Magrat Garlick
Rather Mad Witch
Asia, Wednesday
11.00, Seoul, grp 2: South Korea 0-0 Saudi Arabia (Asian football: go here for all your 0-0 goodness.)
14.30, Tehran, grp 2: Iran 1-0 UAE (Iran emphatically the better side, staying in theoretical contention, but go to the hardest place to win on the Asian continent needing three points just to make the play-offs.)
Qualification scenarios:
Group 1: Bahrain play Uzbekistan at home; winner makes the play-offs, a draw sends Bahrain through.
Group 2: North Korea play Saudi Arabia at home. Winner qualifies for South Africa. A draw guarantees North Korea at least play-offs. If Saudi Arabia lose, they'll have to hope Iran lose as well. A possible scenario is a one-goal win for Saudi Arabia and a draw in South Korea, leaving the last play-off place open to goals scored between North Korea and Iran.
Europe
15.45, Skopje, grp 9: FYR Macedonia 2-0 Iceland (Morgunbladid's sport story of the night concerned the handball team's eight-goal win over Belgium. The team are eliminated completely.)
17.00, Göteborg, grp 1: Sweden 4-0 Malta (And there's another meaningless match to boost goal difference.)
17.00, Kyiv, grp 6: Ukraine 2-1 Kazakhstan (I can't get the Kazakhs. Most games they play rubbish and then suddenly they turn up and score the first goal in Kyiv. Ukraine still won thanks to a brace from Nazarenko.)
17.30, Helsinki, grp 4: Finland 0-3 Russia (an old Sami Hyypiä tasted the wrath of Russian strikers Zyryanov and Kerzhakov, as Russia confirm this group is a two-horse race.)
18.15, Tórshavn, grp 7: Faroe Islands 0-2 Serbia (No upset, but the Faroes goal difference actually isn't that bad. Well, when compared to 2-25 in Andorra, 0-21 on Malta and 1-32 at San Marino, anyway.9
18.45, Rotterdam, grp 9: Netherlands 2-0 Norway (Um, yeah. Netherlands too good. They have three times the points of any other team - not that they wouldn't have qualified, but the opposition really is shambolic. It does look like the least-points rule might work.)
19.15, London, grp 6: England 6-0 Andorra
Can only make play-offs: Moldova, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Faroe Islands, Scotland, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Norway.
11.00, Seoul, grp 2: South Korea 0-0 Saudi Arabia (Asian football: go here for all your 0-0 goodness.)
14.30, Tehran, grp 2: Iran 1-0 UAE (Iran emphatically the better side, staying in theoretical contention, but go to the hardest place to win on the Asian continent needing three points just to make the play-offs.)
Code:
7 games unless stated
Group 1 Group 2
Australia 10-0 17 Q South Korea12-3 15 Q
Japan 9-3 15 Q North Korea 7-5 11
------------------- -------------------
Bahrain 5-8 7 Saudi Arabia8-8 11
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Qatar (8) 4-13 6 E Iran 7-6 10
Uzb'stan 5-9 4 UAE (8) 6-17 2 E
Group 1: Bahrain play Uzbekistan at home; winner makes the play-offs, a draw sends Bahrain through.
Group 2: North Korea play Saudi Arabia at home. Winner qualifies for South Africa. A draw guarantees North Korea at least play-offs. If Saudi Arabia lose, they'll have to hope Iran lose as well. A possible scenario is a one-goal win for Saudi Arabia and a draw in South Korea, leaving the last play-off place open to goals scored between North Korea and Iran.
Europe
15.45, Skopje, grp 9: FYR Macedonia 2-0 Iceland (Morgunbladid's sport story of the night concerned the handball team's eight-goal win over Belgium. The team are eliminated completely.)
17.00, Göteborg, grp 1: Sweden 4-0 Malta (And there's another meaningless match to boost goal difference.)
17.00, Kyiv, grp 6: Ukraine 2-1 Kazakhstan (I can't get the Kazakhs. Most games they play rubbish and then suddenly they turn up and score the first goal in Kyiv. Ukraine still won thanks to a brace from Nazarenko.)
17.30, Helsinki, grp 4: Finland 0-3 Russia (an old Sami Hyypiä tasted the wrath of Russian strikers Zyryanov and Kerzhakov, as Russia confirm this group is a two-horse race.)
18.15, Tórshavn, grp 7: Faroe Islands 0-2 Serbia (No upset, but the Faroes goal difference actually isn't that bad. Well, when compared to 2-25 in Andorra, 0-21 on Malta and 1-32 at San Marino, anyway.9
18.45, Rotterdam, grp 9: Netherlands 2-0 Norway (Um, yeah. Netherlands too good. They have three times the points of any other team - not that they wouldn't have qualified, but the opposition really is shambolic. It does look like the least-points rule might work.)
19.15, London, grp 6: England 6-0 Andorra
Code:
6 games played unless stated
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Denmark 13-2 16 Greece 12-4 13 Slovakia 17-6 15
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
Hungary 8-2 13 Switzerland11-6 13 NornIron(7)12-6 13
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Portugal 8-4 9 Latvia 10-6 10 Poland 18-7 10
Sweden 6-2 9 Israel 10-8 9 Czech Rep 6-4 8
Albania (8) 4-8 6 E Luxembourg 3-13 4 Slovenia 5-4 8
Malta (8) 0-21 1 E Moldova 2-11 1 S Marino(7) 1-32 0 E
Group 4 Group 5 Group 6
Germany 18-4 16 Spain 13-2 18 England (7)26-4 21
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
Russia 12-3 15 Bos i Herc 18-6 12 Croatia 12-6 11
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Finland 8-10 10 Turkey 6-5 8 Ukraine 9-6 11
Wales (7) 5-7 9 Belgium 9-11 7 Belarus (5)14-7 9
Azerb'n (5) 0-5 1 Estonia 5-15 5 Kazakhstan 7-22 3
Liecht'stein1-15 1 E Armenia 3-14 1 Andorra (7) 2-25 0 E
Group 7 Group 8 Group 9
Serbia (7) 15-5 18 Italy 9-3 14 N'lands 16-2 21 Q
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
France (5) 7-6 10 Rep Irel (7)8-5 13 Scotland (5)3-5 7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lithuania(7)6-6 9 Bulgaria 6-4 8 FYR Macd 4-7 7
Austria 7-9 7 Cyprus 6-9 5 Iceland (7) 5-11 4 E
Romania 7-10 7 Montenegro 5-8 4 Norway (5) 2-5 3
Faroe Is (5)1-7 1 Georgia (7) 4-9 3 E
Code:
Current runners-up
Russia 5 4 0 1 11-3 12
France 5 3 1 1 7-6 10
Bosnia and Hercegovina5 3 0 2 14-5 9
Hungary 4 2 1 1 4-2 7
Switzerland 4 2 1 1 7-6 7
Republic of Ireland 5 1 4 0 4-3 7
Northern Ireland 5 2 1 2 5-6 7
Scotland 5 2 1 2 3-5 7
-------------------------------------------
Croatia 4 1 2 1 6-6 5
Runners-up if result against bottom teams is not counted
Ukraine 6 3 2 1 9-6 11
Germany 4 3 1 0 8-4 10
France 5 3 1 1 7-6 10
Bosnia and Hercegovina5 3 0 2 14-5 9
Slovenia 6 2 2 2 5-4 8
Bulgaria 5 1 4 0 6-4 7
Switzerland 4 2 1 1 7-6 7
Hungary 4 2 1 1 4-2 7
-------------------------------------------
Scotland 5 2 1 2 3-5 7
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