Turkey victorious in Group A opener
Published 23:11 03/09/10 By Pa Sports
Turkey seized early control of Group A by cruising to a 3-0 victory in Kazakhstan.
Two goals in three minutes from Arda Turan and Hamit Altintop had them in command midway through the first half, and Nihat Kahveci made sure of the three points 14 minutes from time as coach Guus Hiddink made a winning start.
Russia and Slovakia all got their Group B qualifying campaigns off to winning starts. Dick Advocaat's Russia were indebted to Pavel Pogrebniak as the striker's double secured a 2-0 victory in Andorra, while Filip Holosko's stoppage-time strike earned Slovakia a 1-0 victory over 10-man FYR Macedonia at Bratislava's Stadion Pasienky.
Serbia started their Group C campaign with a routine 3-0 victory over the Faroe Islands in Torshavn.
Bosnia-Herzegovina claimed a 3-0 Group D win over Luxembourg. All the goals came early, with Senijad Ibricic scoring a sixth-minute opener, Miralem Pjanic adding a second six minutes later and Edin Dzeko making quite sure of the points on the quarter-hour mark. The other Group D game finished in a draw, with Romania held 1-1 at home by Albania.
Finland suffered a 2-0 loss away to Moldova, while Hungary will be seeking their first Group E win, after losing 2-0 to Sweden - courtesy of two goals from Pontus Wernbloom.
Slaven Bilic saw his Croatia side cruise to a comfortable 3-0 win over Latvia as they opened their Group F qualifying campaign in Riga.
Greece drew 1-1 with Georgia after Nikos Spyropoulos earned them a point with a second-half equaliser. Alexander Iashvili had given the visitors the lead after three minutes but Spyropoulos levelled with 18 minutes remaining.
Norway staged a fine second-half comeback to make a flying start to their Group H qualifying campaign with a 2-1 victory over Iceland.
Andreas Avraam was Cyprus' hero as they deprived Portugal of victory in a staggering opening game of their qualifying campaign which finished 4-4 in Guimaraes.
