So the Word Cup qualifiers are underway, and
France made
the headlines for all the wrong reasons. A few
eyebrows were raised when coach Raymond Domenech
retained his job after a dismal Euro 2008. He stood
on the precipice of dismissal after goals from Marc
Janko, Rene Aufhauser and a penalty from Andreas
Ivanschitz gave Austria a shock win in their
first game.
France
however saw off
Serbia four
days later in what we would normally have
anticipated as a top of the table clash. In the same
group,
Lithuania
shocked
Romania 0-3 in
Bucharest and then beat
Austria at
home to take an early and surprise lead in the
group. Certainly Group 7 has got off to an
interesting and unexpected start.
But before we proceed, all plaudits must go to a
team who won’t be in South Africa.
Luxembourg
won 2-1 in
Switzerland
and in doing so, broke more records of continuous
failure than we have time to mention here. Suddenly
Israel,
Greece and
Latvia must
eye an opportunity to progress as the Swiss have
already dropped five unexpected points.
Italy
were outplayed by
Cyprus but
somehow escaped with a 2-1 win. A 90th
minute goal by Antonio Di Natale earned them all
three points after they had spent much of the game
defending. No such problems for the Republic of
Ireland who
won against a
Georgia
side forced to surrender home advantage. Both sides
remain unbeaten and in one of the more predictable
groups,
Italy
should win and
Republic of
Ireland
follow them in second.
Germany
cruised to a win in
Liechtenstein
and were then held by
Finland.
Miroslav Klose bizarrely scored THREE equalizers
after the Finns had taken the lead three times.
Russia
beat
Wales, and
the battle to finish behind
Germany is
well underway, although
Russia must
think they are capable of topping the group.
After
Luxembourg and perhaps
Denmark,
the shock result of the day was achieved by
England
who won 4-1 in
Croatia
with Theo Walcott scoring a hat-trick.
England
should now win this relatively weak group although
Ukraine
have a maximum six points at this stage. The two may
slug it out for the one automatic place.
In Group one,
Sweden
failed to win in
Albania,
while
Hungary and
Denmark
also drew 0-0. All seemed to be fighting for second
place behind
Portugal
until
Denmark
shocked them with 2 goals in the last five minutes
in
Lisbon.
Denmark’s 2-3 win
throws this group wide open but for now it’s
Albania who
top it having drawn at home to
Sweden and
beaten
Malta.
Sweden,
Denmark and
Portugal
seem likely to shut out
Hungary and
carve up the top three places between them.
Sweden host
Portugal next but it
seems that every round will throw up a crunch game
in this, the most fascinating and open of the
groups.
Elsewhere Poland,
Slovenia,
Slovakia,
Czech
Republic
and
Northern Ireland
have begun jockeying for position in Group 3 with
no-one really striking a fatal blow. The Czechs have
only played once, a draw in Belfast,
Northern Ireland,
and remain favourites. Beyond that, it’s hard to
predict save that everyone will beat
San Marino.
Slovenia v
Northern Ireland and
Poland
v
Czech Republic
European Champions
Spain
have 6 points out of six and their two most likely
challengers
Turkey and
Belgium drew on
Wednesday.
Bosnia
hammered
Estonia 7-0 and may
be able to take some points off
Turkey or
Belgium
Finally, we come to the only five team group, Group
9. The Netherlands won in
Macedonia,
their only match so far.
Scotland
who lost their opener in
Macedonia
recovered to win in
Iceland,
who in turn held
Norway
to
a draw in Oslo. It would seem that
Scotland
and
Norway are
battling for that second place and a play-off, but
with one second place side in a group not even
making the play-offs, neither side can afford to
drop too many more points.
Norway
FORMAT: The nine group winners automatically qualify
for the world cup finals. Of the nine second places,
the eight with the best records will play each other
in a play-off to fill four further places reserved
for European sides in South Africa.
