Some dates you may want to note in counting down the days until the 2010 World Cup kicks off. Mark your calendar, and all.
One date we won't list, because it passed two days ago, is Aug. 14. That marked 300 days left till the first match of the 2010 South Africa -- featuring South Africa and an as-yet-to-be-identified opponent in the opening match of the tournament.
Some other important dates:
Sept. 5: On this date, 34 qualifying matches are scheduled.
Sept. 6: Six qualifying matches, all in Africa.
Sept. 9: 35 qualifying matches.
Oct. 10: 37 qualifying matches, the most hectic day on the qualifier schedule. Among the 37 is the first half of the New Zealand-vs.-Asia No. 5 home-and-home playoff.
Oct. 11: Three qualifying matches, all in Africa.
Oct. 13: Five qualifying matches, all in South America. Four World Cup-bound teams will be known by the end of the day.
Oct. 14: 27 qualifying matches, including the final matches in UEFA and Concacaf; we will know which three Concacaf teams have clinched berths, as well as nine UEFA group champions.
Oct. 19: The draw for the eight second-place teams out of UEFA qualifying that will have home-and-home playoffs to determine the final four European teams in the World Cup.
Nov. 13: 200 days to kickoff of the 2010 World Cup.
Nov. 14: 16 qualifying matches, 10 in Africa that will complete qualifying and give us five teams headed for South Africa; the second half of the New Zealand-vs.-Asia No. 5 home-and-home playoffs, which gives us another World Cup team; four among UEFA second-place teams involved in part one of the home-and-home playoffs for a berth; and the first half of the home-and-home between the Concacaf No. 4 and the South American No. 5.
Nov. 18: Five qualifiers, four of them from the second leg of the UEFA home-and-home playoffs to identify the final four European nations advancing to South Africa; and the second half of the home-and-home between the Concacaf No. 4 and South America No. 5. At the end of this day, all 32 teams involved in the 2010 World Cup should be known.
Dec. 4: World Cup draw in Cape Town, South Africa. Groups identified, game schedules set.
March 3: 100 days to kickoff of the 2010 World Cup.
May 15, 2010: World Cup rosters for each of the 32 qualified nations must be set.
June 11, 2010: Game 1 of the 2010 World Cup, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Read more!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Link to World Cup Ticket Site
Continuing with our theme of "news you can use ..."
If you want to attempt to purchase tickets to the 2010 World Cup, here is a link to the site that starts you on your way.
Many of the 3.2 million tickets remain available because we don't know most of the field yet.
And for five countries already qualified -- Australia, Japan, Netherlands, North Korea and South Korea -- we have no idea what groups they will end up in.
All we know for sure is when South Africa (team No. 1 in Group A) plays its group-stage matches.
Organizers say the biggest demand for tickets, so far, is from Europe and the United States.
The record for most tickets sold for a World Cup is nearly 3.6 million, sold for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. That record may not be broken for a while because of the size of the venues used by American organizers.
Read more!
If you want to attempt to purchase tickets to the 2010 World Cup, here is a link to the site that starts you on your way.
Many of the 3.2 million tickets remain available because we don't know most of the field yet.
And for five countries already qualified -- Australia, Japan, Netherlands, North Korea and South Korea -- we have no idea what groups they will end up in.
All we know for sure is when South Africa (team No. 1 in Group A) plays its group-stage matches.
Organizers say the biggest demand for tickets, so far, is from Europe and the United States.
The record for most tickets sold for a World Cup is nearly 3.6 million, sold for the 1994 World Cup in the United States. That record may not be broken for a while because of the size of the venues used by American organizers.
Read more!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Deadline for Volunteering: August 31
Organizers of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa are looking for 15,000 volunteers to help make the event work, as noted in a previous post on this site.
Time is running out to apply -- the deadline is Aug. 31 -- and here are more specifics on how to volunteer.
This is the link to the fifa.com news release that provides contacts and e-mail addresses for potential volunteers.
It's notable that more than 15,000 people already had applied to volunteer by the end of July, but organizers still seem interested in additional resumes.
Note that 10 percent of all volunteers must come from outside Africa. Ten percent must come from African countries that are not South Africa, and 80 percent will come from the host nation.
As you might expect, the greatest demand is for volunteers with language skills, and Danny Jordaan, the boss of the organizing committee says just that.
So, yes, if you can speak Dutch or Korean as well as English, your chances of being accepted are much better.
Read more!
Time is running out to apply -- the deadline is Aug. 31 -- and here are more specifics on how to volunteer.
This is the link to the fifa.com news release that provides contacts and e-mail addresses for potential volunteers.
It's notable that more than 15,000 people already had applied to volunteer by the end of July, but organizers still seem interested in additional resumes.
Note that 10 percent of all volunteers must come from outside Africa. Ten percent must come from African countries that are not South Africa, and 80 percent will come from the host nation.
As you might expect, the greatest demand is for volunteers with language skills, and Danny Jordaan, the boss of the organizing committee says just that.
So, yes, if you can speak Dutch or Korean as well as English, your chances of being accepted are much better.
Read more!
120,000 Free Tickets to 2010 World Cup
This is an outstanding idea. A significant chunk of South African citizenry apparently cannot afford to buy World Cup tickets. Yet many of them are avid football fans.
So, organizers will provide 120,000 free tickets to impoverished South Africans, out of the 3.2 million tickets available for the 2010 World Cup, according to a story in the Johannesburg Sunday Times.
Getting 120,000 poorer South Africans into stadiums during the 2010 World Cup is both fair and clever.
As the Times points out, several Confederations Cup matches in June were poorly attended. The three-week competition was treated as a sort of trial run for the Big Event next summer, and organizers (and viewers) noticed empty seats in stadiums when neither the host team, South Africa, nor one of the world's heavyweight powers (Brazil, Italy, Spain) were not on the pitch.
Almost without doubt, the 2010 World Cup will yield several group-stage matches of marginal (or nearly zero) interest among ticket-buying South Africans ... and also fail to attract sufficient traveling fans of the competing teams to fill a stadium.
It is fair to assume many of the free tickets will be for those matches of lesser-demand. Creating a win-win situation by getting the South Africa underclass into a World Cup match -- at no cost to the consumer -- as well as filling up empty spots in the stadium. Those gaps of unfilled seats that look so bad when a match is televised globally.
Even the United States, which is vastly more wealthy than South Africa, and has tens of thousands of ethnic groups from all over the world already within its borders, had trouble selling out some matches during the attendance-record-setting 1994 World Cup.
To wit: Bulgaria and Nigeria played a group-stage match in Dallas before a Cotton Bowl crowd of 44,132 -- nearly 20,000 short of a sellout.
If U.S. organizers couldn't sell out a stadium, imagine the empty swaths in a South Africa venue next summer when, say, Paraguay and North Korea play. Even as tens of thousands of rabid soccer fans live within a few miles of the stadium -- but can't afford the price of a ticket.
The per capita annual income in South Africa is $10,000 (compared to $46,000 in the U.S. or $36,600 in the United Kingdom), according to The World Factbook.
Expecting South Africans to pay globally competitive ticket prices to see matches from far-away countries isn't realistic, and giving away some of those tickets to impoverished citizens is one of the smartest things organizers can do. Read more!
So, organizers will provide 120,000 free tickets to impoverished South Africans, out of the 3.2 million tickets available for the 2010 World Cup, according to a story in the Johannesburg Sunday Times.
Getting 120,000 poorer South Africans into stadiums during the 2010 World Cup is both fair and clever.
As the Times points out, several Confederations Cup matches in June were poorly attended. The three-week competition was treated as a sort of trial run for the Big Event next summer, and organizers (and viewers) noticed empty seats in stadiums when neither the host team, South Africa, nor one of the world's heavyweight powers (Brazil, Italy, Spain) were not on the pitch.
Almost without doubt, the 2010 World Cup will yield several group-stage matches of marginal (or nearly zero) interest among ticket-buying South Africans ... and also fail to attract sufficient traveling fans of the competing teams to fill a stadium.
It is fair to assume many of the free tickets will be for those matches of lesser-demand. Creating a win-win situation by getting the South Africa underclass into a World Cup match -- at no cost to the consumer -- as well as filling up empty spots in the stadium. Those gaps of unfilled seats that look so bad when a match is televised globally.
Even the United States, which is vastly more wealthy than South Africa, and has tens of thousands of ethnic groups from all over the world already within its borders, had trouble selling out some matches during the attendance-record-setting 1994 World Cup.
To wit: Bulgaria and Nigeria played a group-stage match in Dallas before a Cotton Bowl crowd of 44,132 -- nearly 20,000 short of a sellout.
If U.S. organizers couldn't sell out a stadium, imagine the empty swaths in a South Africa venue next summer when, say, Paraguay and North Korea play. Even as tens of thousands of rabid soccer fans live within a few miles of the stadium -- but can't afford the price of a ticket.
The per capita annual income in South Africa is $10,000 (compared to $46,000 in the U.S. or $36,600 in the United Kingdom), according to The World Factbook.
Expecting South Africans to pay globally competitive ticket prices to see matches from far-away countries isn't realistic, and giving away some of those tickets to impoverished citizens is one of the smartest things organizers can do. Read more!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Concacaf Turns into the Wild, Wild West
Two matches, two victories by teams lying in the middle of the standings, and suddenly the (deep breath) Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) qualifying process is a horse race.
Mexico 2, United States 1 ... Honduras 4, Costa Rica 0 ... and three points separate four teams atop the Concacaf standings, with four matches per team still to play.
Yes, this could go in any direction, and it's quite exciting. Certainly more exciting than, say, Costa Rica and the United States would like it to be, considering those two seemed to have pulled away a bit from the pack. Until Wednesday's matches.
Now it's Costa Rica with 12 points, Honduras and the U.S. with 10 and Mexico with 9, and sorting this out almost certainly will go down to the final day of qualifying, Oct. 14. It should be wild, and a goal here or there will separate first from fourth. And it is very important, indeed, to finish higher than fourth.
Here's why.
The top three finishers in the hexagonal, as it is often known here in the northern half of the Western Hemisphere, go directly to South Africa 2010.
The No. 4 team still has a shot to get to South Africa, but it detours through a home-and-home series with the No. 5 team out of South America. Winner (on aggregate) goes to South Africa, loser waits for 2014.
And that No. 5 South American team could be quite a test.
With four matches, per team, left in the South America qualifying, the No. 5 team is Ecuador. But Argentina is only two points ahead of the Ecuadorans, and Uruguay is only two back and Colombia and Venezuela are only three back. That's five teams in play for No. 5.
So, let's see, finish fourth in Concacaf and you could get ...
Argentina (and almost certain dismissal) ...
Or Ecuador or Colombia, which means serious altitude in Quito (9,300 feet/2,850 meters) or Bogota (8,300/2,650) or Medellin (4,900/1,500) and a road loss of a severity to be determined ...
Or Uruguay, which has won two World Cups, has a deep soccer culture and also a reputation for being the dirtiest team in FIFA ...
Or Venezuela, which would make it a political story for the U.S. or Honduras, each of which have major issues with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
So, you want to finish in the top three. For sure.
What's ahead for the Concacaf top four? We'll take them in current standings order.
Costa Rica: Like the other three, Costa Rica has two matches left at home and two on the road. The Ticos have a reputation for not being very good outside San Jose, but the reality here is that they have three of the mere six points earned so far, in 18 matches, by road teams in the final round of qualifying (thanks to a victory at Trinidad & Tobago). If Costa Rica can win twice on its home field (vs. Mexico and T&T), that's 18 points and should render road matches at El Salvador and the U.S. moot. Probably the safest bet of the four.
Predicted finish: 19 points, second, on goal differential.
Honduras: The Catrachos actually are second now, thanks to the best goal differential (plus-4) in the group. Honduras gets T&T and the U.S. at home, and that's one easy victory and one tougher one ... and Mexico and El Salvador on the road, which would seem like a certain loss and one winnable match, but ... The El Salvador match is the last on the schedule, and that ought to be a break because the Salvadorans almost certainly will be eliminated by then. Except that these two countries are sports arch-rivals and were the participants in the infamous 1969 "Football War" that began after a World Cup qualifying match and ended after four days of fighting and more than 4,000 fatalities. So, yes, El Salvador will be playing with its First XI and with full-blooded passion, even if all it can hope to gain from the match is mess up Honduras' chances of getting to South Africa. Honduras needs to clinch in its next three matches, that is. It does not want to go to San Salvador needing a point to make the top three, even if it has clearly superior talent.
Predicted finish: 17 points, fourth.
United States: Mexico is famed for its homefield advantage, but the Americans rarely concede a qualifying point at home, which should put the Yankees in good stead when El Salvador and Costa Rica come to visit. A road match at T&T next month could yield a point or three for the Yanks, since T&T is all but out of contention, but the Americans shouldn't count on taking any points out of Honduras. The home match with Costa Rica is the final of the hexagonal, for the Americans, and if Costa Rica has already qualified, the U.S. could be playing against a less-than-full-strength and less-than-motivated Ticos team.
Predicted finish: 19 points, first on goal differential.
Mexico: Los Tricolores looked much sharper in defeating the U.S. 2-1 on Wednesday, but Mexico has become a bad road team of late. Indeed, Mexico has yet to gain a single "away" point in the hexagonal, in three matches, including a loss at El Salvador. It has matches at home against Honduras and El Salvador, and that should be one difficult victory and one easy one. It cannot count on points out of Costa Rica, but it ends at T&T, and the Trinidadians will be out of contention and perhaps ready to roll over for an opponent it harbors no special animus toward.
Predicted finish: 18 points, third. Read more!
Mexico 2, United States 1 ... Honduras 4, Costa Rica 0 ... and three points separate four teams atop the Concacaf standings, with four matches per team still to play.
Yes, this could go in any direction, and it's quite exciting. Certainly more exciting than, say, Costa Rica and the United States would like it to be, considering those two seemed to have pulled away a bit from the pack. Until Wednesday's matches.
Now it's Costa Rica with 12 points, Honduras and the U.S. with 10 and Mexico with 9, and sorting this out almost certainly will go down to the final day of qualifying, Oct. 14. It should be wild, and a goal here or there will separate first from fourth. And it is very important, indeed, to finish higher than fourth.
Here's why.
The top three finishers in the hexagonal, as it is often known here in the northern half of the Western Hemisphere, go directly to South Africa 2010.
The No. 4 team still has a shot to get to South Africa, but it detours through a home-and-home series with the No. 5 team out of South America. Winner (on aggregate) goes to South Africa, loser waits for 2014.
And that No. 5 South American team could be quite a test.
With four matches, per team, left in the South America qualifying, the No. 5 team is Ecuador. But Argentina is only two points ahead of the Ecuadorans, and Uruguay is only two back and Colombia and Venezuela are only three back. That's five teams in play for No. 5.
So, let's see, finish fourth in Concacaf and you could get ...
Argentina (and almost certain dismissal) ...
Or Ecuador or Colombia, which means serious altitude in Quito (9,300 feet/2,850 meters) or Bogota (8,300/2,650) or Medellin (4,900/1,500) and a road loss of a severity to be determined ...
Or Uruguay, which has won two World Cups, has a deep soccer culture and also a reputation for being the dirtiest team in FIFA ...
Or Venezuela, which would make it a political story for the U.S. or Honduras, each of which have major issues with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
So, you want to finish in the top three. For sure.
What's ahead for the Concacaf top four? We'll take them in current standings order.
Costa Rica: Like the other three, Costa Rica has two matches left at home and two on the road. The Ticos have a reputation for not being very good outside San Jose, but the reality here is that they have three of the mere six points earned so far, in 18 matches, by road teams in the final round of qualifying (thanks to a victory at Trinidad & Tobago). If Costa Rica can win twice on its home field (vs. Mexico and T&T), that's 18 points and should render road matches at El Salvador and the U.S. moot. Probably the safest bet of the four.
Predicted finish: 19 points, second, on goal differential.
Honduras: The Catrachos actually are second now, thanks to the best goal differential (plus-4) in the group. Honduras gets T&T and the U.S. at home, and that's one easy victory and one tougher one ... and Mexico and El Salvador on the road, which would seem like a certain loss and one winnable match, but ... The El Salvador match is the last on the schedule, and that ought to be a break because the Salvadorans almost certainly will be eliminated by then. Except that these two countries are sports arch-rivals and were the participants in the infamous 1969 "Football War" that began after a World Cup qualifying match and ended after four days of fighting and more than 4,000 fatalities. So, yes, El Salvador will be playing with its First XI and with full-blooded passion, even if all it can hope to gain from the match is mess up Honduras' chances of getting to South Africa. Honduras needs to clinch in its next three matches, that is. It does not want to go to San Salvador needing a point to make the top three, even if it has clearly superior talent.
Predicted finish: 17 points, fourth.
United States: Mexico is famed for its homefield advantage, but the Americans rarely concede a qualifying point at home, which should put the Yankees in good stead when El Salvador and Costa Rica come to visit. A road match at T&T next month could yield a point or three for the Yanks, since T&T is all but out of contention, but the Americans shouldn't count on taking any points out of Honduras. The home match with Costa Rica is the final of the hexagonal, for the Americans, and if Costa Rica has already qualified, the U.S. could be playing against a less-than-full-strength and less-than-motivated Ticos team.
Predicted finish: 19 points, first on goal differential.
Mexico: Los Tricolores looked much sharper in defeating the U.S. 2-1 on Wednesday, but Mexico has become a bad road team of late. Indeed, Mexico has yet to gain a single "away" point in the hexagonal, in three matches, including a loss at El Salvador. It has matches at home against Honduras and El Salvador, and that should be one difficult victory and one easy one. It cannot count on points out of Costa Rica, but it ends at T&T, and the Trinidadians will be out of contention and perhaps ready to roll over for an opponent it harbors no special animus toward.
Predicted finish: 18 points, third. Read more!
A "Shoot to Kill" Attitude
We interrupt our stream of football-related posts to bring you more news on the nature of South African society. Which seems depressingly familiar to someone from the United States.
To wit: A story from the Johannesburg Sunday Times relating a rash of violent mall robberies and the strong (very strong) language used by police as to how best they can fight back against the criminals. The Times describes it as a "shoot to kill" frame of mind.
The crime and violence is centered in the province of Gauteng, the economic heart of South Africa -- and also home to the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria -- and three of the 10 stadiums that will play host to 2010 World Cup matches. So, yes, these are issues that potential visitors to the World Cup might want to pay attention to.
The peg for this story, as we say in journalism, was the robbery of an armored car Tuesday and the shooting of two guards, both in the head, one fatally.
It seems to have provoked the local authorities into recognizing there is a problem crying for attention, and prompted this strong language from the provincial police chief, Khabisi Mosunkutu:
“[The police] must make sure they do not allow criminals the split second to aim their weapons at policemen and policewomen. I urge the members in blue to shoot if they feel threatened, and they must not miss.
Wow. Must be interesting to live in a country where cops can still talk like that and keep their jobs. Imagine a police chief of a major U.S. city (never mind a major European city) encouraging police to shoot sooner than later and "not miss." How long would that police chief keep his/her job?
Mosunkutu also is concerned that police are given "heavy-caliber automatic weapons" that will "match and outmatch the firepower of criminals." (Now that sounds more familiar, in the U.S.)
South Africa isn't the only dangerous country in the world, when it comes to what ought to be banal activities, like going to the mall. I live a few miles from South-Central Los Angeles, where violence seems endemic. And Long Beach isn't exactly as pacific as the nearby ocean.
But the U.S. has a worldwide reputation for violence. To a lot of us (say, sports fans), who haven't paid close attention to the daily life in South Africa, some of this may come as a surprise. In short, South Africa has at least as much violence (and apparently more) than the U.S.
Soccer fans who plan on visiting should know this before they decide to travel to the 2010 World Cup. "Forewarned is forearmed," and all.
Read more!
To wit: A story from the Johannesburg Sunday Times relating a rash of violent mall robberies and the strong (very strong) language used by police as to how best they can fight back against the criminals. The Times describes it as a "shoot to kill" frame of mind.
The crime and violence is centered in the province of Gauteng, the economic heart of South Africa -- and also home to the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria -- and three of the 10 stadiums that will play host to 2010 World Cup matches. So, yes, these are issues that potential visitors to the World Cup might want to pay attention to.
The peg for this story, as we say in journalism, was the robbery of an armored car Tuesday and the shooting of two guards, both in the head, one fatally.
It seems to have provoked the local authorities into recognizing there is a problem crying for attention, and prompted this strong language from the provincial police chief, Khabisi Mosunkutu:
“[The police] must make sure they do not allow criminals the split second to aim their weapons at policemen and policewomen. I urge the members in blue to shoot if they feel threatened, and they must not miss.
“They must hit the target [so that] when the dust settles there should be no doubt as to who is in charge.”
Wow. Must be interesting to live in a country where cops can still talk like that and keep their jobs. Imagine a police chief of a major U.S. city (never mind a major European city) encouraging police to shoot sooner than later and "not miss." How long would that police chief keep his/her job?
Mosunkutu also is concerned that police are given "heavy-caliber automatic weapons" that will "match and outmatch the firepower of criminals." (Now that sounds more familiar, in the U.S.)
South Africa isn't the only dangerous country in the world, when it comes to what ought to be banal activities, like going to the mall. I live a few miles from South-Central Los Angeles, where violence seems endemic. And Long Beach isn't exactly as pacific as the nearby ocean.
But the U.S. has a worldwide reputation for violence. To a lot of us (say, sports fans), who haven't paid close attention to the daily life in South Africa, some of this may come as a surprise. In short, South Africa has at least as much violence (and apparently more) than the U.S.
Soccer fans who plan on visiting should know this before they decide to travel to the 2010 World Cup. "Forewarned is forearmed," and all.
Read more!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Mexico, Norway Win, Improve SA 2010 Chances
Two countries with significant World Cup history took steps toward a trip to South Africa 2010 today. Mexico came from behind to defeat its regional arch-rival, the United States, 2-1; and Norway thrashed Scotland in Europe Group 9 to reintroduce itself to contention for second place -- and potential advancement.
Other qualifiers already in, and what they mean:
Germany 2 at Azerbaijan 0: Germany stays atop Group 4 and keeps up the pressure on Russia, which is four points back with a game in hand. The group winner probably will be decided when Germany plays in Moscow on Oct. 10.
Croatia 3 at Belarus 1: Ivica Olic scored twice as Croatia kept alive its slim hopes of catching England atop Group 6, put some pressure on Ukraine in the battle for second and essentially eliminated Belarus.
France 1 at Faroe Islands 0: Andre-Pierre Gignac scored in the 42nd minute as France was anything but convincing against the Group 7 minnow and moved within five points of group leader Serbia -- with four matches to play vs. Serbia's three. France also shored up its grip on second place over Lithuania.
At least one fairly significant match remains to be played today -- Costa Rica at Honduras.
In Oslo, Norway revived its campaign with a Group 9 rout of the Scots, who had hoped to move into the clear in second place behind already qualified Holland. Scotland has seven points, as does Macedonia, and Norway is now in it with six points. Each of those three has three matches left, and if one of them can get to, say, 12 points, it has a shot of getting into the four home-and-home playoffs of the eight best European group runnersup.
The biggest game was the one played in Mexico City, where Mexico conceded a ninth-minute goal by Charlie Davies (after an exquisite pass from Landon Donovan). It gave the U.S. a lead on Mexico soil for the first time, but it was not to stand up.
Los Tricolores steadily applied pressure on the visitors thereafter, who seemed content to surrender about 75 percent of the field, and Mexico picked up a pair of goals to improve to 23-0-1 at home, all-time (and 19-0-1 at Azteca), against the norte americanos.
Mexico's confidence and resolve was rewarded by a nice goal from 25 yards by Israel Castro in the 19th minute, a well-struck ball that glanced off the underside of the crossbar and bounced down into the goal. The winner came in the 82nd minute, when Efrain Juarez ran past Donovan in the box and turned the corner before knocking a pass back to recent sub Miguel Sabah, who was unmarked as he popped the ball into the goal from about 7 yards.
Mexico almost had to win, and now that it has it remains very much in the mix for one of Concacaf's three automatic berths and, worst-case, seems positioned to get the No. 4 spot -- which means a home-and-home with the No. 5 out of South America.
The United States remains stuck at 10 points, only one ahead of Mexico. Four matches remain for each.
The next big day in World Cup qualifying: Sept. 5. Read more!
Other qualifiers already in, and what they mean:
Germany 2 at Azerbaijan 0: Germany stays atop Group 4 and keeps up the pressure on Russia, which is four points back with a game in hand. The group winner probably will be decided when Germany plays in Moscow on Oct. 10.
Croatia 3 at Belarus 1: Ivica Olic scored twice as Croatia kept alive its slim hopes of catching England atop Group 6, put some pressure on Ukraine in the battle for second and essentially eliminated Belarus.
France 1 at Faroe Islands 0: Andre-Pierre Gignac scored in the 42nd minute as France was anything but convincing against the Group 7 minnow and moved within five points of group leader Serbia -- with four matches to play vs. Serbia's three. France also shored up its grip on second place over Lithuania.
At least one fairly significant match remains to be played today -- Costa Rica at Honduras.
In Oslo, Norway revived its campaign with a Group 9 rout of the Scots, who had hoped to move into the clear in second place behind already qualified Holland. Scotland has seven points, as does Macedonia, and Norway is now in it with six points. Each of those three has three matches left, and if one of them can get to, say, 12 points, it has a shot of getting into the four home-and-home playoffs of the eight best European group runnersup.
The biggest game was the one played in Mexico City, where Mexico conceded a ninth-minute goal by Charlie Davies (after an exquisite pass from Landon Donovan). It gave the U.S. a lead on Mexico soil for the first time, but it was not to stand up.
Los Tricolores steadily applied pressure on the visitors thereafter, who seemed content to surrender about 75 percent of the field, and Mexico picked up a pair of goals to improve to 23-0-1 at home, all-time (and 19-0-1 at Azteca), against the norte americanos.
Mexico's confidence and resolve was rewarded by a nice goal from 25 yards by Israel Castro in the 19th minute, a well-struck ball that glanced off the underside of the crossbar and bounced down into the goal. The winner came in the 82nd minute, when Efrain Juarez ran past Donovan in the box and turned the corner before knocking a pass back to recent sub Miguel Sabah, who was unmarked as he popped the ball into the goal from about 7 yards.
Mexico almost had to win, and now that it has it remains very much in the mix for one of Concacaf's three automatic berths and, worst-case, seems positioned to get the No. 4 spot -- which means a home-and-home with the No. 5 out of South America.
The United States remains stuck at 10 points, only one ahead of Mexico. Four matches remain for each.
The next big day in World Cup qualifying: Sept. 5. Read more!
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