“The goal after just two minutes should have buoyed us, but instead it ended up doing the opposite — we let our intensity drop and weren’t aggressive defensively,” Bento said.
Russia had hoped to bolster that margin with a win in Northern Ireland, but Fabio Capello’s men had to wait 24 hours after heavy snow in Belfast forced a postponement.
The Netherlands, who were 2010 runners-up, eased past Estonia 3-0 to claim a fifth win in five and go five points clear in Group D.
In other play, it was:
‧ Belgium 2, Macedonia 0
‧ Wales 2, Scotland 1
‧ Bulgaria 6, Malta 0
‧ Denmark 3, Czech Republic 0
‧ Austria 6, Faroe Islands 0
‧ Turkey 2, Andorra 0
‧ Hungary 2, Romania 2
‧ Iceland 2, Slovenia 1
‧ Albania 1, Norway 0
‧ Luxembourg 0, Azerbaijan 0
‧ Liechtenstein 1, Latvia 1
‧ Slovakia 1, Lithuania 1
‧ Bosnia-Herzegovina 3, Greece 1
‧ Ukraine 3, Poland 1
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