Mexico Handles Guatemala, 2-0
Midfielder Antonio Naelson scored after a deflection came right to his feet and Guatemala defender Pablo Melgar knocked the ball into his own net as Mexico rolled to a 2-0 victory in a World Cup qualifying game Saturday at Guatemala City.
Mexico held on to first place in the six-team CONCACAF standings with 10 points, one ahead of the United States, which defeated Costa Rica, 3-0.
Both of Mexico’s goals came late in the second half and were the result of poor marking by Guatemala’s defense.
“We did everything we had to do, we were intelligent and we had all the clear chances,” Mexico Coach Ricardo La Volpe said.
Guatemala played without forwards Carlos Ruiz and Dwight Pezzarossi.
In another CONCACAF qualifying game: Stern John scored in the 34th minute and Dennis Lawrence scored in the 70th minute to lift Trinidad and Tobago to a 2-0 victory over visiting Panama at Port of Spain for its first victory in the final stage of qualifying.
*
In South American qualifying games: Cristian Lara and Agustin Delgado scored second-half goals to lead host Ecuador to a 2-0 upset of Argentina at Quito. Ecuador (23 points) solidified its spot in third place in handing first-place Argentina (28 points) only its second loss in 14 games.... Colombia got goals from Luis Gabriel Rey, Elkin Soto, Juan Pablo Angel, Jhon Javier Restrepo and Edixon Perea in a 5-0 rout over visiting Peru at Barranquilla. The win moved Colombia (17 points) into fifth place in the group.... Diego Forlan scored for Uruguay and Giancarlo Maldonado answered in the 73rd minute for host Venezuela as the teams played to a 1-1 tie at Maracaibo.... Defender Luis Fuentes headed in two goals to lead host Chile to a 3-1 win over Bolivia at Santiago. Chile played nearly the last hour with 10 players after striker Sebastian Gonzalez was red-carded for a rough foul.
*
In selected European qualifying games: Arjen Robben scored one goal and set up another, and host Netherlands beat Romania, 2-0, at Rotterdam to remain atop Group 1 with 19 points.... Vratislav Lokvenc scored a goal in each half to lead host Czech Republic to an 8-1 rout over Andorra at Liberec to maintain second place in Group 1 with 18 points.... Andriy Shevchenko scored in the 18th minute and host Ukraine benefited from an own goal in a 2-0 victory over Kazakhstan at Kiev. Ukraine remained on track for its first World Cup berth with 20 points to lead Group 2.... Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Meira scored as Portugal took control of Group 3 with a 2-0 win over visiting Slovakia in a battle for first place at Lisbon.
Avi Yehiel scored on a header and Avi Nimni scored on a penalty kick as Israel tied host Ireland, 2-2, at Dublin. Ian Harte and Roy Keane scored for Ireland, which remained one point behind Israel (11 points) in Group 4. Switzerland, a 3-1 winner over Faroe Islands, leads the group with 12 points.... Italy (13 points) maintained its four-point lead in Group 5 over host Norway after the teams tied, 0-0, in wet conditions at Oslo.... Poland got goals from Tomasz Frankowski, Tomasz Klos and Maciej Zurawski to move ahead of idle England for first place in Group 6 after a 3-0 win over host Azerbaijan at Baku.
Substitute Albert Luque scored in the 69th minute as Spain moved into a tie for first place in Group 7 after a 1-0 victory over visiting Lithuania at Valencia. Spain is tied for the group lead with Serbia and Montenegro (12 points), which tied visiting Belgium, 0-0, at Belgrade.... Marko Babic, Igor Tudor and Niko Kranjcar scored as Croatia maintained its one-point lead in Group 8 after a 3-1 victory over host Bulgaria at Sofia.
QUALIFYING SCORES, D11
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Germany ’06
The breakdown by regions of the field for the 2006 World Cup in Germany:
* AFRICA (5): Winners of five six-team groups. Final games: Oct. 7
* ASIA (4): The winners and second-place teams from two four-team finals groups. Final games: Aug. 17.
* CONCACAF (3): Top three teams from the six-team finals group. Final games: Oct. 12.
* EUROPE (14): Host Germany, the eight group winners, the top two second-place teams and the winners of three home-and-home playoffs between the six other second-place teams. Final games: Oct. 12.
* SOUTH AMERICA (4): Top four teams from the 10-team group. Final games: Oct. 11
* PLAYOFFS (2): The winner of a home-and-home series between the two third-place teams in Asia will meet the fourth-place team from CONCACAF in a home-and-home series. The fifth-place team from South America will meet the Oceana champion.
