World
Cup Playoff Draw Announced ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - England could be
traveling to 
Ukraine,
while Ireland or the Netherlands may be headed for Asia as a result of
the World Cup playoff draw on Friday. With 21 qualifying games in Europe
on Saturday and 22 more Wednesday, the situation should become a lot clearer
in the next few days. No European team, apart from defending champion
and automatic qualifier France, has yet clinched a place in the 32-team
field for next year's tournament. Hosts South Korea (news,
web
sites) and Japan also qualify automatically. The six nations that
have so far made it through the qualifying rounds are two-time champion
Argentina, plus the five African qualifiers - Olympic champion Cameroon,
Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. Nine group winners go straight
into the finals. They are most likely to include three-time champion Germany
and Italy, plus Poland, Sweden, Spain and Russia, who could clinch in
the next few days. But the nine runners-up must go into a playoff series,
with eight of them going head-to-head and the ninth facing a third-place
team from Asia. FIFA, soccer's governing body, held the draw Friday so
the likely runners-up would have some idea which teams they might be playing
and could make travel arrangements.
The games will be played on a home-and-away basis Nov.
10-11 and Nov. 13-14. The second-place finisher in Group 6 - Belgium,
Croatia or Scotland - will face the Group 3 runner-up - Denmark, Czech
Republic or Bulgaria, with Iceland an outside possibility. The
second-place team in Group 5, almost certainly Belarus or Ukraine, will
meet the Group 9 runner-up - with England the favorite to finish second
unless it beats group leader Germany on Saturday and chases top place.
The Group 7 runner-up, probably Austria or Israel, will meet the second-place
team in Group 4, with Turkey the likely team. The Group 1 runner-up is
likely to be Slovenia, Yugoslavia or Switzerland. One of these will meet
the second-place finisher in Group 8, which looks almost certain to be
Romania. That leaves the Group 2 runner-up, either Ireland, Portugal or
the Netherlands, to face Asian opposition. In one Asian qualifying group
are Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Thailand. The other has the
United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, China and Uzbekistan. The two Asian
group winners qualify for the finals, while the two runners-up meet for
the right to meet the European Group 2 runner-up.