Eurosport - Wed, 15 Oct 23:33:00 2008
Striker David Villa maintained European champions Spain's perfect start to 2010 World Cup qualifying with a late winner to sink Belgium 2-1. Netherlands, 1-0 winners over Norway, also kept their 100 percent record but Greece lost 2-1 at home to Switzerland.
Group One
Portugal's faltering campaign continued as they were held to a dismal 0-0 draw by 10-man Albania in Braga.
Carlos Queiroz's team, who have won only one of their first four qualifiers, were thwarted by Albania keeper Arian Beqaj who pulled off a series of good saves.
The visitors went down to 10 men on the stroke of half-time when substitute Admir Teli was sent off following two bookable offences.
Portugal piled on the pressure in the second period but Beqaj proved unbeatable.
Hungary made it two wins in four days as Sandor Torghelle's first half header was enough to beat Malta 1-0 in Valletta.
Eyeing revenge for their 2-1 Euro 2008 qualifying defeat in Malta two years ago, Hungary struck the decisive blow after 23 minutes when Roland Juhasz floted the ball into the goalmouth for front man Torghelle to head past Malta keeper Justin Haber.
Malta, who suffered a 3-0 defeat in Denmark on Saturday, tried to force their way back into the game, mainly through the strong running of striker Michael Mifsud, but rarely threatened to level matters.
Hungary's best chance of doubling their advantage came from a Szabolcs Huszti free-kick that was fisted away by Haber.
Hungary, who beat Albania 2-0 on Saturday, now have seven points from four matches but Malta are still without a point.
Group Two
A goal in each half from Alexander Frei and Blaise Nkufo helped Switzerland to a welcome 2-1 win in Athens and end Greece's 100 per cent record.
The win takes Switzerland to seven points, two behind the Greeks who had won their opening three matches.
Frei got the opener from the penalty spot towards the end of a tepid first half after Avraam Papadopoulos upended Valon Behrami in the area.
Angelos Haristeas levelled for the hosts in the 68th minute but Nkufo produced a quality finish 13 minutes from time to round Greek goalkeeper Konstantinos Chalkia and slide the ball into the empty net.
Latvia grabbed a late 1-1 draw at home to Israel thanks to Vladimirs Kolesnicenko's goal a minute from time.
Israel, second in the group behind Greece, took the lead in the 50th minute through Yossi Benayoun when the Liverpool midfielder picked up his deflected shot outside the area and fired home his second goal in four days.
The home side produced more chances in both halves and Andrejs Pereplotkins forced the visitors goalkeeper Dudu Aouate to make two spectacular saves from close range.
Kolesnicenko then got on the end of a cross floated in from the left before breaking forward into the box and equalising.
Group Five
Striker David Villa maintained European champions Spain's perfect start to qualifying with a late winner to sink Belgium 2-1 in Brussels.
Spain stretched their unbeaten run to 27 matches and made it four wins from four but they had to come from behind to defeat Belgium with Villa heading in an 88th-minute winner in Brussels.
Vicente del Bosque's team had won their first three games without conceding a goal but their net was breached by Wesley Sonck after just seven minutes.
The Spanish cause had not been helped when striker Fernando Torres limped off after little more than 10 minutes.
His replacement, playmaker Cesc Fabregas, was instrumental in their 36th minute equaliser. The Arsenal midfielder intercepted loose Belgian passing and slipped the ball through to Andres Iniesta, who rounded the keeper and slotted in from a tight angle on the left.
Bosnia-Herzegovina kept alive their hopes of qualifying after an impressive 4-1 home win over Armenia in Zenica.
Substitute Zlatan Muslimovic scored two goals while strike partner Edin Dzeko and defender Emir Spahic added one each to give Bosnia their second win after they demolished Estonia 7-0 last month at the same venue.
The Bosnians, who went down 2-1 to Turkey in Istanbul on Saturday and have six points from four matches, dominated the match throughout and could have won by a bigger margin.
Spahic opened the scoring on the half hour after the visitors failed to clear a corner and Dzeko headed in the second shortly before the interval from Samir Muratovic's cross.
Muslimovic added the third in the 56th minute after good work by Zvjesdan Misimovic and completed the rout one minute from time after Vahagn Minasyan had pulled one back.
Estonia got their first point as they managed to hold Turkey to a goalless draw in Tallinn.
Turkey poured the pressure on the hosts but failed to convert the opportunities, although Estonia also came close to grabbing a winner.
The result left Turkey second in the group, four points behind leaders Spain.
Group Seven
Serbia enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 away win against Austria to maintain their joint lead of Group Seven.
Radomir Antic's team were 3-0 up within the first half hour with Milos Krasic, Milan Jovanovic and Ivan Obradovic all scoring to all but put the game out of the home side's reach.
FC Salzburg striker Marc Janko pulled a goal back with ten minutes remaining but a further fight-back never looked likely.
The match had begun in a scrappy but fairly even manner until Krasic set the tone for the night - hammering in a fierce 15th minute strike from around 25 yards out.
Four minutes later, Marko Pantelic set off on a mazy run through the Austrian midfield before lashing a long-range effort onto Alex Manninger's right post, allowing Jovanovic to smash home the rebound.
Pantelic was also the provider for the third goal, laying the ball off for Obradovic to fire in another unstoppable shot from just inside the area.
As the game wore into the second half it seemed that the closest Austria would come to scoring were two near own-goals by defender Sebastian Proedl who twice managed to deflect Serbian shots onto his own cross bar.
Janko finally gave the home fans something to cheer in the 80th minute when he picked up the ball just outside the centre circle, turned and sprinted down the pitch before cracking in a neat finish.
It was not enough however to revive Austria's dim qualifying hopes following Saturday's disappointing 1-1 draw against the Faroe Islands.
Lithuania kept up their strong qualifying push with a 1-0 win over bottom team Faroe Islands in Vilnius.
The only goal came in the 20th minute when captain Tomas Danilevicius scored with a low, long-range shot into the corner of the net.
Lithuania maintained the pressure throughout but missed a number of good opportunities.
Group Nine
Mark van Bommel's 62nd-minute volley earned Netherlands a 1-0 win in Norway in their qualifier in Oslo.
After a lacklustre first half, with one chance for the visitors, the match came to life after the break with two chances for Norway's John Carew, while Dirk Kuyt hit the bar for Netherlands.
Van Bommel broke the deadlock when a cleared corner kick ended up on his right foot and he unleashed a fierce volley.
The Dutch started with Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie on the bench and suffered an early blow when Ryan Babel limped off the pitch with an ankle injury after a hard tackle by Morten Gamst Pedersen.
Babel's replacement Ibrahim Afellay wasted the first real chance when he fired wide after a fine counter attack.
Norway relied on the strength of Carew up front, but rarely threatened after the Aston Villa striker had an early effort saved by Edwin van der Sar.
Netherlands are in the driving seat in the group with nine points from three matches, five more than second-placed Scotland. Norway slipped to the fifth spot with two points after three matches.
A Veigar Gunnarsson goal after 16 minutes secured Iceland a 1-0 victory over Macedonia in Reykjavik.
Victory moved Iceland up to third place in Group Nine, level with Scotland on four points and five behind leaders the Netherlands.
Iceland pushed hard throughout the game for a second goal, although they enjoyed a let off after 76 minutes when defender Indridi Sigurdsson produced a timely intervention.
Comment 1 - 1 of 1
I don't think that the Spanish have the capability of winning the World Cup tournament after having triumphed in Euro 2008. Only the French have managed 2 major tournaments back to back namely France 98 World Cup over Brazil and then the Euro 2000. But having said that only the Germans remain the most consistent in Europe and probably in the world in parallel.
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