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.August 20, 2008
Andorra at Kazakhstan 9 PM Almaty
Suriname at Haiti 5 PM Port-au-Prince
Jamaica at Canada 7:30 PM Toronto
Trinidad and Tobago at Cuba 8 PM Havana
Honduras at México 8 PM México City
El Salvador at Costa Rica 8 PM San José
United States of America at Guatemala 8 PM Guatemala City
September 5, 2008
Malawi at Djibouti 9 PM Djibouti
Ghana at Libya 10 PM Tripoli
Sénégal at Algeria 10 PM Blida
September 6, 2008
Vanuatu at Fiji 3 PM Ba
New Zealand at New Caledonia 5 PM Nouméa
Nigeria at South Africa 3 PM Port Elizabeth
Scotland at Macedonia 3 PM Skopje
Namibia at Kenya 4 PM Nairobi
Equatorial Guinea at Sierra Leone 4:30 PM Freetown
Azerbaijan at Wales 3 PM Cardiff
Cameroon at Cape Verde 4 PM Praia
Slovenia at Poland 5 PM Wrocław
Northern Ireland at Slovakia 5:30 PM Bratislava
Liberia at Gambia 5 PM Banjul
Rwanda at Mauritania 5 PM Nouakchott
Tunisia at Burkina Faso 6 PM Ouagadougou
Latvia at Moldova 7 PM Tiraspol
Iceland at Norway 7 PM Oslo
Belarus at Ukraine 8 PM Lviv
Japan at Bahrain 7:30 PM Al Manāmah
Denmark at Hungary 7:45 PM Budapest
Switzerland at Israel 8:55 PM Ramat Gan
Portugal at Malta 8 PM Ta'Qali
England at Andorra 8 PM Barcelona, Spain
Ireland at Georgia 8 PM Mainz, Germany
Bulgaria at Montenegro 8 PM Podgorica
Turkey at Armenia 9 PM Yerevan
Italy at Cyprus 9 PM Larnaca
Uzbekistan at Qatar 10 PM Doha
Lithuania at Romania 9 PM Cluj
Greece at Luxembourg 8:15 PM Luxembourg
Kazakstan at Croatia 8:15 PM Zagreb
Faroe Islands at Serbia 8:15 PM Belgrade
North Korea at United Arab Emirates 10:15 PM Abu Dhabi
France at Austria 8:30 PM Vienna
Sweden at Albania 8:45 PM Tirana
Germany at Liechtenstein 8:45 PM Vaduz
Chad at Sudan 10 PM Cairo, Egypt
Paraguay at Argentina 4 PM Buenos Aires
Bosnia and Herzegovina at Spain 10 PM Murcia
Bolivia at Ecuador 4:10 PM Quito
Guatemala at Trinidad and Tobago 5:30 PM Port of Spain
Uruguay at Colombia 6:20 PM Bogotá
Jamaica at México 5 PM México City
Honduras at Canada 8 PM Montréal
Haiti at El Salvador 7:30 PM San Salvador
United States of America at Cuba 8 PM Havana
Suriname at Costa Rica 8 PM San José
Venezuela at Perú 8:30 PM Lima
September 7, 2008
Botswana at Madagascar 2:30 PM Antananarivo
Tanzania at Mauritius 3 PM Curepipe
Guinea at Zimbabwe 3 PM Harare
Gabon at Lesotho 3 PM Bloemfontein, South Africa
Côte d'Ivoire at Mozambique 3 PM Maputo
Mali at Congo 3:30 PM Brazzaville
Egypt at Democratic Republic of the Congo 3:30 PM Kinshasa
Angola at Benin 4 PM Cotonou
Uganda at Niger 4:30 PM Niamey
Brazil at Chile 8 PM Santiago
September 9, 2008
Venezuela at Paraguay 8 PM Asunción
September 10, 2008
Fiji at Vanuatu 2 PM Port Vila
New Caledonia at New Zealand 7:30 PM Auckland
South Korea at North Korea 8 PM Shanghai, China
Togo at Zambia 2 PM Chililabombwe
Australia at Uzbekistan 8:30 PM Tashkent
Wales at Russia 7 PM Moscow
Romania at Faroe Islands 5:30 PM Tórshavn
Belarus at Andorra 7 PM Andorra la Vella
Ireland at Montenegro 7 PM Podgorica
Liechtenstein at Azerbaijan 9 PM Baku
Belgium at Turkey 9 PM Istanbul
Saudi Arabia at United Arab Emirates 10:15 PM Abu Dhabi
Germany at Finland 8:35 PM Helsinki
Bahrain at Qatar 10 PM Doha
Estonia at Bosnia and Herzegovina 8:15 PM Zenica
Hungary at Sweden 8:15 PM Solna
Greece at Latvia 9:15 PM Riga
Luxembourg at Switzerland 8:30 PM Zürich
Israel at Moldova 8:30 PM Chisinau
Poland at San Marino 8:30 PM Serravalle
Netherlands at Macedonia 8:30 PM Skopje
Austria at Lithuania 8:30 PM Marijampolė
Czech Republic at Northern Ireland 7:45 PM Belfast
Malta at Albania 8:45 PM Tirana
Slovakia at Slovenia 8:45 PM Maribor
Georgia at Italy 8:50 PM Udine
Denmark at Portugal 9 PM Lisboa
England at Croatia 9 PM Zagreb
Serbia at France 9 PM Saint-Denis
Sudan at Chad 10 PM Cairo, Egypt
El Salvador at Suriname 4:30 PM Paramaribo
Ecuador at Uruguay 5:40 PM Montevideo
Armenia at Spain 10 PM Albacete
Costa Rica at Haiti 5 PM Port-au-Prince
Colombia at Chile 6:40 PM Santiago
Trinidad and Tobago at United States of America 7 PM Bridgeview
Jamaica at Honduras 7:30 PM Tegulcigalpa
Bolivia at Brazil 9:50 PM Rio de Janeiro
Cuba at Guatemala 8 PM Guatemala City
Canada at México 8 PM Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Argentina at Perú 9:30 PM Lima
Yet to be confirmed:
September 10
Ukraine at Kazakhstan Almaty
Morocco at Ethiopia was postponed until a later date.
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.
China faced Australia in one of eight Asian qualifiers that served no purpose in determining progression to the fourth phase. The visiting Chinese went all out to preserve some semblance of pride after having already been eliminated, but Group A winners Australia definitely did not bring a full squad for the outing. 
Guatemala visited Saint Lucia with a 6-0 aggregate lead in hand. The Guatemalans pulled ahead 2-0 in the first half before Saint Lucia scored their only goal of the tie to make it 2-1 at the half. An extra goal at the end gave Guatemala a 3-1 victory and a spot in Round Three thanks to a 9-1 aggregate demolition.
Seychelles visited red-hot Burkina Faso after nearly pulling out a win at home against the group leaders the previous week. Burkina Faso were not about to let this game get out of hand, however, and took a 2-0 lead by the end of the first half hour. The Seychelles scored just before the half, and the Burkina Faso fans must have been disappointed by the 2-1 score. An early second-half goal stretched the lead up to 3-1, and a late goal by national hero Koné ended the score at 4-1.
Vanuatu visited New Caledonia in a match that had to be a victory for both sides. Anything less than a win would send Vanuatu home for good, meaning their two matches against Fiji in September would just be glorified friendlies. A loss by New Caledonia would have left them with no control over their destiny. Even two wins over New Zealand in September would be for naught if New Zealand could beat Fiji in November. Vanuatu’s Ken Masauvakalo committed a fatal error in the twelfth minute; he took a red card. Vanuatu had no luck playing a man down, and New Caledonia had a 1-0 lead at the half. In the second, the French colony added two more for a 3-0 victory that eliminated both Vanuatu and Fiji from World Cup contention.
Gambia went into Algeria with the lead in Group F and a two-point cushion over third-place Algeria. By the time the game was done, Algeria were on top of the group and had a one-point lead over both Gambia and Sénégal, who play Liberia on June 22. Algeria score once in the first half, and the 1-0 lead at the break held for the entirety of the second half, giving the Algerians a one-goal, shutout victory.
Chile visited Venezuela in a match to determine which team would jump into the top five of South American qualifying. The scoreless first half gave no indication of the upcoming goal binge in the subsequent period. Venezuela opened the tally with a low, long-range free kick goal that deflected off of a Chilean defender and into the net. Chile equalized on a penalty kick after Venezuela's Miguel Mea Vitali tripped Alexis Sánchez inside of the box. Chile went ahead 2-1 off of a spot kick that was tapped in, but Venezuela equalized with a fastbreak conversion. Venezuela nearly scored the winning goal twice, but it was Chile that won 3-2 thanks to a beautiful shot two minutes into stoppage time.
First-place Paraguay visited the high-altitude city of La Paz to take on the last-place Bolivians. Paraguay suffered their first loss of qualifying in a shocker. Bolivia had a 2-0 lead at the half, but may have felt their momentum turning after Paraguay made it 2-1 in the second half. Regardless, Bolivia answered quickly with two more goals to make it 4-1. Paraguay scored once more, but it was too little, too late, and Bolivia won 4-2 to move out of last-place and ahead of Perú. Much of the blame may lie with Paraguayan backup goaltender Aldo Bobadilla, who did not perform well in place of Justo Villar.
Cuba visited underdog Antigua and Barbuda in the last of the twelve Round Two matchups in North America, but Cuba knew better than to overlook their opponents considering what Bermuda had done to Trinidad and Tobago the day before. The Antiguans pulled out to a 1-0 lead within ten minutes, only to see it disappear the very next minute. The Antiguans grabbed a quick second goal as well, only to see the 2-1 lead disappear as soon as it came. The score was 2-2 at the half. Cuba took a 3-2 in the second half on to be equalized themselves by an Antiguan response. The Cubans grabbed a 4-3 win with a strike five minutes from the end of the game and gladly will return to Cuba with a lead in the aggregate and a handful of road goals.
Brazil went to Asunción with Kaká to take on the leaders of South American qualifying, Paraguay. Paraguay got off to a one-goal lead halfway through the first half thanks to their star player, Santa Cruz. The lead stuck through the half. In the second half, Paraguay’s Dario Verón picked up his second yellow card and an ejection just three minutes in, but Paraguay were not going to be denied their home victory. A strike one minute later proved decisive and Paraguay won 2-0 to extend their group lead.
"When you meet one of the so-called smaller teams, nothing is going to be given to you. You still have to go out there and beat them. Who knows, we could hit the crossbar eight times and they could have the game of their lives. We could find ourselves out of contention before the real competition even begins. This is soccer, and it's not played on paper." –Landon Donovan, United States of America
