Belgium qualify from Group H
●France held to goalless draw by minnows Luxembourg
Belgium became the first team from Europe (apart from hosts Russia) to qualify for next year’s finals when yesterday they beat Greece 2-1 in Athens to make sure of winning Group H.
Vertonghen 70, and Lukaku 75, were the Belgian scorers, while Zeca had temporarily equalised in the 73rd minute.
In this group, Bosnia beat Gibraltar 4-0 and are now occupying second place, one point above the Greeks.
Dzeko 2, Kodro and scored their four goals. Lulic
Sweden win comfortably in Belarus
Sweden took command temporarily of Group A ahead of France on goal difference thanks to a comfortable 4-0 win against home side Belarus.
Forsberg opened the score on 18 minutes. Nyman and Berg scored before the interval and captain Granqvist converted a late penalty for a convincing win.
But France went back on top England Slovakia Scotland Slovenia Lithuania Malta 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 5 3 3 1 0 2 0 2 2 2 0 0 14 2 17 2 13 4 15 2 12 10 11 2 6 4 11 4 614 5 7 219 0 later in the evening, despite being held to a goalless draw by minnows Luxembourg in Paris.
France now enjoy just a onepoint lead over Sweden with two matches remaining to be played.
The French enjoyed about 75 per cent possession, but they never managed to get past a stubborn Luxembourg rearguard.
Proepper scores twice in Dutch win
Davy Proepper scored twice yesterday as the Netherlands beat Bulgaria 3-1 in Group A to keep alive its hopes of qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Russia.
Dick Advocaat brought Proepper into his starting lineup to replace veteran Wesley Sneijder and the Brighton midfielder paid back his coach’s faith with his first two international goals.
Sweden beat Belarus 4-0 in Borisov to go temporarily top of the group on goal difference from France.
Proepper settled Dutch nerves by tapping in from close range in the 7th minute. Arjen Robben doubled the lead in the 67th minute with his 34th international goal.
Georgi Kostadinov pulled back a goal just two minutes later before Proepper sealed the win in Spain Italy Albania Israel Macedonia Liechtenstein the 80th. 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 5 4 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 24 3 19 1 18 7 16 3 9 8 12 4 9 13 9 5 913 6 7 126 0
Croatia back on top of Group I
Domagoj Vida scored in the second half to put Croatia back on top of Group I in World Cup qualifying with a 1-0 win yesterday against Kosovo.
Vida headed in the 74thminute winner from Luka Modric’s free kick after Kosovo had managed to frustrate the group favourites.
Croatia’s game against Kosovo was called off due to a torrential downpour in the first half on Saturday. The match resumed yesterday on 21 minutes at 0-0.
Croatia now leads the group with 16 points, two ahead of Ukraine. Iceland is third on 13 points and Turkey has 11. Finland (4) and Kosovo (1) are at the bottom.
Switzerland maintain perfect record
Switzerland, like Germany, maintained their perfect record – eight wins from eight matches as they overcame Latvia 3-0 in Vilnius.
But they still have to wait as Portugal also won at Hungary 1-0 to remain firmly in contention.
Seferovic, Dzemaili and Rodriguez were the Swiss scorers.
A. Silva was Portugal’s match winner in Budapest. Belgium Bosnia Greece Cyprus Estonia Gibraltar 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 4 3 3 2 0 1 2 4 1 2 0 0 35 3 22 2 19 8 14 1 11 5 13 4 8 12 10 4 617 8 8 337 0 Croatia Ukraine Iceland Turkey Finland Kosovo P W D 7 5 1 7 4 2 7 4 1 7 3 2 7 1 1 7 0 1 L F A Pts 1 12 2 16 1 11 5 14 1 9 7 13 2 11 8 11 5 510 4 6 319 1