Ronaldo secures points for Portugal
Manchester united winger Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be the talisman for Portugal bid for World Cup qualification as his headed goal earned a 1-0 win against Estonia in Tallinn tonight.
Ukraine and Portugal both took giant leaps towards qualification for the competition, triumphing on away soil.
A late goal from Andriy Husin gave Ukraine a 1-0 triumph in Athens against European champions Greece and puts Oleh Blokhin’s men seven points clear of the chasing pack in Group Two.
Victory in just one of their three remaining matches will secure top spot and a first ever qualification for a major tournament by Ukraine.
Otto Rehhagel’s Greece, meanwhile, are facing a fierce three-cornered contest with Turkey and Denmark for the runners-up berth that would secure a play-off place.
Portugal are not quite as secure as Ukraine but their coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will fancy his chances of another tilt at the trophy he won in 2002 with his homeland Brazil.
His side are three points clear of second placed Slovakia but the fixture list seems to favour them.
Only an away trip to Russia looks to be a severe test with home fixtures against Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Latvia looking to be home bankers.
Slovakia maintained their hold on second spot with a 4-0 win at Luxembourg.
The opening goal came in the fifth minute from Szilard Nemeth before Marek Mintal added the second just 10 minutes later.
Shortly after the break Karol Kisel netted the third in the 54th minute as substitute Lubomir Reiter rounded-off the scoring.
In the other match in Portugal’s group Imants Bleidelis helped Latvia to a 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein in Riga.
Turkey, who finished third in the 2002 World Cup, spanked Kazakhstan 6-0 in Almaty and leapfrogged Greece to take second spot behind Ukraine in Group Two.
Fatih Tekke got the visitors off and running with the opener in the 13th minute before Ibrahim Toraman doubled the advantage moments later.
Tuncay Sanli made it three just before half-time as Turkey began to assert their control on the game.
They added three goals in the last 10 minutes as Hamit Altintop bagged one and Tekke and Sanli grabbed second helpings.
Also in that group, two goals from Soren Larsen helped Denmark to a 3-1 win over Albania and kept alive their hopes of reaching the World Cup finals next summer.
Larsen, in only his second international for the Scandinavians, needed just four minutes to net his first goal in a Denmark shirt.
A second then followed for Larsen at the start of the second half with Martin Jorgensen adding a third, although luck then deserted the Danes when Jon Dahl Tomasson missed from the penalty spot.
The Albanians managed to reduce the deficit through Erjon Bogdani.
In Group One, Holland lead the Czech Republic by a point after a 4-0 win in Finland.
Ruud van Nistelrooy beat keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen in the 35th minute before Dirk Kuijt (77) Philip Cocu (85) and Robin van Persie (87) wrapped up the three points that keep the Czech Republic in second place in the group.
The Czechs had earlier bounced back from an early fright to win 6-1 in Teplice after Goran Pandev fired the unheralded FYR Macedonia ahead in the 14th minute.
But four goals in the space of 11 minutes from Jan Koller (42, 45, 49, 53) - who broke the Czech Republic’s scoring record in their previous game against Andorra on Saturday – helped them on their way to securing an important three points in their quest to qualify for the world’s most prestigious tournament.
Midfielder Tomas Rosicky then converted the fifth from the spot in the 74th minute before Milan Baros added the sixth (88) as the Czechs boosted their bid to reach the World Cup finals in Germany next year.
Also in Group One, Romania beat Armenia 3-0 in Constanta with a goal from Ovidiu Petre and two from Gheorghe Bucur.
In Group Five, Belarus and Scotland shared a goalless draw in a result that did little for either side.
Iceland earned their first win of their World Cup qualifying campaign with an impressive 4-1 win over fellow-strugglers Malta in Reykjavik.
Both sides went into the match without a win in Group Eight, but Iceland made their home advantage count as goals from Gunnar Thorvaldsson and Eidur Gudjohnsen gave them a 2-0 lead at the interval.
Brian Said then pulled one back for Malta, but further strikes from Tryggvi Gudmundsson and Veigar Gunnarsson rounded off a convincing result for the home side.
Spain's lack of effectiveness in front of goal once again cost them dear as they could only draw 1-1 with Bosnia-Herzegovina in Valencia in a Group Seven match.
Spain forced 25 corners in the game, but were unable to finish and a 39th-minute goal from Zvjezdan Misimovic looked like it would send them to defeat until Carlos Marchena was able to fire the ball home from close range in the last of six minutes of injury time.
FIFA World Cup European Qualifying Results:
Group One
Czech Republic 6 (Koller 42 45 49 53, Rosicky 74 pen, Baros 88) FYR Macedonia 1 (Pandev 14)
Finland 0 Holland 4 (van Nistelrooy 35, Kuijt 77, Cocu 85, Van Persie 87)
Romania 3 (Petre 29, Bucur 40 80) Armenia 0
Group Two
Denmark 3 (Larsen 4, 46, Jorgensen 54) Albania 1 (Bogdani 72)
Greece 0 Ukraine 1 Greece (Husin 81)
Kazakhstan 0 Turkey 6 (Tekke 13, Toraman 15, Sanli 38, Tekke 80, Halil Altintop 88, Sanli 90)
Group Three
Estonia 0 Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 33)
Latvia 1 (Bleidelis 16) Liechtenstein 0
Luxembourg 0 Slovakia 4 (Nemeth 5, Mintal 15, Kisel 54, Reiter 60)
Group Four
Faroe Islands 0 Rep of Ireland 2 (Harte 51 pen, Kilbane 58)
Group Five
Belarus 0 Scotland 0
Group Seven
Spain 1 (Marchena 90) Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 (Misimovic 38)
Group Eight
Iceland 4 (Thorvaldsson 28, Gudjohnsen 34, Gudmundsson 75, Gunnarson 86) Malta 1 (Said 59).
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