In other matches Trapattoni took the Republic of Ireland to his homeland where Robbie Keane scored a late goal to earn a 1-1 draw against the Italians. Slovakia crossed the border to shock the Czechs with a 2-1 win, but Northern Ireland lead the group after a 1-0 home win against Slovenia. A Ballack screamer and an own goal gave Germany a win in Wales while the Dutch put 4 past Macedonia without reply. A last gasp goal silenced the Turkish crowd as European champions Spain ran out 2-1 winners while in the same group Bosnia & Herzegovina did the double over Belgium as Edin Dzeko scored 2 goals in their 2-1 home win. Erwin Hoffer also scored twice as Romania returned from Austria with a 2-1 defeat and Franck Ribery saved French blushes with the only goal in Paris against Lithuania. Denmark and Hungary strengthened their positions at the top of group 1 with 3-0 home wins over Albania and Malta respectively. Belarus enjoyed a 5-1 win in Kazakhstan, and San Marino were taken apart 10-0 in Poland with Ebi Smolarek scoring 4 in the process.
The shock of the day came in South America where Bolivia demolished Argentina 6-1 with Botero Joaquin delighting the home crowd with a hat-trick. Ecuador were denied a home win when Edgar Benitez scored late in stoppage time to earn Paraguay a 1-1 draw and Colombia found the going too tough in Venezuela as they went down 2-0 while 2 goals from Luis Fabiano helped Brazil ease 3-0 past Peru and Uruguay returned with a goalless draw against 10-man Chile.
In Asia Australia were on the verge of becoming the first team to qualify for South Africa 2010 after their 2-0 home victory over Uzbekistan, but were denied confirmation as Bahrain defeated Qatar 1-0 to keep their own hopes alive. A stoppage time goal for South Korea was the difference between them and North Korea in Seoul while Saudi Arabia came from behind to beat the UAE 3-2 in Riyadh.
In North America Carlo Costly struck twice for Honduras to inflict a costly 3-1 loss on Mexico while Josmer Altidore scored a hat-trick as the Americans took another step towards the finals with a 3-0 triumph over Trinidad & Tobago.