Sweden and Spain officially in WC, getting ready to watch Costa Rica and USA right now.
sports.yahoo.com
European World Cup qualifying matches round-up
By Mike Collett
LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Sweden and Spain added their names to
the guest-list for the 2002 World Cup finals with contrasting victories on
Wednesday night.
Sweden clinched a staggering 2-1 triumph in Istanbul, scoring twice
against Turkey in the last four minutes to steal all three points and book
their ticket to next year's extravaganza in Japan and South Korea.
Henrik Larsson equalised after 87 minutes and second-half substitute
Andreas Andersson scored the winner with just seconds to play.
If Turkey had won they would not have qualified because they would
only have moved one point ahead of the Swedes with their final game
against Moldova to come.
But Sweden's victory took them to 23 points, five ahead of Turkey with
just their final home game against Azerbaijan to play.
Swedish coach Lars Lagerback said afterwards: ``I have never
experienced anything like it in football.''
In contrast, Spain cruised through their game in Liechtenstein, winning
2-0 with headers from Raul and Miguel Angel Nadal. Spain have now
qualified for the last seven successive World Cup finals.
Group-by-group round-up of Wednesday's matches
Group One
Russia (20pts) are sure of at least a play-off place after they won 3-0 in
the Faroe Islands and Slovenia and Yugoslavia drew 1-1 in Belgrade.
Slovenia (17pts) and Yugoslavia (16), are, like Russia, at home in their
last matches on October 6 but none of them can afford a slip. Even
Switzerland, who won 3-0 in Luxembourg on Wednesday, have an
outside chance of finishing second but would need to win in Russia to do
that.
Group Two
Portugal left it late to win 3-1 in Cyprus after trailing to an early goal, but
that win ended any lingering hopes the Netherlands might have had of
stealing second place.
Portugal moved top of the group on goal difference ahead of Ireland with
both on 21 points with one match to play. The Netherlands (17)
overcame the disappointment of losing 1-0 to Ireland on Saturday with a
5-0 win over Estonia but will still finish third and there were only muted
scenes of joy at the end of their hollow victory.
Group Three
Denmark's unexpected 2-0 win over Bulgaria in Sofia coupled with the
Czech Republic's hard-fought 3-2 success over minnows Malta has
thrown the group wide open again.
Denmark (19) are top and must finish in the top two places, but are not
sure of first place as the Czech Republic (17) and Bulgaria (17) can both
overtake them. They meet in Prague on October 6, while Denmark play
Iceland at home. Iceland's 3-0 defeat in Northern Ireland ended their
interest.
Group Four
Sweden qualified for the finals with their stunningly dramatic 2-1 win in
Istanbul with both their goals coming in the last four minutes. Turkey must
finish second and will play Israel or Austria in the playoffs.
Group Five
With Poland securing their place in the finals on Saturday, the focus
switched to the race for second place which intensified with Ukraine
beating Armenia 3-0 and Belarus crushing distracted Poland 4-1 with
Roman Vasilyuk scoring all four Belarus goals. Ukraine (16 points) travel
to Poland for their last match, while Belarus (15) are in Wales.
The Welsh led Norway 2-1 at one stage in Olso, but ended up losing 3-2
for their 12th successive international without a win. To cpmplete a bleak
night they also had star player Ryan Giggs sent off five minutes from time.
Group Six
The group which has produced so many draws finally produced two
decisive results which have all but ended Scotland's interest in the
competiton. Belgium's 2-0 win over the Scots in Brussels and Croatia's
4-0 victory over San Marino mean that they are both almost certain to
finish in the top two positions.
Croatia (15) meet Belgium (17) in their last match in Zagreb while
Scotland (12) are at home to Latvia. Croatia would have to lose to
Belgium and Scotland beat Latvia by at least six goals for the Scots to
edge Croatia out of second place.
Group Seven
Spain secured their place in the finals with their 2-0 win over
Liechtenstein in Vaduz with Raul scoring his 22nd goal for his country and
Fernando Hierro becoming Spain's most capped outfield player on his
82nd appearance.
Austria (14) boosted their chances of finishing second with a 2-0 win
over Bosnia. The play-off place will be decided on October 7 when
Israel (11) meet Austria at home.
Group Eight
Romania won in Hungary for the first time and their 2-0 victory means
they must finish at least second. Group leaders Italy (17) did not play, but
Romania's victory moved them on to 15 points, two behind the Italians. If
Italy should lose to Hungary and Romania beat Georgia in their last
match, Romania will win the group.
Group Nine
England moved to the top of the group for the first time with a
hard-fought 2-0 win over Albania in Newcastle with goals from
Liverpool's Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler.
England were not as impressive as they had been in their 5-1 win over
Germany in Munich on Saturday, but the three points took them on to 16
and above Germany on goal difference. England will win the group if they
beat Greece on October 6 and Germany fail to beat Finland by at least
seven goals better than England's victory margin.
Finland crushed Greece 5-1 in Helsinki. |
