UEFA Playoffs Preview

Much has been made of FIFA's controversial decision to implement a seeding system in the UEFA playoffs very late in the qualifying process, with many claiming it's a blatant effort to help out the "big" soccer nations that have found themselves in the second round (see: France and Portugal). Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given summed it up succinctly, saying: "It's unfair on us smaller nations." We couldn't agree more, but despite the numerous criticisms, the draw went forward as planned and the final eight European teams are set to square off this weekend.

Karma is a funny thing, though, and it seems that this move to help out the bigger countries is being nullified by one key injury. Portugal will be without Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been ruled out due to an ankle injury that he aggravated in an October 10 qualifier against Hungary. They will be facing off against a strong Bosnian side the features several dangerous attacking options, including Bundesliga star Edin Dzeko. The first leg will be in Portugal, where Portugal compiled a 2-1-2 record in five first round matches. It seems like the fates are conspiring against Portugal with Ronaldo's setback, so we're going to pick Bosnia-Herzegovina to move on to South Africa.

The war of words between and Ireland and France has been building over the past couple days, and this tie should be a fun one. Giovanni Trapattoni's side had a solid finish to their first round of qualifying, with a great performance against defending World Cup champions Italy in Dublin. Ireland will definitely be playing with a chip on their shoulder, since they were the team that got the short end of the deal with the seeding decision. That, coupled with France's underwhelming form throughout qualification, could be the recipe for an upset. We're going to go out on a limb here and say that Ireland will come out of this two-legged affair on top and return to the World Cup.

The other two ties have attracted a lot less attention, but they should prove to be very compelling, as well. Slovenia boast a staunch defense that allowed only 4 goals in 10 first round games. They will square off against Arsenal star Anrey Arshavin and Russia, who scored nearly 2 goals per game in their group. The Russians narrowly missed out on an automatic berth after a heart-breaking loss to Germany in Moscow on the penultimate matchday, but they can't sneak up on anyone anymore after their Euro 2008 run brought them to the front of world soccer. We'll say that if Slovenia can get a draw out of the first match, they'll move on. But if they lose in Russia, we expect Guus Hiddink's squad to hang on to their edge and progress to South Africa.

Last, but not least, Greece and Ukraine will match up, with the first leg in Athens. The seeding system really didn't do Greece any favors, pitting them against a formidable Ukraine side that is ranked 22nd in FIFA's world rankings. Ukraine we're able to beat out Croatia for the #2 spot in Group 6 and handed England their only defeat in qualification, so we're going to give them the edge in this series.

So, despite FIFA's best efforts, we're predicting that 3 of the 4 ties will be won by the lower seed. Call us crazy, call us wishful, but whatever happens, this week's games are definitely going to be a lot of fun. Tune in on Saturday to see how the opening legs unfold.