England ultimately made light work of what was a quite tricky qualifying group, and were at times immaculate and other times businesslike in their 9 out of 10 victories. The only real blemish was the 1-0 defeat in Ukraine, which fortunately happened at a time when the result did not matter. With Wayne Rooney and Joe Cole in particular, England benefit from more creativity. England's defence needs to do better, especially against the likes of Spain and Brazil.
Germany drew 1-1 at home to Finland, having been behind for most of the game, since the 11th minute to be precise when Jonatan Johansson opened the scoring for Finland. Only a 90th minute Lukas Podolski equaliser saved Germany's blushes. In the same group Russia also drew 1-1 away to Azerbaijan. Germany had already won Group 4 and Russia had already clinched the playoff spot.
The Republic of Ireland drew 0-0 against Montenegro in Dublin, and Italy were losing 2-0 at home to Cyprus, but Alberto Gilardino saved Italy from real embarassment by scoring at 78 minutes, 81 minutes, and completing his hat-trick at injury time (93 minutes to be precise). Italy and Ireland had already finished first and second respectively in Group 8, and both sides finished unbeaten.
In Group 1, Portugal beat Malta 4-0 confirming their place in the playoff. Hungary beat Denmark 1-0 in Copenhagen, but this was in vain due to the Sweden and Portugal wins. Sweden are also eliminated due to Portugal's victory, despite beating Albania 4-1.
Spain won their group, Group 5, with a 100% record, having won in Bosnia-Herzegovina 5-2. Spain along with the Netherlands, the winners of Group 9, are the only two countries who finished with a 100% record during the qualifiers in Europe.
Slovakia won away to Poland 1-0, and so won Group 3 and will make their World Cup debut, while Slovenia finish second having won 3-0 at San Marino and also due to the Czech Republic drawing 0-0 at home to Northern Ireland. And in Group 2, Switzerland have secured their qualification with a 0-0 home draw against Israel, and Greece finished second having beaten Luxembourg 2-1 at home.
France, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Greece, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine, and Bosnia-Herzegovina will take part in the playoffs. Only the eight sides with the best record against the first, third, fourth and fifth placed teams (the sixth placed team is ignored because not all groups have six teams) qualify for the playoffs, which means Norway is eliminated. FIFA have decided to seed all eight European teams, which is a very controversial decision. Presumably this will result in four matches consisting of one team from the top 4 seeds against another from the bottom 4 seeds.
In South America, Argentina won 1-0 against Uruguay in Montevideo, a lone Mario Bolatti strike in the 84th minute was enough. This result means Argentina secure the last South American qualification spot, and Uruguay finish fifth and will take part in a playoff against the fourth placed CONCACAF team, which is Costa Rica.
In the CONCACAF region, The US drew 2-2 against Costa Rica, the US equalising on 90 minutes. Honduras had won away to El Salvador 1-0, so after an anxious wait, Honduras secured the last remaining qualification slot. And as a result Costa Rica, who finished fourth, play Uruguay in November in a playoff for a World Cup place.
Only one month to go, only the remaining playoffs and the final round of matches from the African qualifying sections to be played in November.
Further information
- World Cup 2010 qualifying latest fixtures and 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
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