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entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones ([personal profile] rone) wrote2005-09-03 06:36 pm
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world cup madness!

Ecuador won in Bolivia today 2-1; a victorytie at home against Uruguay shouldwill seal the deal.

Group 4 in European qualifying is interesting, with Switzerland, France, and Eire tied with 13 points (Switzerland on top on goal differential), and Israel a point behind, but with an extra game played.  However, Israel's remaining games are both against the Faroe Islands; Switzerland, France, and Eire have to play each other, as well as Cyprus.  Of the three, Ireland gets the best draw by playing both tough games at home, and France plays both away.  Ireland managed to tie both France and Switzerland away, too, so i'd say they have the best chance.

As for USA-Mexico, i missed the first half running errands with Kim, but watched the second half.  First USA goal off a rebound from the post, second a work of beauty from the start: Landon Donovan sneaks in between three Mexican defenders near the top of the box and steals the ball, gets past the goalie but is too close to the line, and forces a corner kick.  Off the kick, the ball is played back and then Reyna made a perfect pass to DaMarcus Beasley, who finished with class and style.  Later on, Beasley would get hammered as he was zooming past Mexican defenders (the perp was lucky all he got was a yellow).  Near the end, Beasley got another perfect pass, but tried to chip it over the goalie and shot wide.  USA qualifies for Germany!  So did Ukraine today.

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[identity profile] eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com 2005-09-04 09:38 am (UTC)(link)
Good for Ecuador and the US. And yes, Group 4 could be interesting. The Faeroes and Cyprus are both just good enough that they could spoil someone's party, if the opposition have an off-night.

I think yesterday was when Scotland's last chance of qualifying disappeared. We drew 1-1 at home with Italy (having led for most of the match, but with some fairly desperate defending in the second half), which seemed like a good result. Then Norway managed to win in Slovenia, which leaves them 5 points ahead, with 3 games to go. If we can beat them in Oslo on Wednesday, it's theoretically possible, but still horribly difficult (we would have to win in Slovenia too, and they defeated Italy there). Ah well, at least the team are playing as if they've met before, and the bad taste of the Vogts era is slowly disappearing.

[identity profile] khrister.livejournal.com 2005-09-04 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
In group 8, Sweden won against Bulgaria 3-0 at home, but is still one point behind Croatia. Hungaria is trailing 5 points behind Sweden, and if Sweden beats them on wednesday, a second or better spot is guaranteed.

To pass Croatia will be tough, but not impossible. Either Sweden needs a win against them in Zagreb, or a draw with Hungary taking a point from them in Budapest in the last round (I'm not going to count on Malta...)

Of course, Sweden'd also need to win against Hungary and Iceland for this to happen.
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