Ethiopia will not complete its final two qualifying matches in Africa's first round. This was announced on September 12, 2008. The results from their first two encounters have been stripped from the Group H table, and that group now consists of only Rwanda, Morocco, and Mauritania.The group leader is Rwanda with nine points through four matches. With the withdrawal of Ethiopia comes great news for Rwanda: they have qualified for CAF's Round Two! Because the points they earned against Mauritania now count toward the second-place tiebreakers, they are guaranteed to advance regardless of the outcome of the group's lone remaining encounter.
Morocco host Mauritania in the group finale. Morocco have six points whereas Mauritania have zero. A Morocco win would guarantee them a place in Africa's final twenty alongside Rwanda.
Ecuador at Uruguay (4-1)
El Salvador at Suriname
Saudi Arabia at United Arab Emirates (4-2)
Estonia at Bosnia and Herzegovina
"Venezuela are a very difficult team to beat and we need to be focused on our goal. We'll pressure them as we did against Colombia here." –Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguay forward
"In Brazil, we have a lot of obligations: first of all to win, secondly to score a lot of goals and thirdly to put on a show. It's not always possible." -Dunga, coach of Brazil
Botswana faced off with Madagascar in Antananarivo. A Madagascar goal midway through the first half surely caught the attention of the Botswanans. The score, however, failed to change for the duration of the match and surprising Madagascar moved into second place in Group G with six points. Botswana ended the day stuck on five points.
Guatemala went to Trinidad and Tobago looking to turn their third round in the right direction after an opening home loss. The match was a defensive struggle with neither team about to score until the climactic final ten minutes. Trinidad and Tobago struck first with a goal six minutes from time and the home crowd figured the Trinidadians were home free. A Guatemalan goal in the final minute, however, meant that the teams would share the glory. Trinidad and Tobago have four points in Group A, whereas Guatemala have one.
"We are not thinking about losing and we need to go out and play the way we always do. That means not defending deep, taking the game to our opponents and attacking whenever we can. The only good result for us is a win." -Paulo Da Silva, Paraguay defender
North Korea were the underdogs as they headed to Abu Dhabi to take on United Arab Emirates. Keeping with what we become a theme of the day, the eastern Asians were the team that stepped up to the challenge. The teams held at zero goals for the first five-sixths of the game, but in the final fifteen minutes and change, that story changed. First, the Emiratis had the misfortune of blocking a cross into their own net. Then, the North Koreans scored seven minutes later, only to see the Emiratis regain traction with a goal of their own five minutes after that. The score did not change after that, however, and the 2-1 home less is a monstruous blow to the hopes of the United Arab Emirates' qualification campaign. North Korea take three points into their upcoming meeting with South Korea.
Denmark visited Hungary in a match that was essential for both teams considering they are both in a group containing Portugal and Sweden. Crossbars were hit, but no goals were tallied either way, and the only evidence that the teams played were the seven yellows awarded, four of them to Hungary.
Equatorial Guinea looked for a win in Freetown, but Sierra Leone were not about to let their opportunity to pass South Africa in the group go by the wayside. The grabbed the first goal at the half-hour mark, and a goal with ten minutes to go in the second half gave them an insurmountable 2-0 lead. A stoppage time goal by Equatorial Guinea was not enough, and Sierra Leone have themselves a 2-1 lead, seven points, and a great chance to move onto Round Two.
Scotland visited Macedonia without midfielder James Morrison, but they never expected the debacle that was about to ensue. The home side sent the crowd in Skopje to a frenzy with a very early goal, and the Scottish had no answer for the remainder of the match. The 1-0 shock win gave Macedonia a very well-earned three points. Still, the coach of Scotland, George Burley believed his side deserved at least a tie.
“Vanuatu will definitely have more experience than us. However, playing at home, we know our side will do well.” -Juan Carlos Buzzetti, coach of Fiji
Africa's Round One resumed today with three World Cup qualifiers.
Trinidad and Tobago visited Group A underdogs Cuba with the hopes of grabbing the early group lead. Cuba had barely scraped by Antigua and Barbuda, so they had plenty of doubters to prove wrong. The Trinidadians opened the scoring in the first half, and took the 1-0 lead into the break. Trinidad and Tobago scored twice more before their substitute Kaleem Hyland was sent off for a red card five minutes after the third goal. Cuba only had time to pull one goal back, and they dropped their home opener 3-1.
While their European counterparts were playing a myriad of friendlies, the Kazakhs welcomed Andorra to Almaty for the opener of the European 2010 World Cup qualifiers. The home crowd witnessed a show in the first half as the Kazakhs knocked home three goals. The Andorrans were on their worst behavior, drawing six yellows but thankfully no ejections. Kazakhstan won in shutout style 3-0 and took the lead in Group F. If the qualifiers ended today, they would be in the World Cup; they aim to keep it that way.
The August schedule is pretty light, for it only contains Match Day 1 of CONCACAF's Third Round, as well as the opening UEFA qualifier. September is much more packed. All match times are local.
In the final World Cup qualifier for over one month, Lesotho went to Libreville to face Gabon. Neither side was able to pull ahead until late in the first half. The home crowd was rewarded for its patience with a goal that placed Gabon ahead 1-0 at the half. Twenty minutes into the second half, the Gabonese again found the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. The game ended with the score still 2-0, and the Gabonese now have six points with two games left to play. Lesotho are the latest team to be eliminated from the 2010 World Cup. Gabon trail Ghana and Libya in the Group E table.
Before the draw, Japan were designated the fourth seed and were placed into Pot B. Saudi Arabia became the fifth seed and were put into Pot C.
After the second round of North America's qualification cycle, ten of the top twelve seeds are still alive. The only exceptions are Panamá, who fell to El Salvador, and Guyana, who were ousted by Suriname. There is no need for a draw in CONCACAF as these semifinal groupings were determined in the Durban draw in November 2007.
The draw for the fourth round of Asian qualifying will be held on June 27, 2008, in Kuala Lumpur. There will be four pots of unequal size that will be used to split the remaining ten teams in two groups of five. The top two finishers in each group will advance to the 2010 World Cup, and the two third-place teams will advance to a home-and-away playoff against one another.
Uganda visited Angola in the penultimate African qualifier of the month of June. Nothing spectacular occurred in this match, scoring-wise or behavior-wise, so June 23, 2008 will down go down in history as producing no World Cup qualifying scores. The scoreless tie keeps the two participants in a tie for second in Group C with seven points, two behind leaders Benin. Angola are currently second on goal differential.
Panamá took a 1-0 aggregate lead into San Salvador for the return match against El Salvador. Things were absolutely rosy for Panamá after a goal in the first quarter hour made the score 1-0. At that point, Panamá knew they would advance as long as they did not lose by more than one goal. When halftime struck, Panamá still had the 1-0 lead. With twenty minutes to play, El Salvador finally broke even, but 1-1 would not win the aggregate; only 3-1 would. In the eightieth minute, Panamá’s Cárlos Rivera grabbed his second yellow card and was ejected. On the ensuing penalty kick, El Salvador pushed the score to 2-1. If Panamá could just hold down the fort for ten more minutes despite being a man down, they would have advanced. It was not to be, however, as El Salvador scored with two minutes to go for a 3-1 victory. To add insult to elimination, Panamá left the field with only nine men after Adolfo Machado was shown the exit after a straight red. El Salvador advance to Round Three on a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Niger faced Benin in a match that Benin wanted to win to put pressure on Angola and Uganda, whose match had been postponed until the next day. Benin accomplished this objective with a 2-0 victory that was extremely bitter for Niger, not only because it signaled their eliminated, but also because they suffered the indignity of an own goal. Benin had a lead of 1-0 at the half before Niger gave away the second tally. Benin have nine points and lead Group C. Both Angola and Uganda have six.
The eyes of the soccer universe were focused on the United Arab Emirates today, with Iraq playing Qatar in Dubai and the Emiratis hosting Syria in Abu Dhabi. These two matches were the only ones that still mattered for the qualification process for Asia’s fourth round.
Madagascar paid Mozambique a visit. Their hosts were not very kind, however, as they staked out a 1-0 lead at the half. Two second half goals gave the home side a three-goal shutout over their friends from across the sea. Madagascar have three points, and Mozambique have four in Group G.
