After Wednesday’s matches there are now only 5 places up for grabs; which will be determined by playoffs in November.
In the group of draws the trend continued as the Irish drew blanks in Dublin against Switzerland who qualified for the playoffs. A Turkish goal in Albania eliminated Denmark and the European champions Greece, giving Turkey a spot in the playoffs.
Spain’s 6-0 victory in San Marino wasn’t enough to give them automatic qualification. That honour went to Serbia & Montenegro who beat Bosnia & Herzegovina 1-0. Spain will playoff against Slovakia who knocked Russia out with a goalless draw.
Norway who won 1-0 in Belarus will meet the Czech Republic who triumphed 3-0 in Finland for a place in the World Cup.
In South America Colombia’s 1-0 victory in Paraguay was in vain as Uruguay beat Argentina by the same score to book a double encounter with Australia.
Despite a valiant effort by Guatemala which resulted in a 3-1 victory against Costa Rica, the playoff spot in that region went to Trinidad & Tobago who beat Mexico 2-1 which Stern John scoring both goals after having missed a penalty. They will meet Bahrain who held Uzbekistan to a goalless draw in Manama.
The only 3 countries to be added to the list of World Cup participants on Wednesday were Sweden, France and Serbia & Montenegro.
Among the teams to do well in Mark’s rankings; which can be seen at www.rankfootball.com,
were Macedonia who drew 0-0 in the Netherlands, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago, Armenia with their 3-0 win in Andorra and in particular Scotland who returned from Slovenia with a 3-0 victory.