Russia doors are closing

After a week of qualifiers, with only the play-offs and some African places still remaining, the list of the 2018 World Cup participants is much clearer. Iceland, who triumphed 3-0 in Turkey, became the smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup while Croatia upset hosts Ukraine 2-0 to reach the play-off where they will be joined by the Irish who broke Welsh hearts 1-0 in Cardiff. Northern Ireland also reached the play-offs despite losing 1-0 in Norway as did Denmark who could only draw 1-1 at home to Romania. The Danish draw gave Poland automatic qualification as a Rebert Lewandowski hat-trick a few days earlier had given the Poles a 6-1 victory in Armenia while Serbia, who lost 3-2 in Austria, also qualified for the finals. Italy suffered a 1-1 draw at home to Macedonia and will need to rely on the play-offs while the Dutch bowed out with some dignity after an Arjen Robben double gave them a home win over Sweden and Latvia enjoyed a meaningless 4-0 win at home to Andorra.

In South America Paraguay’s inconsistent results led to their downfall as their 2-1 triumph in Colombia was followed by a shock 1-0 home loss to bottom team Venezuela who continued to rise in the football rankings while Argentina hit back from an early goal down in Ecuador with a Lionel Messi hat-trick to win 3-1 and qualify for yet another World Cup. The United States of America put 4 past Panama without reply in Orlando but were eliminated after losing 2-1 away to bottom-of-the-table Trinidad and Tobago while in Africa a Youssef Msakni hat-trick in Guinea gave Tunisia a 4-1 victory and left them on the brink of qualification and South Africa kept their hopes alive with a 3-1 home win over Burkina Faso.

The Asian Cup qualifiers got under way with Bahrain losing 2-1 in Taiwan and North Korea suffering a 5-0 humiliation in Lebanon while Afghanistan drew 3-3 with Jordan in Tajikistan.

Summer end in sight

With Russian summer nearing its end many teams took a step or two closer to the 2018 World Cup and several nations celebrated qualification while there was heartbreak or despair for others. Saudi Arabia lost 2-1 away to the UAE, but qualified with a 1-0 home win over Japan who had already qualified while Syria made it to the play-offs after a 3-1 home win over Qatar and a late draw in Iran. Africa is yet to find any representatives, but Cape Verde did the double over South Africa winning 2-1 home and away while Cameroon were thumped 4-0 in Nigeria and eliminated as were Algeria who lost 3-1 Zambia. Ivory Coast enjoyed a 3-0 win in Gabon but were stunned 2-1 in their return match while Ghana who could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Congo hammered their Congolese hosts 5-1 in the return fixture 4 days later. Another surprising result in Africa was Guinea’s 1-0 loss in Libya. Chile suffered a massive fall in the football rankings after their shocking 3-0 loss at home to Paraguay who were beaten 2-1 at home to Uruguay less than a week later while in North America USA lost 2-0 at home to Costa Rica. And in Oceania New Zealand were held to a 2-2 draw to the Solomon Islands but progressed to the play-offs.

In Europe, group E leaders, Poland were taken apart 4-0 in Denmark and there were 3-2 home wins for Bulgaria against Sweden and Cyprus who fought back from 2 down against Bosnia & Herzegovina while Estonia held their Greek hosts to a goalless draw and Scotland put 3 past Lithuania without reply in Vilnius. France were held to a goalless draw at home to Luxembourg while Iceland were frozen 1-0 in Finland and there was a 1-0 win for Macedonia in Israel.