FIFA World Cup 2010 | Qualification | Madridistas round-up

Portugal 3-0 Hungary

Portugal overcame the early loss of Cristiano Ronaldo to move into pole position for a 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifying play-off. Two goals from Simao Sabrosa and a header from Liedson earned the hosts their first home win in the qualifying campaign. That, coupled with Sweden’s 1-0 defeat away to group winners Denmark, enabled Carlos Queiroz’s side to move into second place in Group 1, a position they can hold if they beat Malta in Guimaraes on Wednesday.

Ronaldo had made an impact before his departure as his shot in the 18th minute was fumbled by goalkeeper Gabor Babos and Atletico Madrid winger Simao reacted quickest to tuck away the loose ball and set his side on their way to victory. The Real Madrid talent then had an ankle injury end his participation before the half-hour mark, as he was replaced by former Manchester United team-mate Nani.

Hungary had two chances to equalise before the interval, with Balazs Dzsudzsak the first to threaten when his effort was blocked by midfielder Duda. Defender Roland Juhasz went even closer in first-half stoppage time as his header rattled the hosts’ crossbar.

Portugal’s defence held their opponents at arm’s length in the early stages of the second half and eased the pressure on them when, in the 74th minute, Sporting’s Liedson scored the second goal, his second in just three caps since gaining Portuguese citizenship.

Bruno Alves delivered his side’s 12th corner of the game and the Brazilian-born forward headed powerfully past Nijmegen captain Babos. Five minutes later, Simao capped a man-of-the-match performance as he met Duda’s left-wing cross and headed his second and Portugal’s third to put the result absolutely beyond doubt.

Victory over group basement side Malta, who are yet to score in nine games that have yielded just a solitary point and who were beaten 4-0 in their previous meeting with Queiroz’s side, would leave Portugal on 19 points.

That would take them out of range of Sweden in the battle for the runner-up spot behind the Danes, regardless of what Lars Lagerback’s men achieve against Albania in midweek.

Bolivia 2-1 Brazil

Bolivia’s home advantage in La Paz was made plain once again on Sunday as they downed Brazil 2-1 in South American qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.

Although Brazil coach Dunga fielded a largely second-choice eleven with qualification already secured, Bolivia will celebrate another win over one of South America’s powerhouses. Indeed, they may be left wondering how, after beating Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, they have come nowhere close to qualifying for the FIFA World Cup themselves.

Goals from Edgar Olivares and Marcelo Moreno put Bolivia in control before Nilmar struck 20 minutes from time to ensure a more nervy ending. Brazil could find no rhythm at all in the early going, and Bolivia had already threatened before Olivares opened the scoring with an all-too-easy header in the tenth minute, taking advantage of sloppy marking from a corner.

It took until the 20th minute for Brazil to spark into action, but Diego Souza fluffed the chance to mark his senior international debut with a goal as he got his shot all wrong after a lovely ball from Dani Alves. Moments later, Adriano linked up with Nilmar but was just short as he dove to connect with the return cross.

Brazil had the ball in the net in the 26th minute but Maicon’s header was ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper by Luisao. The misses would prove costly as Moreno, born in Bolivia but raised in Brazil, smashed in a free-kick that left Julio Cesar completely flat-footed.

Alves, the Barcelona full-back, was playing in an advanced position for his country, and he came as close as anyone to getting them back into the game with a shot from the edge of the area that cannoned back off the post, with Adriano mis-kicking the rebound wide. The chances continued to come for Bolivia in the second half as Olivares got his head on the end of a free-kick but a deflected sent it inches wide for a corner.

Just a minute later, Cesar came for a corner but lost the ball in the sun and was unlucky to escape punishment. That proved to be a rare flurry of excitement in a largely lethargic second half, but Brazil breathed life back into the game in the 69th minute, breaking out of defence for Maicon to cross and Nilmar to nod home.

Bolivia produced a couple more chances at the other end, but Ronald Rivero headed the best of them just wide after breaking free of his markers from a free-kick. However, they had already done enough to secure the win.

France 5-0 Faroe Islands

France made sure of a place in the play-offs for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ by comfortably beating Faroe Islands 5-0 today. The result guaranteed Raymond Domenech’s side a berth alongside the seven other best runners-up from the European Zone’s nine pools, but their automatic qualification hopes were dashed when Serbia secured top spot in Group 7 by overwhelming Romania by the same scoreline.

Andre-Pierre Gignac struck twice to reward France’s first-half dominance and they went 3-0 up in the 53nd minute, when William Gallas atoned for an earlier miss by heading home Thierry Henry’s deflected cross at the back post.

Jakup Mikkelsen performed heroics in the visiting goal, saving well from Gignac, Nicolas Anelka, Henry and substitute Karim Benzema, before Anelka tapped home France’s fourth with four minutes to play after the goalkeeper could only take the sting out of Henry’s close-range effort. Benzema made it five with a fine low strike across the goalkeeper after a jinking run, but the result from Belgrade means that there is now nothing riding on France’s final game against Austria in Paris on Wednesday.

Les Bleus have struggled in front of goal recently and their pressing need for goals saw them line up in a bold 4-4-2 formation, with Sidney Govou and Henry on the flanks and Anelka alongside Gignac up front.

Faroe Islands stunned Lithuania by beating them 2-1 in their last outing, but they remain one of Europe’s weakest sides and quickly found themselves on the back foot against the Germany 2006 finalists.

France twice struck the woodwork, through Govou and Jeremy Toulalan, before Gignac broke the deadlock in the 34th minute when his shot from Anelka’s centre dribbled over the line via a deflection off Atli Gregersen. Gallas then saw a free header brush the top of the crossbar from Henry’s free-kick, but within seconds Gignac had doubled France’s lead by finishing a strong run with a crisp strike into the bottom-left corner.

Argentina 2-1 Peru

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. New cap Gonzalo Higuain had put Argentina ahead two minutes into the second half but, as the driving rain became steadily worse at the Monumental,  Peru equalised in the final minute through substitute Hernan Rengifo. Palermo had the last word, though, when he turned a low ball from the right into the net in a packed area as Argentina threw everything at their opponents in search of the winner.