Early September steps

 

The Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers began in September with Ethiopia earning a 0-0 draw in Tanzania, who later came from behind to defeat Guinea 2-1 in Ivory Coast, while Angola broke the deadlock in stoppage time to win in Ghana and Malawi lost 3-2 to a late goal at home to Burundi. Egypt won 3-0 at home to Cape Verde before travelling to Botswana where Trezeguet scored 2 goals in their 4-0 win while South Africa needed added time to salvage a 2-2 home draw against Uganda and there were 1-1 draws for Burkina Faso who scored in stoppage time away to Senegal and for Liberia who did the same in Togo. Ademola Lookman scored a double as Nigeria sent Benin home 3-0 losers while in an Asian Cup qualifier play-off match in Indonesia, João Pedro scored a hat-trick as East Timor swept Mongolia aside 4-1 and Sri Lanka scored late in extra time to draw 2-2 before eliminating their hosts Cambodia in a penalty shootout. In World Cup qualifiers in the Asian section, the UAE came from behind to celebrate a 3-1 victory in Qatar and Bahrain stunned their Australian hosts 1-0, but were thumped 5-0 by Japan on their return home with doubles from Ayase Ueda and Hidemasa morita while Kuwait and Indonesia achieved 1-1 draws in Jordan and Saudi Arabia respectively and South Korea, who were held to a goalless draw by the travelling Palestinians, bounced back with a 3-1 win in Oman.

In South America Venezuela were taken apart 4-0 in Bolivia who also triumphed 2-1 in Chile while Paraguay drew 0-0 in Uruguay before beating Brazil 1-0 at home and Colombia overcame world champions Argentina 2-1 in front of their jubilant home crowd.

In a World Cup qualifier in the Oceania section, Tonga enjoyed a 3-1 win over Cook Islands in Samoa.

Celebrating in Spanish

 

The continental cups in Europe, the Americas and Oceania all kicked off in mid-June.

Germany hosted the Euros and won group A despite needing a goal in stoppage time to draw 1-1 with Switzerland who had begun with a 3-1 victory over Hungary. Group E was the most evenly contested group with all four teams finishing on 4 points. Slovakia stunned Belgium 1-0 in their opening match and went through as one of the best 3^rd teams with Romania and Belgium while Ukraine suffered a shocking 3-0 loss to Romania and went out having salvaged some pride having fought back to win 2-1 against Slovakia. Portugal put 3 past Turkey but were shocked 2-0 by the unknown Georgians who also progressed to the round of 16 where Turkey triumphed 2-1 over Austria and Italy were knocked out 2-0 by Switzerland. Germany’s road came to an end late in extra time in a quarter-final match against Spain who reached the final where they met England who has scored a last-minute goal to overcome the Dutch 2-1 in the semi-final. The Spaniards were crowned champions of Europe after defeating England 2-1 in the final with the winning goal coming 4 minutes from time.

Copa America, which also included teams from North America, was held in the United States who were belittled 2-1 by Panama and failed to get out of their group. In group B, Venezuela came from behind to beat Ecuador who also reached the next round at Mexico’s expense while in group D Costa Rica began with a goalless draw against Brazil and scored 2 early goals to beat Paraguay 2-1 but did not qualify for the knockout stage. Argentina lifted the cup after a 1-0 extra-time win over Colombia.

The Oceania Cup took place in Vanuatu and Fiji with the Ni-Vanuatu getting off to a slow start managing only one goal against the Solomon Islands but reaching the final after a 2-1 victory over the visiting Fijians in the semi-final. An unexpectedly low scoreline was Papua New Guinea’s 2-1 win over Samoa. In the final New Zealand put 3 past hosts Vanuatu to lift the Oceania Cup.