KUALA LUMPUR, 9 October 2005 — Uzbekistan were held to a 1-1 draw by Bahrain in the replayed first leg of their Asian World Cup qualifying playoff in Tashkent, handing the initiative in the tie to Bahrain. The Uzbeks, whose 1-0 victory over Bahrain on Sept. 3 was nullified by FIFA because of a refereeing error, were this time forced to come from behind with Dynamo Kiev’s Maksim Shatskikh equalizing on 19 minutes, two minutes after Talal Yusuf had given Bahrain the lead.
In Prague, Netherlands booked a place in next year’s World Cup finals with a 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic in their Group One qualifier.
Rafael van der Vaart and Barry Opdam scored in the first half, after Edwin van der Sar had saved a Tomas Rosicky penalty, as the Dutch recorded their 15th consecutive game without defeat since Marco van Basten took over as coach in 2004.
Netherlands, who have 31 points from 11 games, are certain to finish top of the group.
The third-placed Czechs (24 points) cannot afford to lose in Finland on Wednesday if they hope to clinch a playoff berth.
In Copenhagen, Denmark beat Greece 1-0 in their penultimate World Cup Group Two qualifier to keep alive their hopes of reaching next year’s finals in Germany.
The result maintains Denmark’s chances of a second-placed finish in the group, which has already been won by Ukraine, and a place in the playoffs.
