While Cristiano Ronaldo was becoming the subject of an £80million bid, his team-mates Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez were bringing their 2008/09 campaigns to contrasting ends with their countries.
Rooney described the season as his "best with England" after scoring two of their six goals against Andorra on Wednesday night. He has now scored 24 times for the national team, the same number as Sir Geoff Hurst - legendary hat-trick hero in the 1966 World Cup final - and almost half of Sir Bobby Charlton's record haul of 49.
"I have been delighted with the way the scoring has gone for me in the last few games," said Rooney, after 10 goals in seven England matches this season.
"I've never based my game on goals alone - I love playing and getting on the ball and getting involved in the game. I am doing that, and the goals are coming on top of that as well. Hopefully the goals will continue but we are performing as a team and I believe we have one foot in the World Cup finals."
Carlos Tevez's bid to reach the finals suffered a blow, however, when Argentina lost 2-0 in Ecuador.
The United striker missed a first-half penalty at 0-0; the hosts won with two late goals after Tevez was substituted in the 67th minute.
Argentina are now only two points ahead of their conquerors in the qualifying stakes and they have a tough game to come next against Brazil. The latter defeated Paraguay 2-1 without the services of United midfielder Anderson - if they beat Tevez's team in Buenos Aires in September, Brazil will book their place at South Africa 2010.
Korea Republic were already through prior to Wednesday's 0-0 draw at home to Saudi Arabia, in which Ji-sung Park played another full match as captain.
Serbia are almost there after winning 2-0 away to the Faroe Islands - Nemanja Vidic was only a spectator, however, following his injury at the weekend.
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