You can call Wednesday the day of the qualifying upset.
The loaded schedule of World Cup qualifiers didn’t figure to have too many surprising results, but by the end of the night, there were countless results to leave fans scratching their heads.
Such as? Try these results on for size:
- Chile 1, Argentina 0
- Brazil 0, Colombia 0
- Cuba 2, Guatemala 1
- Portugal 0, Albania 0
- Slovakia 2, Poland 1
- Estonia 0, Turkey 0
- Canada 2, Mexico 2
- Trinidad & Tobago 2, USA 1
- Japan 1, Uzbekistan 1
Like I said. It was a day full of surprises.
Here is a closer look at how the results have impacted the races for World Cup qualifying:
CONCACAF
Jamaica kept its qualifying hopes alive with a 1-0 victory against Honduras. That win puts some pressure on both Mexico and Honduras heading into their final group match. Jamaica can advance to the final Hexagonal Round of qualifying with a win vs. Canada and a Honduras loss to Mexico in the final round of qualifying.
Mexico squeezed out a tie against Canada on Wednesday and needs just a tie to progress to the Hexagonal. A loss to Honduras coupled with a Jamaica win would leave the two sides even on points, but Mexico is extremely likely to have the edge on goal difference.
Trinidad & Tobago all but locked up its own place in the Hexagonal with its 2-1 win against the USA. That win, coupled with Guatemala’s shock loss to Cuba in stoppage time means that Trinidad can progress with a tie against Cuba or a USA win or tie against Guatemala in the final group stage.
Costa Rica and El Salvador have their places in the Hexagonal after both posted wins on Wednesday.
CONMEBOL
Shocks galore in South America as Argentina fell to Chile and Brazil settled for a draw at home to Colombia. CONMEBOL leaders Paraguay continued its amazing qualifying run with a win against lowly Peru while Venezuela rejuvenated its own qualifying campaign with a win against Ecuador. Here is how the standings look after 10 of 18 matches (top four qualify, fifth place team faces fourth place CONCACAF team for World Cup berth):
- Paraguay……….23 pts
- Brazil…………..17 pts
- Argentina………16 pts
- Chile……………16 pts
- Uruguay………..13 pts
- Ecuador………..12 pts
- Colombia……….11 pts
- Venezuela………10 pts
- Bolivia…………..9 pts
- Peru……………..7 pts
UEFA
Portugal is starting to feel the heat. Cristiano Ronaldo’s boys thoroughly dominated Albania but couldn’t find the net and settled for a scoreless draw to drop to three-way tie for third place in a very tough qualifying group one:
- Denmark……..7 pts
- Hungary………7 pts
- Portugal………5 pts
- Albania……….5 pts
- Sweden……….5 pts
- Malta…………0 pts
Know anybody on the Slovakia national team? You might want to learn after the upstarts knocked off Poland, 2-1, to move into first place in qualifying group 3. Stuck near the bottom of the group (with a game in hand) is none other than the Czech Republic):
- Slovakia…………9 pts
- Poland…………..7 pts
- Slovenia…………7 pts
- Northern Ireland…4 pts
- Czech Republic…..4 pts
- San Marino……….0 pts
England pulled five points clear of Croatia in Group Six with its fourth straight qualifying win. Croatia and Ukraine look poised to battle for that second place playoff spot:
- England…………12 pts
- Croatia………….7 pts
- Ukraine………….7 pts
- Belarus…………..3 pts
- Kazakhstan………3 pts
- Andorra………….0 pts
These are just some of the results from World Cup qualifying around the world.
What do you think of the results? What was the most shocking upset? (Hello Cuba) Which team do you see making a move? (I say the Czech Republic) Which superpower is disappointing you the most these days? (I say Portugal) Which upstart is impressing you the most? (I say Chile)
Share your thoughts below.