41.   Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Salvador and USA were given a bye to the semi-final stage of a complicated qualifying competition in the Concacaf zone.

42.   Despite being top seed in the qualifying competition, he lost in the final round to Frenchman Cyril Saulnier.

43.   FIFA want the European qualifying competition to be based on seven groups of seven teams each with the first two from each group going to France.

44.   The qualifying competition for the French Open proved to have no respect for reputations.

45.   The team event is used as the qualifying competition for the individual event.

46.   Their first defeat in the current qualifying competition came because their midfield ran out of legs after they had scrapped to find their way in front.

47.   Though Klinsmann himself is suspended because of two yellow cards in the qualifying competition, he was optimistic about their first fixture.

48.   Uribe, who took over from Francisco Maturana midway through the qualifying competition, was unable to revive their fortunes as they finished in eighth place.

49.   While known for defence, Romania were, in fact, the second-highest scoring team in World Cup qualifying competition.

50.   With skipper Danny Blind suspended because of collecting two yellow cards in the qualifying competition, de Kock is set to deputise.