Friday, September 23, 2022

Long wait for Qatar

 

With the 2022 World Cup being played in the winter, Scotland had time to wait for the visit of Ukraine in June to whom they lost 3-1 in the play-offs that saw Wales qualify for the World Cup with a single goal against the Ukrainians four days later. In the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers Ethiopia shocked Egypt 2-0 in Malawi while Benin were stunned 1-0 by their visitors from Mozambique and Togo were held 2-2 at home to Eswatini before losing 2-0 at Cape Verde. The Ivory Coast drew blanks against Lesotho in South Africa and Gambia lost 1-0 in Congo while Sudan lost 3-0 away to Mauritania for who Aboubakar Kamara scored twice. Gabon were 1-0 winner in DR Congo while in the Asian Cup qualifiers Ganbold Ganbayar scored both goals of the match as Mongolia celebrated a a win at home to Yemen and Cambodia fought back to draw 2-2 with Afghanistan in India. Witan Sulaeman scored twice for Indonesia who thumped 10-man Nepal 7-0 in Kuwait where the Kuwaitis themselves had suffered a 2-1 loss to Indonesia and Palestine brushed Yemen aside 5-0 with Saleh Chihadeh netting a brace in Mongolia while Hong Kong lost 4-0 in India.

In the CONCACAF Nations League, Guatemala cruised past El Salvador 4-0 on American soil in April and Nicaragua lost 2-0 away to Bahamas in June while in the UEFA Nations League the hungry Hungarians humiliated hosts England 4-0 in Wolverhampton.