Who Will Qualify for the 2014 World Cup?

Qualification for the 2014 World Cup has reached its business end with the round robin of qualifiers to conclude on Tuesday night in Europe, Central/North America and South America with plenty at stake. 

Asia's reps have already been determined bar one - although Jordan do have to play a South American nation to qualify (go figure), while Africa's participants in Brazil won't be decided till next month when the 2nd round of the playoff series is played.

It's not just automatic qualification to be settled but also playoff spots to be decided. Here's a look at what's at stake this week. 

Europe

Belgium - World Cup dark horses?

Holland, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland have all booked their tickets to Brazil next summer.

Russia, Spain, England and Bosnia-Herzegovina only need to match the results of Portugal, France, Ukraine and Greece respectively to book their places in next year's World Cup. 

The playoff picture is very complicated - only the 8 best runners-up will go through and there's a rather complicated mathematical picture that I shan't describe here. 

What I can tell you is that Sweden are guaranteed a playoff spot as they cannot win their group - Germany have already - but can't be caught in 2nd place. 

Portugal, France, Ukraine and Greece are ahead of them although they do have a chance of sneaking an automatic spot - they will all get a playoff spot at worst.

Iceland, Croatia, Turkey and Bulgaria are the other teams in the mix although Iceland, Turkey and Bulgaria could be usurped by Slovenia, Romania and Denmark respectively and Croatia if they lose their final game could end up being the worst placed runners-up and miss out altogether. 

Central/North America

Are these the worst international tops ever?

The USA and Costa Rica are already through to the World Cup Finals.

Honduras and Mexico are battling out for the last automatic spot with Panama still mathematically in with a chance of sneaking into the playoff spot with New Zealand. 

Honduras and Mexico travel to Jamaica and Costa Rica respectively, while Panama host the USA. 

A Honduras draw at least and they qualify automatically. A defeat (and it would be a shock given who they play) and Mexico victory by 3 clear goals will send the Mexicans automatically to Brazil. 

If Mexico lose and Panama beat the USA by 5 clear goals, it'll be Panama who make the playoffs.  

South America

Can Suarez sneak Uruguay into the World Cup without a trip to Jordan?

Argentina and Colombia will join hosts, Brazil in the Finals. 

Ecuador, Chile and Uruguay are all guaranteed a playoff spot against Jordan as consolation prize if they miss out on automatic qualification. 

Ecuador and Chile are in control of their destiny - a draw and both go through automatically even if Uruguay beats Argentina. 

If one of Ecuador or Chile lose, a win to Uruguay at least could see Luis Suarez's men sneak an automatic spot in the World Cup at the losers' expense - depending on how many goals Ecuador/Chile concede in defeat and how many Uruguay can score.

Chile v Ecuador and Uruguay v Argentina kick off at the same time so there is no way Uruguay would know how many goals they need to get. 

My tip for next teams to qualify for the World Cup automatically - Honduras, Chile, Ecuador, England, Russia, Spain and Bosnia-Herzegovina.