Reuters, LONDON
France, Portugal and Russia all moved closer to next year’s World Cup finals with first leg playoff wins on Saturday, although none of them did enough to take victory for granted in the second legs next week.
France, runners-up in Germany in 2006, beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin with a late deflected goal from Nicolas Anelka, and start as favourites to finish the job in Paris on Wednesday.
PHOTO: AFP
Portugal beat Bosnia 1-0 in Lisbon with defender Bruno Alves heading the only goal in the first half, while two goals from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov put Russia 2-0 up against Slovenia who scored a vital away goal three minutes from time when substitute Nejc Pecnik headed home to make the final score 2-1.
Greece and Ukraine drew 0-0 in the first leg of their playoff in Athens, with Ukraine now favorites to take control of the tie at home in Donetsk on Wednesday.
Uruguay seized the advantage in the South American/CONCACAF playoff with a 22nd minute goal by Diego Lugano to give them a 1-0 victory in Costa Rica and head back to the Centenario stadium in Montevideo on Wednesday.
In Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon qualified for the finals but Egypt and Algeria must play off in Sudan on Wednesday after finishing with identical records in their qualifying group.
In a match of unrelenting drama in Cairo, Egypt beat Algeria 2-0 with their second, vital goal coming in the fifth minute of stoppage time with Algeria just seconds away from the finals.
France dominated for much of the match in front of 80,000 fans at Croke Park and went in front 18 minutes from time when Anelka’s shot took a deflection off Sean St Ledger and left goalkeeper Shay Given helpless.
Striker Bilyaletdinov scored on either side of half-time and put the Russians in control over Slovenia in Moscow and in sight of their 10th World Cup finals appearance, including those made by the Soviet Union. But Pecnik’s late header gave the visitors real hopes of salvaging the tie in Maribor on Wednesday.
Nigeria clinched their place when they came from behind to beat Kenya 3-2 in Nairobi with Obafemi Martins scoring twice to give them victory and allow them to snatch top place in African Group B from Tunisia.
The North Africans topped the standings at the start of the day but lost 1-0 to Mozambique and were eliminated.
Cameroon qualified for their sixth World Cup, a record for an African nation with a 2-0 Group A win in Morocco.
Also See: New Zealand win boosts soccer in rugby-crazy country
When Kim Ye-ji first tried shooting at age 12 she could not lift the gun. Now, she is the world’s most Internet-famous Olympic shooter, thanks to her steel nerves — and Elon Musk. Kim, 32, won silver in the women’s 10m air pistol at the Paris Olympics this summer and captured the Internet’s attention with her nonchalant cool. However, she said she fell into her sport by accident. When her middle-school teacher asked for volunteers to try shooting, Kim did not raise her hand, but was selected anyway. Despite being too small to hoist the pistol, she was hooked. “I thought it looked
Taiwanese swimmer Hsu Wen-erh on Monday finished her solo swim around Manhattan Island to become the first Taiwanese and only the 334th person to finish the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, after abandoning her first attempt in New York on Sunday. “Who says, I’ll come back couldn’t means the next day?” she wrote on Facebook on Monday, after returning to the water to complete New York’s 48.5km 20 Bridges Swim, the final leg of her Triple Crown campaign. Trailed by a kayak flying Taiwan’s national flag, Hsu went on to finish the brutal swim in 9 hours, 5 minutes, to capture
LISBON UPSET: Feyenoord’s coach said that his players might not have realized what they had achieved in winning away against Portuguese giants SL Benfica MANCHESTER, England, and LISBON Erling Haaland on Wednesday scored an outrageous backheel volley in the UEFA Champions League to issue a timely reminder of his own credentials as a potential Ballon d’Or winner. A day after Vinicius Junior hit a hat-trick for Real Madrid, Haaland scored an early contender for goal of the season with his acrobatic effort in Manchester City’s 5-0 win against Sparta Prague. Vinicius Junior is the favorite to win soccer’s most prestigious individual prize, which is to be presented at a gala ceremony in Paris on Monday, but Haaland, who was runner-up to Lionel Messi for last year’s award,
Brazil superstar Neymar on Monday returned to action following more than a year out, with the Al-Hilal forward appearing as a second-half substitute in his side’s gripping 5-4 win against Asian champions Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain attacker, 32, had not played since rupturing his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while on international duty in October last year. Neymar, who underwent surgery and a sustained period of rehabilitation, is his country’s all-time leading goalscorer, with 79 goals in 128 appearances. Named on the Al-Hilal bench for the first time since