World Cup qualifiers: 10 talking points from the weekend's action

1) England would have done well to rest Welbeck

It is extremely easy sometimes in football to be wise after the event, but one question nonetheless: why did Roy Hodgson take a chance with Daniel Welbeck when he was on a booking? Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Moldova were such feeble opponents surely Hodgson could have played, say, Ashley Young, as a precautionary measure. England were always going to win with something to spare and Hodgson has said several times that he regards Ukraine as the key fixture in Group H. The England manager said Welbeck's booking and subsequent suspension had "overshadowed" the win but, with Wayne Rooney, Andy Carroll and Daniel Sturridge injured (and the FA knew there was almost no chance of Sturridge making it), it seemed a needless risk in the first place. Daniel Taylor

2) Gordon Strachan needs to do some tactical tweaking

Gordon Strachan is unwilling to tamper with Scotland's adopted tactical approach of using a single striker but the time has come for an alternative. The Scots failed to score against Belgium on Friday and have scored only four goals in eight World Cup qualifying games – the same as Azerbaijan– and have been shockingly blunt, particularly in home fixtures. If that goals-for figure doesn't scream out that a change of approach is necessary, the proven ability of Leigh Griffiths to score in alternative environments should do. He should be handed Steven Fletcher for forward company on a regular basis. Scotland have nothing to lose. Ewan Murray

3) The end is nigh for Trapattoni

The headlines have been prepped. Goodnight Vienna. Trapattoni's Last Waltz. After five-and-a-half years, the end is upon Giovanni Trapattoni and if his Republic of Ireland team fail against Austria on Tuesday, the Football Association of Ireland will be under pressure to fire him immediately. The manager says his contract runs until next June and that he will leave then, but the FAI might wonder whether it ought to reach a settlement with him, together with his assistant Marco Tardelli and the fitness coach Fausto Rossi, as Ireland would surely suffer poor home attendances (and receipts) if he remained in charge for meaningless matches. Trapattoni says that he will not resign.

The 2-1 home defeat to Sweden last Friday was deeply disappointing and it means that Ireland have to win in Vienna to stay alive. The talk has already turned to Trapattoni's successor (Martin O'Neill and Mick McCarthy are candidates) but the 74-year-old continues to show his composure and dignity. Ireland need a miracle to get back on track for Brazil. It would be some story if Trapattoni could provide it. David Hytner

4) Blue Sharks know how to bite

In total, 72 nations have either already qualified or remain in contention for qualification, of which the smallest, in terms of population, is Iceland. The most unlikely, though, is Cape Verde, the world's 172nd-largest nation. Proving that their run to the African Cup of Nations quarter-finals this year was no fluke, they travelled to the four-time qualifiers Tunisia, who needed only a draw to secure their own place in the African play-offs, and showcased their smart counterattacking credentials in winning 2-0.

For the second time this year a Tunisian coach resigned in ignominy – Nabil Maaloul, who replaced Sami Trabelsi after the nation's dismal showing at the continental competition in South Africa in February, admitted that Cape Verde "played better than us" and that it had been "my final game as national coach".

The Blue Sharks goal were scored by the striker Nhuk, and the attacking midfielder Platini (not that one). Cape Verde are one of three potential first-time qualifiers still involved in Africa, alongside Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, and their chances of reaching Brazil are radically improved by the fact that thanks to their fine recent form (and Mali's absence) they will be seeded in next Monday's play-off draw.

While that leaves open the possibility of them playing either the Walya Antelopes or The Stallions and guaranteeing the presence of an African debutant in Brazil, they could also be matched with Egypt, Senegal or Cameroon. It's not a bad rise for a team that Fifa ranked 112th in the world exactly four years ago; in the latest table they are 36th. Simon Burnton

5) Luis Suárez hasn't lost his touch

With their star striker still consigned to the Anfield naughty step, Liverpool fans will have been monitoring proceedings in Lima with interest to see if Luis Suárez has summered well and is still the player they remember from last season. They need not have been concerned. Around the 40-minute mark, Suárez flung himself to the ground in the Peru penalty area under minimal contact from Christian Ramos to earn a penalty for Uruguay. Four minutes later he did much the same inside his own half following a coming-together with Victor Yotún, who was sent off for his troubles. He scored a couple of goals too, but … meh. Barry Glendenning

6) The last remaining 100% record

Holland needed Robin van Persie's 93rd-minute penalty to salvage a draw in Estonia on Friday, leaving only one team with a 100% record in 2014 World Cup qualifying. That team is Egypt, hoping to qualify for their first World Cup since 1990, who are already certain to top their group with one game remaining. That match, against a Guinea side that will end Group G in second place whatever happens, will be held behind closed doors in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna on Tuesday, whereupon the home side will hotfoot it down the road (a long road) to Luxor, where the draw to pair the 10 African group winners for home-and-away play-offs takes place next Monday.

Among Africa's losers over the weekend were South Africa, who having been eliminated in June, then reprieved because of an ineligible player fielded by Ethiopia in a qualifier against Botswana, were re-eliminated – potential undiscovered Ethiopian administrative howlers notwithstanding – making them the first World Cup hosts to miss out on the following tournament since Mexico failed to reach Italia 90. SB

7) The Mexican malaise worsens

Talking of Mexico, having reached the knock-out stages of six of the last seven World Cups El Tri are in increasingly grave danger of missing out again, after somehow turning a sixth-minute opener and 64% of possession into a 2-1 home defeat to Honduras on Friday. The Concacaf qualifying process doesn't exactly make life difficult for the big sides – the top three of the six-team fourth-round group stage all qualify automatically, and the fourth faces a two-leg play-off against New Zealand – but it remains feasible that Panama and Honduras, who play each other in Tegucigalpa on Tuesday, will force the Mexicans into the ignominy of fifth place.

The last time they failed to qualify – discounting 1990, when they were banned from the qualifying tournament for fielding an overage player in an Olympic match – was way back in 1982, when Concacaf had only two places. But unless their new coach (José Manuel de la Torre, who has overseen this sorry shambles, got the boot after the Honduras defeat with the London-Olympic-gold-securing Luis Fernando Tena replacing him) can conjure a huge turnaround in their fortunes, the Mexicans will consider themselves exceedingly fortunate if they get an excuse – other than holidaymaking – to book a November flight to Auckland.

Mexico's last three games include visits to the top two teams, USA and Costa Rica, and a must-win home match against Panama. It is their home form that is of most concern: for all that Friday's humiliation was just a second defeat in the last 78 qualifying matches on Mexican soil, it was preceded by three successive goalless draws. Carlos Costly, scorer of the Hondurans' winner, admitted that he wept after the goal went in – "because it was so important to win here, and we had never achieved it before".

If El Tri lose again in their next game, on Tuesday in Columbus, US – where they have gone down 2-0 in each of their last three visits – there will be more tears in Mexico City for sure. SB

8) Colombia are a shrewd investment

A rain delay and half-time floodlight failure at the Estadio Metropolitano in Barranquilla failed to knock Colombia off their stride as they scored the only goal of a tight contest against Ecuador courtesy of James Rodríguez. The Monaco striker fired home his winner moments after Ecuador had been reduced to 10 men, when Gabriel Achilier was dismissed for a professional foul. Ecuadorian misery was compounded when the captain Walter Ayovi missed a penalty on 61 minutes.

The result leaves José Pekerman's side second behind Argentina in South American qualifying and guaranteed a play-off place at the very least, and considering they haven't conceded at their Barranquilla fortress in over 457 minutes, they look set fair to qualify for their first World Cup finals since 1998.

Boasting the most parsimonious defence in the group having conceded just seven goals in 13 matches, Colombia, with 22 goals in the goals-for column, are one of just three teams to have scored more than 20 goals (Argentina and Chile are the others). Available at a best-priced 27-1 to win World Cup 2014, backing them to win with a view to hedging later in the tournament looks a decent investment (the intervention of drug cartels, à la 1994, permitting), not least because their lofty standings in the world ranking ought to ensure they are seeded in the draw for the group stages. BG

9) Costa Ricans are grudge-bearers supreme

Back in March the US played Costa Rica in Colorado. Snow fell – a lot of it – and Clint Dempsey scored the only goal in the 16th minute. To suggest that Los Ticos, who also had a 70th-minute equaliser disallowed for a marginal offside, weren't best pleased about the playing conditions would be an understatement. "It was an embarrassment to football, disrespectful to the game," their manager, Jorge Luis Pinto, said. The midfielder Christian Bolanos said the result "was robbery, a disgrace". Dempsey admitted that "it was difficult to see anything", while DaMarcus Beasley said he had "played in snow in Germany and Holland, but never like that, in a blizzard". In stoppage time Geoff Cameron helped a groundsman shovel snow away from the pitch markings.

The Costa Rican football association went as far as appealing the result to Fifa, saying the "physical integrity" of their players and officials had been compromised. Fifa rejected the appeal on the grounds that it had been filed a bit late.

So when the US team arrived for the return fixture, they found a nation that had saved up sixth months' worth of bile just for them. Most visiting teams get whisked through customs in privacy; the Americans were forced through the most public areas of the airport, all of them filled with bellowing locals. Then security staff stood aside as their coach was pelted with eggs. "It was a good welcome," said Tim Howard. "It was kind of fun. We don't always have that reception. It's cool."

Eventually they were able to head off to their training base. Talking of which, the local FA had given them a shortlist of three possible locations; all three refused the Americans' booking, and they ended up using a farm. Press conferences were interrupted by an air-horn-wielding man in a cow suit. The US asked to train with the same kind of ball that would be used in the match, and were refused. There was talk that taxi drivers would weave in front of the team coach as it headed to the stadium, slowing it down.

And then, the match. The Costa Rican newspaper Al Dia – not related to George Weah's famous Southampton-conning 'cousin' – measured the crowd volume at 96.08 decibels, something akin to standing on the front row at a Rammstein concert, and the USA were rocked. Johnny Acosta, Celso Borges and Joel Campbell scored, while they had only Clint Dempsey's penalty for consolation. USA's record-breaking 12-match winning streak was over. If Costa Rica beat bottom-of-the-table Jamaica on Tuesday, and Mexico fail to do the same in the States, Los Ticos will have qualified for Brazil. For all the March madness, it certainly looks like they will not be out in the cold next summer. SB

10) The French are not to be trusted

International weekend: a punter's benefit: Spain to beat Finland? Tick. Germany to beat Austria? Tick. Belgium to beat Scotland? Tick. Portugal to beat Norn Iron? Tick. Sweden to beat Ireland. Tick. Italy to beat Bulgaria? Tick. Kazakhstan to beat Faroe Islands? Tick. England to beat Moldova? Tick. Cameroon to beat Libya? Tick. Togo to beat DR Congo. A big accumulator worth £300+ and easy money! France to beat Georgia? Nope. Thanks France! Surrender monkeys. BG