The road to Russia began on Sunday for the European nations as 9 qualifying matches, including defending champions Germany<\/strong> playing in Norway<\/strong>, were played across the continent.<\/p>\n

The reigning champions left challengers in no doubt as to their intentions\u00a0at Oslo’s Ulleval Stadium.<\/p>\n

Bayern Munich’s Thomas M\u00fcller put Jogi L\u00f6w’s side\u00a0on their way with a 15th minute opener and his Bayern club mate Joshua Kimmich added a second, assisted by M\u00fcller, \u00a0just before half time.<\/p>\n

M\u00fcller added a third on the hour mark assisted by Sami Khedira.<\/p>\n

L\u00f6w left\u00a0M\u00fcller on the field in search of his hat trick removing Khedira, Wolfsburg’s Julian Draxler and Mario\u00a0G\u00f6tze instead.\u00a0Leverjusen’s Julian Brandt, Dortmund’s Julian Weigl and Schalke 04’s Max Meyer all received\u00a0playing time. It was not to be for\u00a0M\u00fcller as the game finished at a \u00a0very satisfying 0 -3 for Germany.<\/p>\n

Romania<\/strong> v Montenegro<\/strong> looked to be going goalless until a late flurry of goals. Adrian Popic gave the hosts the lead in the 85th minute and they looked to be heaving a sigh of relief. But two minutes later, the hosts were stunned by a Stevan Jovetic equaliser on a disappointing night for Romania after an even more disappointing EURO2016.<\/p>\n

In a match between two EURO2016 qualifiers, Northern Ireland<\/strong> drew 0-0 with the Czech Republic<\/strong> in a dull match in Prague.<\/p>\n

In the day’s final qualifier, Malta<\/strong> entertained Scotland<\/strong> backed by 4000 traveling members of the Tartan Army. Robert Snodgrass gave the Scots an early lead with a speculative effort from the right wing. It only lasted four minutes. Alfred Effiong equalised from a header,\u00a0he Scottish defence showing Malta way too much room and stood still as a\u00a0Gareth Sciberras cross floated over.<\/p>\n

Chris Martin restored Scotland’s lead seven minutes after the interval. Malta’s Jonathan Caruana Sciberras was sent off on the hour mark for sliding into the back of Martin as he was about to shoot. From the subsequent penalty, Snodgrass put Scotland 1 – 3 ahead. Steven Fletcher added a fourth against a dispirited 10 man Maltese side.\u00a0Snodgrass completed a rare Scottish international hat trick before then end.<\/p>\n

His night ended sourly when he was tackled nastily by Barnet’s Luke Gambin who received a straight red for a hack. He recovered to receive the match ball on a night where the result flattered Scotland.<\/p>\n

Gambin will miss the very short trip from his North London home of Barnet to Wembley for Malta’s next match.<\/p>\n

In the earlier games there were mixed results for\u00a0the nations who appeared in EURO2016.<\/p>\n

Poland<\/strong> seemed to be on the way to an impressive victory in\u00a0Kazakhstan<\/strong> with goals from new\u00a0Leicester City\u00a0winger\u00a0Bartosz Kapustka and Robert Lewandowski. However the Kazakhs retorted in the second half with two goals from Tobol of Kotanai’s\u00a0Sergei Khizhnichenko, his first for his country since one day short of two years ago.<\/p>\n

It’s two dropped points for the Poles but that might not matter in a generally forgiving Group E that also contains\u00a0Denmark,\u00a0<\/abbr>Montenegro,\u00a0<\/abbr>Romania\u00a0and \u00a0A<\/abbr>rmenia.<\/abbr><\/p>\n

Slovakia<\/strong> and England<\/strong> met at the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho \u00a0in Trnava\u00a0and mere 224 miles away, from where\u00a0Northern Ireland\u00a0were to face the\u00a0Czech Republic in Prague.<\/p>\n

For the English, it was the first match in charge for new coach Sam Allardyce who retained eight of the eleven men who started in the doomed EUROs match with Iceland.<\/p>\n

It was an unimpressive display by England but they were presented with an unearned opportunity\u00a0in the 57th minute when Slovakia captain Martin Skrtel, already on a yellow and a warning, stamped on\u00a0Harry Kane and was sent off, an act called “irresponsible, idiotic,\u00a0unforgivable”<\/em> by Tom Rostance covering for the BBC.<\/p>\n