Continents calling

With the 2016 European Championships and Copa America Centenario just around the corner several warm-up matches took place in which South American champions Chile suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Jamaica and European champions Spain were stunned 1-0 at home to Georgia. In other friendly matches Armenia smashed Guatemala 7-1 in Carson USA while Slovakia humbled world champions Germany 3-1 in a drenched Augsburg and the Republic of Ireland were embarrassed 2-1 at home to Belarus. Poland lost 2-1 at home to Euro absentees the Netherlands while the Czech Republic suffered the same result against South Korea in Prague and newly recognised Kosovo defeated the Faroe Islands 2-0 in Germany. Australia lost 2-1 at home to Greece and Syria lost 2-0 in Vietnam while Myanmar had a mixed bag losing 1-0 to Singapore but ending on a high with a 3-0 win over Hong Kong to finish 3rd as they hosted the Aya Bank Cup which was won by Vietnam. In an Asian Cup qualifier Cambodia achieved a 2-2 draw away to Taiwan.

In the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers Swaziland celebrated a 1-0 victory over their visitors from Guinea and Kenya defeated Congo 2-1 while DR Congo thumped hosts Madagascar 6-1 and South Africa were 4-0 winners in Gambia. Botswana lost 2-1 at home to Uganda and Zambia were 3-2 loser in Guinea Bissau while Egypt won 2-0 in Tanzania and Mozambique continued to rise in the football rankings with a 3-2 victory in Rwanda. The Central African Republic put 3 past visitors Angola without reply while Senegal won 2-0 in Burundi and a single goal gave Sierra Leone a home win over Sudan.     
In the Caribbean Cup second round qualifiers Grenada lost at home to Puerto Rico on penalties after a 3-3 draw and were later thumped 5-1 away to Antigua and Barbuda while Martinique were brushed aside 4-0 in Dominica. The Dominican Republic stunned hosts Bermuda 1-0 before returning home to defeat French Guiana 2-1 and qualify for the next round as group 4 winners with the match between the 2 losers having been postponed due to heavy rain in French Guiana. Guyana who were pummelled 5-2 in Curacao travelled to the US Virgin Islands where they gave the natives a 7-0 spanking.

Papua New Guinea hosted the 2016 Oceania Nations Cup and began with a 1-1 draw against New Caledonia, eventually winning their group on goal difference but losing the final on penalties to pre-tournament favourites New Zealand on penalties after a goalless draw. The Kiwis won their group 6 points ahead of the other teams with a less that convincing 1-0 win over the Solomon Islands who had begun their campaign with a 1-0, but had fallen by the same scoreline to Fiji. The result of the tournament was Fiji's shock 3-2 defeat to Vanuatu.

Marching on all over the world

Early in the year a single goal in Panama gave Haiti a play-off win over Trinidad and Tobago to secure them a place in the 2016 Centennial Copa America while in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Bangladesh Nepal swept the Maldives aside 4-1 and in friendly matches Suriname lost 3-2 away to French Guiana, Honduras were beaten 3-1 in Guatemala and Egypt lost 1-0 at home to Jordan.

In March the World Cup qualifiers in South America continued with Ecuador drawing 2-2 at home to Paraguay and losing 3-1 away to Colombia who had earlier got the better of hosts Bolivia with the 3-2 winner coming in stoppage time. Chile lost 2-1 at home to Argentina but had a 4-1 success in Venezuela who had drawn 2-2 in Peru with the Peruvians going on to lose only 1-0 to top team Uruguay in Montevideo.

In Asia The Philippines returned home from an honourable 1-0 defeat in Uzbekistan to stun their visitors from North Korea 3-2 with a last minute goal while Lebanon who lost 1-0 in South Korea were held to an embarrassing 1-1 draw by their visitors from Myanmar. Afghanistan travelling to neighbours Iran where they shocked Singapore 2-1 while Qatar lost 2-0 in China and there were big wins for Australia who hammered Jordan 5-1 and for Japan who put 5 past Syria without reply on home soil. Oman could only manage a single goal at home to Oman and Kyrgyzstan won by the same scoreline in Tajikistan while Bahrain scored 3 times at home to Yemen and Saudi Arabia picked up a 1-1 draw in the United Arab Emirates. In North America Guatemala defeated the American tourists 2-0 but were taken apart 4-0 on American soil while there were 3-0 wins for Mexico in Canada and for Costa Rica at home to Jamaica.

In the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers Burundi were humiliated 3-1 at home to Namibia but reversed the result 3 days later in Namibia while Libya were humbled 2-1 in Sao Tome and Principe while Kenya were diminish by Guinea Bissau 1-0 home and away. Ivory Coast could only manage a 1-0 win at home to Sudan and were held to a 1-1 draw in the return fixture while South Sudan lost 2-1 at home to Benin and Equatorial Guinea were defeated 1-0 at home to Mali. Zambia and Congo hosted each other in 1-1 draws while Botswana lost 1-0 in Comoros but picked up a 2-1 win in the return match. Cape Verde fell 1-0 at home to Morocco who a few days later became the first team to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations while Algeria missed out on early qualification after sharing the spoils in a 6-goal thriller in Ethiopia. Mauritius enjoyed a 1-0 win at home to Rwanda but were thumped 5-0 by them on the road while Seychelles were victorious 2-0 at home to Lesotho but lost 2-1 in the away match. Malawi held hosts Guinea to a goalless draw but were on the losing end 2-1 in their home match while there were 1-0 wins for Liberia in Djibouti and Burkina Faso at home to Uganda. Cameroon held their South African hosts to a goalless draw and Central African Republic earned a 1-1 draw in Madagascar while Ghana drew 0-0 in Mozambique. DR Congo triumphed 2-0 in Angola and Swaziland were swept aside 4-0 in Zimbabwe. Chad withdrew from the competition for financial reasons after losing 1-0 at home to Tanzania and had the result officially annulled, thought the result stands in the football rankings.

The Caribbean Cup qualifiers got underway and saw Barbados celebrate a 1-0 win over their visitors from Curacao but then lose 2-0 away to the Dominican Republic while Martinique who would have been expected to do better than their 3-0 home win over the British Virgin Islands went on to enjoy a 4-1 victory away to Dominica who had just returned from a 7-0 mauling of the Virgin Islanders. French Guiana lost 2-1 in Bermuda but sailed 3-0 past Cuba on their return home while Suriname drew 0-0 in Guadeloupe and there were narrow wins for Grenada who won 2-1 away to the US Virgin Islands, Guyana who returned from Puerto Rico with a 1-0 win and for St Kitts and Nevis who could only manage a single goal at home to Antigua and Barbuda.

Among friendly matches Panama lost 1-0 in Nicaragua, Bulgaria triumphed 1-0 in Portugal and Papua New Guinea were 2-1 winners away to the Solomon Islands while Macau held their Malaysian hosts to a goalless draw, Bosnia and Herzegovina rolled the Swiss over 2-0 in Switzerland and the Netherlands upset England 2-1 at Wembley less than a week after the passing of Johan Cruyff.