Saturday, March 03, 2012

Asia chooses top ten


On the day that Asia filtered its World Cup hopefuls down to 10 and Africa began opened its path towards the 2013 Cup of Nations, there were friendly matches taking place in other corners of the globe.
Uzbekistan finished above Asian champions Japan with a shock 1-0 win in Toyota as both teams progressed to the next round with Japan losing top Asian spot in the rankings while Bahrain’s 10-0 routing of Indonesia was in vein as Qatar drew 2-2 in Iran. North Korea bowed out of the World Cup with a 1-1 draw in Tajikistan while down and out China finished with a 3-1 home win against Jordan and the United Arab Emirates ended their miserable campaign with a 4-2 win at home to already qualified Lebanon. Iraq sank Singapore 7-1 in Qatar.
In Africa Sao Tome & Principe celebrated a 2-1 home win against Sierra Leone and Cape Verde returned from Madagascar with a 4-0 victory while Uganda lost 3-1 away to Congo and Chad overcame Malawi 3-2 in their home match. A single goal gave Liberia a home win against Namibia while Burundi defeated their visitors from Zimbabwe 2-1 and Algeria won by the same scoreline in Gambia.
Among friendly matches the U.S.A. triumphed 1-0 on Italian soil while Germany lost 2-1 at home to France and Colombia defeated Mexico 2-0 in Miami. Turkey surrendered 2-1 at home to Slovakia and Russia defeated Denmark 2-0 in Copenhagen while Palestine stunned Azerbaijan 2-0 in Dubai.