Friday, March 30, 2007

The world springs into action

After a winter break the European and African qualifiers got under way with the early spring fixtures being played over the weekend and Wednesday. Norway seemed to be suffering from the affects of winter when they lost 2-1 at home to Bosnia, but managed a reputable 2-2 draw in Germany against Turkey who had earlier thrashed the reigning European champions Greece 4-1 on Greek soil. Serbia were humiliated 2-1 in Kazakhstan on Saturday, while on Wednesday in Azerbaijan Finland were defeated 1-0. Liechtenstein enjoyed a rare win with a solitary goal against Latvia, while Albania held Bulgaria to a goalless draw in Sofia. David Healy netted another 2 goals for Northern Ireland to give the hosts an important 2-1 win over Sweden sending the Swedes several places down in the world football rankings. In Africa Equatorial Guinea earned the most impressive result with a 3-1 victory over Rwanda. The most notable result among friendly matches was Denmark’s 1-0 triumph against their hosts Germany.