European WCQ Wrap

Russia were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw in Latvia on Wednesday, but remain in contention for a place in the World Cup finals in Germany because second-placed Slovakia were surprisingly held to a goalless draw by Liechtenstein in Vaduz in European Group Three. Russia went into their game in third place in the Group, three points behind Slovakia with a game in hand and a play-off place still a possibility. But after just six minutes in Riga Vitalijs Astafjevs put Latvia in front. However, the Russians fought their way back into the match and drew level through Andrei Arshavin in the 26th minute, though they couldn’t find a winner. Vladimir Bystrov headed just over the bar in the 89th minute, and deep into injury time, Alexei Berezutsky saw an attempted cross rebound off the woodwork with no-one able to exploit the rebound. Russia’s failure to win was reprieved by the surprise of the evening, Liechtenstein’s achievement in keeping out Slovakia. In Group One, where the Netherlands and the Czech Republic are firmly in control, Romania and Finland both won their matches, against Andorra and FYR of Macedonia respectively. The Finns secured an excellent 3-0 away win, Aleksei Eremenko scoring twice in the first-half and Paulus Roiha adding a late third . Adrian Mutu underlined how much Romania had missed him during his lengthy suspension from football. The Juventus striker netted twice against minnows Andorra – who’d conceded 12 goals in their last two games against the Czech Republic - to keep alive Romania’s outside chance of World Cup qualification. In Group Two, Kazakhstan fell to their eighth defeat in eight qualifying games as Georgia, one place above them in the Group table, came from behind to beat them 2-1. Daniyar Kenzhekhanov headed the hosts into the lead in the 23rd minute, Georgi Demetradze struck twice after the break with a deflected free-kick and a header to seal Georgia’s victory. On an emotional night in Group Four, Cyprus achieved their first victory of the campaign with a 3-0 defeat of the Faroe Islands in Toftir, despite the absence of captain Nicos Nicolaou and having to play half the match with ten men following Eleftheriou Lufteris’s dismissal. Two goals from Michalis Konstantinou, the second from the penalty spot, and a stoppage-time third from Krassas Asimakis sealed the win in a match preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of the 121 Cypriot victims of Sunday’s Helios Airways plane crash near Athens. Nicolaou lost four family members ion the disaster, and both teams wore black armbands. The next two rounds of matches in European qualifying will be held on 3 and 7 September, when all the continent’s big guns will be in action.