A busy day with plenty of goals but only one real surprise, as England made their first mess of the campaign by failing to beat Ukraine at home, while the European champions Spain needed a late goal to win in Georgia; Italy struggled but won against Malta and Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t score as Portugal beat Azerbaijan.

Group A

Serbia 6 Wales 1 – A terrible day for the Welsh side, losing their second match of the qualifiers, and suffering their worst defeat since 1996. Aleksandr Kolarov and Zoran Tosic made it 2-0 before the 25th minute. Gareth Bale did give the visitors some hope six minutes later, but then everything fell apart, with goals from Filip Djuricic, Dusan Tadic, Branislav Ivanovic and Miralem Sulejmani.

Belgium 1 Croatia 1 – The two best teams in this group met in a match which was mostly about Croatia trying to close shop and cancel the more talented and enthusiastic Belgian side. Ivan Perisic opened the scoring after six minutes; Guillaume Gillet equalized just before the half time whistle.

Scotland 1 Macedonia 1 – A disappointing but expected result, with Macedonia being the more dangerous side and the first to score through Nikolce Noveski. Kenny Miller equalized just before the break, with Scotland dropping four points in their first two home matches.

Group B

Bulgaria 1 Armenia 0 – Bulgaria didn’t play very well in a fiery encounter which saw three red cards drawn. Stanislav Manolev of PSV scored the winning goal, putting Bulgaria on par with Italy at the top of the group.

Italy 2 Malta 0 – A far from impressive performance, as promised, from the Italians, enjoying a Mattia Destro goal after 5 minutes and waiting 85 more for the final nail in Malta’s hopes, scored by Federico Peluso of Atalanta.

Group C

Sweden 2 Kazakhstan 0 – Kazakhstan proved stubborn opponents for Sweden’s opening qualifying match, but a 38th minute goal from Rasmus Elm made it much easier for the hosts, with Marcus Berg adding the second goal in injury time.

Austria 1 Germany 2 – Never an easy fixture for Germany, despite the obvious advantage in quality. Marco Reus scored just before half time and Mesut Ozil added the second goal early in the second half from the penalty spot. Zlatko Junuzovic scored for Austria, as Germany take the top of the group with six points.

Group D

Romania 4 Andorra 0 – An easy win for Romania, the current leaders of the group thanks to their goal difference. Gabriel Torje, Costin Lazar, Valerica Gaman and Alexandru Maxim scored.

Turkey 3 Estonia 0 – An encounter that seemed unfair from the first minute, as Estonia failed to create more than one actual chance, off target, for the entire match. Belozoglu Emre opened the scoring for Turkey in the first half, Umut Bulut and Selcuk Inan added in the second.

Hungary 1 Netherlands 4 – A much improved performance from the Dutch side in their first away match of the campaign. Jeremain Lens scored after 3 minutes, only to be countered by Balazs Dzsudzsak five minutes later. Bruno Martins Indi gave the Netherlands the lead once more, and Lens scored his second in the second half, with Huntelaar capping the four goal performance.

Group E

Cyprus 1 Iceland 0 – 57th Minute goal from Konstantinos Makrides gave the Cypriots their first points in the campaign.

Norway 2 Slovenia 1 – Norway bounced back from their Icelandic visit, beating Slovenia, now the only team in the group without a point. Marko Suler opened the scoring for the visitors after 17 minutes, countered by Markus Henriksen and a 90th minute goal from John Arne Riise.

Switzerland 2 Albania 0 – The Swiss take the lead in the group as the only nation winning their first two matches. Xherdan Shaqiri and Gokhan Ilner scored.

Group F

Israel 0 Russia 4 – A clinical performance from Fabio Capello’s players, having a much easier time than anticipated against a very weak Israeli side. Alexandr Kerzhakov scored twice; Young Aleksandr Kokorin and Viktor Fayzulin scored as well.

Northern Ireland 1 Luxembourg 1 – Dean Shiels scored for the hosts, Daniel Da Mota Alves equalized late for the visitors, both sides picking up their first points of the campaign.

Portugal 3 Azerbaijan 0 – Two wins without actually playing very well. Varela opened the goalscoring after 63 minutes. Helder Postiga and Bruno Alves added late in the match to make it look a bit more impressive.

Group G

Bosnia 4 Latvia 1 – Bosnia continue with their impressive scoring, improving to 12-2 after two matches. Zvjezdan Misimovic scored twice, helped by Miralem Pjanic and Edin Dzeko. Kaspars Gorkss gave Lativa a misleading 5th minute lead.

Slovakia 2 Liechtenstein 0 – A less than convincing performance from the home side, winning through goals of Marek Sapara and Martin Jakubko.

Greece 2 Lithuania 0 – Greece join Bosnia in the lead of this group with goals from Sotiris Ninis and Konstantinos Mitroglou.

Group H

San Marino 0 Montenegro 6 – Luka Djordjevic, Fatos Beciraj (x2), Elsad Zverotic and Andrija Delibasic scored, with Montenegro climbing to the top of the group thanks to goal difference.

Poland 2 Moldova 0 – Now one of three sides who have 4 points, Poland got their first win with goals from Jakub Blaszczykowski and Jakub Wawrzyniak.

England 1 Ukraine 1 – A bad performance from Roy Hodgson’s men, playing with their manager for the first time at Wembley in an official match, helped by an 87th minute Frank Lampard penalty to save the point. Yevhen Konoplyanka opened for the visitors.

Group I

Georgia 0 Spain 1 – Georgia made it very hard for the European champions in their opening match to the campaign, needing an 86th minute goal from Roberto Soldado to keep the three points.

France 3 Belarus 1 – France looked a bit better in front of their home fans, but not by much. Etienne Capoue, Franck Ribery and Christophe Jallet scored for France; Anton Putsilo scored for Belarus.

Top Scorers

Edin Dzeko leads the scoring charts with 4 goals from the first two matches, along with teammate Zvjezdan Misimović. Vedad Ibisevic of Bosnia, Frank Lampard and Mesut Ozil all have three goals.

Images: Source