Features

Three more book places

Author: John Harris
Date: 11/09/2009
Football betting

England, Spain and Paraguay are the latest teams to book their places in next summer's World Cup finals following the midweek round of qualifying games.

England's 5-1 rout of Croatia secured their progress as Group Six winners after a 100 per cent record from their eight games to date.

Coach Fabio Capello described the performance as the best during his 18 months at the helm of the Three Lions with goals from Frank Lampard (2), Steven Gerrard (2) and Wayne Rooney.

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It's a similar story for sportsbook favourites Spain after the European champions brushed Estonia aside 3-0 in Merida.

Meanwhile in South America, surprise package Paraguay booked their place after edging out a struggling Argentina side 1-0 in Asuncion.

England, Spain and Paraguay have joined tournament hosts South Africa, Australia, Netherlands, Brazil, Ghana, North Korea and South Korea as definite participants in the finals, which begin on June 11, 2010.

Switzerland, Serbia, Slovakia and holders Italy look poised to follow them after they also took major steps towards qualification during the latest round of international matches.

The Swiss netted a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Latvia to remain three points clear of Greece at the top of Group Two while Serbia are in charge of Group Seven after holding France to a 1-1 draw in Belgrade.

France, winners of the World Cup in 1998, remain under pressure and are likely to be involved in the play-offs to secure their own qualification.

Slovakia dealt Northern Ireland's hopes a potentially terminal blow after winning 2-0 in Belfast to retain their place as Group Three leaders.

Slovenia also moved ahead of Nigel Worthington's side after their 3-0 victory over Poland resulted in veteran coach Leo Beenhakker's sacking.

Meanwhile, Italy's 2-0 victory over Bulgaria has left them one win away from progressing from Group 8.

The biggest losers on the night were definitely Argentina after their defeat at the hands of Paraguay.

Diego Maradona's position as coach is coming under increasing pressure after a fourth defeat of the qualifying campaign left them outside the top four in their group.

The two-time World Cup winners are one point behind fourth-placed Ecuador with two games to play.

The side in fifth face a play-off with the fourth-placed team in the North, Central America and Caribbean group.

"As long as I have a drop of blood left, I will fight to get Argentina qualified," said Maradona, whose side end their qualifying campaign with difficult games against Uruguay and Peru.

"I'm not afraid of criticism. I'm not afraid of anybody. I'm going to continue no matter who criticises me."

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