We know it's been a week or two since the most recent round of World Cup qualifiers took place, but we never quite got round to summing up all the action from outside Europe, so here's our whistle-stop tour of all you need to know, starting with...

South America
It seems we were a little hasty to cast our judgement on Brazil after the September 6th/7th matches. Click to continue reading...

File under: "Circus Beckham 2 - The Sequel"

It looks like Beckham and LA Galaxy are headed back to the Australia and New Zealand this winter according to this report from Australia's Live News.

David Beckham is set to return to Australian shores in December this year, with news negotiations for a matchup between the Queensland Roar and Beckham's LA Galaxy outfit are almost complete.

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David Beckham and his LA Galaxy will return to New Zealand in December for an exhibition match against an Oceania All Stars team captained by New Caledonian and French player Christian Karembeu, former Real Madrid player and better known for having married to Slovak model Adriana Sklenaříková. Click to continue reading...

And so to the fourth and final part of our round -up of the May and June World Cup 2010 qualifiers. Today we cover the Asia and Oceania sections...

Asia

Overview
A complicated process here. In Round 1, thirty-eight teams faced each other in nineteen home-and-away matches. Of the nineteen winners, the eleven highest-ranking teams (and by that we think FIFA mean those teams that won by the biggest margins) received a bye to Round 3 while the other eight played out Round 2 as a series of four home-and-away ties. Click to continue reading...

Australia's defection from Oceania to Asia has opened the door for the Football Ferns to compete on the world stage; last year's World Cup was their first major tournament since 1991. Coach John Herdman is cautious in his assessment, saying before the games opened that they won't be looking to win, but to play decently and learn from the experience. Click to continue reading...

Over three weeks of tournament action and only one country stood tall: Sweden. Ibrahimovich proved to be unstoppable in the virtual world, earning glory for his country where the real world left a bit to be desired. Standing in the finals against a tough Croatian squad, they dispatched their opponents 2-1 for [. Click to continue reading...

They are all groups of death.

Group 1 Australia Japan Uzbekistan Bahrain Qatar

In the last round, Qatar beat Iraq and Bahrain beat Japan. Finishing top two will be a mean feat and even top 3 commendable (for the playoff v New Zealand (or other Oceania?). Japan v Australia is always going to be close. Click to continue reading...

The two groups have been drawn for Asia's final round of World Cup Qualification. Each group has five teams with the top two from each group advancing to South Africa. The third place teams in the groups will meet in a two-legged playoff with the winner playing the champion of Oceania.
Here are the two groups:
Group A
Australia
Japan
Bahrain
Uzbekistan
Qatar

Group B
South Korea
Iran
Saudi Arabia
North Korea
UAE
Although both groups have their difficulties, it looks to me like Group B is the tougher one since three of the teams made it to Germany in 2006 (S Korea, Iran & Saudi Arabia), plus North Korea is always capable of a surprise. Click to continue reading...

With the team's 3-0 victory over Thailand, Japan advanced into the 4th round of the Asian Football Confederation's qualifying stage for the 2010 World Cup. Only 4 or 5 nations from Asia will qualify for the next World Cup that will be held in South Africa.

Joining Japan in the 4th round so far are the nations: Australia, Bahrain, both Koreas, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Click to continue reading...

With all of this weekend's great Euro 2008 and MLS action, it is easy to forget that World Cup qualifying is taking place in the countries of Africa, Asia, North America, Oceania, and South America.  Two of today's more interesting results were Malawi upsetting Egypt, who were the champions of the 2008 African Cup of [. Click to continue reading...

A few weeks ago I posted a link to a Guardian article about Australia's decision to change confederations, to leave Oceania for the greener pastures of Asia.

The article detailed how not every Asian federation was pleased with the move, and one of the more aggrieved were the Chinese. And with reason. Click to continue reading...

It's a good day for Uniteds. For the second time in their history, Waitakere United of New Zealand have won the Oceanic Football Confederation Champions League, the top club competition for the seven countries that remain in the post-Australia OFC. It's the smallest by far of the six FIFA confederations, but the win [. Click to continue reading...

John Aloisi of the Mariners (left) competes with Jade North of the Jets during the A-League semi final first leg match between the Newcastle Jets and the Central Coast Mariners. Newcastle won the match 2-0, thanks to goals from... Click to continue reading...

Sas Ognenovski and Griffin McMaster collide during the A-League Minor semi final between Sydney FC and Queensland Roar at the Sydney Football Stadium on 25 January, 2008. McMaster had a fine game in goal for Queensland; despite that, Sydney... Click to continue reading...

Steve Menary's book Outcasts!: The Lands That FIFA Forgot is a fascinating read. In the book, Menary reports on the far flung "countries" that FIFA doesn't recognize. Steve Menary sat down to speak with me recently about writing Outcasts and the issues his book raises. Menary told me that he got his start writing for [. Click to continue reading...

Greenland is an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands belong to FIFA; Greenland does not. A reasonable person might wonder why the Faroes are given membership into the international soccer governing body while Greenland [. Click to continue reading...

September 2000 Ronaldinho of Brazil flashes a trademark smile during a training session for the Olympic Games at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia. Photo Darren England/ALLSPORT... Click to continue reading...

September 2000 Ronaldinho of Brazil flashes a trademark smile during a training session for the Olympic Games at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia. Photo Darren England/ALLSPORT... Click to continue reading...

Iain Fyfe of Sydney FC takes a free-kick during the Round 18 A-League match between Adelaide United and Sydney, held at Adelaide's Hindmarsh Stadium on December 28, 2007. Click to continue reading...

Opening ceremony before the match between Sepahan and Waitakere United at the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007. 2
Originally uploaded by *4ever

7 equipos en busca de ser el mejor club del mundo según la FIFA en este mundial de clubes, que ya inicio en Tokio Japón.
El equipo iranie Sepahan salio con una gran victoria ante un débil equipo de Oceania. Click to continue reading...

People of Croatian ancestry make up less than one-half of one percent of the population. But the influence of this small Balkan country on soccer in the land of Oz has far exceeded their numbers. Of the 23 players on Australia's 2006 World Cup squad, 7 had Croatian heritage. Croatia's team had 3 Australian-born players. Croatian-Australian [...] Click to continue reading...

The 2010 World Cup officially got underway this weekend in Samoa, where 34 goals were scored on the opening day of the South Pacific Games.

Eight of the 10 teams competing in the Games' football tournament, which serve as the first stage of Oceania's qualifying competition for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, made their bow on the first day of a competition which runs through to September 7th. Click to continue reading...

The Road to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa begins in earnest Saturday afternoon when nine countries in the Oceania confederation set out on the long road in Apia, Samoa, where a football tournament at the South Pacific Games serves as the first step in the qualifying campaign.

Two matches will kick off simultaneously on Saturday on adjoining fields in the Samoan capital, marking the start of a worldwide qualifying campaign that is only
set to be completed by November 2009. Click to continue reading...