Iraq weren’t sure if they would get to play in Australia until Thursday, when they were reinstated. The trip to Australia would not prove to be a good one for the Iraqis, however, as the Australians recorded their third straight clean sheet in three qualifying matches. The first half saw the Iraqis hit the crossbar, the goalie’s leg, and the air just outside of a post. With the game tied at the half, the Australians decided to score quickly with a Kewell header off of a cross from Emerton to excite the crowd. They held on for the victory.Australia’s Harry Kewell spoke about the win. "I think we rode our luck. Iraq created quite a few chances today and a couple of balls went their way but again we had a great keeper who stopped them." More fitting words would be hard to find since Mark Schwarzer was able to make two clutch saves in the final ten minutes.
Iraq coach Adnan Hamad spoke about how the short ban affected his team. "Of course, it affected our players a lot, but we always play under pressure and we are the only football team in the world that plays outside of its country."
It looks like Iraq won’t be playing any of its games in South Africa after the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009, with only one point with three games left. Australia have garnered seven and are on the cusp of the second round. The two squads play in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, next week.
Equatorial Guinea won at home 2-0 against Sierra Leone, a team that had to survive the preliminary round just for the right to be in Malabo playing in the first round. Equatorial Guinea show little sympathy, coldly willing their way to three points.
Angola arrived fashionably late to its own party in its capital city, Luanda. With no goals in the first hour, the Angolans pushed across three goals in the final thirty minutes to score a stylish victory over Benin. The Angolans are looking to qualify for a second successive World Cup.
Burundi clawed out a 1-0 home victory against Seychelles. No goals were found in the first eighty minutes and the islanders were on the verge of gaining their first ever point in World Cup qualifying, but Burundi finally broke the tie.
“We are back again and we've sent out a message that whoever is going to play Nigeria is going to find it tough." – forward Nwankwo Kanu
South Africa were looking to prove that they deserve the free pass into the upcoming World Cup. They did nothing to justify their position, however (unless you count three yellows), and fell in their opener to Nigeria. Instead, it was the Nigerians who proved that their poor Cup of Nations performance was a fluke. Two first-half headers had the Nigerian home crowd joyous, and the defense did not even let one goal back to secure the shutout victory. In fact, Nigeria’s goalkeeper did not even touch the ball until minute thirty-nine.
A match took place between Liberia and Gambia on June 1, 2008. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, but sometimes other events overshadow the match itself. Eight spectators were killed by suffocation because the cramped gates leading into the stadium were not wide enough to allow the cramped mass of fans to breathe.
Liberia’s football president stated that “people preferred the angle that the gate provided and so they were all just crammed in one area and that led to suffocation.”
Goal scorers:
Australia: Kewell 47
Equatorial Guinea: Ronan 47; Epitié 56
Angola: Flavio 62; Ricardo 81; Mendonça 86
Burundi: Ndikumana 81
Nigeria: Uche 10; Nwaneri 44
Gambia: Jarjue 17
Liberia: Makor 82
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