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On Wednesday (11.17), the World Cup qualifying stage, European zone matches were played, while teams with a free day played friendly matches. Unexpected results could be called the draw of Georgia at home against the powerful Danish national team, the easy victory of Ukrainians away against the Turks, and the draw of the Romanian national team away against Armenia. Favorable teams in all other groups won their matches and strengthened their positions. Romania, only earning one point, lost the leader position in the first group, which was overtaken by the Netherlands after an easy victory against Andorra. The Czech Republic approached these teams after earning a significant victory in Macedonia. In the second group, Ukraine dominated by defeating Turkey, while Denmark failed to defeat Georgia and Greece won the first cycle victory, further increasing the intrigue of this group. After a setback, the Russian national team recovered at home and did not spare their neighbors from Estonia. Latvia, who has an equal number of points with Estonians and Russians, earned their second victory against Liechtenstein. Portugal continues to move forward without losses, completing formalities against Luxembourg and becoming the sole leader. Trivial matches took place in the fourth group - Israel defeated Cyprus and currently has the same points as France and Ireland. There were no matches in the fifth and sixth groups this week, while in the eighth group, Hungary defeated Malta. Belgium found itself in crisis, losing to the leaders of the seventh group, Serbia and Montenegro, while Lithuania defeated San Marino away and solidified their position as the leader. In the friendly matches, Poland provided a surprise by playing peacefully against France away. Italy narrowly defeated Finland, and Germany and Sweden respectively crushed Cameroon and Scotland. In the most interesting match, Lithuania's opponent Spain won at home with a minimal difference against England. All results: World Cup qualification European zone matches Group I: Armenia 1 - 1 Romania 27' [0 - 1] Ciprian Marica 62' [1 - 1] Karen Dokhoyan Macedonia 0 - 2 Czech Republic 7' [0 - 1] Vratislav Lokvenc 90' [0 - 2] Jan Koller Andorra 0 - 3 Netherlands 21' [0 - 1] Phillip Cocu 32' [0 - 2] Arjen Robben 78' [0 - 3] Wesley Sneijder Standings: 1. Netherlands 4 3 1 0 10-3 10 2. Romania 5 3 1 1 10-5 10 3. Finland 5 3 0 2 10-6 9 4. Czech Republic 4 3 0 1 6-2 9 5. Macedonia 5 1 1 3 6-7 4 6. Andorra 4 1 0 3 2-11 3 7. Armenia 5 0 1 4 2-12 1 Group II: Georgia 2 - 2 Denmark 9' [0 - 1] John Dahl Tomasson 33' [1 - 1] Georgi Demetradze 64' [1 - 2] John Dahl Tomasson 75' [2 - 2] Malkhaz Asatiani Turkey 0 - 3 Ukraine 9' [0 - 1] Oleg Gusev 17' [0 - 2] Andriy Shevchenko 89' [0 - 3] Andriy Shevchenko Greece 3 - 1 Kazakhstan 24' [1 - 0] Angelos Charisteas 44' [2 - 0] Angelos Charisteas 85' [3 - 0] Kostas Katsouranis 86' [3 - 1] Ruslan Baltyiev (penalty) Standings: 1. Ukraine 5 3 2 0 9-3 11 2. Denmark 4 1 3 0 6-4 6 3. Turkey 5 1 3 1 6-5 6 4. Albania 4 2 0 2 3-5 6 5. Greece 4 1 2 1 5-4 5 6. Georgia 4 1 2 1 5-5 5 7. Kazakhstan 4 0 0 4 2-10 0 Group III: Russia 4 - 0 Estonia 24' [1 - 0] Andrey Kariaka 25' [2 - 0] Marat Izmailov 34' [3 - 0] Dmitriy Sychev 69' [4 - 0] Dmitriy Loskov (penalty) Liechtenstein 1 - 3 Latvia 7' [0 - 1] Maris Verpakovskis 31' [1 - 1] Mario Frick 57' [1 - 2] Mihails Zemlinskis (penalty) 89' [1 - 3] Andrejs Prohorenkovs Luxembourg 0 - 5 Portugal 11' [0 - 1] Luis Boa Morte 28' [0 - 2] Cristiano Ronaldo 51' [0 - 3] Maniche 67' [0 - 4] Pedro Pauleta 83' [0 - 5] Pedro Pauleta (penalty) Standings: 1. Portugal 5 4 1 0 20-3 13 2. Slovakia 4 3 1 0 15-3 10 3. Russia 4 2 1 1 10-8 7 4. Latvia 5 2 1 2 10-12 7 5. Estonia 5 2 1 2 8-11 7 6. Liechtenstein 5 1 1 3 8-14 4 7. Luxembourg 6 0 0 6 4-24 0 Group IV: Cyprus 1 - 2 Israel 17' [0 - 1] Adoram Keise 45' [1 - 1] Giannakis Okkas 86' [1 - 2] Avi Nimny Standings: 1. Ireland 4 2 2 0 6-1 8 2. France 4 2 2 0 4-0 8 3. Israel 4 2 2 0 6-4 8 4. Switzerland 3 1 2 0 9-3 5 5. Cyprus 5 0 1 4 4-11 1 6. Faroe Islands 4 0 1 3 2-12 1 Group VII: Belgium 0 - 2 Serbia and Montenegro 10' [0 - 1] Zvonimir Vukic 59' [0 - 2] Mateja Kezman San Marino 0 - 1 Lithuania 41' [0 - 1] Deividas Česnauskis Standings: 1. Serbia and Montenegro 4 3 1 0 10-0 10 2. Lithuania 4 2 2 0 6-1 8 3. Spain 3 1 2 0 3-1 5 4. Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 0 2 0 1-1 2 5. Belgium 3 0 1 2 1-5 1 6. San Marino 4 0 0 4 0-13 0 Group VIII: Malta 0 - 2 Hungary 39' [0 - 1] Zoltan Gera 90' [0 - 2] Peter Kovacs Standings: 1. Sweden 4 3 0 1 14-2 9 2. Bulgaria 3 2 1 0 9-4 7 3. Croatia 3 2 1 0 6-2 7 4. Hungary 4 2 0 2 5-8 6 5. Iceland 4 0 1 3 4-10 1 6. Malta 4 0 1 3 1-13 1 Friendly matches: Ireland 1 - 0 Croatia 24' [1 - 0] Robbie Keane Australia 2 - 2 Norway 40' [0 - 1] Steffen Iversen 45' [1 - 1] Tim Cahill 58' [2 - 1] Josip Skoko 73' [2 - 2] Morten-Gamst Pedersen Azerbaijan 0 - 0 Bulgaria Slovakia 0 - 0 Slovenia Italy 1 - 0 Finland 33' [1 - 0] Fabrizio Miccoli Germany 3 - 0 Cameroon 71' [1 - 0] Kevin Kuranyi 78' [2 - 0] Miroslav Klose 88' [3 - 0] Miroslav Klose France 0 - 0 Poland Scotland 1 - 4 Sweden 27' [0 - 1] Marcus Allback 49' [0 - 2] Marcus Allback 72' [0 - 3] Johan Elmander 73' [0 - 4] Fredrik Berglund 78' [1 - 4] James McFadden (penalty) Spain 1 - 0 England 9' [1 - 0] Asier Del Horno
