Mutu spot-on but Scottish hopes fade
Scotland’s hopes of securing a World Cup qualifying play-off berth receded with a 1-0 home defeat to Belarus at Hampden Park.
Vitaly Kutuzov’s early goal settled the match in favour of the visitors, and Walter Smith’s side now have to hope Moldova can pull off a minor miracle and hold or beat Norway in Oslo this evening.
Victory for Norway would put them out of Scotland’s reach in Group Five.
In Group One, former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu was the hero for Romania as they climbed to second place with a 1-0 win away to Finland.
Mutu, whose contract with the Blues was terminated after he tested positive for cocaine, is now back in Italy with Juventus and grabbed the only goal with a 41st-minute penalty.
Wales moved off the bottom of Group Five with their first win of the campaign, 3-2 away to Northern Ireland in Belfast.
Goals from Simon Davies and Carl Robinson – the first scored by Wales under John Toshack – put the visitors in command but a penalty save by Maik Taylor from John Hartson appeared to be the turning point as the Irish fought back.
Two goals in the first five minutes of the second period from Keith Gillespie and Steven Davis brought them level, but the winner went Wales’ way as Ryan Giggs scored after an hour’s play.
In the African section, Angola qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in their history thanks to a 1-0 win in Rwanda.
Fabrice Akwa, who plays his club football in Qatar, scored the only goal in the 58th minute to book his country’s passage to Germany with top spot in Group Four.
Nigeria did their best to stop them, thrashing Zimbabwe 5-1 in Abuja as Inter Milan striker Obafemi Martins scored twice and West Brom’s Nwankwo Kanu grabbed another, but Angola qualify by virtue of a better head-to-head record.
In the Asian play-off, Bahrain appear to be in the driving seat to progress after a 1-1 draw away to Uzbekistan in Tashkent.
Talal Yusuf gave the Gulf state the lead in the 17th minute but the Uzbeks’ star man Maxim Shatskikh of Dynamo Kiev hit back for the hosts two minutes later.
The former Soviet republic may now wish they had not requested the original match, which they won 1-0, be declared null and void following a technical refereeing error.
Uzbekistan’s football federation protested after Japanese referee Toshimitsu Yoshida awarded an indirect free-kick to Bahrain in the first match after an Uzbek player encroached on a penalty given to his side, when he should have ordered the spot-kick to be retaken.
Bahrain now look marginal favourites to face the fourth-placed side in the North and Central American qualifying pool for a place in the finals.
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