New Zealand took a step closer to the 2018 World Cup as they whitewashed Solomon Islands 6-1 in the Oceanic section first-leg play off. In Europe. Montenegro chances of reaching the World Cup came alive with a 3-0 away win over Kazakhstan, while in the Africa qualifiers, Nigeria thrashed Cameroon 4-0 to boost their chances of qualifying. Here's a quick summary of these World Cup Qualifying matches that went down.
New Zealand 6, Solomon Islands 1
New Zealand put up a commanding, attacking “masterclass” to dismantle Solomon Islands in a highly convincing 6-1 victory on Friday.
Anthony Hudson's side was largely in possession and often launched attacks on Solomon Islands' half. The home team showed “superior” class in their emphatic victory. With this first leg win, New Zealand are on the brinks of progressing to the intercontinental tie coming up in November.
The return leg of this playoff will be on Tuesday, September 5th, when Solomon Islands play host to New Zealand at the Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara. The winner of this tie will then go on to face the fifth placed team from CONMEBOL (South American's qualifying group) in a final playoff, the tie to determine who'll be at next summer's World Cup in Russia.
Kazakhstan 0, Montenegro 3
Montenegro took advantage of Kazakhstan porous defense and thrashed them 3-0 in front of their home crowd at the Astana Arena, Astana to stay afloat in Group E.
Goals from Race Vesovic, Fatos Beqiraj, and Marko Simic gave Montenegro the maximum away points and boosted their chances of securing a place in next year's finals in Russia.
Kazakhstan, however, was wasteful and squandered a string of goal bound opportunities. There were apparently weak at finishing chances in front of goal and were ruthlessly punished as Montenegro clinically converted their chances.
With this emphatic away victory, Montenegro are now second on thirteen points, while Kazakhstan are seventh with seven points.
Montenegro will now return home to face Romania on Monday 4 September, while Kazakhstan will travel to Warsaw to take on Group leaders Poland the same day at the Stadion Narodowy.
Nigeria 4, Cameroon 0
The Super Eagles of Nigeria showed what they are capable of as they outclassed the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on Friday. Cameroon, however, showed promises at the beginning of the encounter but failed to capitalize on their bright start to the game.
Striker Odion Ighalo opened the scoring for Nigeria before skipper Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and Kelechi Iheneacho added to the score sheet to earn maximum three points at home and boosted their chances of progressing ahead of next year's World Cup in Russia. With this result, Nigeria remains on the summit of Group B with nine points, while Cameroon are second on two points.
The return leg of this encounter will be coming up on Monday 4 September as the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will be hoping to bounce back when they play host to Nigeria at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaoundé.
