Löw: Spain will certainly be in World Cup

German national team manager, Joachim Löw has no doubt that Spain will qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, despite their misstep last Friday evening where they were held to a 1-1 draw against Finland, the worst team in their group.

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In an interview with French sports daily, L’Equipe, Löw admitted that ‘La Roja’ will face a difficult challenge in Tuesday evening’s qualifier against France, but has no doubt that they will be in Brazil in 2014.



“Spain are under pressure, but will most certainly be in the World Cup.



“The will immediately correct the situation, and if they are not in the top of the group and are to play in the playoffs, they will advance. When Spain really need to, they always know when to play with class.”



Germany will also be in 2014 World Cup qualifying action on Tuesday evening, as they face Kazakhstan, whom they beat 0-3 last Friday evening.

England on the slide in latest FIFA rankings

England have dropped two places to fifth in the latest FIFA rankings, with Spain remaining top of the pile for another month.



Roy Hodgson's side beat Moldova 5-0 away from home before drawing 1-1 to Ukraine at Wembley in their opening two World Cup qualifiers last month.

As a result they have slipped behind Portugal and Argentina in the rankings. Scotland and Wales drop to 56th and 57th respectively, while Northern Ireland rise 12 places to 117th. Ireland are 28th, down two.

Colombia leapt into the top 10 for the first time in 10 years on Wednesday, while Brazil dropped to a record low despite winning three games in the last month.

Colombia, under Argentina's 2006 World Cup coach Jose Pekerman and spearheaded by Atletico Madrid forward Radamel Falcao, enjoyed a 4-0 win over Uruguay and 3-1 win in Chile in last month's World Cup qualifiers.

Those results catapulted the South Americans, who last qualified for the World Cup in 1998, 13 places up the table to ninth.

2014 World Cup hosts Brazil have not played a competitive match since last year's Copa America and, as friendlies carry less weight in the complex ranking system, they have dropped down the table as a result.

Despite beating South Africa 1-0, China 8-0 and Argentina 2-1 last month, Mano Menezes's side slipped to 14th in the table.

World and European champions Spain stayed top, ahead of Germany, while Portugal moved into third place.

Central African Republic, in 49th place, climbed for the seventh month in a row to enter the top 50 for the first time since the rankings began.



Top 10:

1. (1) Spain

2. (2) Germany

3. (4) Portugal

4. (7) Argentina

5. (3) England

6. (8) Netherlands

7. (5) Uruguay

8. (6) Italy

9. (22) Colombia

10. (11) Greece

Spain leave it late; Germany win

A review of the rest of Tuesday night's World Cup qualifying campaign, including wins for Spain and Germany.



Roberto Soldado's 86th-minute winner saved Spain from an embarrassing goalless draw with Georgia in the opening match of their World Cup qualifying campaign.



The Valencia striker, starting for the world champions ahead of Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres, swept the ball home following a short corner to spare the visitors' blushes.



Soldado was the only change to the side that started the Euro 2012 final victory over Italy, but Vicente del Bosque's side were far from at their slick best and almost went behind when Alexander Amisulashvili struck a post.



France topped Spain's Group I after making it two wins out of two with a 3-1 triumph over Belarus.



Etienne Capoue put Didier Deschamps side in front early in the second half and Christophe Jallet added a second.



Les Bleus had a scare when Sergey Kornilenko missed a penalty and Anton Putsila did score a minute later, but Franck Ribery settled the nerves 10 minutes from time.



Germany continued their 100% start to Group C with a 2-1 win in Austria.



Goals from Marco Reus and a Mesut Ozil penalty either side of half-time had Joachim Low's side in control, Zlatko Junuzovic pulling one back for the hosts.



Sweden won their opening game 2-0 at home to Kazakhstan, Rasmus Elm and Marcus Berg on target.



Italy got their first win in Group B with a 2-0 success over Malta.



After a 2-2 draw with Bulgaria in their opener, goals at either end of the match from Mattia Destro and Federico Peluso gave the hosts three points.



Bulgaria joined them on four points after a bad-tempered 1-0 win over Armenia.



Stanislav Manolev scored the winner, but the highlight of the second half was a flurry of red cards, Bulgaria's Svetoslav Dyakov and Armenia's Marcos Pizelli and Gevorg Ghazaryan all sent off.



Holland, so poor in the European Championship, won 4-1 in Hungary to get their second win in Group D.



Jeremain Lens' early opener was quickly cancelled out by a penalty from Balazs Dzsudzsak, but Bruno Martins Indi scored to give the Dutch a 2-1 half-time lead.



Lens with his second and Klaas Jan Huntelaar struck it the second half to ensure a convincing win.



Romania joined them on top of the group after a 4-0 win at home to Andorra, Gabriel Torje, Costin Lazar, Valerica Gaman and Alexandru Maxim on target.



Turkey were 3-0 winners over 10-man Estonia, the goals from Emre Belozoglu, Umut Bulut and Selcuk Inan. Enar Jaager was sent off for the visitors after 19 minutes.



Portugal scored three times in the last 30 minutes to beat Azerbaijan 3-0 Tuesday for its second straight win in World Cup qualifying.



Substitute Silvestre Varela scored with his first touch of the game in the 63rd minute, Ronaldo was also involved in second goal five minutes from the end and Bruno Alves headed in four minutes later as Portugal's misfiring attack found its touch after hitting the woodwork four times in a game it dominated.