2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2

The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group 2 was a UEFA qualifying group for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The group comprised Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia and Luxembourg.

The group was won by Switzerland, who qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The runners-up Greece entered the UEFA play-off stage.

Standings

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts   Switzerland 10 6 3 1 18 8 +10 21  Greece 10 6 2 2 20 10 +10 20  Latvia 10 5 2 3 18 15 +3 17  Israel 10 4 4 2 20 10 +10 16  Luxembourg 10 1 2 7 4 25 −21 5  Moldova 10 0 3 7 6 18 −12 3

Greece  – 2–1 5–2 2–1 3–0 1–2 Israel  1–1 – 0–1 7–0 3–1 2–2 Latvia  0–2 1–1 – 2–0 3–2 2–2 Luxembourg  0–3 1–3 0–4 – 0–0 0–3 Moldova  1–1 1–2 1–2 0–0 – 0–2 Switzerland   2–0 0–0 2–1 1–2 2–0 –

Matches

The match schedule was established at a meeting in Israel on 8 January 2008.^[1] However, Greece and Latvia failed to come to an agreement on matches between themselves, and, since the match schedule was not finalised by 16 January 2008 deadline, FIFA conducted a random draw to determine the fixtures.^[2][3] The draw took place in Zagreb, Croatia at 16:00 CET on 30 January 2008, the eve of the XXXII Ordinary UEFA Congress.^[4]

Moldova  v  Latvia

6 September 2008 19:00 UTC+3

Moldova	1–2	Latvia
Alexeev  76'	Report	Karlsons  8' Astafjevs  22'

Sheriff Stadium, Tiraspol Attendance: 4,300 Referee: Mark Courtney (Northern Ireland)

Israel  v   Switzerland

6 September 2008 20:55 UTC+3

Israel	2–2	Switzerland
Benayoun  73' Sahar  90+2'	Report	Yakin  45' Nkufo  56'

Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan Attendance: 29,600 Referee: Martin Hansson (Sweden)

Luxembourg  v  Greece

6 September 2008 20:15 UTC+2

Luxembourg	0–3	Greece
	Report	Torosidis  36' Gekas  45+1' Charisteas  76' (pen.)

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Attendance: 4,596 Referee: Anders Hermansen (Denmark)

Moldova  v  Israel

10 September 2008 20:30 UTC+3

Moldova	1–2	Israel
Picusceac  1'	Report	Golan  39' Saban  45'

Zimbru Stadium, Chişinău Attendance: 10,500 Referee: César Muñiz Fernández (Spain)

Latvia  v  Greece

10 September 2008 21:15 UTC+3

Latvia	0–2	Greece
	Report	Gekas  10', 49'

Skonto Stadions, Riga Attendance: 8,600 Referee: Tony Chapron (France)

Switzerland   v  Luxembourg

10 September 2008 20:30 UTC+2

Switzerland	1–2	Luxembourg
Nkufo  43'	Report	Strasser  27' A. Leweck  87'

Letzigrund, Zürich Attendance: 20,500 Referee: Dejan Filipovic (Serbia)

Switzerland   v  Latvia

11 October 2008 17:45 UTC+2

Switzerland	2–1	Latvia
Frei  63' Nkufo  73'	Report	Ivanovs  71'

AFG Arena, St. Gallen Attendance: 18,026 Referee: Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista (Portugal)

Luxembourg  v  Israel

11 October 2008 20:15 UTC+2

Luxembourg	1–3	Israel
Peters  14'	Report	Benayoun  2' (pen.) Golan  54' Tuama  81'

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Attendance: 3,562 Referee: Igor Egorov (Russia)

Greece  v  Moldova

11 October 2008 21:30 UTC+3

Greece	3–0	Moldova
Charisteas  31', 51' Katsouranis  40'	Report

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus Attendance: 13,684 Referee: Espen Berntsen (Norway)

Latvia  v  Israel

15 October 2008 19:00 UTC+3

Latvia	1–1	Israel
Koļesņičenko  89'	Report	Benayoun  50'

Skonto Stadions, Riga Attendance: 7,100 Referee: Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia)

Luxembourg  v  Moldova

15 October 2008 20:15 UTC+2

Luxembourg	0–0	Moldova
	Report

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Attendance: 2,157 Referee: Marcin Borski (Poland)

Greece  v   Switzerland

15 October 2008 21:30 UTC+3

Greece	1–2	Switzerland
Charisteas  68'	Report	Frei  42' (pen.) Nkufo  77'

Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus Attendance: 28,810 Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

Luxembourg  v  Latvia

28 March 2009 17:00 UTC+1

Luxembourg	0–4	Latvia
	Report	Karlsons  25' Cauņa  48' Višņakovs  71' Perepļotkins  86'

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Attendance: 2,516 Referee: Mark Whitby (Wales)

Moldova  v   Switzerland

28 March 2009 18:45 UTC+2

Moldova	0–2	Switzerland
	Report	Frei  32' Fernandes  90+3'

Zimbru Stadium, Chişinău Attendance: 10,500 Referee: Dougie McDonald (Scotland)

Israel  v  Greece

28 March 2009 21:00 UTC+2

Israel	1–1	Greece
Golan  55'	Report	Gekas  42'

Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan Attendance: 38,000 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Latvia  v  Luxembourg

1 April 2009 18:30 UTC+3

Latvia	2–0	Luxembourg
Žigajevs  44' Verpakovskis  76'	Report

Skonto Stadions, Riga Attendance: 6,700 Referee: Fırat Aydınus (Turkey)

Greece  v  Israel

1 April 2009 21:30 UTC+3

Greece	2–1	Israel
Salpingidis  32' Samaras  67' (pen.)	Report	Barda  60'

Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion Attendance: 22,794 Referee: Olegário Benquerença (Portugal)

Switzerland   v  Moldova

1 April 2009 20:30 UTC+2

Switzerland	2–0	Moldova
Nkufo  20' Frei  52'	Report

Stade de Genève, Geneva Attendance: 20,100 Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

Moldova  v  Luxembourg

5 September 2009 19:00 UTC+3

Moldova	0–0	Luxembourg
	Report

Zimbru Stadium, Chişinău Attendance: 7,820 Referee: Gediminas Mazeika (Lithuania)

Israel  v  Latvia

5 September 2009 21:00 UTC+3

Israel	0–1	Latvia
	Report	Gorkšs  59'

Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Knut Kircher (Germany)

Switzerland   v  Greece

5 September 2009 20:30 UTC+2

Switzerland	2–0	Greece
Grichting  84' Padalino  87'	Report

St. Jakob-Park, Basel Attendance: 38,500 Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

Israel  v  Luxembourg

9 September 2009 21:00 UTC+3

Israel	7–0	Luxembourg
Barda  9', 21', 43' Baruchyan  15' Golan  58' Sahar  62', 84'	Report

Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan Attendance: 7,038 Referee: Michael Svendsen (Denmark)

Latvia  v   Switzerland

9 September 2009 21:30 UTC+3

Latvia	2–2	Switzerland
Cauņa  62' Astafjevs  75'	Report	Frei  43' Derdiyok  80'

Skonto Stadions, Riga Attendance: 8,600 Referee: Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic)

Moldova  v  Greece

9 September 2009 21:30 UTC+3

Moldova	1–1	Greece
Andronic  90'	Report	Gekas  33'

Zimbru Stadium, Chişinău Attendance: 9,870 Referee: Daniel Stålhammar (Sweden)

Luxembourg  v   Switzerland

10 October 2009 17:45 UTC+2

Luxembourg	0–3	Switzerland
	Report	Senderos  6', 8' Huggel  22'

Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Attendance: 8,031 Referee: Eduardo Iturralde González (Spain)

Israel  v  Moldova

10 October 2009 21:00 UTC+2

Israel	3–1	Moldova
Barda  22', 70' Ben Dayan  65'	Report	Calincov  90+2'

Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan Attendance: 8,700 Referee: Kevin Blom (Netherlands)

Greece  v  Latvia

10 October 2009 21:30 UTC+3

Greece	5–2	Latvia
Gekas  4', 47' (pen.), 57', 90+1' Samaras  73'	Report	Verpakovskis  12', 40'

Olympic Stadium, Athens Attendance: 18,981 Referee: Tom Henning Øvrebø (Norway)

Greece  v  Luxembourg

14 October 2009 21:00 UTC+3

Greece	2–1	Luxembourg
Torosidis  30' Gekas  33'	Report	Papadopoulos  90' (o.g.)

Olympic Stadium, Athens Attendance: 13,932 Referee: Darko Čeferin (Slovenia)

Latvia  v  Moldova

14 October 2009 21:00 UTC+3

Latvia	3–2	Moldova
Rubins  32', 44' Grebis  76'	Report	Ovseannicov  25' Sofroni  90'

Skonto Stadions, Riga Attendance: 3,800 Referee: Jouni Hyytiä (Finland)

Switzerland   v  Israel

14 October 2009 20:00 UTC+2

Switzerland	0–0	Israel
	Report

St. Jakob-Park, Basel Attendance: 38,500 Referee: Alexandru Tudor (Romania)

Goalscorers

There were 86 goals scored during the 30 games, an average of 2.86 goals per game.

Pos	Player	Country	Goals
1	Theofanis Gekas	Greece	10
2	Elyaniv Barda	Israel	6
3	Alexander Frei	Switzerland	5
	Blaise Nkufo	Switzerland
5	Angelos Charisteas	Greece	4
	Omer Golan	Israel
7	Yossi Benayoun	Israel	3
	Ben Sahar	Israel
	Māris Verpakovskis	Latvia
10	Georgios Samaras	Greece	2
	Vasilis Torosidis	Greece
	Vitālijs Astafjevs	Latvia
	Aleksandrs Cauņa	Latvia
	Ģirts Karlsons	Latvia
	Andrejs Rubins	Latvia
	Philippe Senderos	Switzerland

1 goal

Greece Kostas Katsouranis Dimitris Salpingidis  Israel Aviram Baruchyan David Ben Dayan Klemi Saban Salim Tuama

Latvia Kaspars Gorkšs Kristaps Grebis Deniss Ivanovs Vladimirs Koļesņičenko Andrejs Perepļotkins Aleksejs Višņakovs Jurijs Žigajevs

Luxembourg Fons Leweck René Peters Jeff Strasser  Moldova Serghei Alexeev Valeriu Andronic Denis Calincov Gheorghe Ovseannicov Igor Picusceac Veaceslav Sofroni

Switzerland Eren Derdiyok Gelson Fernandes Stéphane Grichting Benjamin Huggel Marco Padalino Hakan Yakin Own goals Avraam Papadopoulos (for Luxembourg)

Attendances

Team	Highest	Lowest	Average
Greece	28,810	13,684	19,640
Israel	38,000	7,038	20,668
Latvia	8,600	3,600	6,960
Luxembourg	8,031	2,157	4,172
Moldova	10,500	4,300	8,598
Switzerland	38,500	18,026	27,125

References

1. ↑ Yossi Benayoun: 'We should qualify'
2. ↑ FIFA 2010: Discussions on fixture list falter
3. ↑ FIFA draw to decide order of World Cup qualifiers
4. ↑ Draw settles disputes FIFA

2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers
AFC	First round Second round Third round Fourth round Fifth round (play-off for 5th place)
CAF	First round Second round Third round Egypt v Algeria (Tiebreaking play-offs)
CONCACAF	First round Second round Third round Fourth round
CONMEBOL	Group round
OFC	First round (South Pacific Games) Second round (OFC Nations Cup)
UEFA	First round Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 Group 9 Second round (play-offs)
Play-offs	AFC v OFC CONCACAF v CONMEBOL