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Bora ball China, U.S. qualify as others ponder playoffs
LONDON (AP) -- Bora Milutinovic has done it again -- this time with China. The 60-year-old Yugoslav is headed to his fifth World Cup with his fifth different team after coaching China to a 1-0 win over Oman in the northwestern Chinese city of Shenyang on Sunday. Milutinovic coached Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the United States in 1994 and Nigeria in 1998. Now he has taken China to its first ever World Cup. With the final round of European qualifying Sunday, China's future opponents in next year's tournament in South Korea and Japan are clearer. The United States also qualified Sunday as Joe-Max Moore scored twice to help the United States beat Jamaica 2-1. Moore's second goal came from the penalty spot in the 81st minute. England, Russia, Italy, Croatia, Denmark and Portugal booked their places in the finals Saturday, joining Poland, Spain and Sweden as European qualifiers in next year's World Cup. Champion France has automatic entry as do hosts South Korea and Japan. Argentina, Costa Rica, South Africa, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia and Nigeria have also qualified. In other games Sunday, Sweden, which had already qualified, defeated Azerbaijan 3-0 in Stockholm with goals from Anders Svensson, Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Later, Slovakia trounced Macedonia 5-0 and Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Liechtenstein 5-0 in meaningless matches. In South America, Brazil topped Chile 2-0 to improve its chances of qualifying. Uruguay and Colombia played to a 1-1 draw, leaving Brazil alone in fourth place. Uruguay is fifth. Later Sunday, Paraguay missed it's chance to secure direct qualification, drawing 2-2 with Argentina. In other North and Central America and Caribbean region games, Trinidad and Tobago beat Honduras 1-0 and Costa Rica and Mexico played to 0-0 draw. In a friendly match in Southampton, Japan and Nigeria drew 2-2. China midfielder Yu Genwei, filling in for suspended top scorer Qi Hong, bagged the match's only goal in the 35th minute. Yu connected with a skillfully placed header from forward Hao Haidong, driving the ball past Omani goalkeeper Sulaiman Mazroei. The Chinese win sparked widespread celebrations and while calling the victory the happiest moment in his career, Milutinovic sounded a sober note on the team's chances in the finals. "Everybody here knows that China is not a strong team. Asia is rather backward in soccer. And other Asian teams performed not so well in the World Cup finals," Milutinovic said. In England, praise was heaped on captain David Beckham for his injury time equalizer which gave the team a 2-2 draw with Greece and World Cup qualification. "His unflagging efforts to rouse his team stood out like a beacon in a team performance unrecognizable from the one that had inflicted a 5-1 beating on Germany in Munich only last month," wrote The Sunday Telegraph. "This was a true captain's innings on a day when his teammates were paralyzed by nerves." In Croatia, wild celebrations clogged the streets of the capital Zagreb, after its 1-0 win over Belgium. The scorer, Alen Boksic, also provided the crucial goals that secured qualification for Croatia to go to the 1998 World Cup finals in France where it finished third. Italy, World Cup champion in 1934, 1938 and 1982, qualified for the 15th time by beating Hungary 1-0 in Parma on a 44th-minute free kick by Alessandro Del Piero. Russia qualified by beating Switzerland 4-0 in Moscow to win Group 1. Denmark won Group 3 by crushing Iceland 6-0, reaching the World Cup finals for the third time. Portugal clinched a World Cup place for the first time since 1986 by beating Estonia 5-0 in Lisbon, with two goals from Nuno Gomes and one from Luis Figo. Eight European teams were sent to the playoffs, with Germany the most surprising. As a three-time World Cup champion, Germany has never missed the final stage and must beat Ukraine to continue the tradition. The runners-up in the nine European groups play each other, except for Ireland, which has the tough prospect of an Asian qualifier, likely to be Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates. Belgium will play the Czech Republic and Slovenia will play Romania. The first leg is Nov. 10 and the second Nov. 13. One playoff spot has yet to be determined. Either Austria or Israel will face Turkey. Israel and Austria were scheduled to play Sunday in Tel Aviv, but the game was postponed for security reasons. A new date has not been set. Germany was the hardest hit by having to qualify via the playoffs. Leading Group 9 comfortably until its 5-1 thrashing at the hands of England in Munich last month, Germany could have automatically qualified Saturday if it had won its game over Finland instead of playing a scoreless tie. German striker Oliver Bierhoff knows Ukraine will be a challenge. Bierhoff, who plays alongside Ukraine's top star Andriy Shevchenko in the forward line of AC Milan, warned about their desire to qualify. "I know that his greatest wish is to play for Ukraine once at a World Cup and with his equally dangerous partner Sergiy Rebrov will do everything to beat Germany," Bierhoff said. "We know Ukraine from the 1998 World Cup qualifications and I can still remember what problems we had in the 0-0 draw in Kiev and in Germany, where we won 2-0. It's a very athletic, fighting team," he said. For Ireland, a trip to the third ranked Asian qualifier awaits. Ireland lost 3-2 on aggregate to Belgium in the playoffs for the last World Cup and was defeated by the away goals rule against Turkey for a place at last year's European championships. Ireland last played at the 1994 World Cup, reaching the second round. Ireland was unbeaten in its qualifying campaign, but Portugal advanced with a better goal difference. "I know people are saying this is our best chance, better than the previous two, but there's no way we are going to be facing any mugs in the playoff," Ireland manager Mick McCarthy said. "Whoever it is they will be a good, well organized international football team." The Asian qualifying competition does not conclude until Oct. 31.
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