England, Spain and Paraguay booked their place at the 2010 World Cup Finals last night after victories in their qualifying groups. England thrashed Croatia, which many touted as a revenge mission – after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, 5-1 with goals from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and a tap in Wayne Rooney. Spain cruised past Estonia whilst Paraguay beat Argentina who have now dropped outside the qualifying spot.
England and Spain join Holland as the European qualifiers, whilst Paraguay join Brazil as the current South American qualifiers. Out of the 32 teams, so far, eleven nations have qualified for the first World Cup to be held in continent if Africa. No African nation has ever lifted the World Cup, whilst Brazil are the only country to lift the World Cup in another continent than their own.
Portugal also kept their faltering World Cup hopes alive with a 1-0 victory over surprise package Hungary in Budapest – with Real Madrid defender Pepe scoring the only goal of the game. Cameroon also kept their World Cup dreams alive after a 2-1 victory over Gabon who now top the group. Wayne Rooney leads the European goal scoring charts with 9 goals whilst David Villa comes in second with seven.
