Wednesday Matches in September

While Africa and South America were resting, Mexico booked their place in Germany with a 5-0 win over Panama.

In Europe France became the first team in their group to win a match against one of the other top 3 when they beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin and move up into the top 10 in Mark’s Rankings.

England were embarrassed 1-0 in Northern Ireland, but are guaranteed one of the 2 top spots in their group after Austria drew 0-0 in Azerbaijan.

Among other results that affect the rankings were; Scotland’s 2-1 victory in Norway and Turkey’s 1-0 win in Ukraine who had already qualified. Toni scored 3 times for Italy who returned from Belarus with a 4-1 victory, while a solitary goal was enough to give Bosnia & Herzegovina 3 points in Lithuania. Croatia will be disappointed with their 1-1 draw in Malta as they dropped out of the top 10, while Sweden’s last minute winner in Hungary took them to 3^rd place in the rankings which can be seen at: www.rankfootball.com

Weekend of Matches

A weekend of matches saw Brazil, Ukraine and the USA qualify for the World Cup.

The Brazilians thrashed Chile 5-0 with an Adriano hat trick, while the USA overtook their neighbours and rivals Mexico with a 2-0 win to claim one of the automatic spots from their region. Despite only drawing 1-1 away to Georgia, a last minute Danish equalizer in Turkey meant that Ukraine could not be caught.

Probably the most eagerly anticipated match took place in Africa between the Ivory Coast and Cameroon. The hosts needed a win to qualify for the very fist time, but Cameroon had other ideas. The visitors scored with 5 minutes remaining to beat the Ivory Coast 3-2 and put themselves in the driving seat.

The Netherlands moved down one place to 3^rd in Mark’s World Football Rankings after losing to a double helping by Mutu in Romania. Argentina who have already qualified for the finals, lost ground in the rankings when they suffered a 1-0 defeat in Paraguay. In other matches that had big effects on the rankings; Costa Rica won 3-1 in Panama, and Venezuela beat Peru 4-1. South Africa lost 3-1 in Burkina Faso and Finland fired blanks in Andorra, while Nigeria put on a late show in Algeria to win 5-2.

As usual, the rankings can be seen at: www.rankfootball.com