2014 World Cup: The 8 Remaining UEFA Playoff Teams

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo
Aug 10 2013 St Louis MO USA Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo 7 celebrates his goal against Inter Milan Real Madrid defeated Inter Milan 3 0 Scott Rovak USA TODAY Sports

On Nov. 19 countless hearts from four European nations will bleed. The date marks the second half of the UEFA World Cup playoffs which will determine which four teams from the eight runners-up of the initial qualifying process are given the biggest boot of their lives. The other four will be 2014 FIFA World Cup inductees.

As it stands, the eight remaining UEFA Playoff teams are, in alphabetical order:

  1. Croatia

  2. France

  3. Greece

  4. Iceland

  5. Portugal

  6. Romania

  7. Sweden

  8. Ukraine

They are ranked as follows based on their total points, goal difference, and highest number of goals scored as accrued from initial UEFA play and as determined by the order of the three criteria directly above.

Keep in mind that these numbers do not illustrate all matches played as some groupings had more teams than others.

TEAM

GOALS FOR

GOALS AGAINST

GOAL DIFFERENCE

TOTAL POINTS

Greece

9

4

+5

19

France

15

6

+9

17

Portugal

15

8

+7

15

Ukraine

11

4

+7

15

Sweden

15

13

+2

14

Iceland

15

14

+1

14

Romania

11

12

-1

13

Croatia

9

8

+1

11

The highest-ranked Greece will face off against Romania on Nov. 15, the first half of the elimination process, and Nov. 19. Each leg of the series is hosted in a respective city of the team’s homeland. For Greece and Romania, Nov. 15 will be played in Athens, Nov. 19 in Bucharest, Romania.

Second-ranked France faces off against the Ukraine on Nov. 15 in Kiev while Nov. 19 will be played in Saint-Denis, France.

Portugal, fronted by boy wonder Cristiano Ronaldo, plays in Lisbon on the 15th against Sweden and then on the 19th in Solna, a municipality in central Sweden.

Finally, Iceland will duke it out with Croatia. First in Reykjavík, Iceland on the 15th and then in Zagreb, Croatia on the 19th.

Judging the teams by their after-group rankings is troublesome as the conditions are the result of playing against very differently matched opponents. Romania, for example, is ranked lower than Iceland after playing a very top-heavy group. Iceland, also, has pulled off some unexpected wins as of late. Sweden is stronger than their rank suggests as they played two matches against Germany in their division which resulted in 3-5 and 4-4 scores. France is underneath Greece but they also had to play twice against Spain.

For more analysis on who makes it past the UEFA Playoffs tune in closer to Nov. 15.

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Bogar Alonso
Bogar Alonso is a dedicated student of the hardwood, soccer pitch, boxing ring, and tennis court. He is a regular NBA contributor to XN Sports. His work, involving more than just sports, has appeared on The Creators Project, A&E Networks, XXL Magazine, and others. Follow Bogar on Twitter @blacktiles