectively) advance, with 5th place facing a playoff round with 4th place of the North American region, facing a playoff would be embarassing enough for the world’s 7th ranked nation. Mexico, perhaps the most surprsingly poor, are in 4th place in a very weak region and have faced defeat to teams like Honduras and El Salvador. After firing their manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, Mexico look to turn things around before its too late. Lastly, there is France. Manager Raymond Domenech somehow kept his job after running the team into the ground in the 2008 European championships. But the French Federation clearly didn’t think continental humiliation was enough. France must overcome a powerful Serbian side to avoid a playoff.