The international fixtures for the month of September got underway all across the globe on Friday, but no game came close to the Netherlands' match versus San Marino in terms of lopsidedness.
Playing in a Group E European Championship qualifier, the Netherlands scored nearly a dozen goals as it defeated San Marino 11-0. Total Futbol was well on display as the Dutch scored eight goals in the second half, including three of Robin Van Persie's four goals. The Netherlands currently sit in first place in the group with an undefeated record of 7-0-0.
Spain wasn't involved in a qualifier, but it did play in a memorable friendly against Chile that ended with a controversial late winner and brawl. The World Cup champions came back and defeated Chile 3-2 after the South Americans had taken a 2-0 first-half lead. Cesc Fabregas hit the decisive finish, which came in injury time after his penalty kick was saved. That was followed up with an ugly fight involving players and officials from both teams.
On the CONCACAF front, Mexico tied Poland 1-1 off a goal from Javer 'Chicharito' Hernandez. Canada was also in action, and it beat St. Lucia 4-1 in a Group D World Cup qualifier.
Here are all of the results from Friday's 52 matches:
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING
Group A
Azerbaijam 1-1 Belgium
Turkey 2-1 Kazakhstan
Germany 6-2 Austria
Group B
Andorra 0-3 Armenia
Russia 1-0 Macedonia
Ireland 0-0 Slovakia
Group C
Faroe Islands 0-1 Italy
Northern Ireland 0-1 Serbia
Slovenia 1-2 Estonia
Group D
Belarus 0-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Luxembourg 0-2 Romania
Albania 1-2 France
Group E
Finland 4-1 Moldova
Hungary 2-1 Sweden
Netherlands 11-0 San Marino
Group F
Israel 0-1 Greece
Georgia 0-1 Latvia
Malta 1-3 Croatia
Group G
Bulgaria 0-3 England
Wales 2-1
Group H
Norway 1-0 Iceland
Cyprus 0-4 Portugal
Group I
Lithuania 0-0 Liechtenstein
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING – CONCACAF
Group A
Suriname 1-0 Cayman Islands
El Salvador 3-2 Dominican Republic
Group B
Trinidad & Tobago 1-0 Bermuda
Guyana 2-0 Barbados
Group C
Dominica 0-2 Nicaragua
Group D
Canada 4-1 St. Lucia
St. Kitts and Nevis 0-0 Puerto Rico
Group E
Grenada 0-3 Belize
Guatemala 4-0 St. Vincent and Grenadines
Group F
Antigua and Barbuda 5-2 Curacao
Haiti 6-0 U.S. Virgin Islands
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING – AFC
Group A
China 2-1 Singapore
Iraq 0-2 Jordan
Group B
South Korea 6-0 Lebanon
United Arab Emirates 2-3 Kuwait
Group C
Japan 1-0 North Korea
Tajikistan 0-1 Uzbekistan
Group D
Australia 2-1 Thailand
Oman 0-0 Saudi Arabia
Group E
Iran 3-0 Indonesia
Bahrain 0-0 Qatar
FRIENDLIES
Venezuela 0-1 Argentina
Ukraine 2-3 Uruguay
Poland 1-1 Mexico
Ecuador 5-2 Jamaica
Peru 2-2 Bolivia
Panama 0-2 Paraguay
United States 0-1 Costa Rica
Spain 3-2 Chile
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What do you think of these results? Which surprised you the most? Sad that the Netherlands didn't make it a dozen against San Marino?
Share your thoughts below.
Actually, I think Spain beats the US 2 times out of the last 3. That’s not quite 9.9 out of 10.
i was agreeing with u, doh!
Spain is quickly becoming a very unlikeable team. Their diving and antics are tiresome. You would think that being the best would make it easier to have some class and sportsmanship. You know it’s bad when Iniesta is starting a “brawl” after his team takes an undeserved lead late.
What? My point was that the degree of difficulty in Euro qualifying is overblown. Asking when the last time the USA beat an above average Euro side has a very obvious answer.
I’m not really responding to Sam (sorry pal) I just wanted to be at the front of the line. Hey is Spain can cheat then so can I. That game was an EMBARASSMENT as far as I’m concerned. Chile plays them to the 89th minute even and then that spanish striker DIVES… What a FUKKN embarassment. Then Arbuela takes a cheap shot at the Chilean defender who isn’t backing down to the Spaniard. The Spanish should be ashamed of themselves for that horrible display of sportsmanship and goodwill. I wanted those Chileans to BEAT their SPANISH A@@@es… I’m totally disgusted with a team that USED to show me quality on every level…
how on earth can the dutch even look themselves in the mirror over this result? it’s like drowning a puppy…
Yeah! Name the last 5 teams, and the dates, of teams that have beaten Espana. Are we still on that list? Anyways, not many teams beat them. They don’t have many off days, and that day, they were on, but our defense was out of their mind.
Well, we scored more legitimate goals than Slovenia at the WC, but one was inexplicably called back.
Is that what you got from my comment? lol, You used a friendly to as an example to back up your argument(citing the recent Spain friendly), I am merely stating that the logic behind using it as an example is flawed, because friendly games can have massively lopsided scores without meaning much, I used 6-1 Portugal vs Spain from last year as an example.
If you are arguing that we are anywhere close to Spain, then I simply don’t know what to tell you.
Spain beats the US 9.9 times out of 10.
And we beat Portugal in a world cup group match 3-2 in 2002.
Teams change. The Czechs and Danes are old now.
This logic never works. Did you see you the Spain vs Portugal literally after the WC, Portugal managed to put 6 past Spain yet had lost against them when it mattered.
What Spain did to us was because of a poorly scheduled game we are better then that you don’t play a team like Spain under those circumstances.
When you tie both European sides in a world cup its hard to say that is doing poor under any definition. The fact that you view our game against Slovenia as poor says it all. If Slovenia can qualify out of Europe we can as well they are clearly not at another level then we are
We were very poor against the European teams in the World Cup. In fact, we didn’t beat a single European team.
And did you see what Spain did to us a few months ago?
The Czech Republic smashed us 3-0 in the 2006 World Cup and 4-2 last year in a friendly.
Denmark took us apart for a 3-1 loss two years ago in a friendly.
Does Spain count as an above average European side? The USA did well against its European opponents in the World cup as well. The difficulty of European qualifiers are overblown its why teams like Slovenia can make a world cup. Yeah they may face to 2 really difficult teams but there is generally a drop off after that.
denmark, finland? we are easily equal to those teams. denmark, schenmark.
are not. ned and jan be old and gone.
oh, and we hang with the czech’s and turkeys any day. the czech’s are 2006 czechs.
highlights of the brawl, please!
When was the last time the US beat an above average European squad?
No chance of beating out any of those teams? While I don’t want to underrate either Denmark or the Czech Republic, we can definitely compete at their level, and while yeah we’d be less likely to qualify I think you’re significantly exaggerating the gap in quality between the U.S. and the average European National team.
Hmm 5 star hotels in San Marino, sign me up.
But really though, yes qualifying is very difficult. If the US squad played in European Qualifying, they would rarely qualify.
Each group has at least one super power, and you have to finish first in your group or finish better than all the rest of the second place teams.
Group…
B has Italy, Denmark, and Czech
D has Netherlands and Turkey
I has Spain, France and Finland
We would never finish top of a group, and there is no chance that we’re beating out France, Denmark, or the Czech for a second place spot.
How about Italy only beating the Faroe Islands 1-0. There are some college teams that give the Islands a run for their money.
Once again, is it really that hard to qualify in Europe? They get to stay in 5 star hotels and play power house teams like San Marino, Cypress, Georgia, ect ect.
11-0. Ha.
Azerbaijam 1-1 Belgium
wow