This is a series of nine, short posts that will be synthesized into one article for World Soccer Reader.
Group 6
Croatia and Ukraine each have one match with England remaining, which puts them on course for twenty points. The playoff spot is very likely to be decided by goal differential, which is why this weekends results were so interesting. Why both Croatia and Ukraine won their matches, only one side improved their qualification chances.
Croatia hosted Belarus and effectively ended their World Cup qualifying campaign. Igor Rakitić’s 24th minute goal in Zagreb was all the hosts needed, though the last ten minutes of the match were made more dramatic for Vedran Corluka’s sending off. It’s a minor miracle he was the only player given an early shower, as including Corluka’s card, there were eight yellows shown on Saturday. Having to finish a man down kept Croatia from getting the additional goals which could be critical to tie-breaking.
There was no such problem for Ukraine, who scored on three penalty kicks – two in second half stoppage time – in route to a 5-0 win over visiting Andorra. Even this guy named Andriy Shevchenko had a goal – go figure!
As a result of the drubbing, Ukraine’s differential difference with Croatia went from five to one. Croatia sits at +9; Ukraine, +8.
Ukraine has a couple of advantages on Croatia which may help make up that one goal difference. Their match with England is in Kiev, while Croatia plays England at Wembley on Wednesday. Ukraine has a game-in-hand, and Round 10 of qualifying sees them play Andorra one more time.
