[The Familia]

Ugh ####ing Italy. How they didn't run away with this group is beyond me. Now they have made it very difficult on themselves. It would be an absolute embarrassment to miss two consecutive world cups, especially since they won the Euro in between these two tournaments.

Even though they brought this upon themselves, it does show how lame world cup qualifying really is. First, it only makes sense that if you win your continental tournament you should automatically make the world cup. There is no reason why the European, African, N. American, S. American, and Asian champion shouldn't automatically be given a spot in the world cup. They have proven their worth in my opinion and are 5 of the best teams in the world. I also have issues with the number of teams each confederation sends. Every tournament numerous powerhouse countries from all over the world miss the tournament because they either got lumped into a random qualifying group of death or they fell victim to FIFA's lame ass quota of ensuring they have at least 10 useless teams at every tournament.