The World Cup is not until next year in Brazil, but the 2014 tournament had plenty of action going on Tuesday, as teams played qualifiers around the globe and after some exciting matches, Spain, Russia, England and Bosnia-Herzegovina all officially clinched spots for the event, while the United States helped Mexico after defeating Panama.
Bosnia-Herzegovina defeated Lithuania 1-0 to finish in first place in their group for qualifying and Spain won 2-0 over Georgia at home to clinch their spot and and that was expected, as the Spanish team are the defending champions of the World Cup. Andres Iniesta helped set up the first goal for Spain in the match and the team had a relatively easy match as they won.
England came into the match against Poland with plenty of anticipation and the team came through in a big way, as Wayne Rooney scored and Steven Gerrard also added a goal as the team finished unbeaten in group play. England took Group H for qualifying and it was the seventh goal for Rooney over the past six games he played and the team joins Bosnia, as well as Spain and Russia in the World Cup.
Fabio Capello led the way for Russia and the team clinched despite pulling a 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan and that was mostly because they knew they would advance from their group even with a loss. The team gave up a goal at the end of the match to net the draw and Capello said that despite the tie, the team has plenty to build on, including when they previously defeated Portugal and now they have finished first place in their group.
Spain won Group I in qualifying with their victory and it was fueled by a goal from Juan Mata and Portugal put themselves into second place behind Russia in their group with a win over Luxembourg. Northern Ireland finished 1-1 against Israel while Ukraine finished second in Group H after defeating San Marino.
