Soccer European Soccer

Guus Hiddink's Russia looked about ready to start calling a travel agent to book its arrangements for South Africa in June. The Russians held a comfortable 2-0 lead against Slovenia in Saturday's UEFA playoff in Moscow thanks to a pair of goals from Everton's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.

To Slovenia's credit, the World Cup hopefuls didn't stop charging and its effort paid off when substitute Nejc Pecnik headed home a rebound from a shot by Robert Koren to make it finish 2-1. For Slovenia it was a crucial away goal as the two-leg playoff heads to Maribor on Wednesday.

Truly sad and shocking news out of Germany late Tuesday, as goalkeeper Robert Enke died at the age of 32 in an apparent suicide, which was confirmed by his agent. Enke was hit by a train at a crossing near his home in Neustadt-Eilvese.

By most accounts Enke, who played at Hannover 96, figured to be a part of the German 2010 World Cup squad, finally getting a chance to play after the successive retirements of longtime keepers Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann.

Germany was scheduled to play a friendly with fellow World Cup participant Chile on Saturday, though Enke was not a part of the squad. It's unsure if the match due to take place in Cologne will go on as scheduled.

It's safe to say that hyperbole and armchair psychologists aren't solely the domain of American sportscasters.

Seemingly seconds after Chelsea captain John Terry headed home the eventual game-winner late in the second half Sunday vs. Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, the talking heads were speculating that the goal made up for his famous penalty kick miss in the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow.

Let's say, agree to disagree, though the 1-0 victory certainly was a strong statement for Chelsea, as it tries to end Manchester United's three-year stranglehold on the Premier League.

Carlos Queiroz has always been an interesting character. Heck, anyone that coached the New York/New Jersey Metrostars and lived to tell about it deserves a special place in the history of world soccer.

Saturday, the now coach of the Portugal national team, made a move that will certainly make headlines one way or the other as he plans to call in injured superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for the upcoming two-leg UEFA World Cup playoffs against Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Portugal will announce its full lineup on Sunday.)

A rough couple of months for American midfielder Maurice Edu might have hit a new low on Tuesday night. While going to his car after Rangers' stunning 4-1 home loss to Romanian minnows Unirea Urziceni in Champions League group play, Edu said via his Twitter page that he was racially abused by his own home fans.

Edu posted this late Tuesday:

"Not sure what hurt more: result last nite or being racially abused by couple of r own fans as I'm getting in my car...smh...off to rehab."

It's hard to imagine a scenario where the date Oct. 14, 2009 doesn't become the stuff of lore in the European country of Slovakia as it turned out to be the day the nation booked its place in its first FIFA World Cup finals.

And the Slovaks achieved history in perhaps the most adverse conditions possible in a soccer match, downing Poland 1-0 at the Silesian Stadium during a driving snowstorm that would seem more at home for an NFL playoff match than a World Cup qualifier.

The puzzle pieces for the 2010 FIFA World Cup became a lot clearer on Saturday on the penultimate day of UEFA qualification. Longtime stalwarts Germany and Italy both punched their tickets, while Denmark and Serbia also booked passage to South Africa next June.

Germany was the first European country to qualify on Saturday, defeating Russia 1-0 in what was essentially a first-place Group 4 playoff game in Moscow. The Germans held on with 10-men after a first-half goal from Miroslav Klose. Meanwhile, Guus Hiddink's Russia must now await its fate in the second-place playoffs. For the Germans, it's the country's 15th-straight World Cup finals berth and 17th overall placing it second to Brazil. (These streaks include time as West Germany.)

There are times when the marketing aces at the Barclay's Premier League home office must get a little tired of constantly telling anyone who will listen that the league is the greatest in the world. Surely partisans in Barcelona and Madrid would argue otherwise.

However smug these assertions might come off, the Premier League did get another amazing game to add to its resume and worldwide popularity in the form of Manchester United's last-minute 4-3 derby victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford. As far as a 90-minute soccer game goes, it's hard to ask for more than anything than this match because it had pretty much everything.

---

---

Wednesday England became the ninth team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup thanks to its comprehensive 5-1 victory over recent nemesis Croatia at Wembley Stadium. Manager Fabio Capello completed the turnaround for the Three Lions in the first cycle after missing out on Euro 2008 as they improved to 8-0-0 in qualifiers.

What made England's victory a double-delight is that midfield stars Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard each scored twice. Former England coaches Steve McClaren and Sven-Goran Eriksson were continually criticized for their failure to find a system where both Premier League standouts could function successful for the country.

Wayne Rooney also scored, keeping him atop the UEFA qualifiers leaderboard with nine goals.

Let's face it, Chelsea isn't exactly the most beloved club soccer team in the world. Whether it's because you loathe how Roman Abramovich ushered in a new era of big-money transfers when he bought the West London club in 2003 or you can't stand the on-field antics of guys like Didier Drogba, the Blues are a team many soccer fans love to hate.

Love them or hate them, from a logical standpoint Thursday's FIFA ruling that Chelsea cannot sign another player until 2011 because the club induced French teenager Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with French club Lens in 2007 at first glance seems extremely harsh.