We have a full Cup!

The qualifiers are over and what a last day. Just like the Australian match I wrote about earlier, these final four games were fun. But now it is done, so lets take a look at how things ended.

Bahrain 0-1 Trinidad and Tobago
T&T surrendered a goal at home to Bahrain, so they knew they had to score to move on. As the match moved along, Bahrain became more and more defensive as they looked to hold the tide of T&T players throwing themselves at the goal. Bahrain made it through the entire first 45 without giving in, but then early in the second half, Dennis Lawrence became a hero. Dwight Yorke managed to curl a corner-kick right to Lawrence who headed it through the mess of players and into net. Bahrain then changed tactics and started pouring on the offense. They had some great chances, but the Soca Warriors were able to hang on (even through Lawrence almost scored an own goal in the 77th) and earn passage to their first finals. (For information on Bahrain's appeal concerning this match, please look here)

Turkey 4–2 Switzerland
The Swiss had a big scare as Turkey recovered from some early mistakes to almost take the ticket right out of their hand. Turkey needed to win by three going into the match, but in only the first minute, they were down by 1 after the visitors won a pk. However, Turkey responded getting a goal in the 22nd and 36th minutes. After halftime, the Turks came out looking determined and got their third in the 52nd. All they needed was a fourth and then to hold and they were going on. However, with all their focus on attacking, they left holes in their defense. This was something the Swiss were able to exploit as the snuck in a goal on the counter-attack in the 84th. Turkey needed two goals fast, but was only able to get one in the 89th. A great game right to the end. (For information on the fight that happened after this match, please look here)

Czech Republic 1–0 Norway
Norway fought had, but they just didn't have enough. Tomas Rosicky made sure his side would advance with the games lone goal. The Czechs then showed their defensive might by holding Norway.

Slovakia 1-1 Spain
Just a bit into the second half, Filip Holosko got a goal for Slovakia give moments of hope that an upset of upsets might happen. However, David Villa silenced such ideas when he scored in the 71st to give Spain back their 4-goal advantage.

Australia 1-0 Uruguay (4-2pks)
As I wrote in an earlier post, Australia advanced on kicks.

So how did I do with my predictions?
Australia 2-0 Uruguay (Australia wins series)
Bahrain 0-1 Trinidad and Tobago (T&T wins series)
Turkey 2-1 Switzerland (Switzerland wins series)
Czech Republic 2 – 0 Norway (Czech R win series)
Slovakia 1-1 Spain (Spain wins series)

As you can see, I was off on the scores in 3 of the matches, but I still picked the winners in all five matches and all five series. Let my ego begin to grow.