European group-by-group analysis

LONDON (Reuters) -- A group-by-group analysis of Wednesday's European World Cup qualifying matches:

GROUP ONE

Romania made it a maximum nine points with a 5-1 win away to Andorra who finished with 10 men after midfielder Ildefons Lima was sent off 10 minutes from time. Finland remained in second place with their second win of the competition -- a 2-0 victory over Armenia in Yerevan. There was a hugely significant result from Amsterdam, though, were the Netherlands started their campaign with a 2-0 win over old rivals the Czech Republic.

The Czechs face Romania at home in their next match on October 9 while the Dutch travel to Macedonia.

- - -

GROUP TWO

European champions Greece again failed to live up to their new star billing in a goalless home draw with arch-rivals Turkey leaving them with one point from six.

Turkey, who have fallen from their highs of two years ago when they reached the World Cup semi-finals, have two points following their opening 1-1 draw with Georgia.

Georgia, surprisingly, top the group, replacing Albania, with four points from two matches after beating the Albanians 2-0 in Tbilisi -- a major disappointment for the visitors after their win over Greece on Saturday. Albania finished with 10 men after Elvin Beqiri was red carded after 80 minutes.

Ukraine also moved on to four points from two games with a 2-1 win in Kazakhstan, playing in the European qualifiers for the first time since a switch from Asia to Europe two years ago.

- - -

GROUP THREE

The two opening matches on Wednesday produced 14 goals with Slovakia crushing Liechtenstein 7-0 and Latvia winning a surprisingly tough match 4-3 in Luxembourg.

Robert Vittek grabbed three of Slovakia's goals to add to the one he scored against Russia on Saturday.

Portugal kept up the scoring spree with four goals in the last 15 minutes in a 4-0 win over Estonia in Leiria that ended the visitor's two-match winning run. Slovakia go top with seven points from three games, followed by Portugal and Estonia on six although the Portuguese have a game in hand.

- - -

GROUP FOUR

Switzerland, Ireland, France and Israel all have four points from two matches following Wednesday's results.

France got three points from a visit to the Faroe Islands for their first competitive win under new coach Raymond Domenech but they had skipper Patrick Vieira sent off and lost Louis Saha with a knee injury in the opening stages of the 2-0 victory.

Israel, who drew 0-0 with France in Paris on Saturday, enjoyed a 2-1 home win over Cyprus. Switzerland and Ireland drew 1-1 in Basel with both teams scoring in the opening 17 minutes.

The Faroes and Cyprus are already stranded at the bottom after losing both their opening games.

- - -

GROUP FIVE

Italy were the only winners thanks to Alessandro del Piero's first international goal for a year giving them a 1-0 win in Moldova and a maximum six points from their opening two games.

Scotland and Slovenia drew 0-0 in Glasgow while Norway and Belarus shared the points with a 1-1 draw in Oslo.

- - -

GROUP SIX

Austria beat Azerbaijan 2-0 and England won 2-1 in Poland to move on to four points at the top of the group.

England's victory took the heat off their Swedish coach Sven Goran Eriksson who was under intense pressure from the media to do well since his team could only draw 2-2 with Austria on Saturday after leading 2-0 until the closing stages.

Wales and Northern Ireland battled, almost literally, to a 2-2 draw in Cardiff in a match that saw Michael Hughes and David Healy of Northern Ireland and Robbie Savage of Wales sent off.

- - -

GROUP SEVEN

Spain's campaign got off to a disappointing start when they were held to a 1-1 draw in Bosnia, a result that saw Lithuania top the group after their 4-0 win over San Marino in Kaunas.

Spain, who have failed to impress in friendlies since Luis Aragones took over after their Euro 2004 flop, again looked poor despite Vicente giving them the lead after 66 minutes. That only lasted eight minutes before Elvir Bolic equalised for the home side.

- - -

GROUP EIGHT

Croatia moved to the top of the standings with their second straight win -- a 1-0 victory in Gothenburg over Sweden which could prove invaluable in the final analysis.

Hungary, well beaten 3-0 by Croatia on Saturday, came from behind to beat Iceland 3-2 in Budapest to join Sweden and Bulgaria, who were not playing on Wednesday, on three points.

But the Hungarians lived dangerously before Imre Szabics scored an 80th minute winner -- two minutes after Indridi Sigurdsson made it 2-2 for Iceland who had led 1-0.

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.