England, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Russia & Croatia clinch World Cup berths
By STEPHEN WILSON
AP Sports Writer
October 6, 2001
David Beckham scored off a free kick in injury time Saturday, and
England qualified for the World Cup with a 2-2 tie against Greece.
On a day of 21 World Cup qualifiers, three-time champion Italy clinched
its berth when it beat Hungary 1-0 on Alessandro Del Piero's goal in the
44th minute. Denmark, Russia, Croatia and Portugal also qualified for
soccer's top event.
Next month's playoffs for the final European berths also took shape.
Three-time champion Germany plays Ukraine, Belgium meets the Czech
Republic, Turkey faces Austria or Israel, Slovenia meets Romania, and
Ireland plays the third-place team from Asia.
At Manchester, England (5-1-2) appeared headed for a shocking defeat
and a place in the playoffs until Beckham beat goalkeeper Antonis
Nikopolidis on a 25-yard free kick three minutes into injury time.
``One had to go in,'' Beckham said. ``I had quite a few free-kicks and
was disappointed with most of them. When I got my last chance Teddy
Sheringham said he would have it but I decided I'd take it.''
Germany (5-1-2), which finished a scoreless tie against visiting Finland
(3-2-3) minutes earlier in Gelsenkirchen, appeared set to win Group Nine
until Beckham scored.
Angelos Charisteas had put Greece (2-5-1) ahead in the 36th minute on
an 18-yard shot that beat goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, but Teddy
Sheringham tied the score in the 68th minute, just 13 seconds after
entering the game.
One minute later, Demis Nikolaidis put Greece in front 2-1 on a six-yard
shot.
At Parma, Italy (6-0-2) won Group Eight by defeating Hungary (2-4-2).
Del Piero scored in the 44th minute, curving a free kick over a defensive
wall from just outside the penalty area.
In other games that determined berths, Croatia upset visiting Belgium 1-0,
Denmark defeated Iceland 6-0, Russia beat Switzerland 4-0 and
Portugal routed Estonia 5-0.
Coming into Saturday, Sweden, Poland and Spain had clinched spots
and Turkey was assured of a place in the playoffs.
The 32-nation field at next year's tournament in Japan and South Korea
also includes the co-hosts and defending champion France along with
Argentina, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and
Tunisia.
Craig Brown resigned Saturday as coach of previously eliminated
Scotland following a 2-1 win over visiting Latvia at Glasgow.
In South America, visiting Ecuador won 5-1 against Bolivia (3-8-5) at La
Paz. Ecuador (9-5-2) is third in the region, trailing Argentina (12-1-2)
and Paraguay (9-4-2) but ahead of Brazil and Uruguay (both 7-5-3).
In the day's lone exhibition game, the first meeting of France and Algeria
was halted in the 73rd minute at Saint-Denis after hundreds of fans
invaded thefield and were dispersed by riot police. France led 4-1 at the
time.
Group One
At Moscow, Russia (7-1-2) routed Switzerland (4-4-2) as Vladimir
Beschastnykh scored three goals, converting a penalty kick in the 14th
minute, heading in a Rolan Gusev's pass in the 19th and heading in Yegor
Titov's pass in the 38th. Titov scored in the 83rd.
At Ljubljana, Slovenia (5-0-5) beat out Yugoslavia (5-1-4) for a playoff
spot as Nastja Ceh scored twice in his debut for the national team, which
defeated the Faeroe Islands 3-0. Senad Tiganj, also making his
internationaldebut, got the final goal over the Faeroes (2-7-1).
Group Two
At Lisbon, Portugal (7-0-3) defeated Estonia (2-6-2) and edged Ireland
for first place on goal difference. Nino Gomes and Luis Figo scored two
goals each and Joao Pinto scored once.
At Dublin, Ian Harte, Niall Quinn, David Connolly and Roy Keane
scored tolead Ireland (7-0-3) over Cyprus (6-0-2).
Group Three
At Copenhagen, Denmark (6-0-4) got four goals in the first half against
Iceland (4-5-1), two by Thomas Gravesen and one each by Dennis
Rommedahl and Ebbe Sand. Sand and Jan Michaelsen scored in the
second half.
At Prague, Tomas Rosicky and Pavel Nedved scored two goals each,
and Milan Baros and Vratislav Lokvenc scored one apiece to lead the
Czech Republic(6-2-2) into the playoffs over Bulgaria (5-3-2).
Group Five
At Chorzow, visiting Ukraine (4-1-5) won a playoff spot with a 1-1 tie.
Emmanuel Olisadebe scored for Poland (6-1-3) in the 40th minute, but
Andriy Shevchenko tied it in the 81st after Poland goalkeeper Jerzy
Dudek, underpressure from Sergiy Popov, failed to hold a pass.
Group Six
At Zagreb, Croatia (5-0-3) -- a semifinalist at the 1998 tournament --
moved past visiting Belgium (5-1-2) into first place on Alen Boksic's goal
off a passfrom Bosko Balaban in the 76th minute.
Group Eight
Romania (5-2-1), which lost out on first place with Italy's win, tied
Georgia 1-1 when Gheorghe Popescu scored in the 88th minute at
Bucharest. Alexander Iashvili scored in the 54th minute for Georgia
(3-4-1). |
