Marching on all over the world

Early in the year a single goal in Panama gave Haiti a play-off win over Trinidad and Tobago to secure them a place in the 2016 Centennial Copa America while in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in Bangladesh Nepal swept the Maldives aside 4-1 and in friendly matches Suriname lost 3-2 away to French Guiana, Honduras were beaten 3-1 in Guatemala and Egypt lost 1-0 at home to Jordan.

In March the World Cup qualifiers in South America continued with Ecuador drawing 2-2 at home to Paraguay and losing 3-1 away to Colombia who had earlier got the better of hosts Bolivia with the 3-2 winner coming in stoppage time. Chile lost 2-1 at home to Argentina but had a 4-1 success in Venezuela who had drawn 2-2 in Peru with the Peruvians going on to lose only 1-0 to top team Uruguay in Montevideo.

In Asia The Philippines returned home from an honourable 1-0 defeat in Uzbekistan to stun their visitors from North Korea 3-2 with a last minute goal while Lebanon who lost 1-0 in South Korea were held to an embarrassing 1-1 draw by their visitors from Myanmar. Afghanistan travelling to neighbours Iran where they shocked Singapore 2-1 while Qatar lost 2-0 in China and there were big wins for Australia who hammered Jordan 5-1 and for Japan who put 5 past Syria without reply on home soil. Oman could only manage a single goal at home to Oman and Kyrgyzstan won by the same scoreline in Tajikistan while Bahrain scored 3 times at home to Yemen and Saudi Arabia picked up a 1-1 draw in the United Arab Emirates. In North America Guatemala defeated the American tourists 2-0 but were taken apart 4-0 on American soil while there were 3-0 wins for Mexico in Canada and for Costa Rica at home to Jamaica.

In the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers Burundi were humiliated 3-1 at home to Namibia but reversed the result 3 days later in Namibia while Libya were humbled 2-1 in Sao Tome and Principe while Kenya were diminish by Guinea Bissau 1-0 home and away. Ivory Coast could only manage a 1-0 win at home to Sudan and were held to a 1-1 draw in the return fixture while South Sudan lost 2-1 at home to Benin and Equatorial Guinea were defeated 1-0 at home to Mali. Zambia and Congo hosted each other in 1-1 draws while Botswana lost 1-0 in Comoros but picked up a 2-1 win in the return match. Cape Verde fell 1-0 at home to Morocco who a few days later became the first team to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations while Algeria missed out on early qualification after sharing the spoils in a 6-goal thriller in Ethiopia. Mauritius enjoyed a 1-0 win at home to Rwanda but were thumped 5-0 by them on the road while Seychelles were victorious 2-0 at home to Lesotho but lost 2-1 in the away match. Malawi held hosts Guinea to a goalless draw but were on the losing end 2-1 in their home match while there were 1-0 wins for Liberia in Djibouti and Burkina Faso at home to Uganda. Cameroon held their South African hosts to a goalless draw and Central African Republic earned a 1-1 draw in Madagascar while Ghana drew 0-0 in Mozambique. DR Congo triumphed 2-0 in Angola and Swaziland were swept aside 4-0 in Zimbabwe. Chad withdrew from the competition for financial reasons after losing 1-0 at home to Tanzania and had the result officially annulled, thought the result stands in the football rankings.

The Caribbean Cup qualifiers got underway and saw Barbados celebrate a 1-0 win over their visitors from Curacao but then lose 2-0 away to the Dominican Republic while Martinique who would have been expected to do better than their 3-0 home win over the British Virgin Islands went on to enjoy a 4-1 victory away to Dominica who had just returned from a 7-0 mauling of the Virgin Islanders. French Guiana lost 2-1 in Bermuda but sailed 3-0 past Cuba on their return home while Suriname drew 0-0 in Guadeloupe and there were narrow wins for Grenada who won 2-1 away to the US Virgin Islands, Guyana who returned from Puerto Rico with a 1-0 win and for St Kitts and Nevis who could only manage a single goal at home to Antigua and Barbuda.

Among friendly matches Panama lost 1-0 in Nicaragua, Bulgaria triumphed 1-0 in Portugal and Papua New Guinea were 2-1 winners away to the Solomon Islands while Macau held their Malaysian hosts to a goalless draw, Bosnia and Herzegovina rolled the Swiss over 2-0 in Switzerland and the Netherlands upset England 2-1 at Wembley less than a week after the passing of Johan Cruyff.    

Paris ready as world eyes Russia

The European qualifiers were completed while many countries across the globe were battling for places in the 2018 Russia World Cup. Hungary who had narrowly missed out on automatic qualification became the first team to claim a spot in the 2016 European Championships in Paris through the play-offs after a stunning 1-0 win in Norway which they followed up with a 2-1 victory on home soil. Sweden took a 2-1 lead to Denmark where an Ibrahimovic double gave them a 2-2 draw taking to Paris together with Ukraine and the Irish Republic who got the better of Slovenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina respectively in other play-off matches.

Meanwhile in World Cup qualifiers South American champions Chile moved down in the rankings after drawing 1-1 at home to Colombia and suffering a 3-0 loss in Uruguay while the Colombians were upset 1-0 at home to Argentina and Bolivia enjoyed a 4-2 home win over Venezuela.  

In Asia, Saudi Arabia could only manage a 0-0 draw against Palestine in Jordan but annihilated East Timor 10-0 in Dili while Jordan were stunned 1-0 in Kyrgyzstan and Oman fell 2-1 in Turkmenistan. In Africa, Rwanda suffered a shocking exit at the hands of Libya losing 1-0 in Tunisia before being swept away 3-1 on home soil while Egypt were stunned 1-0 in Chad but bounced back with 4 goals in their home match. Cape Verde lost 1-0 in Kenya but struck twice in their return match while Cameroon cruised to a 3-0 win in Niger but were held to a goalless draw at home and Algeria who drew 2-2 in Tanzania hit their visitors for 7 without reply to progress into the next round. Gabon were shocked 1-0 in Mozambique but scraped through on penalties while Ghana who were held to a goalless draw in Comoros also made it to the group stage as expected. Burundi earned a 2-2 draw in DR Congo but were eliminated having lost 3-2 at home while South Africa eased past Angola on the strength of their 3-1 away win and Tunisia defeated Mauritania 2-1 home and away. A 1-0 home victory for Equatorial Guinea against Morocco was not enough but a 2-0 home win for Burkina Faso saw them scrape through against Benin while Mali lost 2-1 in Botswana but struck twice without reply in their return match. There were 1-0 away wins for Zambia, Guinea and Uganda against Sudan, Namibia and Togo respectively with all 3 making sure of progress in their home matches while Senegal who were held to a 2-2 draw in Madagascar also sailed through after a home win.   

In the CONCOCAF section Panama won 2-0 in Jamaica but lost 2-1 at home to Costa Rica while the Jamaicans enjoyed a 1-0 victory in Haiti in group B and Guatemala travelled to St Vincent and the Grenadines to thump their hosts 4-0 in group C.

Among friendly matches Estonia defeated Georgia 3-0 in Tallinn and Russia lost 3-1 at home to Croatia while Austria fell 2-1 at home to neighbours Switzerland and Lebanon won 1-0 in Macedonia who had earlier battered Montenegro 4-1 on the same ground. A single goal gave New Zealand a win in Oman and Greece lost 1-0 in Luxembourg while Albania drew 2-2 in Kosovo.