International date again. And despite the moans of our British friends, there are actually some meaningful games in this week's fixtures.
Asia
15.00, grp 1, Manama: Bahrain 0-1 Australia (great activity from our Aussie brethren in the middle of their soccer season. A win in dramatic fashion, too, with Marco Bresciano scoring well into injury time after Bahrain had flundered a number of chances.)
15.15, grp 2, Dubai: UAE 1-1 Iran (a result neither team can be especially satisfied with, though Iran will probably be most relieved, having secured a point nine minutes from time against the run of play.)
16.30, grp 1, Doha: Qatar 0-3 Japan (Qatar's hope of being the No. 2 footballing nation on the peninsula took a big blow as they were outplayed by a Japanese side who finally clicked. Much will have to go wrong for Australia and Japan for them not to take the first two spots)
16.35, grp 2, Riyadh: Saudi Arabia 0-2 South Korea (a disappointing result sees Saudi Arabia, often a laughing stock in international finals - 0-8 against Germany anyone - out of the qualifying spots, which would be the first time since 1990. They now travel to Kim Jong-Il's Decidedly Undemocratic And Most Certainly Not Anyone But Kim's Republic of Korea, in a match to keep abreast of the leaders. The Considerably More Democratic But Still Deploringly Corrupt Republic of Korea, meanwhile, seem to have the strongest side in Asia proper.)
Code:
3 games played unless stated
Group 1 Group 2
Australia 6-0 9 South Korea 7-2 7
Japan 7-3 7 Iran 4-3 5
------------------- -------------------
Qatar (4) 4-8 4 North Korea 4-4 4
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bahrain 3-5 1 Saudi Arabia3-4 4
Uzb'stan 1-5 1 UAE (4) 4-9 1
CONCACAF
19.30, grp 3, Paramaribo: Suriname 1-1 Haiti (*yawn*)
01.00, grp 2, San Pedro Sula: Honduras 1-0 Mexico (horrific stuff from Mexico. Two men sent off and an own goal. Eriksson to wave goodbye to his job within days.)
01.00, grp 2, Kingston: Jamaica 3-0 Canada (Jamaica, with Tranmæl's Ian Goodison and Vålerenga's Luton Shelton, did their part of the job with a convincing win - but, in the end, they would have needed 6-0. Even Canada aren't that weak. Jamaica will probably take a harsh revenge at the Caribbean Cup.)
01.11, grp 1, Commerce City, Colorado: United States 2-0 Guatemala (goals from Kenny Cooper and most hyped wunderkind ever Freddy Adu secured the win.)
01.11, grp 1, Port of Spain: Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 Cuba (Kenwyne Jones finally broke through in the 67th minute, though by that time Guatemala were already trailing, so the win wasn't quite needed.
01.30, grp 3, San Salvador: El Salvador 1-3 Costa Rica (Costa Rica turned around 0-1 to go through undefeated.)
Code:
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
USA 14-1 15 Honduras 9-5 12 Costa Rica 20-3 18
Trin/Tob 9-6 11 Mexico 9-6 10 El Salvador10-4 10
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
Guatemala 6-7 5 Jamaica 6-6 10 Haiti 4-13 3
Cuba 5-18 3 Canada 6-13 2 Suriname 4-18 2
Fixtures for the last six to be drawn in three days. Matchdays:
11 February, 28 March, 1 April, 6 June, 10 June, 12 August (?!), 5 September, 9 September, 10 October, 14 October.
Europe
19.30, grp 3, Serravalle: San Marino 0-3 Czech Republic (Czechs back to second, as expected, but are still the weakest second placed side.)
Code:
Group 3
Slovakia 8-5 9
-------------------
Czech Rep 5-2 7
- - - - - - - - - -
Poland 6-4 7
Slovenia 5-3 7
N Ireland 5-4 4
San Marino 1-12 0
Oceania
06.00 UTC, Lautoka: New Zealand 0-2 Fiji (Fiji's players got visas this time, defeating an all home-based - though with six Wellington Phoenix players - New Zealand XI. Shane Smeltz, formerly of cult clubs Mansfield and AFC Wombles, was rested. Waitakere striker Roy Krishna - a Fiji Indian - netted both goals. Still, the result was meaningless in terms of the table.)
Code:
New Zealand 15 +9 P
- - - - - - - - -
NCaledon 8 +2
Fiji 7 -3
Vanuatu 4 -8
New Zealand to playoff with Asia