February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The result leaves Ireland in third place in the five-team Group 10, whose other member is Albania, following their 4-2 capitulation in Moscow.
Switzerland produced a clockwork performance down the stretch to outgun the former Soviet republic. They led 1-0 at the break on Alexander Frei’s 38th-minute effort, and after Archil Arveladze (62nd) had leveled for Georgia, piled on the pressure to score a comfortable win. Hakin Yakin (63rd), Patrick Mueller and Stephane Chapuisat, back from international retirement, were the other scorers.
Welsh Revival
John Hartson (31st) and Simon Davies (73rd) secured an impressive 2-0 victory over Finland in Helsinki to get Wales off to a flying start in Group 9.
With the Welsh now undefeated in six matches, coach Mark Hughes raised hopes of a Welsh revival after years in the doldrums.
“I can sense that the players believe that this is the start of something special,” he said. “It has been a long process over the last two years to get to this stage, but the players have come out the other side with great belief and desire.”
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Italy assumed joint leadership of Group 9 with the Welsh after blanking Azerbaijan 2-0 in Baku. The Azzurri had a Tarlan Akhmedov own goal (33rd) and Alessandro Del Piero’s well taken free kick (65th) to thank for restoring some of their confidence, in their first match after the bitter 2-1 loss to South Korea in the World Cup second round last June.
Close Shave
In Group 5, Scotland escaped from the Faroe Islands with a point after second-half heroics by skipper Paul Lambert and Barry Ferguson salvaged a 2-2 draw against the Northern European part-timers.
Striker Jon Peterson stunned the Scots with a quick brace in the opening 12 minutes and then spurned a possible hat trick in the 53rd minute, blazing the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
The Islanders would rue that miss when first Lambert (62nd) drove home during a goalmouth melee, and then Ferguson (83rd) clinched the equalizer, averting an embarrassing defeat for the Scots, who have yet to win a full international in six tries under German coach Berti Vogts.
Vogts’s former charges Germany, who are favored to win Group 5, came away from Lithuania with a 2-0 decision in Kaunas.
The 1996 European champions and losing finalists in this year’s World Cup benefited from goals by star midfielder Michael Ballack (27th) and defender Marius Stankevicius, who headed into his own net (59th) off Torsten Frings’ cross.
French Squeaker
Defending champions France were given an early scare by the minnows of Cyprus before prevailing 2-1 in a Group 1 fixture in Nicosia. Ioannis Okkas (15th) once again triggered alarm bells in a French squad that ceded the World Cup title with nary a fight last summer, but strikes by the sensational Djibril Cisse (38th) and Sylvain Wiltord (52nd) staved off another disaster.
Slovenia took advantage of France’s slow start to jump into the lead in Group 1 on the strength of their 3-0 romp over Malta in Ljubljana. Darren Debono’s own goal (37th), Ermin Kiljak (59th), and Sebastjan Cimerotic (90th) did the damage.
Danes Thwarted
Substitute John Carew scored in stoppage time to earn Norway a 2-2 tie with Denmark in a Group 2 game in Oslo.
World Cup hero Jon Dahl Tomasson (23rd, 72nd) had both goals for the visitors, while John Arne Riise (55th) was the other Norwegian scorer.
Romania blasted Bosnia 3-0 on the road to go to the top of Group 2. Christian Chivu (6th), Vlad Munteanu (8th), and Ioan Ganea (28th) tallied.
Dutch Treat
Putting their Irish-inflicted 2002 World Cup qualifying woes behind them, Holland made easy work of visiting Belarus in Eindhoven with a 3-0 result.
Edgar Davids (35th), Patrick Kluivert (37th) and Chelsea goal-machine Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (73rd) connected.
The Dutch took the lead in Group 3 ahead of Austria who beat Moldova 2-0 in Vienna. Veteran skipper Andreas Herzog bagged both goals from the penalty spot (4th, 30th).
Polish Labor
Poland made heavy work of beating San Marino 2-0, courtesy of late strikes by Maciej Kaczorowski (76th) and Mariusz Kukielka (88th). The result was, however, enough to give the Poles the lead in Group 4 as Sweden, without the retired Henrik Larsson, could only draw 0-0 with Latvia in Riga.
Spanish Delight
With their next opponents Northern Ireland idle last weekend, Spain made a running start to the qualifying action in Group 6 when they knocked off Greece 2-0 in Athens.
Raul (8th) and Juan Carlos Valeron (76th) struck for the Spaniards, who host Northern Ireland on Oct. 12.
Also in Group 6, Armenia and Ukraine tied 2-2 in Yerevan. The visitors led 2-0 on first half goals by Serhiy Serebrennikov and Hennady Zubov before Artur Petrosyan (76th) and Albert Sarkisyan (88th pen.) replied for the Armenians.
Turks Triumph
Turkey threw down the gauntlet to England in Group 7 by trouncing Slovakia 3-0 at home to take first place. Arif Erdem starred for the World Cup semifinalists with two goals (45th, 65th) and the assist on Serhat Akin’s opener (14th).
Slovakia’s next game is against the English, who drew 1-1 with Euro ’04 hosts Portugal in a friendly. Costinha (78th) canceled out Alan Smith’s first-half goal at Villa Park.
In Vaduz, Liechtenstein, Group 7’s designated whipping boys, grabbed a surprise 1-1 tie with Macedonia on Michael Stocklasa’s injury time effort. Macedonia had led 1-0 from the eighth minute through Georgi Hristov.
Brussels Shocker
Zoran Jankovic (16th) and Stilian Petrov (63rd) were on target as Bulgaria shocked Belgium 2-0 in a Group 8 tussle in Brussels. In the other group match, Croatia and Estonia battled to a goalless tie.