Ukraine, Switzerland and Poland are also sitting comfortably on top of their groups after fine victories.

The tournament in Germany is just over a year away and another round of games takes place on Wednesday with the final group games in September and October.

The competition begins on 9 June next year in Munich's new AllianzArena.

GROUP ONE

Holland stayed top of Group One with an impressive 2-0 win over Romania, Chelsea forward Arjen Robben and Dirk Kuyt scoring the Dutch goals.

Czech Republic thrashed Andorra 8-1 in Liberec, Vratislav Lokvenc hitting two.

Jan Koller, Vladimir Smicer, Tomas Galasek, Milan Baros, Tomas Rosicky and Jan Polak also struck with Gabriel Riera scoring Andorra's consolation.

Goran Pandev bagged a brace for FYR Macedonia at Armenia, Edgar Manucharyan scoring for the hosts in a 2-1 defeat.

GROUP TWO

Ukraine stretched their lead at the Group Two summit to five points with a 2-0 win over Kazakhstan and they look certain to qualify for the World Cup.

Andriy Shevchenko and an own goal from Igor Avdeyev pushed the Ukrainians closer to their first ever finals.

They were helped by a 0-0 draw in Istanbul between Turkey and Greece, Stelios hitting the bar for the Greeks.

Albania beat Georgia 3-2, goals from Igli Tare (two) and Ervin Skela replied by Lado Burduli and Levan Kobiashvili.

GROUP THREE

Portugal enhanced their qualification prospects by beating Slovakia 2-0, with Fernando Meira and Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo getting the goals.

Russia boosted their hopes with a 2-0 win over Latvia which kept them in touch with the Group Three leaders.

Second half goals by Andrei Arshavin and Dmitry Loskov handed them a win in Yuri Syomin's first game as coach.

Estonia sealed a comfortable 2-0 win at home against Liechtenstein with Andrei Stepanov and Andres Oper scoring.

GROUP FOUR

Switzerland survived a late scare to keep their qualification hopes alive with a 3-1 win at the Faroe Islands.

Rogvi Jacobsen levelled Raphael Wicky's early strike before an Alexander Frei brace sealed the points for the Swiss.

Republic of Ireland threw away a two-goal lead at home to Israel, a result which harms their prospects.

Ian Harte and Robbie Keane had given them a two-goal lead, but Avi Yehiel and an Avi Nimni penalty levelled before Andy o'Brien was sent off.

GROUP FIVE

Scotland earned their first win of Group Five and first under Walter Smith with a 2-0 victory over Moldova.

Goals from Christian Dailly and James McFadden gave the Scots three points in a nervy display at Hampden Park.

Italy kept their three-point cushion at the top after holding Norway to a 0-0 draw in Oslo, though they had keeper Gianluigi Buffon to thank for doing so.

Belarus drew 1-1 against Slovenia, the visitors taking the lead through Nastja Ceh before Valentin Belkevich levelled.

GROUP SIX

Poland moved above England at the top of Group Six with a convincing victory away at bottom-of-the-table Azerbaijan.

With Sven-Goran Eriksson's side out of action the Poles went two points clear, though England now have a game in hand.

Thomas Frankowski handed the visitors the lead just before the half-hour mark to break down the Azeri's resistance.

Tomasz Klos made the game safe after the break and though the Poles failed to repeat their 8-0 win over Azerbaijan in March, Maciej Zurawski hit a third.

GROUP SEVEN

Spain joined Serbia & Montengro at the top of Group Seven with a 1-0 win over Lithuania, striker Alberto Luque scoring with 21 minutes left to play.

Serbia & Montenegro were held at home by Belgium, the hosts missing several chances and Belgium goalkeeper Silvio Proto producing some stunning saves.

Bosnia secured their second win of the competition away at San Marino.

Hasan Salihamidzic struck twice and Sergei Barbadez also notched, with Andy Selva scoring San Marino's consolation.

GROUP EIGHT

Croatia stayed a point clear at the top of Group Eight by beating Bulgaria 3-1.

Marko Babic, Igor Tudor and Niko Kranjcar struck, with Martin Petrov scoring a colsolation for the hosts.

Sweden beat Malta 6-0, Mattias Jonson, Anders Svensson, Christian Wilhelmsson, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fredrik Ljungberg and Johan Elmander scoring the goals.

Zoltan Gera scored twice as Hungary beat Iceland 3-2, Szabolcs Huszti also netting while Eidur Gudjohnsen and Kristian Sigurdsson struck for Iceland.

Source: BBC
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