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FIFA WORLD CUP 2002 - REVIEW OF MATCHES IN JUNE 2000
Reviewed by PETER GODFREY
This month saw a total of 26 World Cup Preliminary Round matches being played in 3 out of the 6 football Confederations.
The CONCACAF Confederation saw the Inter-Zone Finals being played with the losing group finalists being given a final chance to go into the semi-final groups.
The strange thing about the three Inter-Zone Finals was that each of the countries winning through to the next round won away from home. After winning by a single goal away from home, Guatemala then put 8 past Antigua to go through and Honduras won 4 - 0 at home and then 3 - 1 in Haiti. Canada, who joined in the competition for the first time, saw off Cuba by a single away goal.
These three winning countries have now progressed to the semi-final group stage which begins with two matches in each group being played in July.
The second round of the CAF (African) Confederation got under way with 10 matches being played. In Group 'A' African Nations Cup holders Cameroon showed their pedigree when winning 3 - 0 in Libya which was the only away win out of the 10 matches. In the same group Angola scored two late goals to overcome Zambia by a single goal in three.
Also winning by a three goal margin were Madagascar, who beat Congo DR in Group D, and Guinea who won at home to Zimbabwe in Group E. Both the other matches in these groups, Malawi against Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire against Tunisia ended in draws.
Group B saw 2 - 0 home wins for both Nigeria and Sudan against respectively Morocco and Liberia whilst the Group C matches between Algeria and Senegal and Namibia and Morocco both ended in draws.
The next round of matches are being played over the weekend of 8/9th July with the Sierra Leone v Ghana match being switched to Accra due to political unrest in Sierra Leone.
With no matches being played during May in the CONMEBOL Confederation, two rounds of games were played in June. Argentina maintained their 100% record with wins at home to Bolivia and away to Colombia. Ecuador won against Peru but lost in Paraguay who, in a match where three players were sent off, lost their second match of the month in Chile.
A late penalty by against Uruguay and a single goal victory in Peru gave Brazil 3 points in the month while Venezuela, after losing in Colombia, recorded there first goals and points with a win at home to Bolivia in a match that saw each side reduced to 10 men.
Argentina now head the table by four points with the big match against second placed Brazil taking place at the end of July, one of 10 matches taking place in the CONMEBOL Confederation during July.