Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14th, is the last round of World Cup qualifications. For the teams who have already qualified this is a formality. Many of the teams who have already secured their spots in South Africa next summer will either be sending out their second-string team or at the very least benching their select most valuable players (ie Fernando Torres and Andres Iniesta are unlikely to play for Spain due to minor injuries, and Steven Gerrard probably won't play for England tomorrow for the same reason).
In Europe, only Slovakia and Slovenia of Group 3 and Switzerland and Greece of Group Two have to worry about their status at the World Cup next summer. Every other group in the European tournament has a team qualified- Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Serbia, and England have all qualified.
In the CONCACAF tournament, the United States and Mexico are securely visiting South Africa next summer.
In South America, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay have their futures set- only Argentina's presence hangs in the balance.
There are several games, however, that actually matter and are a huge deal to the teams playing.
Portugal vs Malta
This should be an easy win for Portugal, even without Ronaldo present. Malta have only accumulated one point from nine games. Basically if Portugal doesn't win, they won't have a shot at the World Cup, but they wouldn't deserve one either. In the event of a win for Portugal, they will secure a play-off game that they'll have to win in order to qualify for South Africa.
Argentina vs Uruguay
It's make or break for Argentina tomorrow. Either they beat Uruguay and qualify for the World Cup automatically, or they lose and have to play a play-off game in order to secure their ticket to South Africa. Right now Argentina and Uruguay are right next to each other in the standings-Argentina is one point above Uruguay. Argentina will really have to pull through and play well in order to win. My suggestion: someone lock Maradona in a closet for 24 hours and get another coach for the game. That will guarantee victory for Argentina.
El Salvador vs Honduras
Although El Salvador is out of the running for World Cup qualification, they could seriously mess up Honduras, who needs a win to upset Costa Rica and force them out of automatic qualification. Should Honduras win and Costa Rica lose to the US, Costa Rica will have to participate in the play-offs and win to qualify.
Costa Rica vs. United States
The US has been on fire this year- 2nd place in the Confederations Cup and top of the table in the WC qualifiers. Costa Rica will have to work hard to win, and they have extra encouragement- they have to win in order to secure their position in the World Cup.
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