Final pieces completed

The final teams to qualify for South Africa 2010 became known after the play-off matches were completed in November. Greece who had been held to a goalless draw at home, silenced Ukraine with a single goal in the return match to book themselves a spot in the finals while a 1-0 win for the Republic of Ireland in France was only enough to take the match into extra time where a highly controversial goal marked the end of the road for the irate Irish. A goal and penalty save for New Zealand at home to Bahrain gave the Kiwis a place in the finals as the lowest ranked team to qualify where they will be joined by Uruguay despite being held to a 1-1 home draw by Costa Rica.
In Africa where only group winners would succeed, Cameroon secured qualification with a 2-0 victory in Morocco while Tunisia fell at the last hurdle losing 1-0 in Mozambique allowing Nigeria to overtake them with a 3-2 win in Kenya and qualify for the finals at their expense. Egypt who had forced a replay with a last gasp goal in their 2-0 home win over Algeria were stunned 4 days later in Sudan when the Algerians scored the only goal of a tense match to become the last representatives of Africa in the 2010 World Cup.
World Cup qualification was not the only prize on offer as Mali who had already been eliminated earned a place in next year’s African Cup of Nations with a 2-2 draw in Ghana.
In the Asian Cup qualifiers Thailand enjoyed a 3-1 win in Singapore but were brought back to earth suffering a shock 1-0 defeat in Bangkok. Syria could only draw 0-0 at home to Vietnam but the point was enough to secure them a place in the 2011 Asian Cup finals.
A 2-0 win for Qatar over Paraguay in France and a victory by the same score line for Azerbaijan against the Czech Republic in the UAE were the most unexpected friendly results in November.

The surprises of spring

With qualification for the 2010 World Cup reaching its final stages teams with varying needs produced some unexpected results in October.
Needing only a draw to qualify, Slovakia were stunned 2-0 by visiting Slovenia but bounced back to win 1-0 in Poland and qualify for the finals. Bulgaria saw their hopes shattered 4-1 in Cyprus while England’s only defeat of their campaign gave Ukraine a place in the play-offs after following their 1-0 home win against the English with 6 goals in Andorra. Belgium enjoyed a 2-0 home win against Turkey but suffered a reversal in Tallinn at the hands of Estonia who had lost by the same score line at home to Bosnia & Herzegovina. Chile celebrated a place in the World Cup with a 4-2 victory in Colombia whose 2-0 win in Paraguay 4 days later was to no avail. Brazil who had already qualified, moved back into 2nd place in rankfootball.com after losing 2-1 in Bolivia and playing a goalless match at home to Venezuela. Denmark’s celebrations for qualification were dampened when Hungary scored the only goal of the match in Copenhagen, while Germany who had qualified by winning 1-0 in Russia needed a late goal to avoid defeat and draw 1-1 at home to Finland. Serbia lost 2-1 in Lithuania but had already qualified by thrashing Romania 5-0 four days earlier in Zagreb. Azerbaijan registered a rare away win with a 2-0 success over Liechtenstein. The USA booked a place in the finals with a 3-2 victory in Honduras, while in Africa, Ghana who are World Cup bound, lost 1-0 in Benin. A last minute penalty gave Uruguay a 2-1 win in Ecuador, but they could only reach the play-offs after losing 1-0 at home to Argentina who became the last South American team to gain automatic qualification. In the Asia/Oceania first leg play-off match New Zealand held Bahrain to a 0-0 draw in Manama.