World NewsFinals Spots Up For Grabs! |
THIS weekend sees the World Cup qualifier playoffs kick-off, with games across Europe, South America, Africa and New Zealand to decide the final nine places to South Africa.
The European playoffs sees eight teams fighting it out over two legs for the last four places.
Greece play Ukraine, Portugal face Bosnia-Hercegovina, Guus Hiddink's Russia host Slovenia, and our pick for the tie of the round, Ireland play France at Croke Park.
With the second legs being played in the early hours of Thursday morning Australian time, the home nations will be hoping to grab vital goals and avoid those nasty away goals.
In Africa, three places are still undecided. The Group A place is between Cameroon and Gabon, who face Morroco and Togo respectively. Cameroon lead the group by one point.
Tunisia lead Group B by two points as they face Mozambique, but Nigeria are just two points behind and a win away to Kenya could be enough if the North Africans slip up.
Finally, Group C sees red-hot rivals Egypt and Algeria battle it out in a winner-takes-all tie in Cairo.
The CONMEBOL/CONCACAF playoff sees Costa Rica – minus Melbourne Victory star Carlos Henrnadez – host Uruguay in what could turn out to be a kickfest.
And of course, the big game on our side of the planet is the All Whites looking to make their first finals since 1982 as they face Bahrain in Wellington.
Australian fans can catch up with all the action on Setanta Sports, who will be showing tons of big games live, including New Zealand v Bahrain (Sat, 6pm), Portugal v Bosnia (Sun, 7.30am) and Costa Rica v Uruguay (Sun, 1pm) over this weekend.
For more information on fixtures and how to get Setanta Sports, head here.
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