© EuroFootball.com
22 matches were played in the qualification round of the 2006 World Cup in the European zone, during which no particularly unexpected results were recorded, but many favorites had to work harder.
The most interesting match took place in Amsterdam, where two Euro-2004 semi-finalists and old rivals - the Netherlands and the Czech Republic - met. Although the latter had not lost their last three meetings, this time they had to give way to the legendary Marco Van Basten's trained Dutch team.
Away matches were tough for the outsiders for the French and Italians, but they still managed to defeat the Faroe Islands and Moldova respectively. England returned to the path of victory after a win against Poland, and the matches between Greece and Turkey ended goalless.
The Estonians managed to hold off Portugal for 75 minutes, but later conceded 4 goals and were defeated. Latvia barely managed to beat Luxembourg in a downpour of goals. Slovakia, Lithuania, and Romania also won games with a large margin, while four matches ended in a draw.
Croatia provided slight surprises by defeating Sweden away, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, who held off Spain, and Hungary, who beat Iceland; Ukraine had to score a goal in the last minute to win against Kazakhstan.
Albania fell to Georgia after their victory against the European champions. Austria and Finland also won against Azerbaijan and Armenia respectively by the same margin.
Also, a set of friendly matches were played. The 2002 World Cup final repeat happened - the vice-champion Germany faced the current champion Brazil. The match ended in a draw after goals from Ronaldinho and Kevin Kuranyi.
Results of Wednesday's matches:
Group 1
Andorra 1 - 5 Romania
Armenia 0 - 2 Finland
Netherlands 2 - 0 Czech Republic
Group 2
Kazakhstan 1 - 2 Ukraine
Georgia 2 - 0 Albania
Greece 0 - 0 Turkey
Group 3
Luxembourg 3 - 4 Latvia
Slovakia 7 - 0 Liechtenstein
Portugal 4 - 0 Estonia
Group 4
Faroe Islands 0 - 2 France
Israel 2 - 1 Cyprus
Switzerland 1 - 1 Ireland
Group 5
Norway 1 - 1 Belarus
Moldova 0 - 1 Italy
Scotland 0 - 0 Slovenia
Group 6
Austria 2 - 0 Azerbaijan
Poland 1 - 2 England
Wales 2 - 2 Northern Ireland
Group 7
Lithuania 4 - 0 San Marino
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 - 1 Spain
Group 8
Sweden 0 - 1 Croatia
Hungary 3 - 2 Iceland
Friendly matches
Germany 1 - 1 Brazil
