© EuroFootball.com
Yesterday (October 13th, Wednesday) the 2006 World Cup qualification matches took place in the European zone.
As you already know very well, the Lithuanian national team played a draw at home with the Spanish representative team, while in the other 7 group matches, the Serbian and Montenegrin team at home crushed San Marino 5-0 and with seven points became the leader of the group.
In the first group, the Netherlands and Czech Republic returned to the path of victories, beating Finland and Armenia respectively. However, the Finns, along with the Romanians, continue to lead the group. Meanwhile, the Andorran team won their first victory in official matches, narrowly defeating Macedonia by one goal.
In the second group, Ukraine jumped into the first position by defeating Georgia, while Denmark and Turkey played a draw, and Albania managed to secure their second victory.
In the Baltic derby, the Latvians failed to beat their neighbor Estonia, while Liechtenstein, after miraculous draws with the Portuguese, crushed another football "minnow" Luxembourg away and have already collected four points in the group. Meanwhile, the Portuguese, after shameful draws, concentrated and at home did not spare injuries and illnesses to sparse Russians, crushing them by 7-1.
France's national team won their first victory in the group after two consecutive draws, defeating Cyprus 2-0 away. Despite this, Ireland leads the group after easily defeating the Faroe Islands.
Although G. Buffon promised an easy victory against the Belarusians, the Italians were only able to win after a goal fiesta with a score of 4-3. However, that was enough for them to jump into first place, as Norway unexpectedly easily defeated Slovenia. Scotland's failures continue - this time they failed to beat Moldova.
England won a difficult victory by a minimal difference in Azerbaijan, while Poland snatched a victory in the match against Wales. The match between Northern Ireland and Austria ended in a goal-filled draw.
In the eighth group, Sweden and Bulgaria won victories by the same score of 4-1, although this was the third victory for the former and Bulgarians, along with Croatia, have two wins each.
All results:
Group I Andorra 1 - 0 Macedonia Armenia 0 - 3 Czech Republic Netherlands 3 - 1 Finland
Standings: (Position, team, wins, draws, losses, goals, points) 1. Romania 3 0 1 9-4 9 2. Finland 3 0 2 10-3 9 3. Netherlands 2 1 0 7-2 7 4. Czech Republic 2 0 1 4-2 6 5. Macedonia 1 1 2 6-5 4 6. Andorra 1 0 2 2-8 3 7. Armenia 0 0 4 1-11 0
Group II Kazakhstan 0 - 1 Albania Ukraine 2 - 0 Georgia Denmark 1 - 1 Turkey
Standings: 1. Ukraine 2 2 0 6-3 8 2. Turkey 1 3 0 6-2 6 3. Albania 2 0 2 3-5 6 4. Denmark 1 2 0 4-2 5 5. Georgia 1 1 1 3-3 4 6. Greece 0 2 1 2-3 2 7. Kazakhstan 0 0 3 1-7 0
Group III Latvia 2 - 2 Estonia Luxembourg 0 - 4 Liechtenstein Portugal 7 - 1 Russia
Standings: 1. Portugal 3 1 0 15-2 10 2. Slovakia 3 1 0 15-3 10 3. Estonia 2 1 1 8-7 7 4. Russia 1 1 1 6-8 4 5. Latvia 1 1 2 7-11 4 6. Liechtenstein 1 1 2 7-11 4 7. Luxembourg 0 0 5 4-19 0
Group IV Ireland 2 - 0 Faroe Islands Cyprus 0 - 2 France
Standings: 1. Ireland 2 2 0 6-1 8 2. France 2 2 0 4-0 8 3. Switzerland 1 2 0 9-3 5 4. Israel 1 2 0 4-3 5 5. Cyprus 0 1 3 3-9 1 6. Faroe Islands 0 1 3 2-12 1
Group V Norway 3 - 0 Slovenia Moldova 1 - 1 Scotland Italy 4 - 3 Belarus
Standings: 1. Italy 3 0 1 7-5 9 2. Norway 2 1 1 6-3 7 3. Slovenia 2 1 1 4-3 7 4. Belarus 1 1 1 8-5 4 5. Scotland 0 2 1 1-2 2 6. Moldova 0 1 3 1-9 1
Group VI Azerbaijan 0 - 1 England Northern Ireland 3 - 3 Austria Wales 2 - 3 Poland
Standings: 1. England 3 1 0 7-3 10 2. Poland 3 0 1 10-3 9 3. Austria 1 2 1 8-8 5 4. Northern Ireland 0 3 1 5-8 3 5. Wales 0 2 2 5-8 2 5. Azerbaijan 0 2 2 1-4 2
Group VII Serbia and Montenegro 5 - 0 San Marino Lithuania 0 - 0 Spain
Standings: 1. Serbia and Montenegro 2 1 0 8-0 7 2. Lithuania 1 2 0 5-1 5 3. Spain 1 2 0 3-1 5 4. Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 2 0 1-1 2 5. Belgium 0 1 1 1-3 1 6. San Marino 0 0 3 0-12 0
Group VIII Bulgaria 4 - 1 Malta Iceland 1 - 4 Sweden
Standings: 1. Sweden 3 0 1 14-1 9 2. Bulgaria 2 1 0 9-4 7 3. Croatia 2 1 0 6-2 7 4. Hungary 1 0 2 3-8 3 5. Iceland 0 1 3 4-10 1 6. Malta 0 1 2 1-11 1
