Rate it!

3 votes

France turned round a poor start to their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign by beating Serbia 2-1 courtesy of second-half goals by captain Thierry Henry and fellow striker Nicolas Anelka.

France had slumped to an embarrassing 3-1 defeat by Austria in their opening Group 7 game on Saturday in Vienna and French media had speculated coach Raymond Domenech would lose his job if the World Cup runners-up did not win this time.

Striker Henry showed them the way on a mild evening at the Stade de France, collecting a through ball by Sidney Govou to hit the back of the net with an angled shot from inside the area on 54 minutes.

Substitute Anelka doubled the advantage with a fine goal 10 minutes later, twisting his way past two defenders to strike from the edge of the box.

Serbia, who started with a lacklustre 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands, reduced the arrears with a header from a corner by Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic 14 minutes from time.

Two goals from captain Tomas Danilevicius gave Lithuania a 2-0 victory over Austria.

Calcio striker Danilevicius opened the scoring in the 51st minute by deflecting a powerful free kick by Marius Stankevicius past Austrian keeper Alexander Manninger.

Danilevicius scored the second six minutes later from close range after a Stankevicius cross from the right.

Austria attempted to fight back but missed several chances. Striker Stefan Maierhofer saw a strong shot cleared in the 71st minute while midfielder Christian Fuchs shot wide 13 minutes later.

The win against Austria and a surprise 3-0 victory away against Romania last Saturday meant Lithuania stayed on top of Group 7.

Group 1

Daniel Jensen's stoppage timewinner gave Denmark a 3-2 victory in Portugal in a match that featured four goals in the closing seven minutes.

Portugal winger Nani opened the scoring after 42 minutes when he tapped home Hugo Almeida's excellent cross from the left and the hosts dominated most of the match until the late flurry of goals.

Denmark levelled through Nicklas Bendtner's header in the 83rd before Portugal re-took the lead three minutes later with a Deco penalty. Denmark equalised again in the 89th minute through Christian Poulsen.

The Danes had not finished yet and grabbed all three points with Jensen's deflected shot two minutes into stoppage time

Second-half goals by midfielders Kim Kallstrom and Samuel Holmen gave Sweden a 2-1 win over Hungary.

Following a laboured performance in their 0-0 draw away to Albania on Saturday, Sweden's recent switch to a 3-5-2 formation worked better on home turf against the Hungarians.

Kallstrom, who had the best of Sweden's chances in a poor first half, started and finished the move that put the Swedes in front in the 55th minute.

The midfielder set striker Henrik Larsson free down the left and the Swedish captain, winning his 101st cap, crossed to the onrushing Kallstrom who headed home from close range.

Holmen doubled Sweden's advantage 10 minutes later by coolly putting the ball past keeper Gabor Babos after Larsson had once again put in the groundwork.

Hungary reduced the deficit with the last touch of the game as substitute Gergely Rudolf chested the ball into the net, the referee blowing the final whistle without restarting play.

Goals from Erion Bogdani, Klodian Duro and Armend Dallku gave Albania a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Malta, lifting them to the top of Group 1 on goal difference.

Group 2

Switzerland suffered an embarrassing 2-1 home defeat against tiny Luxembourg.

The home side, under new coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, dominated for long periods of the match but fell unexpectedly behind in the first half when visiting captain Jeff Strasser curled a free kick in off the glove of goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

A fightback seemed to be on the cards when striker Blaise Nkfuo headed in a Hakan Yakin cross to put Switzerland back on level terms shortly before the break.

But as the Euro 2008 co-hosts desperately went in search of a second goal, Luxembourg's Alphonse Leweck collected a well-taken free kick before firing in a winner with four minutes to go.

Two goals by striker Fanis Gekas gave Greece a comfortable 2-0 victory over Latvia.

Greece dominated the game, with Gekas's first goal coming after only 10 minutes. He received a long cross from defender Georgios Seitaridis and easily shot past Latvian keeper Andris Vanins.

Greece kept Vanins busy for the rest of the first half, but had to wait until the 49th minute for Gekas to head home his second, off a cross from the right by Vasileos Torosidis.

Latvia had few chances in the game, with Maris Verpakovskis missing their best in the 90th minute after receiving a long ball and breaking into the Greek penalty area unchallenged, only to miss the target.

Omer Golan and Klemi Saban scored first-half goals to give Israel a 2-1 victory away to Moldova.

The home side went ahead in the first minute through Igor Picusciac, but entered the interval behind and were reduced to 10 men just after the hour mark when Victor Golovatenco was sent off.

Group 5

European champions Spain made it two wins from two with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Armenia.

Joan Capdevila fired the home side in front after only seven minutes, and soon after Euro 2008 top scorer David Villa doubled the lead as Spain threatened to cut loose.

Armenia, who lost their opening game 2-0 at home to Turkey on Saturday, held on until near the end when goals in quick succession from Villa again and Marcos Senna made sure of the points for the home side.

Victory followed Spain's 1-0 win over Bosnia on Saturday under new coach Vicente del Bosque, who replaced Luis Aragones after their triumph at the European championship in June.

"It wasn't an easy game, we had to work very hard," Capdevila said.

"We are delighted with the results of the last two games as it was important to win these first two matches at home."

After having laboured for the best part of an hour before breaking down Bosnia on Saturday, Del Bosque opted to bolster his attack by playing Daniel Guiza up front with Villa against Armenia.

From the outset they took the game to the visitors, playing with greater pace and penetration than they did four days earlier.

Andres Iniesta's clever pass put Capdevila behind the defence after seven minutes for the Villarreal full back to net the opener.

The impressive Iniesta was instrumental in setting up the second as well when he dribbled into the area off the left flank and the ball broke for Villa to shoot low into the corner.

Armenia briefly threatened with Aghvan Mkrytchyan going close on a couple of occasions before the break, but Spain held firm.

Del Bosque gave Barcelona's 18-year-old striker Bojan Krkic his senior side debut in the second half and Villa hit a post after rounding the goalkeeper.

But the Valencia frontman made no mistake when Xabi Alonso played him into the area 11 minutes from time, and Senna wrapped up the win with a fine 25-metre drive, three minutes later.

A hat-trick from Zvjezdan Misimovic helped Bosnia to a thumping 7-0 defeat of Estonia. Zlatan Muslimovic, Edin Dzeko (2) and Senijad Ibricic completed the scorers.

Belgium earned a 1-1 draw with Turkey.

Belgium went ahead in the 31st minute through a Wesley Sonck header and hung on to the lead until the 74th when Axel Witsel handled late in the area.

Turkey captain Emre Belozoglu equalised from the penalty spot and his side piled forward until the final whistle but failed to find the net.

Reuters