Cyprus took the lead after a dozen minutes. A ball was laid off from the right side of the box into the box for an onrushing Konstantinos Makridis (pictured, blue) to slot home to safety. Iceland nearly equalized through Alfred Finnbogason (pictured, white) one minute later, but his effort found a post. Iceland lost
Solvi Otteson to a red card in minute 86 due to his foul mouth. Cyprus win their first three points 1-0 over Iceland.
Oslo welcomed back the top seed in Group E Norway from their shock road loss to Iceland four days prior. The visitors were Slovenia, and they proved unwilling to give the fans what they wanted to see. Jasmin Kurtic sent a free kick spiraling toward the Norwegian goal which was misplayed by goalkeeper Rune Jarstein, allowing a rebound to fall for Slovenia center back Marko Suler to push home for 1-0. Tarik El Younoussi took a shot for Norway from the half circle which struck the crossbar and softly fell to the six-yard box, allowing Markus Henriksen to easily head home for the equalizer. The first half ended 1-1.
Both teams came out nervously in the second half with few chances to be found. Nobody came close to scoring until the fourth minute of stoppage time. A Dejan Kelhar foul in the box gave Norway a penalty kick with time expiring. John Arne Riise struck a low ball to the middle right that barely got by the goalkeeper, giving Norway the 2-1 victory. Slovenia are surprisingly in last place in the group after falling to their two main rivals Switzerland and Norway in their opening two fixtures.
Lucerne saw Albania pay a visit to Switzerland in the final Group E fixture of the day. Albania sent in a warning shot eighteen minutes in when a knuckling strike from Alban Meha forced a two-handed punch save by Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. Xherdan Shaqiri made good use of the reprieve given to his side by Benaglio by scoring Switzerland's opener four minutes later. Shaqiri, whose family is of Albanian descent and who is allowed to switched to the Kosovo national team as soon as they are given FIFA membership due it to it being his country of birth, took the jeers of the many Albanian fans lining the stadium. Switzerland is home to many who fled from the Albanian sections of Kosovo during the diaspora of 1998 and 1999. The Swiss led 1-0 at the break.
Switzerland remained positive with their play in the second period, and a Shaqiri low skipping shot to the near post was tipped away on a dive, but Switzerland picked up the loose ball to work it around the box, eventually drawing a penalty kick off an Armend Dallku foul from behind. Switzerland put away the spot kick for a 2-0 lead. Benaglio made a great double save after popping up a rebound with ten minutes to go so high in the air that he was able to return to his feet to leap and catch his own rebound.
Switzerland 6 pts +4
Iceland 3 pts +1
Albania 3 pts 0
Cyprus 3 pts -1
Norway 3 pts -1
Slovenia 0 pts -3
Goals
Cyprus
Konstantinos Makridis 57
Norway
Markus Henriksen 26
John Arne Riise 90+4 PK
Slovenia
Marko Suler 16
Switzerland
Xherdan Shaqiri 23
Gokhan Inler 68 PK
Match Reports:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1699443/index.html
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1699745/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/sports/soccer/kosovo-wants-a-national-soccer-team-and-to-call-its-players-home.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/wires/09/11/2080.ap.soc.switzerland.albania.1st.ld.writethru.236/index.html
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1699797/index.html
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt326oC92NM (Cyprus v. Iceland)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqW6ZjOI25U (Norway v. Slovenia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-XGApnQfao (Switzerland v. Albania)
Full Match Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZapcoCSrGw (Norway v. Slovenia: 1st half)
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