The world springs into action

After a winter break the European and African qualifiers got under way with the early spring fixtures being played over the weekend and Wednesday. Norway seemed to be suffering from the affects of winter when they lost 2-1 at home to Bosnia, but managed a reputable 2-2 draw in Germany against Turkey who had earlier thrashed the reigning European champions Greece 4-1 on Greek soil. Serbia were humiliated 2-1 in Kazakhstan on Saturday, while on Wednesday in Azerbaijan Finland were defeated 1-0. Liechtenstein enjoyed a rare win with a solitary goal against Latvia, while Albania held Bulgaria to a goalless draw in Sofia. David Healy netted another 2 goals for Northern Ireland to give the hosts an important 2-1 win over Sweden sending the Swedes several places down in the world football rankings. In Africa Equatorial Guinea earned the most impressive result with a 3-1 victory over Rwanda. The most notable result among friendly matches was Denmark’s 1-0 triumph against their hosts Germany.

Kicking off 2007

While many countries were taking a winter break, Trinidad & Tobago hosted the Caribbean Cup in January losing to Haiti in the final. Cuba and Guadeloupe were the other 2 teams to qualify by virtue of their positions in this tournament for the Gold Cup which will be held in the USA in June this year.
Early in February the first big bulk of friendly matches was played. Portugal gained a satisfying 2-0 win over Brazil in London. Spain and Argentina returned from England and France respectively with 1-0 victories. Egypt beat Sweden 2-0 while another African team Mali, registered an impressive 3-1 win against Lithuania in France. Uruguay achieved the same result away to Colombia and overtook their South American rivals in the World Rankings. In the only competitive match on Wednesday San Marino almost pulled off a shock 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland, but a stoppage time goal gave the Irish all 3 points with a 2-1 win.