England reach 11th World Cup finals

Following the resounding victory over Croatia at Wembley last month, England went on to claim a passport for their 11th World Cup finals.

England are top of their group after winning eight qualifiers in a row. At Wembley, England outclassed Croatia 5-1 (Gerrard 2, Lampard 2, Rooney) to secure their place in South Africa. Scotland, however, failed once more to reach the finals after their home (0-1) upset to the Netherlands.

Since the FA was not on the same wavelength with FIFA, England only started to participate in World Cup events from 1950.

Thus England missed the chance of taking part, along with other great footballing nations, in the first three editions of 1930, 1934 and 1938.

In the 2006 finals in Germany, under the guidance of Sven-Goran Eriksson, England made it to the last eight but bowed out to Portugal in a penalty shoot-out (1-3) after a 0-0 draw.

Other football news of interest for September read:

• English champions Manchester United receive a total of £51.5m from the Premier League for broadcasting rights. They were followed by Liverpool on £51.1m.

• Chelsea are banned from signing new players until January 2011 by FIFA for inducing French winger Gael Kakuta, 18, to break his contract with Lens.

• England win 2-1 (Sears, Cattermole pen.) in Macedonia in a European Championship U-21 international.

Other results: Wales-Italy 2-1, Czech Republic-N. Ireland 2-0.

• Scotland beat Macedonia 2-0 through goals by Brown and McFadden in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park. Other outcomes: Poland-N. Ireland 1-1 (Lafferty), Cyprus-Ireland 1-2 (Doyle, Keane). In a friendly international at Wembley, England edge Slovenia 2-1 (Lampard pen, Defoe).

• England’s women defeat the Netherlands 2-1 after extra-time in Finland to reach the European Championship final. England had not reached the final of a major championship since losing to Sweden in the inaugural European tournament in 1984.

• Sheffield United goalkeeper Paddy Kenny is suspended for nine months for failing a drugs test.

• England draw 1-1 (Rose) in Athens against Greece in an U-21 European Championship.

Other outcomes: Austria-Scotland 1-0, N. Ireland-Iceland 2-6, Estonia-Ireland 1-1. In a friendly international, Ireland, on home soil, beat South Africa 1-0.

• In the final, the England women are trounced 6-2 by Germany in the European Championships in Finland.

• The monthly awards go to Tottenham duo Harry Redknapp (manager) and Jermain Defoe (player).

• A Reuters report denotes that English clubs have pocketed an average of €160 million each in prize money in the last six Champions League seasons.

• Liverpool clinch a shirt sponsorship deal on a par with Manchester United, a world record contract with the Standard Chartered Bank, worth £80m over four years.

• After Arsenal’s appeal, UEFA overturn the two-match diving ban given to Eduardo in the Champions League home game against Celtic.

• In the first matches of the Champions League group phase, all four English clubs record wins − Liverpool-Debrecen 1-0, Standard Liege-Arsenal 2-3, Besiktas-Manchester United 0-1, Chelsea-Porto 1-0. Rangers gain a useful away draw in Germany against Stuttgart (1-1).

• In the opening games of the group phase of the Europa League, Everton trounce AEK Athens 4-0 at Goodison Park.

Other results: CSKA Sofia-Fulham 1-1, Hapoel Tel Aviv-Celtic 2-1.

• A memorial service is held to honour the life of Sir Bobby Robson.

• In the third round of the League Cup, Burnley lose 2-3 at Barnsley.

• In the second games from the Champions League group phase, Manchester United beat German champions Wolfsburg 2-1 at home.

Other results: Fiorentina-Liverpool 2-0, Rangers-Sevilla 1-4, Arsenal-Olympiakos 2-0, Apoel Nicosia-Chelsea 0-1.