Five Talking points from the World Cup qualifiers

With the weekend’s round of World Cup qualifiers done and dusted, let us take a look at the major talking points from the weekend’s action.

Colombia – Well on track to qualify for the World Cup

James Rodriguez of Colombia

Even a rain delay and half-time floodlight failure weren’t enough to stop Colombia as they beat Ecuador 1-0 courtesy of an early James Rodríguez goal, right after the opposition were reduced to 10 men. The win means that José Pekerman’s side are second in the table, behind Argentina and look all set to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

With a water-tight defense which hasn’t let in a goal at their Barranquilla fortress in over 457 minutes, coupled with a free scoring attack which contributed 22 goals so far, they look like a safe bet to go far in the World Cup, if they get there.

England look extremely light-weight up front

England’s Danny Welbeck gets yellow carded against Moldova

With the benefit of hindsight, a few things are certainly easy to say. After an easy win over group minnows Moldova, the England attack looks wafer thin. Especially considering the fact that Welbeck’s booking means that he is suspended for England’s key game in Kiev against Ukraine. Add to this, an already long treatment table, which includes Wayne Rooney, Andy Carroll and Daniel Sturridge, it looks like Rickie Lambert, who just made his international debut, is the only real striker on the books, apart from J Defoe.

Whilst Welbeck’s booking and subsequent ban certainly overshadowed a relatively easy win over Moldova, it begs the question why he was playing in the first place. Particularly given the fact that they had a key game against Ukraine coming up and they were aware of the fact that Welbeck was already on a booking. Whilst only time will tell whether Hodgson did the right thing by playing Welbeck, England’s attacking options certainly look extremely light indeed.

Belgium have one foot in Brazil

Belgian manager Marc Wilmots

Five points clear at the top of Group A, with just two games to go and a superior goal difference to the chasing Croats, after the win against the Scots at Hampden Park, it looks increasingly likely that the next stop for this impressive Belgium outfit will be Brazil. Their manager Marc Wilmots has managed to galvanize the Red devils into an outfit which nobody in their group has managed to beat so far and they’ve only dropped points to Croatia, a tricky 1-1 draw at home.

With a young, talented and ambitious bunch of players, Belgium will be hoping for a long stay in Brazil. And on the basis of their qualifying campaign so far, Belgium seem to have what it takes to bring home the World Cup and are definitely amongst the dark horses of the campaign.

Costa Rica get their revenge in some style

Costa Rica’s Johnny Acosta celebrates after scoring against USA.

Back in March earlier this year, USA played Costa Rica in Colorado under conditions which were almost unplayable, thanks to the amount of snow on the pitch. USA won that game thanks to a Clint Dempsey goal early in the first half and the Costa Ricans weren’t best pleased. “It was an embarrassment to football, disrespectful to the game,” were the words of their manager, Jorge Luis Pinto. And players from both sides agreed that they have never played a game like this before and it was unplayable. And although an appeal was made to FIFA by the visitors, it was rejected.

So when the US team arrived for the return fixture, they found all the pent up emotion from that game boiling over. As soon as they came, the Americans were pelted with eggs, forced to stay on a farm, weren’t given a proper ball for training and were slowed down on their way to the stadium by taxi drivers. And once the match began, the crowd went ballistic and there were reports that the crowd volume was 96.08 decibels. On the pitch, two quick goals from Johnny Acosta and Celso Borges brought the Americans down and in the second half, Joel Campbell scored as they beat USA 3-1 and in doing so ended the visitors’ 12-match winning streak. For Costa Rica at least, revenge was a dish that was best served cold.

Only one team remains with a 100% record during the qualifiers

Dutch striker Robin van Persie

After having smashed every team out of the park, Holland were expected to do the same against Estonia. But they needed Robin van Persie‘s 93rd-minute penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw, leaving just one team standing with a 100% record in the race for Brazil. That team is Egypt, who are hoping to qualify for their first World Cup since 1990.

The Pharaohs are flying high in Group G, having won all of their matches and securing top spot in their group, with second placed Guinea five points behind with just one game to go. Their final match is against a Guinea side that will finish second, irrespective of what happens on Tuesday.