Qatar opens its doors

 

Germany thumped North Macedonia 4-0 in Skopje with 2 goals from Kai Havertz to become the first nation to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and were followed by Denmark a day later. Slovenia, who enjoyed the same scoreline in Malta with a Josip Ilicic double, returned home to lose 2-1 to Russia three days later while Croatia were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Slovakia. Hungary lost 1-0 at home to Albania but picked up a 1-1 draw against England at Wembley while the Irish Republic were 3-0 winners in Azerbaijan with a brace from Callum Robinson, and 2 late goals from Fiodor Cernych gave Lithuania a shock 3-1 win over Bulgaria in Vilnius. Finland lost 2-1 at home to Ukraine and Smail Prevljak scored both goals for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Kazakhstan who suffered their second 2-0 home defeat three days later when Teemu Pukki netted twice for the Finns while Kosovo were shocked 2-1 by their visitors from Georgia. France won the European League of Nations with a 2-1 victory over Spain in Turin.

In South America Paraguay were pummelled 4-0 in Bolivia, who a few days earlier had overcome Peru 1-0 on the same ground despite being reduced to ten players while the Paraguayans themselves went down 2-0 in Chile with both teams ending the match with ten players. Venezuela were 2-1 winners at home to Ecuador.

In Africa Nigeria were stunned 1-0 by a last-minute Central African Republic goal in Lagos while Ibrahima Kone scored a hat-trick as Mali mauled Kenya 5-0 in Morocco and South Africa were 3-1 winners in Ethiopia. Tanzania lost 1-0 at home to Benin but reversed the result in the return match while Togo triumphed 2-1 in Congo and Egypt put 3 past their Libyan hosts without reply. Guinea Bissau were beaten 5-0 away to Morocco and 10-man Zambia lost 2-0 in Equatorial Guinea while Uganda won with a single goal in Rwanda. DR Congo lost to a first-minute goal in Madagascar and Angola were defeated 2-0 in Gabon.

In North America the USA lost 1-0 in Panama and Jamaica were 2-0 winners in Honduras.

In the Asian section, South Korea dew 1-1 in Iran.

 

Focus on Qatar

 

The World Cup qualifiers continued after a summer break with newly crowned European champions, Italy, only managing a 1-1 draw at home to Bulgaria while 10 Frenchmen suffered the same ignominy at home to Bosnia & Herzegovina. Iceland fell 2-0 at home to Romania while England humiliated Hungary 4-0 in Budapest and Israel enjoyed the same result against the Faroe Islands with Eran Zahavi netting a hat-trick for the visitors who returned home to hammer Austria 5-2 with Zahavi adding another 2 goals to his international tally. The Austrians went on to lose 1-0 at home to Scotland while Armenia also had a bad week, losing 6-0 in Germany with an early double from Serge Gnabry putting the Germans on their way, before returning to Yerevan where they could only draw 1-1 with Liechtenstein. Cain Attard scored twice in Malta’s 3-0 home victory over 10-man Cyprus while Montenegro came from 2 down to draw 2-2 in Turkey and Kosovo upset their Georgian hosts 1-0 in Batumi. Sweden suffered a 2-1 defeat in Greece while Wales were held to a goalless draw by their Estonian guests.

In Asia, Oman stunned their Japanese hosts with a late goal in Suita while the United Arab Emirates fired blanks at home to Lebanon while in South America Ecuador enjoyed a 2-0 home win with 2 late goals against Paraguay. In the CONCACAF section Jamaica were shocked 3-0 by the visiting Panamanians while Honduras earned a 1-1 draw in Canada but returned home to get thumped 4-1 by the USA having taken a first-half lead.

In Africa Libya went a goal down but scored a last-minute winner at home to Gabon before upsetting Angola 1-0 on their travels while Tunisia were 2-0 winners in Zambia and Burkina Faso held Algeria to a 1-1 draw in Morocco. Mohammed Abdel-Rahman scored both goals for Sudan but Piqueti Silva’s double was among 4 for the visiting Guinea Bissau, who continued their rise in the football rankings while Malawi beat Mozambique 1-0 in South Africa.