December 06-2013
Jordan has failed to win a fifth slot in the World Cup for Asia, a slot that has gone instead to Latin America.
Jordan finished fifth in Asia in the elimination round. That meant it had to play home-and-away matches against the fifth team from Latin America, Uruguay, to decide which would go to the World Cup finals next summer in Brazil.
Uruguay won the match in Jordan by the runaway score of 5-0. In Uruguay, the two played to a scoreless tie the next week. Based on the aggregate 5-0, score Uruguay won the slot.
Uruguay was the final team to qualify for the 32-team finals.
Next month, FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, will hold a draw to determine the composition of eight four-team groups that will start the first round of the World Cup finals. The pools will guarantee that Asia’s four teams—Iran, Japan, South Korea and Australia—will not face each other in the first round.
Iran been in the finals three times, but has won only a single match—against the United States—and has never advanced to the second round. That will be Iran’s challenge next summer.
Here, in alphabetical order, are the 32 teams that have now qualified for the finals.
Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil (host), Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United States and Uruguay.