England roll on, France fight back

shocks were thin on the ground on Matchday 3 of the European qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, as the favourites flexed their muscles. England, Spain and Greece are the only three sides to have won three out of three.

Game of the day
Germany 2-1 Russia
Goals: Lukas Podolski 9, Michael Ballack 28 (Germany); Andrei Arshavin 51 (Russia)

This Group 4 encounter between the UEFA EURO 2008 runners-up and one of the semi-finalists promised much. The Germans made their customary fast start, with Lukas Podolski opening the scoring early on and Michael Ballack doubling their advantage before the half-hour mark. The Russians never stopped running, however, and worked their way back into the game after the restart. It was Andrei Arshavin, somewhat inevitably, who reduced the arrears before Guus Hiddink's side laid siege to the German goal. But Rene Adler, the major success story for the hosts, was in inspired form in goal and made sure the Mannschaft clung on to the points.

Surprise of the day
Faroe Islands 1-1 Austria
Goals: Bogi Lokin 47 (Faroe Islands); Martin Stranzl 49 (Austria)

After overcoming France 3-1 in their first match in Group 7, the Austrians failed to overcome the side who famously beat them when they met back in 1990. The islanders were entertaining hopes of repeating that win when Bogi Lokin put them ahead at the start of the second half. The visitors hit back quickly, however, but could not prevent the Faroes from picking up their first point in the group.

The other games
Denmark lead the way in Group 1 after Portugal and Sweden drew a blank in Solna.

Greece put three goals past Moldova without reply, two of them coming from Angelos Charisteas. With nine points out of nine, the Greeks lead Group 2 ahead of Israel and Switzerland.

Poland and Slovenia are out front in Group 3. Missing three key midfielders, Czech Republic went down 2-1 away to the Poles and now find themselves six points behind the leading duo.

Andrei Arshavin scored once and almost grabbed an equaliser for Russia away to Germany, but it is Joachim Low's men who sit atop Group 4 after their 2-1 win. Finland beat Azerbaijan to stay in touch with the leaders.

Spain continued their serene progress in Group 5 with a routine 3-0 triumph in Estonia. The European champions have now gone 38 matches without defeat in FIFA World Cup qualifying matches and have yet to concede in this latest campaign, while scoring eight. Turkey and Belgium both won, however, to keep up the pressure on the leaders.

In Group 6, England thrashed Kazakhstan 5-1 to open up a five-point lead over Croatia, who played out a goalless draw with Ukraine. Fabio Capello's men have a 100 per cent record so far and scored their 200th FIFA World Cup qualifying goal when Alexandr Kuchma put through his own goal.

Lithuania came back down to earth, losing 3-0 in Serbia, but still lead the way in a wide-open Group 7, where five sides are in contention for first place. France were on the brink against Romania but fought back for a 2-2 draw.

Italy were content to come away from Bulgaria with a draw and stay in pole position in Group 8 on seven points, three clear of Republic of Ireland.

And in Group 9 Scotland shared the spoils with Norway in a disappointing 0-0 draw, a result that allowed the Netherlands, easy 2-0 victors against Iceland, to move two points in front with a game in hand.

The stat
7 - The number of years Israel have now gone unbeaten away from home in FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The last time the Israelis lost on their travels was back in March 2001, when they went down 2-1 to Austria.

Goal of the day
Romania 2-2 France
Yoann Gourcuff, 69

The Bordeaux playmaker made the most of his latest international outing, putting France back on level terms with a 25-yard drive that caught out an otherwise-inspired Bogdan Lobont in the Romania goal.

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Austria - France 3-1 World Cup 2010 Qualifiers Highlights All Goals

Not everyone loves Raymond.He managed to keep his job despite a disastrous Euro 2008.France got clobbered 3-1 in Group 7 by lowly Austria -placed 101st in the Fifa rankings. Rumours: The French federation have given Domenech a target of at least five points from the first three qualifiers.The next target Domenech has lined up in his sights is Serbia.And he's hoping his shooters will be on target.

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Robinho checks in on a helicopter....needs counselling

Robinho turned up for training with Brazil in a helicopter on Wednesday....
Later he scored one out of the three goals that Brazil would eventually beat Chile in their world cup qualifier by....
Luis Fabiano scored the other two....
Ronaldinho missed a penalty....
Dunga got a bit of space in which to breathe freely.....
Video .....

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Iraq crashes out of the World Cup qualifiers

In the midst of Euro fever, there was sad news for the millions of Iraqi fans as their national team crashed out of World Cup qualifying contention beaten by Qatar.

A draw would have sufficed to get them to the final round of qualifiying.

For the Iraqis, their national team was one of the few unifying forces that brought the various warring sects together, laying down their differences to answer the call of their common passion.

Just ten days ago, the team was flying high as they eliminated China from the race through a 2-1 win through goals by Nashat Akram and Emad Ridha. A few weeks earlier, the Iraqis had defeated the Socceroos, arguably the toughest team in Asia, 1-0 through a sizzling free kick by Emad Mohammad.

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Dunga's scheme grinds out draws

The man who has made it a mission to bleach Brazil of the memories of the Tele Santana era and has some success doing it his way with his system of prizing workman like players and sound technical skills over artistry and attacking play is having a hard time motivating Brazil in the World Cup qualifiers. They are presently 5th in the group with nine points, having survived a dreary draw against Argentina. The Seleccao have dropped points with draws against lowly Peru and Colombia, and then losing to Paraguay. Their one bright spot is a 2-1 win over Uruguay and a 5-0 drubbing of Ecuador.

The Brazilian press and the public have hammered Dunga's approach.

Dunga's playbook revolves around creating a seamless connection between the attack and the defense through his system of holding and attacking midfielders. Elano, Julio Baptista and Gilberto Silva figure as the featured players. The defense has cemented around Lucio, Juan, Dani Alves, and Maicon, with a decidedly physical style of play (Argentina learned this the hard way at the 2007 Copa America). However, in this scheme of play, it is the attack that has been susceptible to Dunga's vagaries and has a decidedly unsettled look.

Earlier tinkering saw lesser lights Vagner Love, Daniel Carvalho, Rafael Sobis, and Luis Fabiano getting the call once Dunga was made manager in the aftermath of Brazil's poor showing in the 2006 World Cup. This was probably natural as none of the marquee players played to their capability. Dunga did eventually recall Kaka. But Dunga's initial rejection probably accounts for the AC Milan star's lukewarm national commitment. Robinho's performance of late has been abysmal, Adriano and Ronaldinho's hard partying has attracted more news media than their no shows on the field. Fred has had a look in but the Lyon striker is not the easiest to discipline. Alexandre Pato remains the one bright spot having an impressive first season for Inter. The attack therefore has been very patchy going through goal scoring droughts.

Dunga has also shifted his emphasis from open field goals to set pieces and Elano, Julio Baptista and a 6' defense offers Brazil their best chance of scoring such goals. This leaves Brazil exposed to fast counter attacks which takes advantage of slow reacting or an out of position defenses. Paraguay was able to win through such means.

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Bad day for Brazil, Argentina in qualifiers

Brazil lost 2-0 to 10-man Paraguay and Argentina needed a stoppage-time equaliser to hold Ecuador 1-1 at home in South American World Cup qualifiers on Sunday.
Chile completed a dramatic day by winning 2-0 at high altitude in Bolivia with two goals from defender Gary Medel, the first a bicycle kick.
Brazil and Argentina's poor displays should add to the usual spice when the two meet in Belo Horizonte on Wednesday in the next round of matches.
Paraguay's win in Asuncion, their fourth in the last eight matches against Brazil, took them three points clear at the top of the 10-team group with 13 points from five games.
Argentina are second with 10, followed by Colombia (9), Brazil (8), Venezuela and Chile (7) and Uruguay (5).
The top four teams qualify directly for the 2010 World Cup and the fifth play off against a side from the CONCACAF region.
Paraguay twice hit the woodwork and were rarely troubled by Brazil despite having defender Dario Veron sent off in the 48th minute.

Striker Roque Santa Cruz side-footed Paraguay ahead from close range in the 26th minute and set up the second for Salvador Cabanas one minute after Veron's dismissal.
'There are days when things don't work,' said Brazil coach Dunga, whose team lost 2-0 to Venezuela in a friendly 10 days ago.
'We didn't have any difficulty on controlling our opponents,' said Santa Cruz.
In Buenos Aires, substitute Rodrigo Palacio came on in the 89th minute and scored the winner five minutes later with the last kick of the game after the Ecuador defence lost concentration.
The visitors, who have four points, went ahead when midfielder Patricio Urrutia rifled a 20-metre shot in off the crossbar following a clever Carlos Tenorio backheel in the 69th minute.
'We were lucky to draw the match with the last move of the game,' said Argentina coach Alfio Basile.

'We played well in our last games and today we didn't. There's not much to add.'
Bolivia were delighted to be able to face Chile in La Paz at 3,600 metres above sea level after FIFA last month overturned a ban on internationals at high altitude.
But their joy dissolved on the half hour when Medel scored with an overhead kick from 12 metres. The defender then finished off the hosts with another goal from a corner in the 77th minute.
As well as the altitude, both teams had to contend with a shocking pitch at the Hernando Siles stadium.

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