Croatia closing on England

Croatia closing on England

Croatia geared up for their midweek showdown against England with a narrow 1-0 victory over Belarus in World Cup Qualifying Group Six.

Ivan Ratikic was Croatia's hero as Slaven Bilic's team, who lie second, restored their three-point advantage over Ukraine, who had earlier thrashed Andorra 5-0.

Ratikic scored midway through the first half as Croatia moved to four points adrift of leaders England, having played one more match than Fabio Capello's team who have a 100% winning record from seven games.

If England beat Croatia then they cannot be caught and will qualify automatically for next summer's finals, but Bilic's team, for now, still have distant hopes of claiming top spot.

Meanwhile in Kiev Andriy Yarmolenko opened the scoring for the hosts after 18 minutes and Artem Milevskiy doubled their advantage two minutes into first-half stoppage time.

Three second-half penalties then sealed the rout, the first from captain Andriy Shevchenko in the 72nd minute and then a further two in stoppage-time from Milevskiy and substitute Yevgen Seleznov.

France's hopes of booking a direct passage into next summer's World Cup finals suffered a setback after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Romania in Paris.

The hosts had gone ahead after 48 minutes when Thierry Henry forced home from close range, but the equaliser arrived eight minutes later when Julien Escude turned the ball into his own net.

The result leaves France four points adrift of Group Seven leaders Serbia, who they meet in a crunch match in Belgrade on Wednesday.

The result is likely to pour pressure on France coach Raymond Domenech who opted to start star winger Franck Ribery on the bench, no doubt with Wednesday's game in mind, while Escude was preferred to Barcelona defender Eric Abidal.

Marc Janko scored twice as Austria kept alive their slim hopes with a 3-1 victory over the Faroe Islands in Graz.

Austria lie third in Group Seven on 10 points, four behind France and a further four adrift of group leaders Serbia.

The home side took the lead in the first minute through Stefan Maierhofer and Janko then netted 15 minutes later to double the advantage.

Janko got his second from the penalty spot after 59 minutes before Andreas Olsen netted a consolation for the visitors seven minutes from the end.

Spain continued their seemingly unstoppable march towards next year's World Cup finals after thrashing Belgium 5-0 in La Coruna to record their seventh win out of seven in Group Five.

Although Spain are still not yet assured of a place in South Africa after second-placed Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Armenia 2-0 earlier in the evening, it seems only a matter of time before the European champions seal their spot as they are six points clear with three games to go.

Valencia duo David Villa and David Silva both netted braces in the win, while Gerard Pique added the other. Villa also missed a first-half penalty when the game was goaless.

Striker Tuncay Sanli struck a double as Turkey kept alive their slim hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup finals with a convincing 4-2 win against Estonia in Istanbul.

Back-to-back defeats against Spain in their previous two outings had rendered this match a must-win affair and things started badly when they fell behind to a Vladimir Voskoboinikov strike after seven minutes.

Tuncay got his first on the half-hour mark before Sercan Yildirim added a second with 36 minutes played. Estonia drew level through Konstantin Vassiljev just after half-time, but goals from Arda Turan and Tuncay's second secured three vital points.

Bosnia-Herzegovina kept up their challenge with their victory over Armenia in Yerevan.

A goal in each half from Senijad Ibricic and Zlatan Muslimovic secured the points for the visitors who consolidated their position in second place.

There could have been more goals as Edin Dzeko missed a penalty for the the visitors in the first half and Artavazd Karamyan struck the woodwork for Armenia in the second.

Two own goals from captain Kakha Kaladze gifted Italy victory over a toothless Georgia in Tbilisi to keep the visitors out in front at the top of the Group Eight table.

AC Milan defender Kaladze headed the ball into his own net in the 57th minute from Angelo Palombo's stinging drive from distance.

He then fired past his own goalkeeper 10 minutes later after Domenico Criscito had swept in a low cross from the left, much to the horror of the home fans.

The 2-0 win leaves the world champions top with 17 points from seven games.

Bulgaria's 4-1 home win over Montenegro kept them in with an outside chance of troubling Italy and the Republic of Ireland, who beat Cyprus 2-1.

They had to come from a goal down, however, after Steven Jovetic had put Montenegro in front in the ninth minute.

It stayed 1-0 until Radostin Kishishev equalised on the stroke of half-time - and although Dimitar Telkiyski put Bulgaria in front four minutes after the break, it was only an 85th-minute Dimitar Berbatov penalty and an injury-time goal from Valeri Domovchiyski which made the scoreline appear so comfortable.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic grabbed a last-gasp winner as Sweden stayed in the hunt for a top-two finish in Group One with a 2-1 away win against Hungary.

The Barcelona striker enjoyed a huge slice of luck when Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Babos saved his shot but could only watch in horror as the ball bounced over the line off Ibrahimovic's chest.

Sweden had looked as though they would have to settle for a draw in Budapest after a penalty from Szabolcs Huszti cancelled out Olof Mellberg's early opening goal.

Portugal dominated the other Group One qualifier with Denmark in Copenhagen but had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Carlos Queiroz's side had more than 20 shots on goal but were held by the spirited defending of the home side.

The visitors even had to come from a goal behind as Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner punished their poor finishing when he gave the home side the lead.

Brazilian-born striker Liedson, a second-half substitute, scored a late equaliser for the visitors with a header four minutes from the end.

In Group Nine Norway could only draw 1-1 with Iceland in Reykjavik, a result which boosted Scotland's hopes following their 2-0 victory at home to Macedonia.

John Arne Riise had put the visitors ahead with a sweetly-struck free-kick after 10 minutes before Eidur Gudjohnsen equalised on the half-hour to deny Norway three precious points.

Norway striker John Carew was unlucky not to have been awarded a second half penalty, but it would have been more than they deserved.

Milan Baros grabbed a late equaliser for the Czech Republic to clinch a 2-2 draw against neighbours and Group Three leaders Slovakia.

Needing to win to press their claims for a second-place finish in the group, the Czech Republic twice had to come from behind just to claim a point.

Slovakia led on both occasions thanks to goals from Stanislav Sestak and Marek Hamsik, who netted a penalty, however Daniel Pudil and substitute Baros at least ensured the Czechs were not beaten.

Hamsik was sent off shortly after his 73rd-minute penalty, receiving his first yellow card for his celebrations and his second for a foul.

With Slovakia down to 10 men, the Czech side piled on the pressure late on and Baros levelled in the 84th minute but they remain fifth in the group, seven points off top spot.

Roman Pavlyuchenko scored two penalties in the space of six minutes as Russia beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in rain-soaked St Petersburg to stay in touch with Group Four leaders Germany.

Centre-back Vasili Berezutsky opened the scoring with a shot from 10 yards in the 17th minute, before Tottenham striker Pavlyuchenko was twice on target before the break.

In the 39th minute, he doubled Russia's advantage from the spot after Igor Denisov had been tripped by Liechtenstein right-back Marco Ritzberger. Then Pavlyuchenko scored again from the spot on the stroke of half-time when Aleksandr Kerzhakov was bundled over by Franz-Josef Vogt.

Saturday's other Group Four fixture was settled 2-1 in favour of visitors Finland against Azerbaijan, thanks to an 85th-minute goal from Petri Pasanen in Lankaran City.

Elvin Mammadov put the hosts in front in the 49th minute to give them hope of recording their first qualifying win.

But FC Zurich's Hannu Tihinen equalised in the 74th minute, before Werder Bremen defender Pasanen completed the comeback.

The victory lifted the Finns to 13 points and kept them five adrift of second-placed Russia.