November 2007 in Football

This is the first in a series of articles I plan to write reviewing each month in the world of football. I'll provide a quick snapshot of titles won, teams promoted and relegated, big matches played and other important events in our beloved game. Just a very simple look back before we plow ahead.

São Paulo won their second consecutive championship in Brazil, eventually finishing a massive 15 points ahead of second place Santos. They have now won five titles, more than any other club in the country. América de Natal, Paraná, Juventude and (shockingly) Corinthians were relegated to Série B. Their places at the top will be taken by Coritiba, Ipatinga, Portuguesa and Vitória.

The Houston Dynamo won their 2nd consecutive title in MLS by defeating the New England Revolution 2-1 in the 2007 MLS Cup final in Washington, DC. Goals from Joseph Ngwenya and Dwayne De Rosario overcame Taylor Twellman's opener for the Revs. While the orange-clad fans from Texas will be celebrating for many months, it was another bitter defeat for the team from Boston. The Revs have now lost three straight MLS Cup finals and four of the last six.

Zenit finally won their first title in the Russian Premier League, holding their nerve down the stretch to outlast both Spartak and FC Moscow. The club from St Petersburg last won a league title in 1984 in the old Soviet League. They still remain streets behind Spartak in the overall title list however - Spartak have 9 with CSKA a distant second at 3. FK Rostov and Kuban Krasnodar are relegated while Shinnik Yaroslavl and Terek Grozny go in the opposite direction.

Drogheda United won their first League of Ireland title, finishing seven points clear of St Patrick's Athletic. Longford Town and Waterford United are relegated to the First Division while Cobh Ramblers and Finn Harps will be playing top-tier football in 2008.

Qualification for the 2008 European Championship came to a conclusion and, with one glaring exception, there were few surprises in the final list of party invitees. England lost 3-2 at home to an already-qualified Croatia in their final match and will thus be watching the tournament from home. Turkey won 2-1 at Norway in the penultimate qualifier to steal a spot from the Scandanavians and Scotland's excellent qualifying run ultimately came up short after a 1-2 home loss to Italy.

The draw for the finals went like this:

A - Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey
B - Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland
C - Holland, Italy, France, Romania
D - Greece, Spain, Sweden, Russia

The draw for 2010 World Cup qualifying was held in South Africa, though matches are well underway on several continents. In South America, Paraguay are off to a great start, earning 3-0 and 5-1 wins in the month of November over Chile and Ecuador respectively. Brazil were surprisingly held 1-1 at Peru while Argentina fell 2-1 at Colombia. A second round of matches took place in Asia, with Thailand, Singapore, Syria and Turkmenistan advancing to the third round in 2008. Things are off and running in Oceania as well as New Zealand recorded a pair of November wins to pull clear atop the final qualifying round in that confederation.

The complete list can be seen here. 

Club championship tournaments in both Africa and Asia were concluded in the month of November, with new names being written on the trophies on both continents. Al-Ahly were gunning for a record third straight African Champions League final but failed in that attempt, going down 3-1 at home in the second leg to Tunisians Etoile du Sahel after a 0-0 draw in the first leg. Meanwhile, Japanese giants Urawa Red Diamonds overcame Iranian club Sepahan 3-1 on aggregate to claim their first Asian Champions League title.