England’s World Cup qualifying bid was stalled by a stunning 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland on Wednesday, while Thierry Henry revived France’s chances of making it to next year’s tournament in Germany.
David Healy’s 74th-minute goal gave Northern Ireland their first win over England since 1972 — and first in Belfast in 78 years.
It was the most embarrassing loss in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s four-year reign as England coach and followed the team’s 4-1 defeat to Denmark in a friendly three weeks ago. It was also the Swede’s first defeat in 22 qualifying games after 17 wins and four ties.
”I think some strong words have been said by the manager, by [assistant] Steve McClaren, and the lads have taken it,” England captain David Beckham said. ”Tonight it has been a bit of an embarrassment for the lads. Tonight hurts more than any night probably, but we stick together, that’s all we can do. If we win the next two games, we go top of the group, that’s all we have to do.”
The loss leaves England five points behind Poland in group six, although the Poles have played one more game. Eriksson’s team are guaranteed at least a play-off spot because third-place Austria were held 0-0 by Azerbaijan.
While there was humiliation for England in Belfast, there was euphoria for France in Dublin.
Henry, the Arsenal striker, took the ball just outside the Ireland penalty area and lobbed a curling shot into the net from 20m in the 67th minute to give the 1998 World Cup champions a pivotal 1-0 victory.
In the tightest of the European sections, France are now tied with Switzerland at the top of group four, with Israel — 2-0 winners at the Faeroe Islands — third and Ireland slipping to fourth. The Swiss won 3-1 at Cyprus.
Nine teams have already reached the 32-team field: Germany, as the hosts, are joined by Ukraine, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Brazil, Argentina and the United States.
In Europe, the eight group winners and the best two runners-up qualify automatically. The six remaining teams advance to a play-off in November to fill three more spots.
With only two rounds of games to go next month, no European teams were able to join Ukraine in the World Cup field on Wednesday.
Portugal and The Netherlands were left to wait another month, while bitter rivals Turkey and Greece remain in a tight battle for a play-off spot.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Portuguese side were held 0-0 by 10-man Russia in Moscow, failing to take advantage of the ejection of Alexei Smertin a minute before half-time.
The result means either Russia or Slovakia, who tied 1-1 with Latvia in Riga, can still catch Scolari’s team — even though Portugal have a five-point advantage over both in group three.
Because Slovakia and Russia have to play each other in the final round of games on October 12, Portugal have guaranteed at least a play-off spot.
Although Marco van Basten’s Dutch stars outplayed Andorra 4-0, the Czech Republic made sure they can still catch them for top spot in group one with a 4-1 victory over Armenia with two goals from FC Nuremberg forward Jan Polak.
European champions Greece appeared to be in danger of missing out on a World Cup spot when they trailed 1-0 at Kazakhstan.
But Bolton Wanderers midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos scored an equaliser 11 minutes from the end and, after two Kazakhstan players — Andrey Karpovich and Denis Rodionov — had been sent off, Nikos Liberopoulos got the winner for a 2-1 Greek victory, keeping Otto Rehhagel’s team in the hunt for a play-off spot.
Having already secured their first World Cup qualification, Ukraine lost 1-0 at home to Turkey in group two as Tumer Metin scored the only goal in Kiev. The Turks, who reached the semifinals in 2002, remain two points ahead of Greece. Turkey have just one game to go, however, while the Greeks have two.
Denmark stayed alive in the hunt for the runners-up spot in group two by crushing Georgia 6-1.
Three-time champions Italy were stunned by a fourth-minute goal for Belarus by Vitaly Kutuzov, but rallied behind a hat-trick by Luca Toni for a 4-1 victory in Minsk.
With home games against Slovenia and Moldova to come, the Italians are on the verge of qualifying for their 12th straight World Cup. Scotland are making a late charge for a play-off spot.
Walter Smith’s team beat Norway 2-1 in Oslo on two goals by Kenny Miller goals and are now just two points behind the second-place Norwegians.
Another big surprise was Malta’s 1-1 tie with group-eight leaders Croatia. Although Niko Kranjcar gave the Croats a 19th-minute lead, Stephen Wellman equalised 16 minutes from the end to give last-place Malta their second point in the group. — Sapa-AP