Draw for the European World Cup playoffs:

Republic of Ireland v France
Portugal v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Greece v Ukraine
Russia v Slovenia

Two-legged ties to be played on Nov 14 and 18.

Is that the sound of a World Cup playoff shock I hear? France, 2006 runners-up, will have to beat Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland over two legs to reach South Africa next year and that is no easy feat.

The Irish were unbeaten in qualifying and drew with world champions Italy twice while with Trapattoni as coach they have the wiliest of wily foxes, whatever you think of his English.
 
We talked a lot on this blog about the controversy over seedings but it would be hard to separate Greece and Ukraine on paper let alone on the field.

Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo struggled in qualifying and just scraped the playoffs so let’s not discount proud Bosnia yet. Is Guus Hiddink destined for another World Cup with Russia? Let us know what you think in the comments.

PHOTO: France team, Oct 14. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

So now we know which European teams are in the World Cup playoffs and we have a pretty good idea of the seedings, though FIFA’s updated rankings out at the end of the week will provide confirmation ahead of Monday’s draw.

It looks like Russia, France, Greece and Portugal will be the seeded teams with Ukraine, Ireland, Bosnia and Slovenia playing them. After Argentina’s qualification in the final match against Uruguay, it looks increasingly likely that all the big teams will be there in South Africa.

But four days on from my blog on Sunday, the decision to seed the Euroepan teams in the qualifiers doesn’t look any fairer.

Doctor Mario, in a comment on that blog, said seeding was a reward for credits earned but it will take a long time for a new nation like Slovenia to earn enough credits to start a qualifying campaign on a level playing field.

That’s one of the reasons why it tends to be the same old faces making it to the finals. If you are Italy, France, Germany or Spain you know that in your qualifying group will have no other “elite team”, just a couple of second or third tier nations and some also-rans.

If you are someone like Wales, Israel or Finland you know you will have to pull off a series of upset wins even to finish second in your group. And if you do it your reward is to be seeded in the bottom half again in the playoffs.

How much help do France need? If they are not good enough to win a group comprising Serbia, Austria, Lithuania, Romania and the Faroe Islands where is the justice in giving them another helping hand in the playoffs?

They didn’t make the World Cup in 1994 and I don’t remember too many people complaining about a degraded tournament.

In fact Bulgaria, who qualified ahead of them and had a particularly woeful World Cup record, produced some of the most memorable moments of the finals as they went all the way to the semi-finals. Four years later, France won the World Cup.

The 1970 World Cup is many people’s choice as the best-ever tournament — it’s hard to see how it would have been enhanced had Argentina been there.

There is no asterix alongside the results of the 1974 and 78 finals saying * Note: England failed to qualify.

Everyone is saying that Portugal, and Cristiano Ronaldo, should be there next year because the best players should be seen on the world stage, but Portugal have played in only four of the 18 World Cups. They are hardly a fixture.

And where was the help for Ryan Giggs, George Best or George Weah, whose lowly-seeded teams never made it through.

And anyway, it’s not the point. It’s FIFA’s unexpected introduction of the seeding that has so angered so many people. If they thought that was the fairest way then they should have enshrined it in the regulations at the start of qualifying, shouldn’t they?

PHOTO: Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after being injured against Hungary during their 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer match at Luz stadium in Lisbon October 10, 2009. REUTERS/Marcos Borga

Guus Hiddink is in talks with Chelsea about taking over as manager until the end of the season while continuing as Russia coach.

Hiddink said he was approached by the Premier League club to coach the team after Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked on Monday.

“I have to admit it’s a complicated situation involving the Russian national team and Chelsea,” the Dutchman told Reuters in an exclusive interview in Turkey.

“I must say that this is an exceptional situation. If it was any other club aside from Chelsea my answer would be a straight ‘No’,” he said. “But Chelsea is different because I have good relations with the owner (Russian Roman Abramovich).”

Read more on our main site or leave a comment below.

PHOTO: Russia coach Guus Hiddink smiles before addressing fans in Moscow, June 27, 2008 REUTERS/Thomas Peter

As the dust settles on Euro 2008 and attention turns to transfer market, it will be interesting to see how many of the top performers from the tournament will be on the move in the coming weeks.

If Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United generated endless speculation at the start of the Euros, the finals ended with other names enjoying newly-acquired prominence. 

Andrei Arshavin’s form for Russia has already prompted a paper mountain of speculation about his future, with Barcelona the dream destination of the Zenit St Petersburg forward. Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa is also expected to be leaving Valencia - even if his four goals for champions Spain will have inflated the Mestalla club’s asking price considerably.  

Another name to consider from UEFA’s 23-man team of the tournament is Spartak Moscow striker Roman Pavyluchenko - scorer of three goals for Russia - who according to one British newspaper on Tuesday is now on the radar of Manchester United. 

England may not have been present in Austria and Switzerland but the Premier League boasted six players in the team of the tournament and more may be headed to Europe’s most lucrative league before the start of the season.

At almost 32, Spain’s fine holding midfielder Marcos Senna may be tempted away from Villarreal for a potential last big pay day, while it would have been negligent of scouts to ignore the players that took Turkey to the last four - Galatasaray wide man Arda Turan, in particular.    

In some cases, players already had their transfers tied up before stepping into the Euro shop window. The 16.6m pound deal Tottenham sealed for Dinamo Zagreb’s playmaker Luka Modric certainly made sense when seeing him perform so impressively for Croatia.  

Of course, a player’s ability to shine in the international spotlight is no guarantee he will turn it on week in, week out for his club side as Tottenham fans with memories of another eastern European recruit will know only too well.  

Romanian Ilie Dumitrescu arrived at the White Hart Lane club after scoring twice in a 3-2 win over Argentina at the 1994 World Cup but did not last a full season before being shipped out on loan to Sevilla.

Spain are trying to keep the lid on the euphoria after their breaking their quarter-final curse with a penalty shoot-out victory over world champions Italy.

Because of the vagaries of the draw for Euro 2008, “la furia roja” now face Russia in the semi-finals, the team they beat 4-1 in their opening match of the tournament.

On paper, Spain have everything running in their favour. Psychologically they have the upper hand given the result of the group game, team morale has been boosted because of the win over Italy, they have no injuries and the first choice players remain fresh after being rested in the final group game against Greece.

Spain triumphed in both their previous semi-final appearances in the competition, over Hungary in 1964 and Denmark in 1984.

But with Guus Hiddink in the opposition dug-out, Spain would do well to be on their guard. The Dutchman was, of course, the coach of South Korea when they knocked Spain out of the 2002 World Cup. He also took an unrated Australia to the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup where they were desperately unlucky not to derail Italy and led the Netherlands to the semis of France 1998.

Hiddink is an expert on Spanish football having coached Real Madrid, Valencia and Betis and he is sure to have a few aces up his sleeve ready for Thursday’s showdown. With Andrei Arshavin in sparkling form following his return from his ban and Roman Pavlyuchenko on form up front, Russia could go all the way.

It has been a good year for Russian sport. Zenit won the UEFA Cup, CSKA Moscow won the Euroleague basketball. Could they make it a hat-trick with Euro 2008?

PHOTO: Guus Hiddink celebrates after Russia’s victory over the Netherlands in Basel, June 21, 2008. REUTERS/Michael Kooren