It was a very one-sided match from beginning to end. Just 7 minutes into the game, Frank Lampard gave England the lead with a well taken penalty after Aaron Lennon was brought down. Steven Gerrard doubled England's lead after 18 minutes heading the ball from an accurate Lennon cross. In the second half, at 59 minutes Glen Johnson cut a good cross back from the right and Lampard nodded past Croatian goalkeeper Vedran Runje into the bottom-left corner to make it 3-0 for England. By the 66th minute, Gerrard made it 4-0 with his head, a looping header from a lofted ball from Wayne Rooney. Croatia did pull a goal back 5 minutes later with Eduardo scoring from close range after a double-save by Robert Green from Mario Mandžukić. Six minutes after that, an otherwise impressive Runje had comically mishit his clearance, which fell to Rooney who scored England's fifth from near the penalty spot.
England were very impressive overall against Croatia, the keeper Green did not have too much to do and all the outfield players were excellent with Lennon and especially Gerrard producing outstanding displays. The only negatives for England were perhaps the temporary sloppiness and complacency at the back which allowed Croatia to pull a goal back, and maybe Heskey failing to score from one-on-ones twice (and Lennon once). Otherwise it was a very emphatic victory, and if England play like this then they have a chance of doing really well in the World Cup, as well as striking fear into opponents. Croatia were poor today, and only the keeper's performance saved them from an even bigger humiliation. My prediction of 2-1 to England was wide of the mark in terms of score but the correct result. Althought I expected England to win, I was expecting the game to be much closer even if Croatia were missing Luka Modrić.
Elsewhere in Europe, Spain joined England as fellow World Cup qualifiers, with an emphatic 3-0 win against Estonia and maintaining their own 100% record in Group 5. Slovakia are in a great position to make their World Cup debut having defeated Northern Ireland 2-0 away to remain top in Group 3. The Netherlands have finished Group 9 with a 100% record having beaten Scotland away 1-0. Germany and Russia are both in with a chance of automatic qualification - the two sides meet in October for a showdown in Moscow, and Italy are on course to qualify automatically as well. France kept their hopes alive for qualification with an away draw at Serbia, despite having their goalkeeper sent off, and Portugal have kept their slim hopes of qualification alive with a win at Hungary. On the other hand, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and Greece are also in with a shout at automatic qualification in their respective groups.
In the rest of the World, Argentina lost 1-0 in Paraguay, ensuring that Paraguay join Brazil in qualifying automatically, and Argentina now drop to fifth place, which is the playoff position. A world cup without Argentina, including the talents of Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero, is unthinkable but there is a real danger that Argentina could miss out. It is a really tight contest for fourth and fifth place in South America. In North America, it is still competitive with the USA and Mexico favourites for the first two of three direct qualification spots there. In Africa, Côte d'Ivoire are so close to joining South Africa and Ghana in the World Cup, in other groups in the African qualifiers there is a lot to play for.
The remaining matches in the World Cup qualifiers will be held in October (10th, 11th, 13th and 14th October), and in November (final round of matches in Africa, and the playoffs in Europe and the intercontinental playoffs - Asia/Oceania and North America/South America respectively), and we will know all the 32 participants of the World Cup in 2010 in November. It is very early to say, but I would say the early favourites at the moment have to be either Spain or Brazil, and on the strength of the last performance England have a very good chance too. A lot can happen between now and when the World Cup proper itself begins though.
Further information
- World Cup 2010 qualifying latest results - all continental zones
- Europe (UEFA) qualifying standings
- South America (CONMEBOL) qualifying standings
- North America, Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) qualifying standings
- Asia (AFC) qualifying standings
- Africa (CAF) qualifying standings
- Oceania (OFC) qualifying standings
Wowsers, can't believe Argentina could miss out! Given England's history with them in the past maybe a good thing for us! I think Spain are my favourites at the mo, although of course I would love England to do it!! :-)
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