Crunch Time: Where to Watch Crucial World Cup Qualifying

Paul Ryding | Oct 10, 2013 8:20 pm | 9 comments | 1720 reads

Friday (Oct 11) night and next Tuesday (Oct 15) represent the last chance to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil for many nations. In the UEFA qualifying (Europe), 23 teams are still in with a hope of qualifying for Brazil – although admittedly only 11 of them have more than a slim mathematical chance of progression. Meanwhile, in North and Central American qualifying (CONCACAF) Honduras, Panama and Mexico will vye for the fourth and final qualification spot. And in South America (CONMEBOL), Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela will also lock horns for one remaining ticket to Brazil.


For the world's international teams, the coming few days represent the culmination of more than one year of qualifying. We spent part of yesterday and today feverishly calling around in the hope of bringing you a comprehensive guide of where and what you can watch in the city's various sports bars. That was the aim.

The reality? Very different. Basically, it seems that not many of the city's sports bars can be 100% certain what games they will be showing as they're reliant on capricious satellite feeds, contrary local sports channels and hopelessly unreliable internet streaming connections.

The best we can do is offer this list of places we contacted who said they will be doing their damndest to ensure that they have at least some of the crucial final round of qualifying matches on.

If we get any updates on this list, we'll add it in the comments box below. And please share any information on places you know will be showing games.

Beer Mania
This is the only venue who could 100% confirm what they will be showing. The Sanlituin south venue will, unsurprisingly, be showing Belgium's final qualifying games. On the cusp of qualifying for a World Cup that they're fancied to do well in – should they qualify – there's likely to be an almighty party if they can wrap up their qualification with a point against rivals Croatia on Friday night.

The Den
Denmark still has faint hopes of qualifying, and The Den is normally where their fans gather, en masse. Expect lots of downing pints in seconds, and lots of Jagermeister should they win.

The Green Cap
Shunyi is covered; The Green Cap will show at least the published CCTV offerings (Denmark-Italy, Spain-Belarus), but if possible, and dependent on what the locals want to see, they're not ruling out the possibility of streaming some action.

Paddy O'Shea's
It's hard to imagine that the reigning Sports Bar of the Year won't show any of the World Cup Qualifying conclusion, but our attempts to contact them to find out for sure went unanswered. It's worth noting that they have shown most of Russia's qualification campaign so far.

The Local
Kenn says they do their best to show some football. But at the time of writing, hadn't been able to confirm what, if indeed any, matches they will show. will definitely have, via CCTV5: Denmark vs Italy and Spain vs Belarus. They'll also be testing a set of streams. See the comments box below for more details.

The Stumble Inn
Taikoo Li mainstay The Stumble Inn will also have at least the CCTV televised games and will try to stream matches by popular demand.

Thinking in Sports
The sports bar is promising to stream whatever the people want to see, with a possible slight lean towards showing England's important games.

Email: p.ryding@thebeijinger.com
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Comments

Steven Schwankert's picture Steven Schwankert Submitted by Guest on Sat, 10/12/2013 - 10:14

The qualifiers happen early because most of the players are professionals, and therefore their time is taken up playing in their respective leagues. It also allows managers to select players and get a team to gel as a unit prior to the competition. Spring training is no different, it just happens over a more compressed period.

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Sat, 10/12/2013 - 09:03

I don't get why qualifying matches happen so far in advance of the actual competition. Presumably the skill, personnel and injury satus of every national team could change drastically over the course of a year.

are there any rules that say the team that qualifies has to resemble in some way shape or form to the team that eventually competes?

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local_kenn's picture local_kenn Submitted by Guest on Fri, 10/11/2013 - 14:59

I have to second what Badr said... The Local has actually opened early for baseball (specifically requested, by the way) and no one showed up.

It's not that I don't want to show them... in fact I have a bit of personal interest: my cousin, Matt Adams, is first baseman for the Cardinals, and while he might not be the best first baseman out there, he sure as all can hit:
http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=31119103&topic_id=11493214

Paul Ryding's picture Paul Ryding Submitted by Guest on Fri, 10/11/2013 - 12:18

The Local Kenn very kindly sent me this overnight:

"So - I know this is what everyone is saying ... but:

We will definitely have, via CCTV5:
Denmark vs Italy
Spain vs Belarus

We will, as a test, stream Belgium v Croatia. Hopefully, it will work out good.

We'll also try streaming England v Montenegro ... again, we can only cross our fingers and hope.

Tenatively, if the streams go well, I'm looking at Portugal v Luxembourg and England v Poland for Tuesday (Weds morning).

I'm more than happy to stream other matches if popular demand calls for it, but until I actually see that Croatia v Belgium feed I don't want to really push it.

There is a very slight chance I have more matches via satellite. I will let you know immediately if that is the case - I'll also update my website.

By the way, check my site out here:
http://beijing-local.com/content/live-sports
Choose "FIFA World Cup Qualifiers" under 'filter by sport,' and you can get a quick idea of what we are planning to do. I will update this if I have more info."

Managing Editor, the Beijinger

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