France on Brink, Yanks Tie Scotland

The four European play off first legs for the World Cup finals produced one result to be more talked about than any other.

In Kiev, Ukraine beat France 2-0. Roman Zozulya who plays in Ukraine for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk gave the home side a deserved lead in the 61st minute, a result which would have left the tie delicately poised.

Zozukya was to be involved again 21 minutes later. He was fouled to claim the penalty  that may see Les Blues eliminated from the World Cup. Dinamo Kiev’s Andriy Yarmolenko converted it to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

Greece beat Romania 3-1 with Olympiakos striker Kostas Mitroglou scoring twice. Dimitris Salpingidis added the other while Genclerbirligi forward Bogdan Stancu netted for Romania.

Unfancied Iceland failed to score in their home leg drawing 0-0 with Croatia on a good night all round for Balkan football. In the fourth match, Portugal, led by Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, beat Sweden 1-0 with Ronaldo stooping low to head home a late winner.

There were a slew of World Cup friendlies. The United States visited Hampden Park, the venerable old stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow.

It was a poor night for forwards, with Tim Howard making the only serious save of the match from a Robert Snodgrass free kick. There were viable handball claims, one at each end, but in truth neither side deserved to win – or lose – this friendly.

England got a sharp reminder of their status though with a 0-2 home defeat by Chile. Barcelona’s Alexis Sánchez scored both.

The Republic of Ireland beat Latvia 3-0 in Martin O’Neill’s managerial debut. Italy tied Germany 1-1.