Reggae Boyz celebrate end of 2008

The final of the Caribbean Cup marked the end of the year for most countries as Asia and Oceania had already played their last competitive matches of the year in November with Fiji celebrating a 2-0 victory at home to group winners New Zealand, and Japan enjoying a 3-0 win away to Qatar. Saudi Arabia ended the year badly with a 2-0 home loss to South Korea.
In the North American and Caribbean section of the World Cup qualifiers, Costa Rica won 3-1 in El Salvador while Canada found the going tough in Jamaica where they were defeated 3-0.
Europe played out friendly matches with Wales winning 1-0 in Denmark, and Hungary registering a 2-0 victory in Northern Ireland. England continued their ascension of the Football Rankings with a 2-1 triumph in Germany.
In the Caribbean Cup Haiti narrowly missed out on progress to the semi-finals as they could only manage a 1-1 draw against Antigua & Barbuda, and were beaten 3-2 by Guadeloupe with a goal in the last minute sealing their fate and rendering their 1-0 win over Cuba ineffective. Grenada were the surprise package of the tournament beating Trinidad and Tobago on their way to the semi-finals where they overcame Cuba on penalties to reach the final and a meeting with hosts Jamaica. Luton Shelton converted a penalty in each half as the Reggae Boyz lifted the Caribbean Cup on home soil (pictured).

An early winter break

After a busy week in October, Europe and South America took a winter break from World Cup qualifiers with Spain, England and the Netherlands maintaining their unblemished records. Serbia followed their 3-0 home win against Lithuania with a 3-1 victory in Austria while Switzerland enjoyed a 2-1 triumph in Greece and ten-man Albania returned from Portugal with a creditable goalless draw.
A thunderbolt from Robinho helped Brazil destroy Venezuela 4-0, but on their return home a few days later the Brazilians could only draw 0-0 with Colombia while Venezuela bounced back to treat their crowd to a 3-1 win over Ecuador. Chile recorded a rare victory over Argentina winning 1-0 at home and Bolivia were unbeaten in La Paz after beating Peru 3-0 and sharing 4 goals with Uruguay.
In North America the top guns found the going tough as Mexico lost 1-0 in Jamaica while Trinidad and Tobago defeated their American visitors 2-1 and Cuba sent Guatemala back with the same result.
Senegal reached the end of the road after a dismal 1-1 draw at home to Gambia. In other African matches Burkina Faso finished top of their group after a 3-1 win in Burundi and Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor scored 4 times as Togo thrashed Swaziland 6-0 in Ghana. Zimbabwe suffered a 4-2 loss away to Namibia.
In Asia Japan dropped points at home with a 1-1 draw against Uzbekistan. Matches in Asia and North America will continue in November. The full rankings can be seen at www.rankfootball.com