Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos celebrated his Switzerland return on Saturday by heading two early goals which helped beat Luxembourg 3-0 and put his country on the brink of a World Cup place. The Swiss, who top European Group Two with 20 points from nine games, need a point at home to Israel on Wednesday to win the group and make sure of their place in South Africa. They could qualify later on Saturday if Greece and Latvia draw.
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ulgaria’s slim hopes of clinching a World Cup play-off place were ended as Cyprus ran out comfortable 4-1 winners in the Group Eight qualifier in Larnaca. Constantinos Charalambides’ early brace put the hosts in the ascendancy and, although Dimitar Berbatov halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time, second-half goals from Michalis Constantinou and Stathis Aloneftis sealed the rout. (more…)

Emile Mpenza’s double earned Belgium three points against Turkey in their World Cup Group Five qualifier in Brussels. The result moved fourth-placed Belgium to within two points of the third-spotted Turks ahead of Wednesday’s final round of matches. It was a lively and exciting match in the Belgian capital, with action switching from end to end rapidly although Belgium looked the more likely going forward. (more…)

Jacob Poulsen’s first goal for Denmark secured their place in next summer’s World Cup finals, while Sweden’s South Africa fate hangs in the balance. The AGF Aarhus midfielder struck from long range, with goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson partly at fault. (more…)

Theofanis Gekas netted four goals as Greece all but assured themselves of a place in the World Cup qualifying play-offs after coming from behind to defeat Latvia at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Gekas opened the scoring for the hosts after four minutes but Maris Verpakovskis levelled with a superb bicycle kick before putting Aleksandrs Starkovs’ team ahead just before half-time. (more…)

Substitute Alberto Gilardino snatched a 2-2 draw with a 90th-minute strike just three minutes after Sean St Ledger thought he had blown the race for automatic qualification from Group Eight wide open. St Ledger’s 87th-minute goal, his first for his country, looked to have closed the gap to the leaders to a single point going into the final round of matches on Wednesday. However, Gilardino’s face-saver booked Italy’s ticket to South Africa. (more…)

Substitute Martin Palermo struck two minutes into stoppage time to give Argentina a 2-1 victory over Peru in a dramatic finale to their World Cup qualifier on Saturday. The victory keeps alive Argentina’s hopes of reaching the 2010 finals as they climbed into fourth place in the South American group before their last qualifier away to Uruguay on Wednesday. The top four go through to South Africa. (more…)

I don’t think I’ve seen this before, but the Mexico v El Salvador World Cup Qualifier was stopped for more than six minutes today due to s swarm of bees. According to Reuters:

The World Cup qualifier between Mexico and El Salvador was halted after three minutes on Saturday due to a swarm of bees inside the visitors’ goal. The match was stopped for more than six minutes while officials sprayed the area around the goalposts of El Salvador keeper Miguel Montes to clear the bees.

The game was in the penultimate round of fixtures in the CONCACAF regional qualifying group for the World Cup finals in South Africa next June.

When I first heard about this swarm of bees, I immediately thought of Wu Tang. Hit the jump for an all time classic hip hop video.

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