Asia
09.00, Sydney, grp 1: Australia 2-0 Uzbekistan (after a poor first half, Australia ramped it up with goals from Kennedy and Kewell. Coach Jim Verbeek, as a reputable Norwegian news outlet dubbed him, will be happy.)
11.00, Seoul, grp 2: South Korea 1-0 North Korea (as mentioned earlier, a draw has been the common result, but the South decided they weren't about to miss the Cup by handing things to their northern opponents and inserted a late winner.)
14.15, Manama, grp 1: Bahrain 1-0 Qatar (in an even game, the home side came up with the winner despite coming off a plane trip from Japan four days ago. A fine result that, given the fixture list, means that the play-off spot is likely to be decided on the final week, June 17, when Bahrain welcome Uzbekistan.)
17.30, Riyadh, grp 2: Saudi Arabia vs United Arab Emirates (after gaining an early penalty goal, Saudi Arabia handed away two goals to the visitors to go into the half trailing, but came back in the final quarter of an hour to turn things around and gain all three points in the second most improbable finish of the international night.)
Code:
6 games unless stated
Group 1 Group 2
Australia(5)8-0 13 South Kor(5)9-3 11
Japan (5) 8-3 11 North Korea 7-5 10
------------------- -------------------
Bahrain 5-6 7 Saudi Arabia8-8 10
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Qatar 5-8 4 Iran (5) 6-6 6
Uzb'stan 4-13 4 UAE 6-14 2 E
Top two teams to World Cup, third-placed to play off with each other and then with New Zealand
Europe
14.30, Almaty, grp 6: Kazakhstan 1-5 Belarus (Belarus scored five goals in the second half to recover into fourth place, but realistically, they shouldn't challenge Croatia and Ukraine for second place in the group anyway. The Kazakhs' seem to have plateaued at a level slightly above Andorra.)
15.00, Tallinn, grp 5: Estonia 1-0 Armenia (Estonia's first win over a reasonably-sized nation since 2005 - they've managed to conquer Luxembourg and Andorra since - as they look likely to avoid last place and thus remain fifth seeds in Europe.)
15.00, Sofia, grp 8: Bulgaria 2-0 Cyprus (a hard-fought, but fully deserved, win for Bulgaria sees them close the gap to Ireland to four points, their first win after four successive draws, despite missing Dimitar Berbatov and Martin Petrov to injuries.)
15.30, Riga, grp 2: Latvia 2-0 Luxembourg (easy win, meaning Latvia trump Luxembourg 6-1 in the double header.)
17.00, Budapest, grp 1: Hungary 3-0 Malta (Hungary remain level with Denmark at the head of group one, where the two top seeds Portugal and Sweden are now seven points adrift; however, Hungary face Portugal in two matches in September and October, and would need at least three points to challenge for first place. Malta still without a goal.)
17.00, Tbilisi, grp 8: Georgia 0-0 Montenegro (another dull draw for Georgia means neither side have registered a win in their group yet, and means Georgia are in principle eliminated.)
17.30, Vaduz, grp 4: Liechtenstein 0-1 Russia (not impressive stuff by the Russians, but they get the three.)
18.00, İstanbul, grp 5: Turkey 1-2 Spain (Xabi Alonso converted a penalty in the second half to deny Turkey three points at home, before Liverpool winger Riera scored a winner in injury time.)
18.15, København, grp 1: Denmark 3-0 Albania (Denmark too good for Albania, as they continue their unbeaten run, and given their away win in Portugal it's theirs to lose at this stage.)
18.30, Iraklion, grp 2: Greece 2-1 Israel (as four days ago, Greece hand away an early lead, meaning that a draw in Switzerland wouldn't be enough. However, a penalty from Samaras saved their blushes.)
18.30, Genève, grp 2: Switzerland 2-0 Moldova (Switzerland continue to take points before head of September's home clash with Greece, which should settle the first place.)
18.30, Kielce, grp 3: Poland 10-0 San Marino (Poland jump up the table with the compulsory victory.)
18.30, Praha, grp 3: Czech Republic 1-2 Slovakia (an early goal from Slovakia was cancelled out pretty quickly, as the Slovaks still can't grasp the tactic of putting men behind the ball. However, a goal with ten minutes from time sees Slovakia go top of the former union.)
18.30, Andorra la Vella, grp 6: Andorra 0-2 Croatia (Eduardo's first goal since being chopped down.)
18.30, Klagenfurt, grp 7: Austria 2-1 Romania (Romania's woeful record continues, and they can forget the World Cup with four points from five games.)
18.45, Zenica, grp 5: Bosnia and Hercegovina 2-1 Belgium (Another easy win over Belgium means Bosnia have scored joint-most goals in Europe, and are steering towards second place, with only the rubbish teams away and Turkey and Spain at home to contend with.)
18.45, Belfast, grp 3: Northern Ireland 1-0 Slovenia (Slovenia had much of the pressure, yet Northern Ireland take more points in Belfast, and given the other sides are taking points off each other, they are indeed in a solid position.)
18.45, Caerdydd, grp 4: Wales 0-2 Germany (Wales not good enough to challenge Germany, which should give Joachim Löw a little more time to work. The German sports media are pretty harsh on their coaches if they feel their success is down to luck. Wales' two home losses means their crowd is probably justified in the decision to fill up for rugby but not bother about football.)
18.45, Amsterdam, grp 9: Netherlands 4-0 FYR Macedonia (Netherlands muscle through their group, and are guaranteed top-two with a win here.)
18.50, Bari, grp 8: Italy 1-1 Republic of Ireland (despite being reduced to ten men, Italy made somewhat of a mockery of the Ireland coach's claim that "Ireland are a feared opponent as we've been scheduled to play in the south." by scoring after ten minutes. Italy, as we know, don't give...hang on. Robbie Keane equalised four mintues from time. Wtf.)
19.00, London, grp 6: England 2-1 Ukraine (Former Swedish division three player Crouch continues to keep up his happy goalscoring record at international level with a volley. However, Ukraine pulled one back after chaos in the penalty area midway through the second half. The goal woke up England, though, who put on a distinctly un-English recovery to win 2-1.)
19.00, Saint-Denis, grp 7: France 1-0 Lithuania (yet another uninspiring 1-0 win for Domenech's team. With Serbia showing good form in the friendly with Sweden and their win over Romania, France remain outsiders to qualify in first.)
19.00, Glasgow, grp 9: Scotland 2-1 Iceland (Scotland took the lead in the Cod War, but Stabæk striker Pálmi Pálmason punched a shot in the post with CM legend Indriði Sigurðsson, currently of Lyn, equalised. Twelve minutes later, though, Steven Fletcher gave Scotland the lead again; Iceland fought back admirably, but despite goalmouth chaos, they could not get the ball over the line.)
Code:
5 games played unless stated
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Denmark 12-2 13 Greece (6) 12-4 13 NornIron(7)12-6 13
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
Hungary (6) 8-2 13 Swiss (6) 11-6 13 Slovakia 10-6 12
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Portugal (5)6-3 6 Latvia (6) 10-6 10 Poland (6) 18-7 10
Sweden 2-1 6 Israel (6) 10-8 9 Czech Rep(6)6-4 8
Albania (7) 3-6 6 Lux'bourg(6)3-13 4 Slovenia(6) 5-4 8
Malta (7) 0-17 1 E Moldova (5) 2-11 1 S Marino(6) 1-25 0 E
Group 4 Group 5 Group 6
Germany (6)18-4 16 Spain (6) 13-2 18 England 14-3 12
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
Russia 9-3 12 Bos-Herc(6)18-6 12 Croatia 10-4 10
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Finland (4) 6-6 7 Turkey (6) 6-5 8 Ukraine (3) 4-1 7
Wales (6) 4-7 6 Belgium (6) 9-11 7 Belarus (4) 9-6 6
Azerb'n (4) 0-4 1 Estonia (6) 5-15 5 Kazakhstan 6-16 3
Liec'st 0-13 1 Armenia (6) 3-14 1 Andorra 1-14 0
Group 7 Group 8 Group 9
Serbia (5) 12-5 12 Italy (6) 9-3 14 Netherlands12-1 15
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
France 7-6 10 Rep Irel (6)7-4 12 Iceland 4-6 4
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lithuania(6)6-5 9 Bulgaria 5-3 7 Scotland 2-5 4
Austria 7-8 7 Cyprus 4-7 4 FYR Macd (4)2-7 3
Romania 6-10 4 Montenegro 3-6 3 Norway (3) 2-3 2
Faroe Is (4)1-5 1 Georgia (7) 4-9 3
Top team to World Cup, all runners-up teams except worst to knock-out play-off
Code:
Runners-up table
France 5 3 1 1 7-6 0 10
Bosnia and Hercegovina5 3 0 2 14-5 0 9
Russia 4 3 0 1 8-3 0 9
Slovakia 4 3 0 1 7-5 0 9
Hungary 4 2 1 1 4-2 0 7
Switzerland 4 2 1 1 7-6 0 7
Scotland 5 2 1 2 3-5 0 7
Republic of Ireland 4 1 3 0 3-2 0 6
-----------------------------------------------
Croatia 3 1 1 1 4-4 0 4
Eight top to play-off, play-off winners to World Cup
CONCACAF
23.57, Nashville, TN: United States 3-0 Trinidad and Tobago (young star Jozy Altidore, with Haitian ancestry, scored a hat-trick in his ninth international game as Trinidad were sent down to last place. Despite doom and gloom from CW members, Trinidad are only a point behind Mexico...)
01.30, San Pedro Sula: Honduras 3-1 Mexico (another loss to Honduras means that Mexico are back in the rut; bottom-placed Honduras were clearly the better team and Eriksson admitted his side created little. Time to wave goodbye.)
02.00, San José: Costa Rica 1-0 El Salvador (Costa Rica were dominant, but only came through late with Saprissa veteran Walter Centeno, 34, heading home the winner in his 126th game for the nation.)
Code:
USA 3 2 1 0 7-2 7
Costa Rica 3 2 0 1 3-2 6
Honduras 3 1 1 1 4-4 4
-------------------------------------------
Mexico 3 1 0 2 3-5 3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
El Salvador 3 0 2 1 4-4 2
Trinidad and Tobago 3 0 2 1 3-6 2
Top three to World Cup, fourth placed to play-off with South America
South America
Tuesday 00.30, Puerto Ordaz: Venezuela 2-0 Colombia (Colombia's good defensive record blew apart as Venezuela bounced back from the poor result in Argentina, and probably put both teams five points adrift of the qualification spots.)
19.30, La Paz: Bolivia 6-1 Argentina (Bolivia took the lead twice in this match, through Donetsk youngster Marcelo Martins and local veteran Joaquín Botero, and then added a third just before half-time. In the match of ninth-playing-second, Botero then completed his hat-trick to make a laughing-stock of Argentina, who suffered their joint-worst loss in international football - their previous five-goal defeats came to Czechoslovakia during the 1958 World Cup, to Uruguay at an "extra" 1959 Copa América, and at home to Colombia before the 1994 World Cup. Problems clearly solved by changing managers.)
21.20, Quito: Ecuador 1-1 Paraguay (injury time equaliser means Paraguay get a point out of altitude, their first competitive point out of Ecuador since 1979.)
23.10, Santiago: Chile 0-0 Uruguay (Uruguay couldn't break down the ten-men home side, and remain fifth in the group, but only two points behind Argentina. The very last match of qualifying is Uruguay vs Argentina in Montevideo...)
01.10, Porto Alegre: Brazil 3-0 Peru (Brazil were too good for the bottom-ranked side, who have lost two games heavily. Sevilla striker Luís Fabiano netted twice.)
Code:
Paraguay 12 7 3 2 19-9 24
Brazil 12 5 6 1 19-5 21
Argentina 12 5 4 3 18-13 19
Chile 12 6 2 4 17-14 19
-------------------------------------------
Uruguay 12 4 5 3 21-10 17
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Colombia 12 3 5 4 6-10 14
Ecuador 12 3 5 4 14-19 14
Venezuela 12 4 1 7 14-22 13
Bolivia 12 3 3 6 19-25 12
Peru 12 1 4 7 6-26 7
Top four to World Cup, fifth placed to play-off with CONCACAF
- I bet BB is having a chuckle at that result.
