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.United States of America opened their Group A third-round campaign against Guatemala in Guatemala City. The hosts were most unkind to their visitors, and the rain cast a gloomy feeling over the encounter from the get-go. Guatemala controlled the pace of the game for the scoreless first-half, and they also controlled the Americans' emotions, wreaking havoc with their rough play. At the hour mark, Steve Cherundolo was sent off for his second yellow, and the Americans went a man down. Just three minutes later, Gustavo Cabrera committed the most egregious foul in the history of soccer, and was ejected for a planned head-butt attack on Eddie Lewis. The attack left Lewis with a bloodied head, and he had to be replaced in the match. Cabrera was ejected and the two teams were both down to ten men. The United States of America exacted sweet revenge with a goal twenty minutes from time, and the superb goalkeeping of Tim Howard gave the Americans a well-earned 1-0 road win. The final card tally had the United States of America with six yellows and Guatemala with two yellows and a red.
Jamaica visited Canada and their surprisingly strong team in Toronto. Canada and Jamaica both were looking for a quick start in Group B, the toughest group in CONCACAF's third round. A scoreless first half only added to the tension in Toronto, a city that houses a district named "Little Jamaica." Julian de Guzmán, a Canadian with Jamaican descent, scored the go-ahead goal to put Canada up one. Big Jamaica, however, did not go away quickly, and they struck back within five minutes off of an own goal by Canada's keeper. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, and they both left the field with their first point of Round Three, a point which surely suited the needs of Jamaica more than the hopes of Canada.
Honduras paid Group B favorites México a visit. The home crowd in México City was silenced by a superb Honduran free kick toward the end of the first half. The crowd was still antsy for their Mexican side were still down 1-0 with under twenty minutes to go. Two quick strikes from Pavel Pardo, however, saved the day for México, and Honduras lost Maynor Figueroa to his second yellow in the seventy-seventh minute to make a response more difficult. México held on for the 2-1 win and the Group B lead.
México's coach Sven-Goran Eriksson had this to say after the match. "It was a hard-fought triumph, but we were clearly the superior team." Honduras' coach Reinaldo Rueda thought differently. "We knew that México would try to make use of their home advantage. We started to lose the match when we had good counter-attacks to kill the game off but couldn't score. We were in control of the match even at 1-1 but after their second goal we lacked the mental awareness to overcome the deficit."
In Group C, El Salvador visited Costa Rica. Both defenses held up well during a scoreless first half. In the second half, Costa Rica quickly pushed ahead to a 1-0 lead over their Central American counterparts. The game was physical throughout, and both team drew four yellows each. Costa Rica's goal-scorer Álvaro Saborio was removed due to a second yellow with ten minutes to go in the game, but the Costa Ricans prevailed nonetheless with a difficult 1-0 win.
Suriname went to Port-au-Prince to take on Haiti in the least heralded of the day's six CONCACAF qualifiers, but this match arguably provided the most drama of all. Suriname, the tournament's surprise third-round participant, grabbed a two-goal lead after notching two scores in the first half after the half-hour mark, including a stoppage time goal. As the game entered the ninetieth minute, that scoreline had held, but the Haitians had not given up. A goal in the final minute of regulation led to more pressure on Suriname, and Haiti broke through with a goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time to escape with a 2-2 draw. Both teams sit at one point, two behind Group C leaders Costa Rica.
Goal scorers:
Trinidad and Tobago: Daniel 27, 61; C. Glen 66
Cuba: Márquez 85
United States of America: Bocanegra 69
Canada: de Guzmán 47
Jamaica: Onstad 52 OG (Canada)
México: Pavel 73, 75
Honduras: César de León 35
Costa Rica: Saborio 48
Suriname: Christoph 31, 45+1
Haiti: Gilles 90; Brunel 90+5
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.
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.
