Three out of the few football powerhouses – Germany, Brazil and Argentina — were shut out overnight during their matches, respectively. The loses, however, are unlikely to hamper their advance to the Euro 2016 in France and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
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| Entrance sign with the logo at the FIFA headquarters Zurich, Switzerland (AFP) |
On Friday (Korean time), Ireland beat Germany, the 2014 World Cup winner, 1-0 during a Euro 2016 group D qualifying match.
In the opening round of preliminaries in the South American region for the 2018 World Cup, Brazil — the only five-time World Cup champion — lost to Chile 2-0.
Argentina, whose FIFA ranking is set at No. 1 – yielded to Ecuador 2-0 in Buenos Aires. Ecuador has been ranked 31st in the football federation’s recent assessment on 208 countries.
By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)
