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America stumble on; 1-0 winners at home against Honduras, with the only goal in the 73rd minute. Six points clear of the play-offs now with four games to go; fairly odds-on to qualify now, though it looks like they may well be making up the numbers.
Costa Rica 2-0 Panama as well; big blow for Panama, whose last two games are home to America and away to Mexico.
That's pretty harsh considering they've now won 4 of 5 and the 5th was a draw in Mexico City.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
It's the manner of their campaign though. Or I suppose in particular, their away form - an injury-time win in Antigua, a draw in Guatemala and a defeat in Jamaica in the last round. In the Hex, defeat in Honduras, an injury-time win in Jamaica and a draw in Mexico (not a bad result in fairness). There's 1-0 home wins against Jamaica, Honduras and Costa Rica in all that as well. Klinsmann's been getting a fair bit of criticism for the performances, apparently.
That said, they were dodgy in 2010 as well, and topped England's group, so maybe I am being a bit harsh. Time will tell.
Any opportunity to use this again:Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
http://www.insanerantings.com/mbimag...y_worldcup.jpg
The previous round doesnt really matter. Klinsmann was doing a lot of chopping and changing and trying different formations that didn't really work. It didn't look great either after they lost the first game of the Hex in Honduras but since then they've improved a lot, winning 4 and drawing in the Azteca which was a great result. The team looks a lot more settled now and they really should have won by more last night. Altidore is doing well, he's scored in the last 4 games. They probably need just a 2-3 more points from the last 4 games to qualify.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
I think the bigger story out of Concacaf is Mexico. There was a lot of expectations with them winning the Olympics and while they will still probably qualify for the WC, they are not playing well, no goals in 3 home games in the Hex.
Mexico and the US both appear to be unconvincing.
Now where have I heard that before...
And on that note -
Both Mexico and the US lost last night; home to Honduras and away to Costa Rica respectively. Mexico fortunate Panama couldn't beat Jamaica at home otherwise they'd be fifth in the Hex. As it is, they're now two points off Honduras with three games to go and, as it stands, facing a play off against New Zealand. Mexico travel to the US on Tuesday.
Jordan and Uzbekistan drew 1-1 last night in the Asian play-off. Return leg in Tashkent is on Tuesday. Winner faces the fifth-placed team in South America. No major surprises there; Venezuela lost 3-0 in Chile and look to be out. Suarez scored twice for Uruguay; they move ahead of Venezuela into the play-off spot with a game in hand. Argentina and Colombia are all but qualified.
In Africa, Zambia lost in Ghana and are out; Ghana go through to the play-offs. The rest of the games are on today.
Europe is quite weird this year. Holland needed an injury-time penalty to draw 2-2 in Estonia. Iceland came from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 in Switzerland. The North were 2-1 up on Portugal for a while, but two red cards and a Ronaldo hat-trick ended that. One point separates Bulgaria, Denmark, the Czechs and Armenia in Group B, though Armenia are the only ones who don't have to play Malta. Greece won 1-0 in Liechtenstein with a 72nd-minute goal; they were reduced to ten men before the hour, but then Liechtenstein had a guy sent off; they could have held on otherwise. France drew in Georgia and face the play-offs. Montenegro are fading in England's group, but Ukraine are improving - 9-0 winners against San Marino, and if they can beat England in Kiev on Tuesday, they'll be favourites for the group. England, like us in recent years, have only been able to beat the bottom seeds.
Some god awful defending by Iceland in Berne last evening but they managed to reduce 'Hop Suisse' to a miserable whiny whimper by the end and get a gubu rated 4-4 draw.
The team is lop sided, an abundance of very good players at midfield/strikers but unfortunately local league standard defenders.
Classy 90th min equalising goal from a young midfielder who hit a stunning hatrick on the night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhOOxdN1P4Q
Half time in Africa group A and Ethiopia - who qualified for the play-offs and then had a win turn into a defeat - are now looking at elimination. 1-0 down away to the Central African Republic while South Africa are 1-0 up against Botswana.
Ethiopia need to win to go through; I don't think a draw'll be enough for them (assuming it comes down to goal difference in the event of teams being level on points)
2-0 South African now. All down to Ethiopia.
Ethiopia equalise. Still need one more; 25 minutes to go.
2-1 Ethiopia; five minutes to go!
Botswana pull one back too. Proper nail-biting finish now. Ethiopia through as it stands; South Africa out.
The only game today in the UEFA zone is the Israel v Azerbaijan match, obviously scheduled to beat the sabbath. I didn't think religious dogmas still held absolute influence over international football fixtures. but Israel are still avoiding scheduling games during the sabbath period.
2-1 result; Ethiopia through.
Cape Verde 2-0 up in Tunisia at half-time! They need to win that to pip Tunisia to a play-off spot. Nigeria beat Malawi in another winner-takes-all tie; the third is Senegal v Uganda at 9pm.
Burkina Faso are through as well, pipping Congo, who only drew in Niger.
So currently it's -
Ethiopia
Cape Verde (if they hold on)
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Burkina Faso
Nigeria
Egypt
Algeria
Cameroon or Libya (who meet in Cameroon tomorrow)
Senegal or Uganda
Cape Verde are through so, despite losing their first three group games. The third defeat - 4-3 in Equatorial Guinea - was later awarded as a 3-0 win, and they won their last three games to top the group.
Senegal v Uganda is still 0-0 into the last 15 minutes, though Uganda have been down to ten men for a good 45 minutes now. Looking unlikely they'll get they win they need to go through, but you never know.
Zayed starting for Libya in Cameroon: http://nutjob.eu/njtvx16.html
Lost 1-0; Cameroon through.
The Euro qualifier outcomes are becoming more clear
Belgium, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Spain are there
Russia and Switz hot favourites for their groups.
Group G is a slug fest between Greece and Bosnia
Bosnia blew a great chance to take control of the group by losing at home to Slovakia and now have to play them away on Tuesday, if Bosnia win they would be hot favourites to top the group. Anything less for Bosnia puts Greece firmly in control.
Group H: Montenegro's chances have slipped since that defeat by Ukraine.
Even if Ukraine beat England and go hot favourites to top the group, England should still finish ahead of Montenegro for 2nd place.
Montenegro's achievements are miraculous when you consider their population and resources but no surprise when you saw how they played against us and Italy all those years ago.
Jordan beat Uzbekistan 9-8 on penalties to win the Asian playoff - they will play-off against the 5th placed South American team.
Tonight's European results confirmed Italy and Holland as the first European Qualifiers.