Ilicic keeps Lions in sight
SLOVENIA took advantage of Scotland’s late slip at Hampden to extend their lead over Gordon Strachan’s side in third place to three points with a 2-0 victory over Malta in Ljubljana.
Fiorentina’s Josip Ilicic opened the scoring for Srecko Katanec’s side on the stroke of half-time with a fine curling effort that gave keeper Andrew Hogg no chance in the Malta goal.
Six minutes from time, Ilicic turned provider for Milivoje Novakovic, the former Slovenia captain, to score his 32nd international goal on what was the Maribor striker’s 80th and final appearance for his country.
The win also allowed Slovenia to close the gap on England at the top of Group F to three points and afterwards Katanec said he was confident that his players could secure at least a play-off berth for World Cup 2018.
“We were the much better team,” he said. “Our guys took the match very seriously, they played from the first to the last minute and deserved to win. Malta was, in the eyes of many people easy, but it was not so easy. Such matches can be very dangerous. My boys have played the way I wanted them to. Now I am confident that we will be [at least] in the last game for second place and [possible] qualification.”
Asked about events at Hampden Park and his side’s 1-0 defeat there in the previous round of qualifiers, Katanec said: “Well, now you see that Scotland is not as bad as you thought. When we lost 1-0, it was a disaster. Today England prevented defeat at the last second.”
Meanwhile, in Group B Northern Ireland’s spirit once again came to the fore for manager Michael O’Neill as his understrength and undercooked side claimed a dramatic 1-0 success over Azerbaijan.
Stuart Dallas’ first competitive international goal in the second minute of stoppage time earned the Northern Irish all three World Cup qualifying points when it looked like they would be fortunate to escape the stifling Baku heat with a draw.
Already missing eight of their players from last summer’s Euros due to injury, retirement and, in Conor Washington’s case, a wedding, Gareth McAuley’s first-half withdrawal because of a thigh problem further depleted a team that were relieved that both Ramil Sheydayev and Afran Ismayilov blasted over from great openings.
O’Neill’s side hung on, though, and when Jonny Evans’ brilliant pass found Dallas inside the penalty area late on, the Leeds winger smashed in the winner to keep Northern Ireland second in Group C and on track to reach Russia next year.
“This was the most difficult game that we could have had on the 10th of June in Baku but it has been very difficult because of the conditions and with the players’ seasons being finished,” O’Neill said. “I think the spirit was everything tonight. Three, four years ago we would have lost this game 1-0 and people would not be surprised by that.
“We have eight players missing from the squad in France and losing McAuley was a big blow. The result tonight is testament to the spirit that is in the team. It was an extremely tough game, as we knew it would be against a very tough team. This team are a very good team.
“We stayed in the game, fought hard and we got a lucky break to win the game but it was a difficult game for us, with the conditions and also with a number of our players who have not played for nearly six weeks. We knew it would be difficult but we’re grateful to get the result and I can understand Azerbaijan’s frustration.
“Jonny and Aaron [Hughes] were excellent at centre-back and for Jonny to find that composure in the box... Stuart did a huge amount of work in the game and showed great quality to finish as he did.”