Traditional heavyweights Germany and Portugal earned important wins to boost their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 on Sunday, while Romania and Northern Ireland hold a big edge in their group after victories.
Marco Reus and Thomas Mueller scored late in the first half to give Germany a 2-0 win over Georgia in Tbilisi, while goals from Ricardo Carvalho and Fabio Coentrao gave Portugal a 2-1 win over Serbia in Lisbon to move them top of Group I.
Romania and Northern Ireland are way ahead of their Group F rivals after home wins over the Faroe Islands and Finland respectively.
Photo: EPA
The top two finishers from each of the nine groups qualify automatically. The best third-placed team also qualifies and eight more teams can advance through the playoffs.
In Group D, world champions Germany got their qualifying campaign back on track with their first away win and moved within a point of leaders Poland, which were held to a 1-1 draw by the Republic of Ireland.
Ireland substitute Shane Long scored in stoppage-time in Dublin, canceling out Slawomir Peszko’s 26th-minute strike to leave the group finely poised after five rounds.
Photo: AFP
Unbeaten Poland lead with 11 points, followed by Scotland — who routed tiny Gibraltar 6-1 — and Germany both on 10 points, while Ireland maintain slim hopes of emerging from the group with eight points.
In Tbilisi, Reus scored in the 39th minute when he was free to scoop the ball inside the near post and Mueller sealed the result five minutes later with his fifth goal in qualifying.
Georgia were pegged back for long periods in Kakhaber Tskhadadze’s first game as coach.
In Glasgow, Lee Casciaro scored Gibraltar’s first ever goal in a competitive match to cancel out Shaun Maloney’s 18th-minute penalty, but Scotland answered with five more goals.
Romania and Northern Ireland tightened their grip on the top two places in Group F, while Greece showed signs of improvement in a 0-0 draw against Hungary.
Claudiu Keseru’s 21st-minute goal was enough for Romania to beat the Faroe Islands 1-0, while Northern Ireland moved a step closer to appearing in a first major tournament since 1986 by beating Finland 2-1.
At the halfway stage, Romania lead with 13 points, one ahead of Northern Ireland, with Hungary following on eight points. Finland have four points, the Faroe Islands three, while Greece, last with two, look increasingly likely to miss the tournament.
Playing under new coach Segio Markarian, Greece produced a better defensive display than in recent games, but failed to impress in attack. It was Hungary that had the best chances late in the game.
Kyle Lafferty scored both of Northern Ireland’s goals in the first half at Windsor Park in Belfast, taking the striker’s tally in qualifying to five goals.
A spectacular goal from an overhead-kick by Nemanja Matic was not enough to earn Serbia a point in Lisbon as Portugal went top of the Group I.
Matic equalized in the 61st minute after Carvalho’s early headed goal, but Coentrao got the winner three minutes later.
Cristiano Ronaldo made little impact apart from a powerful swerving shot on the half-hour which Vladimir Stojkovic just managed to push wide.
Portugal’s third straight win under Fernando Santos, who took charge after the team lost their opening qualifier to Albania, gave them nine points from four games. They are two points ahead of second-placed Denmark, who have a game in hand.
Serbia have one point from four games as they try to make up lost ground after being deducted three points for crowd trouble during a home qualifier against Albania in October last year.
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