Okay, the WC qualifying has reached the decisive phase. About half of the games in each group have been played, time to check who is going for glory at the moment and how good our predictions were.

Group 1, current standings:
1 Netherlands - 7 games, 19 points
2 Czech Republik - 7, 18
3 Romania - 8, 13

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: Czech Republic
Runners up: Netherlands (who will advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Romania

NoGame:
Group 1: Holland is in the worst group imaginable. First of all the Czechs. Those bloody Czechs again. I envision Holland getting only one point from them in the home game, and getting ourselves hammered (again!) in Prague. Finland is not the strongest of teams, but they can prove tricky, and Romania has a good reputation as well. The other countries I don't know, and don't really fear, but that Holland is in a strong group is for sure. winner: Czech Republic.

Arlequino:
Winner - Czech Republic
Runner Up - Netherlands
Banana Skin - Romania

EJSunday:
1 Czechs
2 Netherlands
Romania will certainly have a word in there and also the Finns will certainly not give the big guns an easy pass.

Prediction quality: Very good, though we all put the Czechs above the Dutch. Romania is well placed on our lists too.


Group 2:
1 Ukraine - 8 games, 20 points
2 Greece - 8, 15
3 Turkey - 8, 13
4 Denmark 7, 9

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: Greece
Runners up: Denmark (who will probably advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Turkey

NoGame:
Group 2: A confrontation between the new European champion Greece and their arch enemy Turkey (came in third at the WC 2002, but missed EURO 2004 due to Latvia) will prove interesting for sure. Of course the Turks are more than willing to prove that they are better than Greece. Honor's at stake here. I'm looking forward to those games between those two countries. Denmark could be the outsider in this group, profiting. Winner: Denmark (hard choice though!).

Arlequino:
Winner - Turkey
Runner Up - Greece
Banana Skin - Ukraine

EJSunday:
Tough call. Can Greece repeat the miracle of Portugal? I have my doubts, the other big teams will have learned their lesson. So I say:
1 Denmark
2 Turkey

Prediction quality: Very poor. Neither of us had the Ukraine on top, at least Arlequino put them the Bana Skin category. Denmark is way off from where we put it and Turkey is a bad bet either.


Group 3:
1 Portugal - 7 games, 17 points
2 Slovakia - 7, 14
3 Russia - 7, 14
4 Estonia - 8, 11
5 Latvia - 7, 10

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: Portugal
Runners up: Russia (who will probably advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Latvia

NoGame:
Easy one for Portugal. Mind those Russians though.

Arlequino:
Winner - Portugal
Runner Up - Russia
Banana Skin - Portugal - but only to themselves!

EJSunday:
1 Portugal
2 Russia
Latvia will not make it this time.

Prediction quality: Okay. Portugal was an easy tip which we all got right but neither of us opted for Slovakia, whose centre forward Marek Mintal was the Bundesleague's top scorer this season with 25 goals. Miracle factor: Mintal plays for Nuremberg who only just avoided relegation!


Group 4:
1 Switzerland - 6 games, 12 points
2 Israel - 7, 11
3 Ireland - 6, 10
4 France - 6, 10

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: France
Runners up: Ireland (who will not advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Swizerland

NoGame:
Easy one for France, although their fame has gone downhill enormously. Again against Cypres... Ireland will have a difficult time, but they should be able to beat Switzerland in the race for second place. Israel, hm, what to think of those guys?

Arlequino:
Winner - France
Runner Up - Republic of Ireland
Banana Skin - Switzerland

EJSunday:
1 France
2 Ireland
Switzerland may cause a few problems but won't be good enough to go through.

Prediction quality: Mixed. Of course Ireland and France both have a game at hand and may well storm to the top notches as predicted but we underestimated the rest. Switzerland is pretty good for an outsider and Israel was on nobody's list as a serious contender. NoGame had a suspicion though.


Group 5:
1 Italy - 6 games, 13 points
2 Norway - 6, 9
3 Slovenia - 6, 9
4 Belarus - 5, 6
5 Scotland - 5, 5

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: Italy
Runners up: Slovenia (who will not advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Norway

NoGame:
Italy has a win-lose group. They could loose to teams like Scotland and Norway, but beat them just as easily. If they keep focussed, it shouldn't be too hard. Winner: Italy.

Arlequino:
Winner - Italy
Runner U - Norway
Banana Skin - Belarus

EJSunday:
1 Italy
2 Norway

Prediction quality: Very good. Italy and Norway as expected, and even Slovenia was mentioned correctly.


Group 6:
1 Poland - 7 games, 18 points
2 England - 6, 16
3 Austria - 6, 11

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: England
Runners up: Poland (who will not advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Wales

NoGame:
I think some of the groups are made up badly. Just take a look at England now. At first sight it seems to be a tricky group, but we all know in the end that they will qualify easily. Even though some 'neighbours' are present in the group, good for some heavy confrontations, I still think England got a fairly easy group. Too easy.

Arlequino:
Winner - England
Runner Up - Wales
Banana Skin - Austria

EJSunday:
Difficult to see who comes second. Number one is of course
1 England
2 Wales

Prediction quality: Very good to bad. England was easy but then some failed miserably by overrating Wales who have even fallen behind Northern Ireland. Exact evaluation by Dara with Poland on two and Arlequino had Austria waiting in the wings.


Group 7
1 Serbia & Montenegro - 6 games, 12 points
2 Spain - 6, 12
3 Lithuania - 6, 9
4 Belgium - 6, 8
5 Bosnia-Herzegovina - 5, 6

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: Spain
Runners up: Belgium (who will probably not advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Serbia

NoGame:
Same goes for Spain. Now what exactly did they do to get into a group as easy as this one? The results of the national Spanish team is to cry about, but they are allowed to come to Germany through a wide open door. I hope Belgium can stunt against them.

Arlequino:
Winner - Spain
Runner Up - Belgium
Banana Skin - Bosnia-Herzegovina

EJSunday:
This could be a tight group. Two favourites (Spain, Belgium) but two good outsiders as well (Serbia, Bosnia). As I tend to belive in surprises I say
1 Spain
2 Serbia

Prediction quality: so-so. Noone expected Serbia to lead the group and only little EJ had them in the top two and Dara saw them lurking in the dark. We all expected Spain to win this group easily, an expectation which hasn't materialized yet.


- Group 8 -
1 Croatia - 6 games, 16 points
2 Sweden - 6, 15
3 Hungary - 6, 10
4 Bulgaria - 6, 8

- What we said -
Dara:
Winners: Sweden
Runners up: Croatia (who will probably advance in playoffs)
Dark horses: Bulgaria

NoGame:
Interesting group. Bulgaria, Sweden and Croatia can all beat each other. But who will do it? Winner: Sweden.

No predictions from Arlequino for this group.

EJSunday:
Noone will stop the Swedish here. But who is second best? If Bulgaria learn their lessons from the EURO they have potentially the best team, but will they defend this time?. Croatia have a new manager and are always a tough beast, but their key players are not getting younger. So I say
1 Sweden
2 Bulgaria

Prediction quality: Acceptable. Sweden overrated but still going strong and though noone expected Croatia to lead here they were still expected to do well by some. Bulgaria is a disappointment though.

Of course it ain't over 'til it's over - and with so many groups still being so tight many of our predictions may still come true. Wednesday is another match day, we'll see what's up then.

And I want to believe
In the madness that calls 'now'