Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Last weekend saw another round of World Cup qualifiers take place and after tonight's games the picture of who will be in South Africa next year will be a lot clearer.
One thing that is immerging is that some of the big nations are struggling to ensure their participation and this includes the teams of the best two players in the world.
Whilst England were stumbling to another win under Capello in a friendly against Slovenia ahead of tonight's qualifier with Croatia, Argentina were preparing for a huge game against closest rivals Brazil. It is unthinkable that Lionel Messi will not make it to the biggest stage next year but this is now a distinct possibility following a 3-1 defeat.
Manager Diego Maradona could lead his team to the unthinkable of being absent from the World Cup. They now have three games left with two of them tricky away encounters to Uruguay and Paraguay. Given the fact that they have not won away from home for nearly two years these fixtures will be far from straight forward. They may even find themselves in a playoff with Mexico from the Concacaf groups if they were to finish fifth. It is astonishing for a country with so much talent and history to find themselves in this position ... but they are not alone.
Brazil, meanwhile, have now qualified and they are the first South American side to do so. With Robiniho and Kaka in the side they still have a fair amount of flair and will be one of the favourites next year.
Messi's main contender for the footballer of the year is Ronaldo but Portugal are also struggling in Group 1 and were fortunate to salvage a 1-1 draw away to Denmark on Saturday.
Tonight's away fixture to Hungary is now absolutely crucial and defeat will leave them six points adrift of second place and, whilst it will be mathematically possible to qualify, it will be highly unlikely.
Much of the blame for the position Portugal find themselves in will be placed squarely on the shoulders of manager Carlos Queiroz, Alex Ferguson's ex number two, who has struggled whenever he has taken on the main job for a big team. Fours draws in a row and scoring only one goal tells its own story and even if they do scrape through, this kind of form is unlikely to send shivers down the other main contenders.
European Champions Spain are cruising through their group as are Holland who have qualified but France are probably going to be second and they could be joined by Germany and Italy who have tight battles with Russia and the Republic of Ireland to go through automatically.
The playoffs in the Euro division could be an exciting round of games with a number of previous winners taking their chances in a two-leg knock out with some up-and-coming talented sides. No one will fancy playing the likes of Russia, Bosnia or Croatia should they have to.
In Africa, the Ivory Coast and Ghana with their host of Premiership and La Liga stars, are ready for the short trip and Nigeria and Cameroon are both currently second but it is early stages in these groups. With hosts South Africa already qualified this is probably the best chance since Cameroon in 1990 for an African side to finally win the World Cup.
One of the most interesting games in the African division will be between arch rivals Egypt and Algeria should it come down to a last match showdown in November.
Whether the world order in football is slowly shifting away from the traditionally strong teams is a question that cannot be answered until one of the new lights actually wins a tournament, but the pressure on the likes of France, Italy and Argentina are under to qualify suggests there is some compeling evidence of it.
The biggest loss to the World Cup though will not be the loss of any individual team but the absence of the two most skilled players in the world.
All big events need their big players and there will plenty of sponsors, as well as officials at FIFA, experiencing lots of sleepless nights if Messi and Ronaldo do not make it to the 'show' next year.
