Midweek internationals - judging by yesterday's Guardian, which I acquired after having been fleeced £3 by the shop assistant (plus £1 for an ice cream), there is only one match on, Netherlands vs England, but there are actually some important matches in North America. Plus I forgot some matches from last time around.
21 June:
Conakry, grp E: Guinea 2-1 Malawi (Guinea duly did their job, but not impressively, and still have some work to do to qualify for the finals - which would be their first failed qualification since 2002, when internal FA troubles saw them banned.)
Bamako, grp D: Mali 3-1 Benin (a bit more to form, Mali won comfortably, which paves the way even more for group leaders Ghana, who now lead by five points with four games to go.)
5 July:
Cairo, grp C: Egypt 4-0 Rwanda (an easy win after a solid, if fruitless Confederations Cup effort, means Egypt are still chasing Algeria. Trailing by three points with two away games to play, though, means it will be tricky.
Code:
Group A Group B Group C
Gabon (2) 5-1 6 Tunisia 4-1 7 Algeria 5-1 7
------------------- ------------------- -------------------
Togo 1-3 4 Nigeria 3-0 5 Egypt 6-4 4
Morocco 1-2 2 Kenya 3-6 3 Zambia 2-3 4
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cameroon (2)0-1 1 Mozambique 2-4 1 Rwanda 0-5 1
Group D Group E
Ghana 5-0 9 Ivory Coast10-3 9
------------------- -------------------
Mali 4-4 4 Burkina Faso7-5 6
Benin 2-4 3 Guinea 5-7 3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sudan 1-4 1 Malawi 1-8 0
Group winners to World Cup, top three to Africa Cup of Nations
12 August
Europe
16.00, Tórshavn, grp 7: Faroe Islands vs France (minnow bashing of hosts.)
16.00, Baku, grp 4: Azerbaijan vs Germany (minnow bashing of hosts pt II.)
17.00, Oslo, grp 3: Norway vs Scotland (minnow bashing of hosts pt III.)
18.15, Minsk, grp 6: Belarus vs Croatia (Croatia are off the 2007 peak, having been heavily beaten by England and split points with Ukraine, and are now set for a double-header - the return leg is in three and a half weeks.)
18.45, Maribor, grp 3: Slovenia vs San Marino (and minnow bashing of visitors to round it of.)
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 (7)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
Group winners to World Cup, eight best runners-up to play-off
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
North and Central America
20.00, Ciudad de México: Mexico vs United States (just a couple of weeks ago, Mexico won by a comfortable 5-0 in a packed Giants Stadium to lift the Gold Cup for the first time since 2000 - despite dropping points to Panama in the group stage and needing a penalty shoot-out to beat Costa Rica. The US will presumably have more of their European stars back for this match - they were rested from the Gold Cup to cooperate with European clubs - and the pressure will be on the hosts, but the US have not taken more than one draw from Mexico in 23 (!!) attempts, perhaps one of the stranger statistics in world sports.)
23.30, Port of Spain: Trinidad and Tobago vs El Salvador (in the bottom-dwellers' match, it is likely that the hosts will come up top and eliminate both teams from contention. Trinidad have not conceded a goal in two home meetings with El Salvador, and gave away a 2-0 lead during the final ten minutes of the return leg.)
01.30, San Pedro Sula: Honduras vs Costa Rica (group leaders Costa Rica have been solid and consistent, without the massive upsets - a home win against the US doesn't really count given the US' horrible record there - but against another rising side from Central America, it will no doubt be tough. Costa Rica hold a slight 18-14 lead on head-to-head, though it stands 14-13 to Honduras if the count starts from 1960.)
Code:
Costa Rica 5 4 0 1 9-5 12
USA 5 3 1 1 10-6 10
Honduras 5 2 1 2 6-6 7
--------------------------------------------
Mexico 5 2 0 3 6-8 6
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
El Salvador 5 1 2 2 6-7 5
Trinidad-Tobago 5 0 2 3 6-11 2
Top three to World Cup. Fourth to play-off with CONCACAF