Sports FIFA qualifying 2010: surprise and disappointment for many of the big teaMs 3, kevin vor: | a +N Mas of the international soccer teams have played their two qualifying matches for the World Cup 2010. A top team would normally defeat a weaker team in a game. However, some of the results have surprised and disappointed observers. On September 6", the home team, Romania, was killed by a weaker team in Europe, Lithuania, by a score of 3-0. Probably the coach and players of team Lithuania did not expect they could score three goals on that day. The latter was the winner because two Romanian defensemen and a goal scorer were absent. On September 10", the home team, Lithuania, defeated Austria 2-0. After the match, Lithuania had six points in their group standing. Don’t be surprised if this underdog team advances to the World Cup 2010 in South America. Another surprise was that one of the best South American teams, Argentina, could only tie with Paragury 1-1 in their group match on September 6". Plus, the Argentinean forward, Carlos Tevez, was sent off by the referee. Also, for the Central and North American group, USA could only score one goal to seal the deal against Cuba. Indeed, most people would expect that Germany could defeat Finland easily on September 10". Surprisingly, the final score was 3-3. Finland opened the scoring first, and then the Germans tied the game. Later, the Finns scored the second goal before half-time and the Germans tied again. The home team, Finland, made the game 3-2, and the German forward, Klose, made a hat-trick to save his team get a single point in the standings. In addition, England visited Croatia and crushed the home team 4-1 on September 10". Who would have thought that Theo Walcott could have scored 3 goals in one game? Wayne Rooney scored the other one for “the lion.” Certainly, there were some disappointing moments in some of the qualifying matches. For example, France was crushed by Austria 3-1. France has been named as one of the top teams in the world since they won the World Cup tournament in 1998. Since their superstar, Zidane, has retired from the international team after the World Cup 2006, this team has performed poorly. Lack of scoring and aging players are the main issues for the French team. Everyone relies so much on 31- year-old striker, Thierry Henry to score and help the team to win. When Henry does not receive any passes from his teammates or gets injured, he is not mighty at all on the field. Besides that, some of the key players are over 30, but still on the squad. The veteran players include the midfielder, Claude Makelele, who is 35, and defenseman, Lilian Thuram, who is 36. Spain could only score one goal against Bosnia-Herzegovina on September 6""—not as strong as people expected. One of the reasons was that their key forward, Fernando Torres, did not play due to hamstring injury. Although England had won 2-0 when they faced one of the weakest teams in Europe, Andorra, in their first match, the result had disappointed lots of supporters. Normally, England would score at least five goals in this type of match because they are way more powerful than their opponent. Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard know how to score goals, but neither of them did the job this game. The substitute player, Joe Cole, scored two goals in the second half to rescue England and save them from embarrassment. Canada lost 2-1 to Honduras on September 6". After losing this important game, the chances for the Canucks to qualify to the World Cup 2010 are pretty slim. 20 ero Me ciits weasel wre (ni “A place where creativity, artistry and i professional technique come together." s ce . 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