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Portugal's Simao Sabrosa (L) celebrates his goal against Malta with teammate Miguel Veloso - Source: Reuters -
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Ron may go to the ball after all
Portugal made light of the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo to seal a place in the playoffs for the World Cup finals by thrashing Malta 4-0
Nani set Portugal on their way with a left-foot drive and further goals from Simao Sabrosa, Miguel Veloso and Edinho saw them clinch second place in Group One with 19 points, two points adrift of winners Denmark but one point ahead of Sweden.
The result completed the first stage of a qualifying comeback for Portugal, who had looked down and out at one stage after winning just one of their first five qualifiers.
They can now look forward to a two-legged playoff against one of the other second-placed teams, with the matches set for Nov. 14 and 18.
France warm-up for play-off's with win
France warmed up for their World Cup playoff by beating Austria 3-1 in their final Group Seven qualifier at Stade de France.
Forward Karim Benzema opened the scoring with a diving header from Florent Malouda's cross on 17 minutes and captain Thierry Henry doubled the advantage from the penalty spot after defender Rod Fanni was blocked in the box.
Striker Marc Janko reduced the deficit for the visitors from close range early in the second half before substitute striker Andre-Pierre Gignac sealed France's win with a superb angled shot on 66 minutes.
Nothing was at stake with France certain to finish second behind Serbia to go into a two-legged playoff on Nov. 14 and 18 and Austria already eliminated.
England bounce back
Peter Crouch scored twice as England rounded off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a low-key 3-0 win over Belarus to make it nine wins from 10 in Group Six.
Striker Crouch scuffed England in front after four minutes and poached a rebound 16 minutes from time. Shaun Wright-Phillips, another player hoping to catch the eye of coach Fabio Capello, fired England's second on the hour.
Capello made six changes to the side that lost in Ukraine on Saturday, England's first competitive defeat under the Italian, with Crouch and Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor paired up front in the absence of Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey.
While England were laboured at times, Crouch at least did his prospects of a place on the plane to South Africa no harm as he took his England tally to 18 goals in 35 appearances.
Berbatov hits hat-trick
A first-half hat-trick from striker Dimitar Berbatov helped
Bulgaria end their World Cup Group Eight qualifying campaign with
an emphatic 6-2 win over 10-man Georgia on Thursday.
Bulgaria's chances of reaching next year's finals vanished on
Saturday when they lost 4-1 to Cyprus but Georgia scarcely had a
shot on goal as the hosts tore into them from the start.
Manchester United's Berbatov completed his hat-trick within 29
minutes to take his Bulgaria tally to 46, just one goal short of
Hristo Bonev's national record.
Martin Petrov scored twice and gritty midfielder Stanislav Angelov
added another, his second international goal.
Bulgaria's triumph, seen by one of the smallest-ever crowd at the
Vasil Levski national stadium, was helped by errors from Georgia
keeper Giorgi Lomaia.
Georgia finished the match with 10 men after Levan Khmaladze was
sent off 13 minutes into the second half.
Serbia stumble
Two penalties gave Lithuania a 2-1 win over Group Seven winners
Serbia in their 2010 World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
Lithuania, who have not qualified for next year's finals, gave
their fans something to cheer about in sub-zero temperatures
against a below-par Serbian team.
The Serbians sealed their berth with a 5-0 rout of Romania on
Saturday and looked as if they were going through the motions on a
rain-soaked pitch.
Midfielder Mindaugas Kalonas fired Lithuania ahead with a
20th-minute penalty after Neven Subotic brought down Ignas Dedura
and the home side missed numerous chances as they dominated the
first half.
Halftime substitute Zoran Tosic equalised against the run of play
on the hour when he raced through several defenders and steered the
ball home after rounding the goalkeeper.
Aleksandar Lukovic's clumsy challenge on Kalonas shortly afterwards
gave the Lithuanians a second spot kick which Marius Stankevicius
blasted into the roof of the net.
Lithuania twice scrambled the ball off their line in the closing
stages, while Stankevicius came close at the other end with a
long-range effort.
Italy make stunning comeback
Alberto Gilardino scored a hat-trick to steer champions Italy to
a stunning 3-2 comeback victory over Cyprus in their final World
Cup Group Eight qualifier.
The Fiorentina forward glanced in a Mauro Camoranesi cross in the
78th minute, tapped in from close range three minutes later and
then got the last touch to a deflected Fabio Quagliarella shot in
injury time.
The Cypriots had looked on course for a memorable win after going
2-0 up with Ioannis Okkas's 12th-minute strike and Chrysostomos
Michail's volley just after the break.
The hat-trick capped a memorable few days for Gilardino, who also
scored the goal that earned Italy a 2-2 draw in Ireland on Saturday
to book their tickets to South Africa 2010 as group winners.
Ireland stay unbeaten
Ireland warmed up for next month's World Cup playoffs by
maintaining their unbeaten Group Eight record with a 0-0 draw at
home to Montenegro in their final qualifier on Thursday.
The hosts had already secured a place in the playoffs and the match
predictably played out like a friendly, memorable only for
goalkeeper Shay Given and defender Kevin Kilbane making their 100th
international appearances.
Branko Boskovic should have headed eliminated Montenegro in front
on the half hour before Richard Dunne went even closer for the
Irish, the crossbar denying the Aston Villa defender his third goal
of the campaign.
Montenegro were denied a clear penalty on 66 minutes when Paul
McShane handled Simon Vukcevic's goalbound effort while team mate
Milorad Pekovic left a different mark, ending the campaign with a
yellow card in each match he played in.
Spain spank Bosnia
Alvaro Negredo scored twice as European champions Spain cruised
to a 5-2 victory over Bosnia on Thursday to make it 10 wins out of
10 in World Cup Group Five qualifying.
Vicente del Bosque's side had already secured their place in the
finals with two matches to spare and Bosnia were sure of a place in
the playoffs thanks to Saturday's 2-0 win over Estonia.
After Spain came under early pressure, Gerard Pique rose to glance
in a header from Xabi Alonso's floated free kick on 13 minutes and
David Silva raced clear a minute later to beat onrushing goalkeeper
Nemenja Supic.
Negredo picked up Silva's pass in the centre of the area just after
the break and sent Supic the wrong way with a low shot and the
Sevilla striker was at the far post to steer Albert Riera's cross
into the net from close range five minutes later.
Juan Mata struck the fifth for Spain before Edin Dzeko and Zvjezdan
Misimovic pulled two late goals back for Bosnia.
Wales sign off with win
Wales ended a disappointing 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign with
a 2-0 victory over Liechtenstein in Vaduz on Thursday.
Midfielder David Vaughan stretched to convert Gareth Bale's low
left-wing cross on 16 minutes for his first international
goal.
David Hasler should have levelled for the hosts before the break
and they were punished in the second half when midfielder Aaron
Ramsey scored a classy freekick 10 minutes from time.
Wales, who had lost seven of their last 10 games, finish Group Four
in fourth place on 12 points with Liechtenstein rooted to the
bottom on two.
Germany save blushes
Germany, already through to the 2010 World Cup, needed a last-gasp equaliser by Lukas Podolski to grab a 1-1 draw with eliminated Finland in their final qualifier on Thursday.
Germany, who beat second-placed Russia 1-0 on Sunday to seal top spot in Group Four, went behind after 11 minutes.
The hosts failed to clear a header by Roman Eremenko and the ball landed at the feet of Jonathan Johansson, who netted on his 100th international appearance.
Having made six changes to the lineup that beat Russia, Germany had to wait until the 90th minute for Podolski to tap in the equaliser from close range.
Russia held
Andrei Arshavin was on target as Russia were held to a 1-1 draw by Azerbaijan in their final World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
With Russia already assured of finishing second in Group Four and Azerbaijan having lost all hope of qualifying for next year's finals in South Africa, the match lacked the usual intensity.
Russia captain Arshavin opened the scoring in the 13th minute, side-footing into an empty goal after Azeri keeper Kamran Agayev stopped Alan Dzagoyev's shot from close range.
The Azeris missed several chances before former CSKA Moscow striker Vagif Javadov levelled the score with a long-range effort shortly after the interval.
The visitors were awarded a questionable penalty by English referee Howard Webb 10 minutes from time but Sergei Ignashevich fired straight at Agayev from the spot.
Arsenal forward Arshavin, one of the few Russians who looked unhappy with a draw, was twice denied by Agayev in the second half.
Ukraine win knocks Croatia out
Ukraine secured a place in the playoffs for the 2010 World Cup finals when Andriy Shevchenko scored to set up a 6-0 thrashing of Andorra on Thursday.
England had already qualified for South Africa as Group Six winners and Ukraine sealed second place with 21 points from 10 matches, one ahead of Croatia who won 2-1 in Kazakhstan. Andorra finished bottom of the group with 10 defeats in a row.
Former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Shevchenko, now back at Dynamo Kiev, exchanged passes with Oleg Gusev in the 22nd minute and smashed the ball high into the net from a tight angle to set Ukraine on their way.
They took their foot off the gas once they had the lead but a quickly-taken free kick in the 61st minute released Gusev and he rifled home past Andorra goalkeeper Josep Gomes.
Andorra had defended bravely against the Ukrainian onslaught but Ildefons Lima was caught out in the 70th minute and diverted the ball past Gomes into his own net.
The floodgates opened and Ukraine added three more goals in four minutes through Yaroslav Rakitsky, Yevgen Seleznov and Andriy Yarmolenko.
The eight best runners-up across the nine European qualifying
groups enter the two-legged playoffs to take place on Nov. 14 and
18.
More to follow...............
