Portugal, France, Ireland & Greece given early scares

Monday, September 10, 2012

The European section of the Brazil 2014 qualifiers finally got under way on Friday evening with some close calls rather than upsets for a number of the more fancied teams. Iceland's 2-0 victory over Norway and Bulgaria's draw with Italy were perhaps the biggest surprises of the night but the likes of Portugal and France were also made to sweat. Ireland needed two late goals to avoid defeat in Kazakhstan, Croatia narrowly slipped past Macedonia and France edged Finland 1-0 away from home. 
Greece had to come from behind to beat Latvia 2-1 in Riga in monsoon-like conditions, Portugal flattered to deceive in their 2-1 win over lowly Luxembourg, while Germany could only manage three goals at home against the Faroe Islands.

There were though emphatic away performances for Bosnia and England with Bosnia winning 8-1 in Liechtenstein and England, who are now undefeated in eight matches under new boss Roy Hodgson, running out convincing 5-0 winners away to Moldova.

Highlights of Bosnia's eight-goal drubbing of Liechtenstein, with two players helping themselves to hat-tricks:

Russia 2-0 Northern Ireland

Azerbaijan 1-1 Israel

Kazakhstan 1-2 Eire 

Georgia 1-0 Belarus

Liechtenstein 1-8 Bosnia-H

Estonia 0-2 Romania

Malta 0-1 Armenia

Croatia 1-0 Macedonia

Lithuania 1-1 Slovakia

Albania 3-1 Cyprus

Andorra 0-5 Hungary

Finland 0-1 France

Latvia1-2 Greece

Montenegro 2-2 Poland

Holland 2-0 Turkey

Slovenia 0-2 Switzerland

Bulgaria 2-2 Italy

Germany 3-0 Faroe Islands

Iceland 2-0 Norway

Luxembourg 1-2 Portugal

Moldova 0-5 England 

Wales 0-2 Belgium

Scotland 0-0 Serbia

Denmark 0-0 Czech Republic

Highlights of Portugal's narrow victory over Luxembourg, with Luxembourg taking a shock early lead: