Football Notes: Japan First Team To Qualify For 2014 World Cup In Brazil

Asian champions Japan "became the first side to qualify for the World Cup finals in Brazil when playmaker Keisuke Honda scored an injury-time penalty to claim a 1-1 draw with Australia in Saitama on Tuesday" (REUTERS, 6/4). ... EPL Tottenham Hotspur player Andros Townsend "has been given a four-month ban from all football after breaching betting regulations." The winger has been fined £18,000 ($27,600) as a result while three months of his four-month ban have been suspended (ESPN, 6/4). ... One year after becoming CONCACAF president amid the most turbulent period in its history, Jeffery Webb said that "the confederation has already started to clean up its act and regain confidence after being brought to its knees by scandal and in-fighting" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 6/4).