On an evening of shock results for away teams in the European zone for qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, England, Scotland, Denmark, and yes, Luxembourg all beat tough teams away. England, were a different proposition this time around at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb , beating Croatia 4-1, thanks to a Theo Walcott hat-trick and a goal from Wayne Rooney. Scotland won on the road in Iceland 2-1, with goals from Kirk Broadfoot and Barry Robson in Rejkyavik. The biggest shock on a night that saw Denmark beat Portugal 3-2 at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon was Luxembourg's 2-1 win over Switzerland at the Letzigrund Stadion in Zurich. Joint Euro 2008 hosts Austria also came down to earth after their 3-1 win over France in Vienna, when they lost 2-0 away to Lithuania, who have taken a maximum six points from their first two games. In other results, a Miroslav Klose hat-trick saved Germany from defeat in Finland with the game ending in a 3-3 tie. France beat Serbia 2-1, Italy edged Georgia by the same score and Russia won a close game with Wales also 2-1. In Asia zone qualifying games, North and South Korea shared the points in Shanghai - surprise, surprise, with a 1-1 draw in the southern Chinese port city. Australia got their World Cup campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 success in Uzbekistan in Group 1 . In South America, Paraguay stay top of the group after a 2-0 defeat of Venezuela. In the CONCACAF zone, the USA had an impressive 3-0 home win over Trinidad & Tobago, to top their group with maximum points. Bet with Bet 365 Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News World Cup

On a busy day of World Cup 2010 qualifiers around the world, there were mixed results for teams from the British Isles. England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland all won, while Scotland and Northern Ireland lost tough matches in the heat of Eastern Europe. England struggled to overcome the minnows of Andora 2-0 in Barcelona, Wales edged 10-man Azerbaijan 1-0 in Cardiff, and Ireland beat war-affected Georgia in neutral Mainz. Germany and Portugal showed England how it's done with the smaller teams by thrashing Liechtenstein 6-0 and Malta 4-0 away respectively and there were hard-fought wins for Italy, Spain and Ukraine in their opening matches. The biggest shocks were losses for France 3-1 away to Austria in Vienna and a 3-0 drubbing for Romania at home to Lithuania. In Asia there were impressive away wins for Japan and North Korea in the Middle East while Saudi Arabia and Iran shared the points in Riyadh with a 1-1 draw. In South America, Argentina drew 1-1 at home to group leaders Paraguay in Buenos Aires, a resurgent Uruguay beat Chile 1-0 away and Ecuador beat Bolivia 3-1 at home. In the CONCACAF zone, the USA won an historic match 1-0 in Havana against Cuba and Mexico made no mistakes with an impressive 3-0 home win over Jamaica as Sven Goran Eriksson's team top their group. Bet with Bet 365 Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News World Cup

World Cup Qualifiers Schedule The race towards South Africa starts in August Fabio Capello has his work cut out for him. England start their qualifying campaign for the next World Cup on September 6th away to Andorra four days before meeting their recent nemesis Croatia in Zagreb. Present at the negotiations in the Sheraton Hotel in the Croatian capital were David Rodrigo of Andorra, Arno Pijpers of Kazakhstan, Bernd Tange of Belarus, Aleksei Mikhailichenko of Ukraine plus Capello and the host Slaven Bilic. It took six and a half hours in Zagreb for the six coaches from the teams in the England's group to reach an agreement on the calendar and in the end both Capello and Bilic claimed they were very happy with the outcome. The Ukrainians were reportedly the least satisfied as they didn't want to play in June of 2009 and ended up having to visit Croatia and entertain the same team in the space of four days. "I thank Belarus and Andorra for accepting some compromises, as without them it would have been difficult to reach the agreement," said the Croatian coach, who was only unhappy with the trip to Belarus on August 19th next year. "It's FIFA's date for friendlies so we'll be able to count on our internationals just three days before the trip," moaned Bilic. Capello on the other hand stated he got exactly what he wanted – an easy opener with Andorra, a relatively lightweight rival in Belarus for the closure and both Croatian games in September. Group 6 – qualifying calendar 2008 20th August Kazakhstan vs. Andorra 6th September Croatia vs. Kazakhstan Andorra vs. England Ukraine vs. Belarus 10th September Croatia vs. England Andorra vs. Belarus Kazakhstan – Ukraine 11th October Ukraine vs. Croatia England vs. Kazakhstan 15th October Croatia vs. Andorra Belarus vs. England 2009 1st April Andorra vs. Croatia England vs. Ukraine Kazakhstan vs. Belarus 6th June Croatia vs. Ukraine Kazakhstan vs. England Belarus vs. Andorra 10th June Ukraine vs. Kazakhstan England vs. Andorra 19th August Belarus vs. Croatia 5th September Croatia vs. Belarus Ukraine vs. Andorra 9th September England vs. Croatia Belarus vs. Ukraine Andorra – Kazakhstan 10th October Ukraine vs. England Belarus vs. Kazakhstan 14th October Kazakhstan vs. Croatia Andorra vs. Ukraine England vs. Belarus Note: Only the group champions qualify for the World Cup directly, and the second placed team enter an additional qualification round against another of the eight best runners' up out of the total of nine European zone groups. England games 2008. Andorra vs England (Sep 6th) Croatia vs England (Sep 10th) England vs Kazakhstan (Oct 11th) Belarus vs England (Oct 15th) 2009. England vs Ukraine (Apr 1st) Kazakhstan vs England (June 6th) England vs Kazakhstan (June 10th) England vs Croatia (Sep 9th) Ukraine vs England (Oct 10th) England vs Belarus (Oct 14th) Copyright Soccerphile & Ozren Podnar Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football England World Cup Betting