United States qualify for South Africa 2010 as they beat Honduras 2-3

The talented Conor Casey scored his first international goals and that was exactly what the United States needed to book a place in next year's World Cup. The american team made an excelent comeback to defeat Honduras 3-2.

Almost 45,000 Honduran fans arived at the Estadio Olímpico in San Pedro Sula, uniting behind their national team despite the domestic political strife dominating international headlines. After a scoreless first half that saw both sides shooting off-target, the second half turned into an instant classic with the U.S. getting the deciding goal in the 71st minute from a free kick by midfielder Landon Donovan.

The strong Conor Casey provided the heroics for the U.S., scoring the first two goals of his international career in the 55th and 66th minutes, and setting up the Donovan freekick. It was Casey’s third appearance in the 2010 qualifying cycle, and the 15th of his career.

The central american team faithful thought their side would draw even in the 87th minute when the referee awarded a penalty kick in their favor. The veteran Carlos Pavon, the all-time leading scorer for Honduras with 55 career goals, shockingly blasted his penalty over the crossbar. Despite the bad luck, the Honduran crowd showed their class by offering the U.S. team a warm ovation at the end of the game.

Argentina qualify and Maradona blasts acid words against journalists

Argentina suffered too much to qualify for the World Cup but they finally got their ticket by beating Uruguay in Montevideo. The game score: 1-0.

However, the most polemic moment of this argentinian odissey happened after the match. Diego Armando Maradona, the most talented player in history and now coach of Argentina, said crude phrases against argentinian journalists.

"They can suck it and carry on sucking it," Diego spitted in the press conference after the dramatic triumph. "This is for all Argentines, minus the journalists. I want to thank my footballers for qualifying because they played like men and today they consecrated me as a coach."

"I also want to dedicate this to the whole of Argentina, to my family too, but there is one group who do not deserve this because they have treated me like rubbish. We were careful in this match since there were two results needed, but we won against a great team and achieved our objective."

Many players like Juan Veron and Mascherano didn't want to stand for his words. "Experience told me that sometimes you must be calm and careful" Veron said the next day.

Argentina is not a favorite for the next World Cup. At least not with their current game style (is there a style at all?) but many members of AFA think that this could improve if Maradona leaves his charge.

Gallery: Top-Five Moments of the World Cup Qualifiers

Nº 1: Thierry Henry's hand ball. France reached the final stage and eliminated Ireland in the most controversial match of the last 20 years. He touched the ball with the hand before assisting Gallas, who scored the 1-0 that took France to the World Cup.



Nº 2: The Via Crucis of Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. Ronaldo suffered many bad injuries during the process, and the last one kept him from playing the last matches that Portugal had to win in order to qualify to South Africa.



Nº 3: Argentina, Maradona and San Palermo. Diego Armando Maradona became the Coach of the Argentinian team and was able to use mega stars such as Agüero, Messi or Higuain. But his team almost fail to reach the World Cup. Only Martin Palermo was able to do miracles in the last games.



Nº 4: The best Spain in history. The spanish team completed a perfect qualification process by winning all the matches. With superb footballers like Casillas, Torres, Fabregas or David Villa, they are the stronger candidates to get the title.



Nº 5: Egypt vs. Algeria. David vs. Goliat. The african champion against the smallest country. In the end, Algeria got the tickets and the team of the pyramids will not be present in South Africa 2010.