Eduardo on target as Croatia march on

CROATIA squeezed past Israel 1-0 to consolidate their position at the top of England’s Group E and keep them on course for Euro 2008 qualification.

Arsenal’s Eduardo Da Silva scored the only goal after 52 minutes.

Greece continued their domination of Group C with a 3-2 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Goals from Angelos Charisteas, Theofanis Gekas and Nikos Liberopoulos gave the reigning European champions all three points at the Spyros Louis Stadium. Mirko Hrgovic and Vedad Ibisevic netted for the Bosnians.

Turkey’s hopes of qualification were severely dented with a 1-1 draw with Moldova. It could have been even worse for Turkey, who were trailing for much of the game after Viorel Frunza had given the home side the lead after 11 minutes, but they rescued a point thanks to a second-half Umit Karan goal.

Hungary claimed revenge over Malta with a 2-0 win in Group C. Robert Feczesin scored 11 minutes before half-time with a close-range header before Daniel Tozser doubled the advantage after 76 minutes, with an exquisite 25-yard free-kick, to avenge last October’s 2-1 defeat on the Mediterranean island.

Serbia’s qualification hopes from Group A suffered a blow as they could only draw 0-0 in Armenia.

Ebi Smolarek’s second-half hat-trick helped Poland to a 3-1 victory over Kazakhstan after trailing to a Dmitry Byakov goal. The result puts Poland four points clear of Portugal at the top of Group A.

Portugal kept their qualification hopes alive with a battling 2-0 win over Azerbaijan. The Euro 2004 runners-up came away with all three points thanks to goals from Bruno Alves and Hugo Almeida.

Group G basement boys Luxembourg claimed their first win of the campaign when Alphonse Leweck bagged the only goal of the game in Belarus, deep into injury time.

Sweden took a giant step towards qualification with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Liechtenstein. Goals from Freddie Ljungberg, Christian Wilhelmsson and Anders Svensson gave Lars Lagerback’s side all three points and means they travel to Spain knowing that a draw will effectively secure qualification from Group F.

Spain kept up the pressure on Sweden with a 3-1 win in Denmark. Goals from Raul Tamudo, Sergio Ramos and Albert Riera earned Spain a seventh win of the campaign, while Jon Dahl Tomasson scored for the hosts.

Maris Verpakovskis scored twice as Latvia secured an impressive 4-2 win over Iceland in Reykjavik. The home side had taken an early lead through Eidur Gudjohnsen but goals from Oskars Klava, Juris Laizans and Verpakovskis’ double gave Latvia a 4-1 lead before Gudjohnsen scored a second-half consolation.

Belgium coach Rene Vandereycken questioned the King Boudewijn Stadium pitch after any hopes of qualification for Euro 2008 were ended with a 0-0 draw against Finland.

Vandereycken said: “On the heavy pitch quick interplay was impossible — and we do need that with the kind of strikers we have.”