England, Spain and Paraguay qualified for the 2010 World Cup with wins on Wednesday.
Denmark, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia and Switzerland are in good shape, holding leads of three points or more in their European groups with two games to play.
Bahrain won the Asian playoff and will face New Zealand for a berth in the World Cup finals.
Wednesday’s big loser was Argentina, which fell into fifth place with a 1-0 loss at Paraguay and is in danger of missing out on direct qualification to the World Cup.
CONCACAF
Results
Trin. & Tobago 0 USA 1 (Clark 62)
Mexico 1 (Blanco pen. 75) Honduras 0
El Salvador 1 (Corrales 90) Costa Rica 0
Standings
TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
USA 8 5 1 2 14 9 16
Mexico 8 5 0 3 12 9 15
Honduras 8 4 1 3 14 8 13
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Costa Rica 8 4 0 4 9 13 12
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El Salvador 8 2 2 4 8 10 8
Trin. & Tobago 8 1 2 5 8 16 5
SOUTH AMERICA
Results
Brazil 4 (Nilmar 31, 73, 75, Julio Baptista 40) Chile 2 (Suazo 45+1-pen, 52)
Paraguay 1 (Valdez 27) Argentina 0
Bolivia 1 (Yacerote 86) Ecuador 3 (Mendez 4, Valencia 46, Cristian Benitez 56)
Uruguay 3 (Suarez 6, Scotti 76, Eguren 87) Colombia 1 (Martinez 64)
Venezuela 3 (Fedor 32, 52, Vargas 70) Peru 1 (own goal 41).
Standings
TEAM GP W T L GF GA P
*Brazil 16 9 6 1 32 9 33
*Paraguay 16 9 3 4 22 13 30
Chile 16 8 3 5 27 20 27
Ecuador 16 6 5 5 21 23 23
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Argentina 16 6 4 6 20 19 22
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Uruguay 16 5 6 5 26 18 21
Venezuela 16 6 3 7 22 27 21
Colombia 16 5 5 6 10 14 20
Bolivia 16 3 3 10 20 34 12
Peru 16 2 4 10 9 32 1
*Qualifies for 2010 World Cup.
EUROPE GROUP 1
Results
Malta 0 Sweden 1 (own goal 81)
Albania 1 (Bogdani 51) Denmark 1 (Bendtner 40).
Hungary 0 Portugal 1 (Pepe 9)
Standings
Denmark 18 points (8 games); Sweden 15 (8); Hungary 13 (8); Portugal 13 (8); Albania 7 (9); Malta 1 (9).
EUROPE GROUP 2
Results
Israel 7 (Barda (9, 21, 44, Baruchyan 15, Golan 58, Sahar 63, 83) Luxembourg 0.
Moldova 1 (Andronic 89) Greece 1 (Gekas 33).
Latvia 2 (Cauna 62, Astafjevs 75) Switzerland 2 (Frei 43, Derdiyok 80).
Standings
Switzerland 17 points; Greece 14 (13-7); Latvia 14 (13-8); Israel 12; Luxembourg 5; Moldova 2 (all 8 games).
EUROPE GROUP 3
Results
Czech Republic 7 (Baros 28, 44, pen. 45+, 66, Sverkos 47, 90+5, Necid 86) San Marino 0.
Northern Ireland 0 Slovakia 2 (Sestak 15, Holosko 67)
Slovenia 3 (Dedic 13, Novakovic 45, Birsa 62) Poland 0.
Standings
Slovakia 19 points (8 games); Slovenia 14 (13-4) (8); Northern Ireland 14 (13-9) (9); Czech Republic 12 (8); Poland 11 (8); San Marino 0 (9).
EUROPE GROUP 4
Results
Liechtenstein 1 (Polverino 75) Finland 1 (Litmanen pen. 73).
Wales 1 (Collins 54) Russia 3 (Semshov 36, Ignashevitch 71,
Pavlyuchenko 90)
Germany 4 (Ballack pen. 14, Klose 55, 66, Podolski 71) Azerbaijan 0.
Standings
Germany 22 points; Russia 21; Finland 14; Wales 9; Liechtenstein 2; Azerbaijan, 1 (all 8 games).
EUROPE GROUP 5
Results
Armenia 2 (Goharyan 23, Hovsepyan 52) Belgium 1 (Van Buyten 88)
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 (Salihovic 25) Turkey 1 (Emre 4)
Spain 3 (Fabregas 33, Cazolta 82, Mata 90) Estonia 0.
Standings
*Spain 24 points; Bosnia-Herzegovina 16; Turkey 12; Belgium 7; Estonia 5; Armenia 4 (all 8 games).
*Qualifies for 2010 World Cup.
EUROPE GROUP 6
Results
Belarus 0 Ukraine 0.
Andorra 1 (Sonejee 69) Kazakhstan 3 (Hiznichenko 15, 34, Baltev 28)
England 5 (Lampard pen., 7, 59, Gerrard 18, 66, Rooney 77) Croatia 1 (Eduardo 71).
Standings
*England 24 points (8 games); Croatia 17 (9); Ukraine 15 (8); Belarus 10 (8); Kazakhstan 6 (8); Andorra 0 (9).
*Qualifies for 2010 World Cup.
EUROPE GROUP 7
Results
Faeroe Islands 2 (Olsen 15, Hansen 34) Lithuania 1 (Danilevicius 23)
Romania 1 (Bucur 54) Austria 1 (Schiemer 83).
Serbia 1 (Milijas pen. 13) France 1 (Henry 31).
Standings
Serbia 19 points; France 15; Austria 11; Lithuania 9; Romania 9; Faeroe Islands 4 (all 8 games).
EUROPE GROUP 8
Results
Italy 2 (Grosso 11, Iaquinta 40) Bulgaria 0.
Montenegro 1 (Vucinic pen. 57) Cyprus 1 (Okkas 64).
Standings
Italy 20 points (8 games); Ireland 16 (8); Bulgaria 11 (8); Cyprus 6 (8); Montenegro 5 (8); Georgia 3 (8).
EUROPE GROUP 9
Results
Scotland 0 Netherlands 1 (Elia 82).
Norway 2 (Helstad 2, Riise 25) Macedonia 1 (Grncarov 69).
Final Standings
*Netherlands 24 points; Norway 10 (9-7); Scotland 10 (6-11); Macedonia 7; Iceland 5.
*Qualifies for 2010 World Cup.
ASIA
Playoff, Second Leg
Saudi Arabia 2 Bahrain 2
(Aggregate: 2-2; Bahrain win on away goals.)
AFRICA
Group A
Cameroon 2 (Makoun 23, Eto’o 63) Gabon 1 (Cousin 90).
Standings
Cameroon 7 points; Gabon 6; Togo 5; Morocco 0.