Serbia on song against Wales

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After a 0-0 draw with Scotland in their opening game, Serbia found their shooting boots to fire six past Wales in a FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Woeful defending played a major part in Wales' heaviest defeat since 1996 and Aleksandar Kolarov and Zoran Tosic had the hosts 2-0 up inside 25 minutes.

Gareth Bale gave Wales hope with a stunning free-kick but Filip Djuricic got a third for the hosts before the break and Dusan Tadic, Branislav Ivanovic and Miralem Sulejmani completed the rout.

There had been early warning signs when Adam Matthews was in the right place keep out a free header from Matija Nastasic, before Darcy Blake came close to putting through his own net with a sliced clearance. And it was no surprise when Wales fell behind after 15 minutes.

Chelsea's Ivanovic won a soft free-kick out of Simon Church on the right edge of the area and Kolarov, who had been critical of Wales in the build-up to the game, stepped up to curl a left-footed effort over the wall and beyond Boaz Myhill, who was slow to react to the strike.

The deficit doubled in the 24th minute, with Kolarov this time the creator amidst comedy defending. The left-back looked to have been stopped by Ashley Williams but he slipped away from the centre-half and Chris Gunter to get away a shot from near the byline. Myhill blocked that effort but Tosic had the simple task of converting the follow-up.

It would have been worse for Wales had Gunter not blocked Tadic's goalbound effort, with the visitors looking vulnerable almost every time the hosts came forward.

Bale gave them a lifeline just after the half-hour mark as he picked himself up after being fouled by Milan Bisevac to thump home a superb swerving free-kick from almost 30 yards.

It was the first goal of Coleman's stint in charge but Wales' defensive frailties resurfaced to undermine their attempt at a recovery as Blake's awful defensive header allowed Tadic to play in Djuricic, who went round Matthews and fired high into Myhill's net.

Coleman withdrew Matthews, who had endured a torrid time up against Tadic and Tosic, and David Edwards for Sam Ricketts and David Vaughan at the break but it made little difference.

Tadic struck the fourth in the 55th minute, Ivanovic dispossessing Bale and beating Ricketts down the right before sliding the ball across to give Tadic a simple finish.

Wales were once again guilty of making problems for themselves when it came to the fifth goal. Blake surrendered possession on the edge of his own area and home skipper Ivanovic capitalised to slide a right-footed effort into the bottom corner.

Substitute Sulejmani then rounded off the scoring as his deflected strike looped in over Myhill.

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Sweden get off to good start

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Goals from Rasmus Elm and Marcus Berg ensured Sweden made a winning start to their World Cup qualifying campaign at the expense of Kazakhstan.

The Scandinavians had sat out last week's round of fixtures, but gave their Group C opponents food for thought with a workmanlike performance in Malmo.

Sweden dominated the early stages but had little to show for their efforts with the exception of a 12-yard drive from Elm which was high of the target.

Pontus Wernbloom could also have done better with a corner from Sebastian Larsson after 21 minutes which the CSKA Moscow midfielder volleyed past the right post.

Johan Elmander was wasteful with another opening soon after but Sweden's pressure finally paid off after 38 minutes when Mikael Lustig's ball in from the left was turned into the net by Elm.

The same player had another chance two minutes before the interval but this time pushed his shot wide of the right post in another let-off for Kazakhstan.

Sweden should have made it 2-0 at the start of the second half when Larsson whipped in a cross for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but the Paris St Germain striker saw his header tipped round the post by visiting goalkeeper Andrey Sidelnikov.

Kazakhstan had a rare sight of goal after 60 minutes when Pavel Shabalin saw his 12-yard strike cleared by Jonas Olsson.

At the other end, Sidelnikov was called into action again after 69 minutes when he saved a testing drive from Emir Bajrami with his feet.

Home goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson had not been tested so far but his first touch of the ball five minutes from time was a crucial one as he palmed away a strike from Mikhail Rozhkov.

And Sweden made sure of the win in the fourth minute of stoppage time when substitute Berg put the finishing touch to Ibrahimovic's cross.

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Leading pack bunches up

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The South American FIFA World Cup™ qualifying competition is living up to its reputation as one of the toughest on the planet, with a mere three points now separating leaders Argentina from sixth-placed Venezuela after Tuesday evening’s eighth round of games.

FIFA.com rounds up the action on a day that ended without a single home win and was also marked by the death of former Chilean goalkeeper Sergio Livingstone, a legend of South American football.

Match of the day
Chile 1-3 Colombia 
Goals: Matias Fernandez 41 (CHI); James Rodriguez 58, Radamel Falcao 73, Teofilo Gutierrez 76 (COL)

Fresh from ending Uruguay’s 18-match unbeaten run, Colombia handed Chile their first defeat in eight games, coming from behind to win a thrilling game that had a little bit of everything, with no shortage of goalmouth action to go with some feisty tackling and red cards for each side.  

Despite falling behind after Chile’s Gary Medel was dismissed 34 minutes in, Los Cafeteros threw everything they had into attack after the break to secure their first win in Santiago in 12 years, one that would have been even more emphatic but for Claudio Bravo’s performance in the home goal. Winners in three of their last four away games, Jose Pekerman’s side have now jumped up to second.

Elsewhere
Lacking the poise they have shown in previous games, leaders Argentina had to work harder than expected as they drew 1-1 in Lima, the visitors being grateful to come away with a point. After keeping out a Claudio Pizarro penalty, Sergio Romero was powerless to prevent the Peruvians taking the lead courtesy of Carlos Zambrano’s well-worked goal. Linking up on an all too rare occasion with Ezequiel Lavezzi, Gonzalo Higuain completed the scoring with a fine right-footed strike before the break.

Meanwhile, Venezuela continue to rewrite their footballing history. The only team on the continent yet to appear at a FIFA World Cup finals, La Vinotinto scored for the first time in Asuncion to sink struggling Paraguay 2-0, both goals coming from Salomon Rondon. The result avenged the Venezuelans’ semi-final defeat to La Albirroja in last year’s Copa America and leaves the Paraguayans with much to do. Bottom of the section with four points, some eight adrift of Chile in fifth, they now face a trip to in-form Colombia in the next round of games.

The last few days will not live long in the memory for Uruguay. Heavily beaten in Colombia on Friday, they were held 1-1 on Tuesday by Ecuador in Montevideo. Just as they had done against Bolivia last week, the visitors took the lead through a Felipe Caicedo spot-kick, though Edinson Cavani hit back with his second goal in 14 qualifying matches to complete the scoring in a game littered with chances. The point left both sides as they were, with El Tricolor in third and La Celeste in fourth. 

Player of the day
Daniel Hernandez (VEN)
Handed an unexpected debut in place of the experienced Renny Vega, the 26-year-old Real Valladolid custodian took his opportunity by turning in an excellent display. While the cameras were trained on team-mate Rondon, Hernandez almost stole the show with superb saves from Oscar Cardozo, Nelson Haedo and Jonathan Fabbro, as Venezuela departed Asuncion without conceding a goal for the first time in their history. “Congratulations on your debut, brother,” tweeted Vega, his understudy for the day. “You were the man today, and that’s the direction we want Venezuela to take.”

The stat
7 - The number of goals Gonzalo Higuain has now scored in nine FIFA World Cup qualifiers, an average of 0.77 per game. The Real Madrid striker, who also scored four times in as many matches at South Africa 2010, struck his first in his debut qualifying match, also against Peru, on 10 October 2009.

What they said
“The players are as committed as ever but it goes without saying that we haven’t come away with what we wanted from these two games. It was clear for everyone to see: we’re not playing well,” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez reacts to his side’s 1-1 draw with Ecuador. 

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Russia enjoy rout in Israel

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Alexander Kerzhakov scored twice as Russia cruised to a 4-0 victory over Israel in FIFA World Cup™ qualifying Group F.

The match was all but over as a contest inside 20 minutes as Kerzhakov and Alexander Kokorin put the visitors 2-0 up in Ramat Gan. Kerzhakov made it 3-0 in the 64th minute and Victor Fayzulin added a fourth as Fabio Capello's side made it two wins from two qualifiers.

The opening goal came from a free-kick in the sixth minute. Having been fouled by Tal Ben Haim, Kerzhakov stepped up to fire the ball into the top left corner from around 25 yards.

He dragged another effort wide and the opening exchanges were generally scrappy, but Russia doubled their advantage in the 18th minute when Kokorin beat Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu Aouate from 12 yards.

The visitors were dominant and could have had more goals before the interval, but Denis Glushakov's and Vasili Berezutskiy's efforts were too high and Aouate saved unconvincingly from Kerzhakov.

But Israel enjoyed a spell of pressure shortly before the interval, starting when Bebras Natcho volleyed over from long range. Mahran Radi wasted a good chance to pull a goal back when his close-range volley also cleared the crossbar, and he was off target twice more in stoppage time.

Israel introduced Eden Ben Basat and Ben Sahar at the break and the former headed Natcho's free-kick over shortly afterwards.

Glushakov and Alexander Samedov threatened for Russia before Ben Basat headed Hen Ezra's corner wide. But Russia put the game well and truly to bed when Fayzulin crossed from the left and Kerzhakov slotted home from six yards.

And Fayzulin grabbed a goal of his own in the 77th minute, converting Samedov's low cross at the near post. Radi and Yoav Ziv were unable to conjure an Israeli goal as their side finished well beaten.

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Brazil set up Iraq and Japan friendlies

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Brazil will face Brazilian football legend and current Iraq coach Zico before the Samba Kings match up against one of his former teams, Japan, in two October friendlies, the Brazilian Football Confederation announced today.

The Brazilians, who as hosts will qualify for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ automatically, will play Iraq in Malmo on 11 October and then Japan, the side Zico coached from 2002 to 2006, on 16 October in Wroclaw.

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Lens double leads Dutch to victory

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Jeremain Lens was the star of the show as Louis van Gaal's new-look Netherlands side swept to a 4-1 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying win in Budapest.

The PSV Eindhoven forward, winning only his sixth cap, scored twice and hit the crossbar before setting up the fourth goal for substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

Young defender Bruno Martens scored his first international goal, rendering Balazs Dzsudzsak's eighth-minute penalty, an equaliser at the time, irrelevant in the final analysis.

Van Gaal has marked the start of his second spell in charge by giving opportunities to a host of new faces and two them combined for the opening goal in only the third minute. Luciano Narsingh crossed from the right and PSV team-mate Lens headed home from six yards.

But Hungary were soon on level terms courtesy of a former PSV player. Jordy Clasie brought down Zoltan Gera in the penalty area and was booked, and Dzsudzsak stroked home the resulting spot-kick.

Narsingh and Robin van Persie won free-kicks in dangerous positions but Wesley Sneijder failed to take advantage, hitting the wall with his first effort and shooting wide soon afterwards.

But the Inter Milan player fared better from a set-piece wide on the left in the 18th minute. Zsolt Korcsmar was booked for bringing down full-back Jetro Willems and Sneijder swung the free-kick into the box for Martens to head home.

Clasie and Lens both drew saves from home goalkeeper Adam Bogdan before Sneijder wasted another free-kick, firing over the bar after Roland Juhasz fouled Van Persie and was yellow-carded. Dzsudzsak talked his way into the book after Akos Elek fouled Narsingh but there was no further goalmouth action before the interval.

Van Gaal replaced Van Persie with Huntelaar at half-time, with Hungary introducing Tamas Hajnal in place of Vladimir Koman. The Dutch soon made it 3-1 when Lens tucked away his second of the game, and third for his country, from 12 yards eight minutes after the restart.

Huntelaar ends the scoring
Hungary enjoyed a spell of pressure after the goal, but Dzsudzsak's free-kick was out of the Sneijder playbook and into the wall. Maarten Stekelenburg denied Tamas Priskin from close range and substitute Hajnal shot over from 20 yards.

Both teams made substitutions shortly after the hour mark, with Adam Gyurcso introduced for Elek before the experienced Joris Mathijsen took the place of Martens.

The woodwork denied Lens a hat-trick when his left-footed shot from the edge of the box was a couple of inches too high. Defensive walls were proving a hazardous place to be, with Sneijder again failing to get the elevation needed on a 25-yard effort.

The Netherlands were home and dry in the 74th minute, though, with the impressive Lens turning provider for Huntelaar to score from six yards. Adam Maher stepped off the bench for his first competitive international in place of Kevin Strootman and quickly collected a yellow card for dissent after fouling Dzsudzsak.

Huntelaar shot wide in stoppage time as the Netherlands finished the match on the front foot on their way to a second successive win in Group D.

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Turkey defeat ten-man Estonia

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Turkey got their FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign up and running with an emphatic victory over ten-man Estonia in Istanbul.

Emre, Umut Bulut and Selcuk Inan all got on the scoresheet as the Turks dominated proceedings after the early dismissal of Enar Jaager at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.

The hosts should have had much more for their efforts in a game they completely dominated but they at least put last week's loss in the Netherlands firmly behind them. Estonia, also looking to bounce back from a defeat, showed some life early on with Joel Lindpere hitting the post.

But the game's critical moment came in the 19th minute when Jaager was dismissed for a professional foul on Burak Yilmaz.

By then Turkey had already gone close with Bulut heading wide, Yilmaz both missing the target and testing goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko and Arda Turan shooting over. That dominance continued as Pareiko again saved from Yilmaz, Mehmet Topal fired wide and Emre stretched the keeper from a free-kick.

Bulut headed over and Topal and Emre were also off-target with shots before the opener finally came on the stroke of half-time. Emre this time finished from 12 yards and Turkey powered on after the break with Bulut and Yilmaz again close before the second came on the hour.

Bulut was finally rewarded for his efforts with a good close-range header from a Sercan Sararer cross and Inan struck from the edge of the box 15 minutes later.

Turkey wanted another and Pareiko was kept busy to the end but there were to be no more goals.

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