World Cup action in next eight months

Press, 12 May 1981, Page 30

World Cup action in next eight months

NZPA * London me main action in the 1982 World Soccer Cup qualifying competition will be packed into the next eight months, with 21 of the 24 finalists to be decided before the end of the year. So far only three teams are sure of places in the final draw which will be made in Madrid on January 6. They are the host nation, Spain, and the holder, Argentina, who were automatic qualifiers, and Brazil. Brazil comfortably won goup one of the South American qualifying zone, in which Bolivia and Venezuela were its opponents, and remains the only country which has reached the finals of every World Cup. The 1982 finals will be staged in 14 Spanish cities between June 13 and July 11.

For the first time, 24 countries will take part and there will be a total of 52 matches to decide ,;the winner. The world-wide qualifying picture looks as follows.— ASIA-OCEANIA The top two teams in section play-offs qualify. China is still in the running to reach the finals after winning Group four to make it to the section play-offs. Saudi Arabia, the Group two winner, and the Group three winner, Kuwait, are- also through to the play-off. Group one is unlikely to be resolved until the end of August or even September when Australia plays Indonesia and Taiwan. New Zealand and Fiji are the. other teams in the group, i EUROPE «■ , Two teams from groups one to six and one from group seven qualify.

. ■'*' Group one.—West Ger- • many, the champion in 1974, ; and Austria appear certain to qualify from this group ; although Bulgaria, with a . home game against Austria in November, retains an outside chance of going to Spain. Standings (playedpoints): Austria 4-6, West Germany .3-6, Bulgaria 3-4, Albania 5-2, Finland 3-0. Group two.—The most keenly-contested of the European groups with three points covering the top four teams. The Netherlands, runners-up in the last two . World Cups, have won three matches in a row but they started with two defeats and may be pressed to qualify. - Standings: Belgium 6-9, Iref {land 6-7, France 4-6, Nether- j lands 5-6, Cyprus 7-0. T Group three.—Wales, seek- • ing to reach the finals for

the first time since 1958, has made a flying start with a maximum eight points from four games, but it still has to travel to play its main rivals, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. Standings: Wales 4-8, Soviet Union 2-4, Czechoslovakia 3-4, Iceland 4-2. Turkey 5-0. Group four.—Rumania has opened up the group by taking three points off England, the favourite, to finish top. England must now do well on a forthcoming tour of the continent if it is not to miss out to the Rumanians and Hungary, which have just started its qualifying programme. Standings: England 45, Rumania 3-4, Norway 3-3, Hungary 1-1, Switzerland 3-1. Group five.—ltaly, with eight points out of eight, has qualification within its grasp, and Yugoslavia became the favourite to go to Spain with

Italy after hammering Greece, 5-1, last week. Standings: Italy 4-8, Yugoslavia 46, Greece 5-6, Denmark 5-4, Luxembourg 6-0. Group six.—Scotland may prove too difficult to catch now it is two points clear at the top. Northern Ireland or Portugal should go through with Scotland after Sweden’s disappointing showing. Standings: Scotland 5-8, Northern Ireland 5-6, Portugal 4-5, Israel 6-3, Sweden 4-2. Group seven. —Poland look favourites to edge East Germany out of the one qualifying place. They won a controversial match in Malta, which was abandoned but the 2-0 result stands, and beat East Germany 1-0 at home last week-end. Standings: Poland 2-4, East Germany 2-2, Malta 2-0.

SOUTH AMERICA The group winner qualifies.

Group one—Brazil, as expected, won the group with an unblemished record but had to work hard for its away wins: 1-0 in Venezuela and 2-1 in Bolivia. Group two.—Group matches start in July, with Uruguay, after its success in the Gold Cup earlier in the year, the favourites to come out on top against Colombia and Peru. Group three.—Chile looks the likely qualifier from this group, which gets underway later this month. Paraguay and Ecuador are the other group members. CENTRAL, NORTH AMt ERICA AND CARIBBEAN The top two teams in section play-offs qualify. , Mexico and Canada qualified from the North Zone, El Salvador and honduras from

the Central Zone, and Cuba and Haiti from the Caribbean Zone for section playoffs in Honduras in November.

Mexico traditionally qualifies from this- section and should do so again, although some of its north zone performances lacked quality. Canada kept the United States out by beating them, 2-1, at home and drawing 0-0 away. AFRICA Semi-final winners qualify. Nigeria, which distinguished itself by beating the 1978 finalist, Tunisia, in the first round, and Cameroon are through to the semifinals. Algeria and Egypt may be the teams to join them, the Algerians having beaten Niger, 4-0, in the first • leg of its quarter-final and Egypt having lost only 0-1 to Morocco in Casablanca.