SPA Podcast (11/12/2009): FIFA Rankings, Elo Ratings, and African World Cup Qualifying

Cote d'Iviore's Didier Drogba

Thursday’s edition of the Set Piece Analyst podcast features Johnathan Starling, Kartik Krishnaiyer, and myself talking about the flaws in FIFA’s World Rankings. That leads to a discussion of the Elo Ratings which, although much better, have their own way of being exploited. Eventually, we start talking [...]

November 12th, 2009 | Tags: , , , | Category: Other Content, Podcasts | Leave a comment

Inside the Six, Ep. #49: Uruguay-Costa Rica, African WCQ Previews

Thursday’s edition of Inside the Six features WSR’s Mark Goodman joining me to talk about the upcoming playoff between Uruguay and Costa Rica. Winner goes to South Africa. Mark and I talk about what Costa Rica has to do to overcome the talent deficit to the Uruguyans.

In the second half of the show, [...]

November 12th, 2009 | Tags: , , , | Category: Other Content, Podcasts | Leave a comment

Africa World Cup Qualifying Preview at World Soccer Reader, Mad About Fútbol

Over at World Soccer Reader, there is a preview of the three key African World Cup Qualifiers taking place this weekend. That post has some of the views already up at Mad About Fútbol, which has its own version of the continental preview.

Previews of the key South American match-ups will be coming throughout the [...]

October 9th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Other Content | Leave a comment

WCQ Preview: Cameroon versus Togo

Cameroon sits at the top of Africa’s Group A, having climbed from fourth (last) to first during the last break by virtue of their two wins against Gabon, who previously led the group. The Indomitable Lions lead Gabon by one point, Togo by two, with a November trip to Morocco to close-out qualifying.

Cameroon is [...]

October 9th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , | Category: Matches, Other Content | Leave a comment

Wednesday’s Qualifiers: A Quick-Hit Guide

Quickly, I wanted to prime everybody for a big day tomorrow, one of the last in this World Cup qualifying cycle. Here are the critical matches – the matches I will be tracking – along with some very brief thoughts:

September 8th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Matches | Leave a comment

Cote d’Ivoire Rolls Over Burkina Faso to South Africa

Ivory Coast star Didier Drogba had two goals in the Elephants' route

Technically Cote d’Ivoire is not qualified, but they need only one point in their last two matches, having today dispatched their group’s (Group E) second best team (Burkina Faso) 5-0. Yes, 5-0. So The Elephants are in. They could still lose [...]

September 5th, 2009 | Tags: , , , | Category: Matches | One comment

Egypt, Cameroon Play Like Favorites

Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o scored the Lions’ insurance goal.

Egypt and Cameroon are one of three African group favorites that came into this qualifying period chasing the lead in their group. With only one bid available per four-term group, that meant the favorites were in near-must-win situations. Tomorrow, we’ll see if Nigeria can perform [...]

September 5th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Category: Matches | Leave a comment

African World Cup Qualifying Preview

If World Cup qualifying ended today, prominent African football countries Cameroon, Nigeria, and Egypt would miss the World Cup, making this week’s qualifiers critical for each nation. But in a tournament where twenty teams are divided into five groups of four, meaning only six matches will decide if you are the one nation from [...]

September 4th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Opinion | Leave a comment