England 5-1 Croatia
England booked their place in South Africa with a commanding victory at Wembley. England won a penalty after only six minutes when Aaron Lennon was hacked down in the box, Frank Lampard netting with ease. In the 17th minute Lennon had time to pick out Steven Gerrard in the box and the Liverpool captain headed home number two.
On to the second half and Glen Johnson showed his attacking class just before the hour mark, working the right hand side and picking out Frank Lampard who headed home number three. Steven Gerrard confirmed England’s qualification to South Africa with yet another header, before Arsenal’s Eduardo denied Robert Green a clean sheet scooping the ball home from close range. Croatia’s humiliation was completed when their keeper fluffed a kick into Wayne Rooney’s path and he calmly scored into the open net.
Scotland 0-1 Holland
Norway finished second in the group after Scotland conceded a late goal to miss out on South Africa. The finest display of George Burley’s reign could not prevent failure.
Northern Ireland 0-2 Slovakia
Northern Ireland missed out on the chance to top Group Three with defeat to Slovakia at Windsor Park.
Paraguay 1-0 Argentina
Argentina’s faint hopes of reaching the World Cup next year took a further knock tonight after losing to Paraguay, whose victory sealed their own passage to South Africa. For the Argentina coach Diego Maradona it was another disappointing night as his side dropped into the play-off positions, with his own position beginning to look increasingly untenable.
Ronaldo will love to play id Rooney in Real Madrid.