September separates boys from men

A busy period at the beginning of September marked the end of the road for some of the weaker World Cup hopefuls while Brazil, Paraguay, England, Spain and Ghana made sur of qualification.

Poland were held 1-1 at home to Northern Ireland and suffered a demoralising 3-0 defeat in Slovenia 4 days later resulting in the dismissal of their coach Leo Beenhakker. Costa Rica were another team to have a miserable time losing 3-0 at home to Mexico and 1-0 away to El Salvador. Latvia’s shock 1-0 win in Israel was even more enjoyable as they not only overtook the Israelis but drew level on points with Greece who lost 2-0 in Switzerland. Luxembourg earned a goalless draw in Moldova and the Faroe Islands registered a rare win beating Lithuania 2-1 at home. Belgium continued their slide down the rankings losing 2-1 in Armenia while Austria returned from Romania with a creditable 1-1 draw, and a last minute goal gave Sweden a vital 2-1 win in Hungary. Kazakhstan recorded a 3-1 win away to Andorra and Russia enjoyed the same score-line in Wales while England crushed Croatia 5-1 at Wembley. In Africa Cameroon got back to winning ways with a 2-0 success over Gabon, and Malawi overcame Guinea 2-1 at home. In South America Chile dropped 2 points in their 2-2 draw at home to Venezuela while their closest rivals Ecuador lost 2-0 in Colombia before their 3-1 victory in Bolivia, and Uruguay suffered a setback losing 1-0 away to bottom team Peru. In friendly matches Cape Verde enjoyed a 2-0 win in Malta and New Zealand prepared for their play-off matches with a 3-1 victory in Jordan.

Summer warm-ups for battles ahead

After their heroics in the Confederations Cup, the USA hosted the Gold Cup and were brought down to earth in a 2-2 draw with Haiti, but reached the final where they were thrashed 5-0 by Mexico. In the same competition Guadeloupe celebrated a 2-1 victory over Panama, and in group A El Salvador shocked Costa Rica with a 2-1 win, but finished bottom of the group which was won surprisingly by Canada.
Just over a month later Costa Rica suffered another setback losing 4-0 away to Honduras in a World Cup qualifier. Norway enjoyed the same result as they trampled ten-man Scotland in Oslo, and Croatia picked up 3 points with a 3-1 win in Belarus.
In friendly internationals the Republic of Ireland suffered their heaviest home defeat under Trapattoni losing 3-0 to Australia, and Mali were victorious by the same score-line against Burkina Faso in France. Webo scored both goals of the match for Cameroon in Austria while Uruguay lost 1-0 in Algeria. The Cypriot’s visit to Albania ended in a 6-1 defeat while Turkey enjoyed a 3-0 win in Ukraine, and Iran came from behind with late goals to win 3-2 away to Bosnia & Herzegovina. Chile continued to enjoy their lofty position in the football rankings after their 2-1 win in Denmark. September 5th-9th will be a vital period for teams still with a chance of qualifying for next year’s World Cup.

Watch goals from Gold Cup final