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Portugal stumble, Scotland lucky

Portugal stumble, Scotland lucky

09/07/2010 08:26:33 PM

Portugal have continued their disastrous Euro 2012 qualifying campaign going down 1-0 against Norway on Tuesday.

After crashing to a shock 4-4 draw with minnows Cyprus in their qualifying opener on Friday, things got worse for Carlos Queiroz's men in Oslo as Bjorn Helge Riise's 65th minute strike guided Norway to the top of Group H after two matches.

In Tuesday's other Group H match, Denmark moved to second in the group with a 1-0 win at home against Iceland.

In Group I, Craig Levein's Scotland were lucky to escape with a 2-1 win over Liechtenstein after Stephen McManus headed home the winner in the sixth minute of injury time at Hampden Park.

Mario Frick had put the visitors ahead just after half time, but Kenny Miller equalised for Scotland 16 minutes later before McManus made himself the hero.

Lithuania had an impressive 1-0 away win over the Czech Republic in Tuesday's other Group I match.

Elsewhere, Germany routed Azerbaijan 6-1 to move into top spot in Group A.

The Germans followed on from their 1-0 win over Belgium on Tuesday in grand fashion, with Heiko Westermann opening the scoring and Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski both scoring in overtime to give the home side a 3-0 lead at the half.

An own goal from Rashad F. Sadygov and late strikes from Holger Badstuber and Klose rounded off the scoring in the second half.

Turkey also kept their undefeated record in Group A intact with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Belgium while Austria beat Kazakhstan 2-0 in Salzburg.

Slovakia caused a big upset in Group B scoring a 1-0 win away against Russia.

They're joined at the top of the group by the Republic of Ireland who had a 3-1 win over Andorra, while in Skopje, FYR Macedonia and Armenia fought out a 2-2 draw.

Italy remain undefeated after its opening two matches thanks to a 5-0 drubbing of minnows Faroe Islands in Florence.

The Italians now top the group ahead of Serbia, who needed a late equaliser from Nikola Zigic to force a 1-1 draw at home with Slovenia.

Laurent Blanc enjoyed his first win as France manager with Les Bleus overcoming a slow start to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0.

Karim Benzema and Florent Malouda scored within six second-half minutes to ease the pressure on the beleaguered nation.

Elsewhere in Group D, Albania beat Luxembourg 1-0 while Belarus and Romania fought out a scoreless draw in Minsk.

Sweden routed San Marino 6-0 despite having Olof Mellberg sent off in the first half, while a Klaas Jan Huntelaar double gave World Cup finalists the Netherlands a 2-1 victory over Finland in Group E.

Group F favourites Croatia and Greece fought out a 0-0 draw in Zagreb while Israel missed the chance to go top of the group after a scoreless draw with Georgia. Latvia beat Malta 2-0 in the other Group F clash on Tuesday.

Wayne Rooney put his personal problems behind him scoring in England's 3-1 win over Switzerland in Group G, while Montenegro kept Bulgaria winless with a 1-0 victory away in Sofia.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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