World Cup Qualifying :: Saturday, October 10, 2009

Courtesy of FIFA

The Danes punched their ticket to the World Cup by winning against Sweden, the Italians and the Irish battled in Dublin and England faced their first upset under manager Fabio Capello as World Cup qualifying continued Saturday.

Great Danes

Denmark continued their stellar run in World Cup Qualifying by defeating Sweden 1-0 on a goal by Jacob Poulsen to guarantee their first World Cup appearance since 2002 and fourth overall in the history of the competition. Sweden dominated after half time and had two goals disallowed after an offside and an earlier whistled had stopped play. Thankfully for the hometown fans, Poulsen’s goal stood and there was celebration in the streets of Copenhagen.

Draw In Dublin

Ireland started out strong, but Italy came back to draw them at 1-1 before tying it 2-2 in the waning minutes of the match. Alberto Gilardino’s goal at the 90-minute mark to tie the game for the second time sealed the draw for the Italians. Glenn Whelan and Sean St. Ledger scored for Ireland and Mauro Camoranesi scored the first Italian goal in front of 70,000 disappointed fans at Croke Park in Dublin. Had the Irish won, it could have guaranteed their spot in the World Cup. As for now, they have qualified for the playoffs for one of the four final spots.

Lions Fail To Roar

After keeper Robert Green was sent off in the 14th minute for bringing down Ukrainian striker Artem Milevskiy, David James took his place and a 10-man England gave up a goal 15 minutes later to lose 1-0 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. It was a disappointing game for Capello’s men, spoiling their perfect record, but thankfully for English fans they have already qualified for the World Cup.