LONDON, 8 September 2005 — Portugal and the Netherlands must wait another month to secure World Cup places, while bitter rivals Turkey and Greece remain in a tight battle for a playoff spot.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Portuguese side was held 0-0 by 10-man Russia in Moscow, failing to take advantage of the ejection of Alexei Smertin a minute before halftime.
The result means either Russia or Slovakia, which tied 1-1 with Latvia in Riga, can still catch Scolari’s team — even though Portugal has a five-point advantage over both in Group 3.
Because Slovakia and Russia have to play each other in the final round of games Oct. 12, Portugal has guaranteed at least a playoff spot.
Although Marco van Basten’s Dutch stars were confident of beating soccer minnow Andorra later Wednesday, the Czech Republic made sure it can still catch them for top spot in Group 1 with a 4-1 victory over Armenia with two goals from FC Nuremberg forward Jan Polak.
European champion Greece appeared to be in danger of missing out on a World Cup spot when it trailed 1-0 at Kazakhstan.
But Bolton Wanderers midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos scored an equalizer 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 playoff spot.
Having already secured its first World Cup qualification, Ukraine lost 1-0 at home to Turkey in Group 2 as Tumer Metin scored the only goal in Kiev. The Turks, who reached the semifinals in 2002, remain two points ahead of Greece. Turkey has just one game to go, however, while the Greeks have two.
Three-time champion Italy was 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 is making a late charge for a playoff spot. Walter Smith’s team beat Norway 2-1 in Oslo on two goals by Kenny Miller goals and is now just two points behind the second-place Norwegians. The biggest surprise among the early kickoffs was Malta’s 1-1 tie with Group 8 leader Croatia. Although Niko Kranjcar gave the Croats a 19th minute lead, Stephen Wellman equalized 16 minutes from the end to give last-place Malta its second point in the group.
Israel picked up a 2-0 victory at the Faeroe Islands with goals by Avi Nimni and Yaniv Katan to keep the pressure on Ireland and France, who met in Dublin.
Group 4 is the tightest of the eight sections, with Switzerland also in contention and the four teams separated by one point. The Swiss were expected to win at Cyprus later Wednesday.
A total of 24 qualifying matches were being played across Europe. Another key game, Spain vs. Serbia-Montenegro, kicked off late.
Nine teams have already reached the 32-team field: Germany as the host, is 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 playoff in November to fill three more spots.
Japan Defeat Honduras 5-4 in friendly
In Sendai, Japan, Mitsuo Ogasawara scored late in the second half Wednesday as Japan rallied to defeat Honduras 5-4 in an international friendly. Ogasawara took a pass from Alessandro Santos and rifled a low blast in the 78th minute at Miyagi Stadium that beat Honduras goalkeeper Junior Morales.
Honduras took a 4-2 lead early in the second half when captain Wilmer Velasquez scored his third goal of the match. But it wasn’t enough for the visitors, who also played a sloppy defensive game.
Shunsuke Nakamura of Celtic FC converted a penalty in the 55th minute to make it 4-3, and Atsushi Yanagisawa scored the equalizer 15 minutes later.
