International Round-Up

Gareth Barry, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Bridge all played as England rounded off their impressive qualifying campaign with a 3-0 victory over whipping boys Belarus at Wembley. Barry had a very impressive first half, SWP, playing on the left, scored and might have had another, whilst Bridge's evening was more mixed, resulting in him limping off with a groin strain with twelve minutes remaining.

Shay Given became one of only three Ireland players to earn a century of international caps as the Republic were held to a goalless draw by Montenegro at Croke Park. Having already been guaranteed of a play-off place, but not being able to catch Italy after the weekend's draw they'll be hoping for a kind draw.

Ryan McGiven played ninety minutes as Northern Ireland secured a creditable point away at the Czech Republic. The Czechs, such a great side of the recent past, miss out on a place in next year's finals. The winners of that group, Slovakia, won in Poland, with Vlad Weiss getting a full game.

Martin Petrov scored twice and Valeri Bojinov appeared as a late substitute as Bulgaria put six past Georgia, with all of their goals coming before the interval. A certain flop from over the road bagged a hat-trick.

Exciting academy forward Robbie Mak played for the Slovakian u21's as a 1-0 win in Cyrus keeps them top of their qualifying group, ahead of Croatia and Serbia.

The late kick-offs should see Carlos Tevez add to his half-ton of caps in a game in which the Argies need a point at least to squeek through. Hosts Uruguay need to win in case Felipe Caicedo's Ecuador earn three points in Chile. Anything less than qualification will almost certainly see Maradona out of a job.