Shaun Wright-Phillips bagged his fifth goal for his country as England eased to a 3-0 win over Belarus at Wembley. He gave a good account of himself despite playing on the left flank, and he was joined in the starting line-up by Wayne Bridge and Gareth Barry, who helped set up Peter Crouch’s fourth-minute opener.
Vladimir Weiss helped Slovakia book their automatic progress to South Africa when they beat Poland 1-0 in Chorsaw. City’s young winger was booked in the 58th minute, but Slovakia’s win saw them top the group despite the close attentions of Slovenia. In the same group there was disappointment for Ryan McGivern and Northern Ireland, whose goalless draw with the Czech Republic, combined with results elsewhere, meant that there was no chance for them to slip into the play-off places.
Shay Given celebrated his 100th cap for the Republic of Ireland with a clean sheet against Montenegro at Croke Park. The Irish must now wait for Friday’s draw to find out which seeded team they will face in next month’s two-legged play-off for a place in South Africa next year. Elsewhere in Ireland’s group, Martin Petrov scored twice in Bulgaria’s 6-2 win over Cyprus in Sofia, but the win came too late to affect the top end of the group table.
Carlos Tevez was a late substitute in the narrow win over Uruguay that saw Argentina squeeze into the final automatic qualification spot from the South American group.
