Nine places remain on offer as World Cup qualifying concludes by Nov. 18.
Six of those will be decided in straight playoffs; the other three involve African groups still to be decided. With the right result in Cairo on Saturday there could actually be a seventh playoff game on Nov. 18.

Let's start in Africa with our preview:
    Groups A and B will be decided Saturday with Cameroon and Tunisia in the driver's seat, but both must get results on the road to hold off challenges from Gabon and Nigeria.
    Cameroon plays at Morocco, a major qualifying disappointment. They must play to win because they start with just a one-point edge over Gabon, which finishes its campaign at Togo. If both matches are drawn, the Indomitable Lions, led by Samuel Eto'o, will be home, but a Morocco win coupled with a Gabon win would earn Gabon a first appearance in the finals. In fact, Gabon could also qualify with a draw but only if Cameroon lose and the goal-difference math turns out in their favor.
     Tunisia absolutely controls its own destiny. Victory in Mozambique and they can pack for a summer in South Africa. Nigeria must win at bottom-place Kenya and hope that the result in Maputo goes their way.
    The crunch match is in Cairo where FIFA must surely be hoping that there's a clear result between Egypt and Algeria. Imagine what might happen if "the human element" so revered by Sepp Blatter (i.e., the referee) blows a big call in this one and TV replay proves it to the world. Actually, let's not go there.
    Instead, the facts: Algeria has a 3-point lead and a plus-7 goal difference. A win, a draw or a 1-0 loss and they are qualified. Egypt must win by at least two goals to draw level on points, goals and goal-difference. If that happens, the teams would play again on Wednesday in Sudan to decide who qualifies. A three-goal Egyptian win means that the celebrations will start for the two-time African champions who last qualified for the World Cup in 1990.

Now on to the playoffs:
    New Zealand and Bahrain kick off the action with their second leg tie in Wellington in the wee hours (2 a.m., Saturday, FSC). The All Whites start favorites after a first leg 0-0 draw in Bahrain. The Kiwis have not been in a World Cup since 1982 while Bahrain is trying for its first appearance and will be hoping to avoid a second straight playoff elimination. Trinidad & Tobago kayoed them at this stage four years ago. Let's be honest about this: whoever qualifies will be the No. 32 seed in the field.
In Europe it's first leg play with big reputations at stake.
    France, the 2006 runner-up, will face the Republic of Ireland in the match of the round. There is plenty to suggest that Irish grit -- and maybe the irrepressible Robbie Keane -- will be enough over the 180 minutes. The French have been erratic at best, just plain inexplicable on other occasions. It's a completely unpredictable match-up.
    Then there's Guus Hiddink's reputation to think about. In 2002 he was the Korea miracle man, getting the co-host nation to the semifinals. In 2006 he took the Aussies to Germany and enhanced his super coach vita. That could all come to earth in this tie, however, because even with Hiddink's brains and maybe the most dangerous creative player in Europe, Andrei Arshavin, the Russians have fired blanks on the big occasions. Slovenia may be the team to make them pay full price if they can get out of Moscow Saturday on level terms.
    Greece and Ukraine look pretty even -- read that, pretty boring -- on paper but somebody has to qualify.
    Portugal's soap opera revolves around ex-Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz' previous failure to qualify his home country and the unavailability of Cristiano Ronaldo through injury. The folks in Bosnia-Herzegovina will not be sympathetic to either tale and if they can keep Deco under wraps they've got a pretty good chance to advance.
    Finally, the match no CONCACAF nation wanted: Costa Rica, which collapsed in spectacular fashion after once leading our region's hexagonal, meets Uruguay. Suffice to say, the Ticos had better grab at least a couple of goals on home soil -- or is it turf? -- to have any chance in the return game. Uruguay hardly sets the heart racing with its dour style. Still, the Celestes likely have the depth and strength to prevail.


WCQ ON TV: NOV 14
(Please note: This list does NOT include PPV matches or games that can be watched, for a fee, live on FIFA.com)

New Zealand v Bahrain    0200    FSC
Russia v Slovenia        1100    Setanta
Greece v Ukraine        1300    Setanta
Rep Ireland v France        1500    Setanta P**
Portugal v Bosnia        1530    Setanta
Costa Rica v Uruguay        2100    No USA TV partner.

**Mr. Soccer On TV himself adds:  "Ireland-France will be live to residential viewers on TV5Monde USA (digital cable + DISH)." So, there you go!

DAILY READS
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Ngog dive still stirring the pot

Today’s tabloid headlines say it all: “Diver!” “Cheat!” And even his coach admitted, a bit ruefully, that the call was a bit suspicious.

Yesterday, as his team floundered, Liverpool striker David Ngog conspired to flop, winning a penalty that Steven Gerrard converted. The fact that Ngog dove is not in question. But the incident once again raises the issue of how many calls referees at the top level get wrong and what can be done about it. Few today are blaming last night’s man in the middle, Peter Walton, despite the fact that he was right on top of the play.

Why? He didn’t have replay. And the question of why he doesn’t — when we all do — is one this sport needs to answer.

Technology has exploded the twin myths that most of the times the refs get the big calls right, and that the ones they don’t “even out” over the course of a match. Last night, it was clear on first glance that Walton blew the call, but despite all the headsets and microphones apparently no one bothered to tell him. And it’s difficult to argue that Birmingham saw anything “evened out:” they left without two hard-earned points on the road. What happens if, come spring, they are relegated by two points? Is that fair? Of course not.

The bottom line here, like it or not, is that replay has to come into the game. We purists — and I am one of them — don’t like the idea of stopping games while people huddle around monitors. But I think there’s room for a compromise: Would it really be so hard to have seen the fourth official interject last night and wave that penalty kick attempt off? I think not.

Without it, we see what happens: Cheaters get away with cheating, and teams are unfairly punished. And Liverpool — which, by the way, was the more positive team on the night — sees a hard-earned point tainted.


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Quick thoughts: The USA is doing the right thing by using the last two FIFA dates of the year to stage games in Europe against Slovakia and Denmark. For years, USSF tended to let those dates sit fallow, so give full credit to Bob Bradley and his staff for pushing to use those dates to give his men a run.

Unfortunately – as is often the case in American soccer — not everyone is on board. The MLS playoffs are underway, and that means a lot of familiar faces might not get a look. Key among them? Landon Donovan, who sunk the winning goal last night from the spot to put his team into the Conference finals. He’s be joined by Stuart Holden, who will be playing opposite LA with Houston on Friday night.

The MLS playoffs themselves have been pretty good — more on that in a minute — but it a shame that the USA is losing a chance to see some of its best home-based players against two high-quality opponents. Yeah, the matches are “meaningless.” That doesn’t mean that they aren’t instructive.

The past weekend saw three playoff games to cement MLS’ conference finals. Chicago will host real Salt Lake Saturday while Los Angeles will entertain Houston on Friday. Defending champs Columbus were knocked off Thursday by Salt Lake in what Crew fans are likely to call a collapse; while Houston and Seattle slogged through 120 minutes of timid soccer, requiring a Brian Ching goal to break the stalemate.

The best games were in LA and Chicago. Both enjoyed packed houses, and both displaying outstanding, entertaining football. Our wrap-up and preview of the upcoming games will be up on the main website shortly, but for tension, effort and excitement, you can put both those matches up against anything played anywhere. If all MLS games were like these two, this league would be doing gangbuster business.

DAILY READS

Rio's infrastructure, poverty shadow 2016.

Seems like we’ve heard this rant before. (No he will not be punished. Double standard? Of course.)

Training roster for USA match against Slovakia announced

MONDAY TV: (All times ET)
U17 WC: Spain v Uruguay        1000    ESPN360
U17 WC: Korea v Nigeria        1300    ESPN360
Liverpool v Birmingham        1500    ESPN2
Barnsley v Sheffield United        1545    Setanta

    Don't like to brag, but you could do worse than get snowed in Sunday morning with only Fox Soccer Channel for a diversion.
    Yes, I am aware that there are folks in North America who will be following another form of football this Sunday, but our lineup from Italy and the EPL ain't bad. In fact, it makes you wonder if the folks who program the schedule-making computers take particular delight in assigning the Euro big guns with especially daunting challenges right after a Champions League/Europa League program.
    Our Sunday starts in Rome where Lazio hosts AC Milan (9 a.m., Eastern), continues at Stamford Bridge, London for the little matter of Chelsea vs. Manchester United (11 a.m.) and continues at 2:30 p.m. in Milano where the other half of the Roma-Milano derby day takes place as Inter hosts AS Roma.

    The match of the weekend clearly is the one at Chelsea and Manchester United will never be better-placed to get a win than Sunday morning.
    Remember, Sir Alex Ferguson did not have to use his full side on Tuesday against CSKA Moscow because United's Champions League business had been perfectly attended to beforehand.
    And United was at home Tuesday while Chelsea played Atletico Madrid a day later and on the road. Allowing for the travel weariness and the shorter time to prep, Carlo Ancelotti can be forgiven for thinking that the visitors are getting a Sunday leg-up that they don't really need.
    Of course none of this will mean much if the teams play to their EPL form. Chelsea has looked stronger from day one, more robust even when dropping points last month. United has gotten the job done but without the usual elan. They have relied more on energy than creativity this season.
    The match winner? We'll be watching Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney, but the United defenders had better keep control of that Chelsea Michael Essien-Michael Ballack-Frank Lampard bunch or they will be in trouble.
--
    If you have actually been in front of the set from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. you're obviously a soccer fanatic so stay tuned for the Sunday finale on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. when the LA Galaxy and Chivas collide in what looks like the most inviting of the three MLS second leg playoff games this weekend.
   We've got the Chicago-New England Saturday night match (8 p.m.) while Telefutura will show Houston-Seattle at 3 p.m. Sunday.
    The remaining three winners will join Salt Lake, who downed the Crew 3-2 to advance. It was a stinging loss for the Crew, who went up 2-0 after just 35 minutes… and then collapsed.

DAILY READS
Speaking of collapsing: the Dispatch rips the Crew

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TV: (All times ET, our picks are in bold)

FRIDAY
Bayer Leverkusen v Frankfurt        1430    GolTV
Derby v Coventry                1445    Setanta

SATURDAY
Melbourne v CC Mariners        0300    FSC
Swansea v Cardiff            0745    Setanta
Bayern Munich v Schalke         0925    ESPND/360
Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg        0930    GolTV
Tottenham v Sunderland        1000    ESPN2
Man City v Burnley            1000    Setanta
Blackburn v Portsmouth        1000    Setanta X
Aston Villa v Bolton            1000    FSC/FSE
Rangers v St. Mirren            1000    Setanta P
Getafe v Coruna            1200    ESPN360
Tenerife v Malaga            1200    DTV
Catania v Napoli            1200    ESPN360/RAI
Wolverhampton v Arsenal        1230    FSC/FSE
PSG v Nice                1300    Setanta
Barcelona v Mallorca            1400    GolTV
Atalanta v Juventus            1430    FSC/FSE
Sochaux v Lens            1500    Setanta
Atletico v Real Madrid        1600    ESPND/360
Recife v Cruziero            1630    GolTV
Cruz Azul v Puebla            1800    Azteca
Nacional v I Medellin            1800    GolTV
Tigres v Atlante            2000    Telemundo
Indios v Jaguares            2000    Azteca/ESPND
Fire v Revs                2000    FSC/FSE
San Luis v Santos            2000    Telefutura
Atlas v Chivas                2145    Telemundo


SUNDAY
CSKA v Rubin Kazan            0600    Setanta
Falkirk v Celtic            0645    Setanta P
Hull v Stoke                0830    Setanta
AZ v Feyenoord            0830    ESPND/360
ADO Den Haag v PSV        0830    ESPN360
Lazio v AC Milan            0900    FSC/FSE
Genoa v Siena                0900    ESPN360
Wigan v Fulham            1000    Set X (SDD Setanta 1300)
West Ham v Everton            1000    (SDD FSC 1700)
U17WC: Colombia v Turkey        1000    ESPN360/Gala
Gijon v Espanyol            1100    DTV
Santander v Bilbao            1100    DTV
Lille v Bordeaux            1100    Setanta
Chelsea v Man U            1100    FSC/FSE
Werder v Dortmund            1125    ESPN360 (SDD 1500 ESPND)
Valencia v Zaragoza            1300    ESPN2/D/360
Fluminense v Palmeiras        1300    GolTV
Maritimo v Porto            1300    ESPN360
Morelia v UNAM Pumas        1300    FSE
Toluca v Pachuca            1300    Telemundo
U17WC: Suisse v Italy        1300    ESPN360
Inter v Roma                1430    FSC
Sevilla v Villarreal            1500    GolTV
Lyon v Marseille            1500    Setanta
Dynamo v Sounders            1500    Telefutura
America v Monterrey            1730    Univision
Tecos v Queretaro            1800    Galavision
LA v Chivas                1930    ESPN2

MONDAY
Liverpool v Birmingham        1455    ESPN2

    If you watched the US Under-17 team lose a 2-1 heartbreaker to Italy yesterday in the FIFA U17 World Cup you will doubtless have come away with one clear impression: at this level there is absolutely nothing to choose between an American elite-level player and his overseas counterpart.
    The Americans lost because they fluffed some golden chances, including a penalty. Know what? Teenagers make those kinds of mistakes and you simply play on. In this case, the coachspeak truth actually is correct. It's only when this age group doesn't create chances that you complain about a lack of skill or preparation.
    So if you are a neutral you probably walk away from the stadium in Kaduna, Nigeria figuring you have gotten money's worth and that American soccer is right there in comparison with the world's best.
    If you are an experienced American observer, however, you will immediately start to wonder how so much good will turn to sludge in the next 3-4 years. The great lesson of US Soccer's development of youth players is that we often get it right at stage one, then watch it all go wrong.
    In this case, the blame does not belong all with US Soccer. If we had a succesful pro league with a solid youth-reserve system there would be a place for these kids to go and grow. We don't have that, of course.
    Instead too many of these kids will go on to play college soccer. I've had more than one national team coach [both of men's and women's teams, mind you] tell me that when the kids come back from college soccer they have to be "uncoached" because they no longer play the international game.
    In a perfect world, Wilmer Cabrera could keep this group together, continue to coach it through the next level of FIFA age-group play. Actually, that would make sense. I'm not calling for heads here, simply saying that there is an argument for a youth coach to take a complete tour of duty. Let's find out if Cabrera could continue to develop this core into the next U-20 team.
    Get another U-17 coach for the incoming group and put together a 5-6 year plan. I don't know if that would solve the "lost talent" problem which currently afflicts our 17-21 age players, but I do know that what we do now doesn't work.
    Meanwhile, a "well done" to Cabrera and the kids in Nigeria. Two wins, two narrow defeats and not exactly an overabundance of luck.
    But that's the international game and this US bunch, once again, showed that at the U-17 level, at least, we don't have to take a back seat to anyone.

   Goal of the night on Wednesday?
   How about the Marius Onofras’ drive which denied Rangers what would have been a famous victory and perhaps eventually will be seen as the one which earned unfancied Unirea Urzicieni a passport to the knockout stage? This was a cracker of a game in tough conditions.
   Then there was that Ryan Babel strike in Lyon. At first it seemed likely to reignite Liverpool's Euro life and make the next few weeks livable for Rafa Benitez. But then came Lisandro Lopez to bundle in an untidy goal for Lyon on 90 minutes ... now the Reds are on Euro life-support, needing something close to a miracle to avoid winding up in Europa League next spring.
   But honors have to go to Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder in Kiev. Maybe those weren't the prettiest of the evening, but they were dramatic and who knows what their ultimate value might be. The Serie A champions had looked at defeat and the Europa League consolation prize for most of the night. Then, in the span of three minutes, Jose Mourinho watched his team go from nearly dead to top of crazy Group F. That's why he's The Special One, after all.
   Ah, just another night of Champions League football ... the reason this competition has captured the globe and continues to threaten FIFA's World Cup as the premier attraction in the game.

It's on to the Europa League tonight and even that second chance tournament has been surprisingly good to date.

Today's EUROPA LEAGUE TV card

1300 Eastern Standard kickoffs
Roma vs. Fulham, DTV 462
Hamburg SV vs. Celtic, Gol TV, DTV 463
Genoa vs. Lille, DTV 464
Dinamo Bucuresti vs. Galatasaray, DTV 465
Dinamo Zagreb vs. Ajax, DTV 466
Sporting Lisbon vs. Ventspils, DTV 467
Sturm Graz vs. Panathinaikos, DTV 468
Heerenveen vs. Hertha Berlin, DTV 469

1500 Eastern Standard kickoffs
Villarreal vs. Lazio, Gol TV
Everton vs. Benfica, DTV 462
Nacional vs. Athletic Bilbao, DTV 463
Werder Bremen vs. Austria Wien, DTV 464
Toulouse vs. Shakhtar Donetsk, DTV 465
FC Kobnhaven vs. PSV Eindhoven, DTV 467
AEK Athens vs. BATE Borisov, DTV 468
Levski Sofia vs. Salzburg, DTV 469

MLS Cup at 2000 Eastern Standard
First Round, Second Leg
Columbus Crew vs. Real Salt Lake, ESPN2


DAILY READS:
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MLS playoffs, part two: