Round-up: Four-goal Petric leads Croatia on a rampage
Croatia warmed up for their confrontation with England on Wednesday by thrashing Andorra 7-0, two better than Steve McClaren's men managed.
The Croatian onslaught was led by Mladen Petric, who scored the first four, with Ivan Klasnic, Bosko Balaban and Luka Modric addin the others as Croatia moved up to third place in the group behind England and Israel.
Israel maintained their strong start in the group with a 1-1 draw in Russia, where the substitute Amit Ben Shushan pounced on a rebound, after the Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev parried a shot byToto Tamuz, to equalise in the 87th minute.
Andrei Arshavin gave Russia an early lead with a solo effort after five minutes. Thereafter Russia dominated but they had to settle for their second draw in two matches under their new coach Guus Hiddink
Milan Baros scored twice as the Czech Republic routed San Marino 7-0 at home in their European Championship Group D qualifier. The Villa player struck once in each half as did Jan Koller as the Czechs kept their 100 per cent record in the group, which contains Wales and the Republic of Ireland.
Lithuania collected their first victory in Group B, Scotland's section, when Andrius Skerla, the former Dunfermline defender, scored the only goal of their match in the Faroe Islands.
Italy, the world champions, scored their first victory in the group, beating Ukraine 2-0 with a penalty by Massimo Oddo and a goal by Luca Toni.
Uefa are investigating a complaint by Manchester United about alleged racist conduct by Benfica fans during the recent Champions' League fixture.
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