Five Advance, Colombia Eliminated

NEW YORK -- Five nations clinched places in the second round of the World Cup in weekend matches.On Sunday, Romania and Switzerland joined the growing band of teams already sure of berths. Colombia was eliminated despite winning and a U.S. defeat means the host nation must wait to see how other results affect its chances. A strong showing by the Belgian side in their Saturday defeat of the Netherlands, and Argentina's victory over Nigeria assured both teams a spot in the next round. In a Friday match, heavily favored Brazil clobbered Cameroon 3-0 to march on to the next level.Eleven teams are still to qualify for the second round of 16 teams to start Saturday.Romania 1, U.S. 0. Playing disciplined, defensive football, the Romanians won Sunday with a 17th minute goal scored by defender Dan Petrescu that snaked into a narrow gap between Tony Meola and his near post. The defeat deflated a capacity, sun-drenched crowd and was never in much doubt against an American team that struggled to find a way through the Romanians' tightly knit defense. Petrescu's goal came after Florin Raducioiu split the American defense with a finely weighted ball that Petrescu fired diagonally past Meola into the far corner of the net. The nearest the hosts came to scoring was when John Harkes hit the post from 18 meters out after eight minutes.Colombia 2, Switzerland 0. Midfielder Herman Gaviria scored Sunday with a close-range header just before the end of a first half which the Colombians dominated with their immense skill and delightful approach work. Substitute Harold Lozano sealed victory with a second goal in the final minute, but the victory was not enough to stave off elimination for the Colombians after two shock defeats in their earlier matches. The Swiss went through to the next round for the first time for 40 years, thanks to a draw and a victory in their first two matches. Bulgaria 4, Greece 0. Two penalty goals by ace striker Hristo Stoichkov helped Bulgaria to a stunning win over Balkan neighbor Greece on Sunday and finally ended the side's winless streak in five World Cups. Bulgaria held tight control over what was for the most part a tough and physical game, although one with little sparkle. A total of eight yellow cards, four for each side, were shown. Belgium 1, Netherlands 0. Belgian defender Philippe Albert pounced in the 66th minute to give his side a goal.Marc Degryse, scorer of last Sunday's winner against Morocco, took a corner on the left which was headed on for Albert to hook home from inside the penalty area. The match could have gone either way, with goal chances galore and no quarter given -- far from the stalemate some had feared for a result damaging neither side's further ambitions. Argentina 2, Nigeria 1. Winger Claudio Caniggia, recently back from a 13-month drug ban, scored twice in seven minutes as Argentina came from behind to beat Nigeria on Saturday. The win assured the 1990 beaten finalists a place in the second round. In the 22nd minute Diego Maradona back-heeled a free kick to Gabriel Batistuta whose fierce drive from 30 meters was parried by goalkeeper Peter Rufai and Caniggia nipped in to whip the ball home. Maradona was involved again in the second goal. His free kick on the left sent Caniggia through to curl a brilliant shot past Rufai into the top corner of the net. Nigeria had made a superb start with a well-worked ninth minute goal by midfielder Samson Siasia. Saudi Arabia 2, Morocco 1. Midfielder Fuad Anwar Amin blasted the decisive goal in the 45th minute, his long-range shot swerving past surprised Moroccan goalkeeper Khalil Azmi on Saturday. The Saudis had previously taken a seventh-minute lead. Speedy striker Sami al-Jaber was brought down by Moroccan stopper Nourredine Naybet and got up to convert the penalty himself. Brazil 3, Cameroon 0. After a cautious start, the Brazilians turned on the style Friday with a display of fluent and skillful soccer which tore the Cameroon defense to tatters after defender Rigabert Song, 17, was sent off for a scything second-half tackle on Rai. Romario scored in the 29th minute, and defender Marcio Santos added the second in the 66th minute. Bebeto scored the third goal from a narrow angle in the 73rd minute after Romario's shot was blocked and fell free to him. (AP, Reuters)