Road to Russia: Germany, Scotland off to big winning road starts

Road to Russia: England’s Lallana nets winner in 95th to give Allardyce winning start

World Cup Qualifying UEFA Results:

San Marino 0 – 1 Azerbaijan
Denmark 1 – 0 Armenia
Kazakhstan 2 – 2 Poland
Lithuania 2 – 2 Slovenia
Slovakia 0 – 1 England
Czech Republic 0 – 0 Northern Ireland
Norway 0 – 3 Germany
Romania 1- 1 Montenegro
Malta 1 – 5  Scotland

Road to Russia: Germany, Scotland off to big winning road starts

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

The reigning champions left challengers in no doubt as to their intentions at Oslo’s Ulleval Stadium.

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller put Jogi Löw’s side on their way with a 15th minute opener and his Bayern club mate Joshua Kimmich added a second, assisted by Müller,  just before half time.

Müller added a third on the hour mark assisted by Sami Khedira.

Löw left Müller on the field in search of his hat trick removing Khedira, Wolfsburg’s Julian Draxler and Mario Götze instead. Leverjusen’s Julian Brandt, Dortmund’s Julian Weigl and Schalke 04’s Max Meyer all received playing time. It was not to be for Müller as the game finished at a  very satisfying 0 -3 for Germany.

Romania v Montenegro 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.

In a match between two EURO2016 qualifiers, Northern Ireland drew 0-0 with the Czech Republic in a dull match in Prague.

In the day’s final qualifier, Malta entertained Scotland 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, he Scottish defence showing Malta way too much room and stood still as a Gareth Sciberras cross floated over.

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. Snodgrass completed a rare Scottish international hat trick before then end.

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.

Gambin will miss the very short trip from his North London home of Barnet to Wembley for Malta’s next match.

In the earlier games there were mixed results for the nations who appeared in EURO2016.

Poland seemed to be on the way to an impressive victory in Kazakhstan with goals from new Leicester City winger Bartosz Kapustka and Robert Lewandowski. However the Kazakhs retorted in the second half with two goals from Tobol of Kotanai’s Sergei Khizhnichenko, his first for his country since one day short of two years ago.

It’s two dropped points for the Poles but that might not matter in a generally forgiving Group E that also contains Denmark, Montenegro, Romania and  Armenia.

Slovakia and England met at the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho  in Trnava and mere 224 miles away, from where Northern Ireland were to face the Czech Republic in Prague.

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.

It was an unimpressive display by England but they were presented with an unearned opportunity in the 57th minute when Slovakia captain Martin Skrtel, already on a yellow and a warning, stamped on Harry Kane and was sent off, an act called “irresponsible, idiotic, unforgivable” by Tom Rostance covering for the BBC.

Despite that, Prost columnist Terry Butcher, also working for the BBC, wasn’t getting his hopes up too high:

“To be honest I don’t actually know if that will help England’s cause…”

Eight minutes later Wayne Rooney delivered England’s first shot on goal of the match.

Butcher wrote on the BBC:

“If England continue to play like this in this Group then we really will have a struggle to qualify.”

Theo Walcott had a last minute goal disallowed for offside but fortune and the referee’s watch were on their side.

Adam Lallana scored the game’s only goal deep in stoppage time to give Allardyce a winning start. The referee had already added on five minutes when he pounced on a cross from Danny Rose and shot at Slovak goalkeeper Matus Kozacik. The ball however went straight through the Viktoria Plzen keeper to give England the three points with the last kick of the match.

Outside the EURO2016 sides, Lithuania provided the early shock of the day when they scored two quick goals to lead Slovenia 2-0, Fedor Cernych and Viktor Slivka scoring in the pouring rain in Vilnius.

The Slovenes who had 66% of the possession fought back however. A second half goal from Rene Krhin was followed by an equaliser with the last kick of the match (actually a header) by Chievo’s Bostigan Cesar in a group also containing England, Scotland and Slovakia.

Azerbaijan beat minnows San Marino 0 : 1 and Denmark opened their account with a home win over Armenia after Spurs Christian Eriksen set them on their way in the 17th minute but he also missed a penalty.

Tomorrow’s Fixtures (Kick offs Pacific Time):

Georgia 09 : 00 Austria
Serbia 11 : 45 Republic of Ireland
Wales 11 : 45 Moldova
Albania 11 : 45 FYR Macedonia
Israel 11 : 45 Italy
Spain 11 : 45 Liechtenstein
Croatia 11 : 45 Turkey
Ukraine 11 : 45 Iceland
Finland 11 : 45 Kosovo