World Cup qual - Europe: Spain edge Turkey

Eurosport - Thu, 02 Apr 07:37:00 2009

A round-up of all the latest World Cup qualifying action, with European champions Spain beating Turkey for a second time in five days.

FOOTBALL 2009 World Cup qual Turkey-Spain Xabi Alonso - 0

Group 1

Denmark stayed top of World Cup qualifying Group 1 with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Albania.

Leon Andreasen opened the scoring in the 31st minute with a dipping shot from 30 metres which bounced in front of Albanian goalkeeper Isli Hidi before flying into the net.

Six minutes later, Dennis Rommedahl exploited confusion in the Albanian defence to break free on the right and cross the ball for Soren Larsen to slide in and prod it home.

Albania never threatened the Danes, who scored again through Christian Poulsen in the 80th minute in a goalmouth scramble following a corner.

Hungary beat Malta 3-0 to keep pace with Denmark in their bid to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Hungary took control early on while Malta persistently missed their chances, and the home side's forward Tamas Hajnal opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a free kick from 20 metres.

Substitute Zoltan Gera increased Hungary's lead 10 minutes from time when he netted a cross from Szabolcs Huszti and rounded off their victory when Roland Juhasz headed home an excellent ball from Huszti in injury time. .

Group 2

A second half penalty from Giorgios Samaras helped Greece to a 2-1 win over Israel in Iraklio, Crete.

Dimitris Salpigidis put Greece ahead after 32 minutes when he hit a powerful shot from the edge of the Israel area, while their opponents' efforts to equalise were rewarded in the 59th minute when Elyaniv Barda's shot took a deflection into the Greek net.

But when Vassilis Torosidis was brought down in the area in the 67th minute by Baram Kiya, Samaras stepped up to the mark to send the ball past Dudu Aouate.

Greece remain top of the group alongside Switzerland with 13 points. The two sides will meet next in Switzerland in September.

Latvia striker Maris Verpakovskis scored one goal and set up the other in his team's 2-0 win over Luxembourg.

Jurijs Zigajevs opened the scoring a minute before halftime from a pass by Verpakovskis, then put the result beyond doubt 15 minutes from fulltime against a struggling Luxembourg.

Switzerland kept their World Cup qualifying bid on track with a 2-0 victory over Moldova at the Stade de Geneve.

Blaise Nkufo set the Swiss on their way with his fifth goal in the qualifying campaign midway through the first half.

Alex Frei took a Benjamin Huggel pass before scoring the second to make certain of a fourth qualifying victory on the trot.

The win keeps Switzerland level with chief rivals Greece at the top of qualifying Group Two with 13 points from six matches while Moldova remain bottom.

Group 5

European champions Spain came from a goal down to snatch a stoppage-time winner to beat Turkey 2-1.

The win reinforced the Spaniards' dominance of the group which they lead on 18 points, followed by Bosnia on 12 with Turkey third on eight.

Semih Senturk put Turkey ahead in the 26th minute, tapping the ball in from a pass by Tuncay Sanli.

But Spain made the hosts pay for a string of missed chances when Xabi Alonso equalised with a 63rd-minute penalty after Ibrahim Uzulmez handled.

The visitors then grabbed the winner in stoppage-time when substitute Daniel Guiza, who plays for Turkish side Fenerbahce, set up Riera and the winger fired past Volkan.

Edin Dzedko struck twice early in the first half for Bosnia who secured a 2-1 victory over Belgium that kept the home side second in the group as they attempt to make a first ever major championship finals.

Wolfsburg forward Dzeko scored the first goal in the 12th minute following a corner and struck again three minutes later after a pass from Senijad Ibricic.

Belgium were reduced to 10 men just after the hour when Alex Witsel was sent off for violent conduct but grabbed a consolation goal two minutes from time through Gill Swerts.

Midfielder Sander Puri scored seven minutes from time to give Estonia a 1-0 home win over Armenia.

Puri pounced on a loose ball to find the middle of the net despite defender Robert Arzumanyan's efforts to block his shot.

Throughout a close match, Estonia's goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko was kept busy by the strong Armenian attack.

Group 7

Franck Ribery boosted France's World Cup qualifying hopes with a second-half goal to give the home side a 1-0 win over Lithuania.

Ribery, who netted the winner in Lithuania last Saturday, poked the ball home from an Andre-Pierre Gignac cross 15 minutes from time to lift France to second in the group.

Austria beat Romania 2-1 to give their new coach Didi Constantini a winning start.

Rapid Vienna forward Erwin Hoffer struck twice before halftime to secure Austria's first win in five matches after Romania's Cristian Tanase had opened the scoring with a 26th minute lob.

Reuters

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