Tournament News
England will be coming to SA
2009-09-09 23:03
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London - England qualified for next year's World Cup finals when they crushed Croatia 5-1 at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday to clinch first place in European Group Six.
Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard both scored twice and Wayne Rooney added another to give England a place in the finals in South Africa with two matches to spare. Eduardo da Silva scored for Croatia after 71 minutes.
Meanwhile, Portugal struck early and held on
for a 1-0 win over Hungary to breathe a bit of life into their bid for
a place at the 2010 World Cup.
Pepe gave Portugal the lead, towering above the Hungarian defence to head in from Deco's free-kick in the 10th minute.
Hungary almost equalised moments later, but Roland Juhasz's header went wide.
Victory for Portugal took them up to third place in Group One with 13 points from eight matches.
They remain in deep trouble but two wins from their last two games could yet see them through.
Denmark top the group with 18 points after being held to a 1-1 draw by
Albania, while Sweden moved up to second on 15 points after their 1-0
win over Malta.
Hungary, like Portugal, have 13 points.
The group winners qualify directly, while eight of the nine
second-placed teams will go into two-legged play-offs for the four
remaining places.