Italy Falter While Germany, Netherlands, England Win

2014 World Cup Qualifying: Full UEFA Results Recap

The road to the 2014 World Cup kicked off today in Europe as UEFA qualfiers began with a full slate of matches. Here's a rundown of all the results.

Group A

Croatia 1-0 Macedonia

Everton's Nikica Jelavic headed home a goal in the 68th minute, just five minutes after entering the match, and that was all that Crotia needed as they defeated Macedonia 1-0 at home. Not a great result in terms of padding the goal differential, but three points are always good.

Wales 0-2 Belgium

Despite a wealth of attacking options up front for Belgium, it was their defenders who led them to a 2-0 win over Wales. It probably should have not been as close considering Welsh defender James Collins was sent off in the 25th minute for a bad foul on Guillaume Gillet. It took awhile, but in the end Manchester City's Vincent Kompany and Jan Vertonghen from Spurs both scored for Belgium as this young and talented side got their qualifying campaign off to a strong start.

Group B

Malta 0-1 Armenia

A late goal from Artur Sarkisov allowed Armenia to escape Malta with a 1-0 won and the full three points. Former Real Salt Lake striker Yura Movsisyan started and played the full 90 minutes for Armenia.

Bulgaria 2-2 Italy

Group C

Kazakhstan 1-2 Ireland

Kazakhstan went ahead in the 38th minute thanks to Kairat Nurdauletov and looked to be on their way to a major upset until a Robbie Keane penalty pulled Ireland even in the 89th minute. The Irish finish the comeback in stoppage time thanks to a Kevin Doyle goal. Despite telling fans a new promising era is coming, it's clear Giovanni Trapattoni still has a lot of work to do.

Germany 3-0 Faroe Islands

Group D

Estonia 0-2 Romania

Goals from Gabriel Torje in 55th minute and Ciprian Marica in the 75th paced Romania to a 2-0 win over Estonia. Good start to qualifying for the Romanians who look to be in a fairly wide open group.

Andorra 0-5 Hungary

Hungary did not mess around in their qualfication opener, hammering Andorra 5-0. Five different players: Roland Juhasz, Zoltan Gera 33, Adám Szalai, Tamas Priskin and Vladimir Koman scored for Hungary. Two of those goals came after Andorra's Marco Valez was sent of for his second yellow card in the 67th minute. Hungary will sit on top of the group for now on goal differential.

Netherlands 2-0 Turkey

Group E

Albania 3-1 Cyprus

Albania scored a convincing 3-1 win over Cyprus thanks to goals from Albania Armando Sadiku, Edgar Cani and Erjon Bogdani. The lone Cypriot goal came in first half stoppage time from Vincent Laban.

Slovenia 0-2 Switzerland

The Swiss rolled to a relatively painless 2-0 win over Slovenia thanks to goals from Granit Xhaka (20') and Napoli's Gokhan Inler (51'). Switzerland played the final 15 minutes of the match a man down after Tranquillo Barnetta was sent of for his second yellow card offense.

Iceland 2-0 Norway

Kari Arnason scored early and Alfred Finnbogason scored late as Iceland cruised past Norway 2-0.

Group F

Russia 2-0 Northern Ireland

Fabio Capello and Russa got their qualification campaign off to a postive start with fairly painless 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in Moscow. Viktor Faitzulin scored in the 30th minute and Roman Shirokov scored on penalty in the 78th minute to seal the deal.

Azerbaijan 1-1 Isreal

Bebars Natcho put Isreal ahead in the 50th minute, but Azerbaijan's Ruslan Abbasov equalized in the 65th, giving each side a point in their quantification opener.

Luxembourg 1-2 Portugal

Group G

Liechtenstein 1-8 Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina will certainly be pleased with their 8-1 thrashing of Liechtenstein today. Zvjezdan Misimovic had a brace, while Vedad Ibisevic and Manchester City's Edin Dzeko both netted hat tricks to lead the romp. This should do wonders for Bosnia's goal differential.

Lithuania 1-1 Slovakia

Marius Zaliukas staked Lithuania to a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute, but Marek Sapara equalized right before halftime. The match finished 1-1, sending Slovakia away with a disappointing draw to opener their qualifying run. The match saw two red cards shown with Lithuania's Viktor Pecovsky being sent off in the 55th minute for a bad foul, while Slovakia's Tadas Labukas being sent off after picking up a second yellow card in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

Latvia 1-2 Greece

Latvia went ahead in the first half thanks to a penalty by Aleksandrs Cauna in thr 43rd minute. Greece recovered in the second with goals from Nikos Spyropoulos (57') and Theofanis Gekas (70) to get the 2-1 victory.

Group H

Montenegro 2-2 Poland

The two sides played to a hard fought 2-2 draw with goals for Montenegro from Nikola Drincic and Mirko Vucinic, while Jakub Blaszczykowski and Adrian Mierzejewski scored for Poland. Both teams had players sent off as well. Montenegro's Savo Pavicevic in the 69th minute for his second yellow card, while Poland's Ludovic Obraniak was shown a straight red in the 72nd minute for violent conduct.

Moldova 0-5 England

Group I

Georgia 1-0 Belarus

Georgia began their qualifying campaign with a nice 1-0 victory over Belarus. Tornike Okriashvili's goal in the 51st minute was the difference.

Finland 0-1 France

Luxembourg Vs. Portugal, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Final Score 1-2 As Portugal Survive Da Mota Scare

Portugal made hard work of beating Luxembourg after they had to come from behind to steal a narrow win.

Netherlands Vs. Turkey, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Final Score, Dutch Win 2-0

The Netherlands didn't do much to ease concerns after their flameout from Euro 2012. They were sloppy, unorganized and opened the door for Turkey several times in Friday's 2014 World CUp qualifier. But despite their sloppy play, they did enough to win 2-0 and took three points from their opener qualifying match at Amsterdam Arena.

Robin van Persie got the Dutch off the mark in the 16th minute when he got free on a corner kick and headed home. To that point, the Netherlands was the better team and deserved the lead, but as soon as they scored they really struggled.

Turkey did well to pressure the Dutch midfield and they starting taking the ball away almost at will. The Netherlands defense wasn't particularly impressive either and one one occasion a miscommunication between Tim Krul and Bruno Martins would have resulted in a disastrous own goal if not for a great last minute clearance off the line by Martins.

For all of the Netherlands' struggles, Turkey couldn't quite make them pay. Arda Turan missed a golden opportunity in the first half and they failed to put shots on goal when the Dutch opened the door for them.

Finally, the Netherlands put things away late. Kevin Strootman hit a lovely long ball for Luciano Narsingh, who chipped the goalkeeper beautifully to seal up an impressive win, but a three points as good as any other for the Dutch.

Moldova Vs. England, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Final Score, England Cruise To 5-0 Victory

England eased to a comfortable 5-0 victory over Moldova, with Frank Lampard bagging a brace.

Bulgaria Vs. Italy, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Final Score 2-2 As Azzurri Start Slow

Generally, a road draw early in qualifying wouldn't be much of a concern for Italy, but considering the nature of their group, it's a tough pill to swallow. The Azzurri were not at their best against Bulgaria, but held a lead for a good chunk of the match. They almost stole three points, but Bulgaria scored a deserved equalizer, and the Italians had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Stanislav Manolev netted Bulgaria's winner with a great long-range strike in the 30th minute, though Gianluigi Buffon should have done much more to keep it out of the net. The shot took an early hop that threw Buffon off, and he whiffed at the ball before it bounced into the net.

Italy fought back through Pablo Osvaldo, who netted twice in the in the first half to send the Azzurri into the locker room with a lead. He took advantage of poor marking following a set piece with his close-range finish in the 36th minute, then headed in a cross by Emmanuele Giaccherini for his second goal in the 40th minute.

The second half was an even affair, with some chances on both sides. Bulgaria looked lively throughout the half and Italy were forced to depend on Buffon to keep them ahead on multiple occasions. Eventually, after a decent volume of surges forward, the home side found their equalizer in the 66th minute. Georgi Milanov took advantage of some terrible marking by Angelo Ogbonna and scored from close-range on a set piece to tie the score.

Italy had a couple of half-chances in the final minutes, but never looked like taking the lead again. Bulgaria come away with a well-earned point, and possibly renewed confidence that they can compete for a playoff spot. Italy and Bulgaria's loaded Group B also features Denmark, the Czech Republic, and a very decent Armenia side.

Germany Vs. Faroe Islands, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Final Score 3-0, Die Mannschaft Coasts To Win

Germany had no problem defeating the Faroe Islands at home on Friday, as expected, but their fans probably thought they'd see a more dominant performance from Die Mannschaft. They didn't put up the kind of gaudy score that most big sides put up against the Faroe Islands, but perhaps they just didn't feel the need to. The match was essentially over when Mario Götze scored in the first half and Germany coasted to a 3-0 win.

Götze's opener was an absolute stunner. He got a start in the middle with Jogi Löw feeling like a double pivot was unnecessary against such weak opposition, and he made the most of his chance. His 28th minute goal was a stellar individual effort, scored from close range after he beat four defenders with a maze of a dribbling run.

The Germans coasted into the second half and put the game away for good in the 54th minute, when Mesut Özil made it 2-0, assisted by Thomas Müller. Özil added Germany's third goal with a great individual effort and close-range shot in the 71st minute.

Finland Vs. France, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Final Score, France Fails to Impress in 1-0 Win

Didier Deschamps' second match (first competitive) in charge of France was a success, albeity and underwhelming one, as Les Blues defeated Finland x-x at the Olmypic Stadium in Helsinki.

It was Finland who had the best early chance when Kasper Hamalainen broke in behind the French defense. Hamalainen seemed a little surprised to have so much space and an extra touch allowed Mapou Yangambiwa to recover and pull off a fantastic challenge to break up the play. If Yangambiwa had been even slightly off with the tackle, it would have been a red card and penalty for Finland.

From there France took total control of the match and opened the scoring in the 20th minute thanks to a great finish from Abou Diaby. He was setup by a fantastic run through the midfield and final pass from Karim Benzema that sliced the Finnish defense apart. The goal was Diaby's first career international strike.

After that, 70 minutes of uninspiring soccer. France was never really threatened again by Finland but they weren't exactly looking dangerous either. I guess the positive takeaway is that it's three points in the bag from an away qualifying match, but France hardly looked impressive.

Deschamps clearly has some work to do.

England Vs. Moldova: Lineups

Roy Hodgson has rolled out quite the nonthreatening lineup for England's World Cup qualifying opener. You can't really blame him though as the Three Lions are missing a laundry list of players to injury at the moment, especially up front.

The defense and midfield is pretty in tact, though I'm sure there will plenty of jokes about Lampard and Gerrard once again being paired together. Maybe something along the lines of, "wow, because that's worked so well in the past". Anyway, without Andy Carroll or Wayne Rooney, the attack is led by Jermaine Defoe all alone up front by his lonesome. He should get help though from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tom Cleverley.

Fortunately for England, they're playing Moldova and none of this should really matter.

Fun fact: This will be the first competitive start for Leighton Baines with the national team.

England XI (4-5-1): Joe Hart; Glen Johnson, John Terry, Joleon Lescott, Leighton Baines; James Milner, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain,Tom Cleverley; Jermaine Defoe.

Luxembourg Vs. Portugal, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Game Time And TV Schedule

Portugal should beat Luxembourg comfortably on Friday.

Netherlands Vs. Turkey, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Game Time And TV Schedule

Netherlands and Turkey have both made significant changes to their national sides after disappointing for Euro 2012. What can we expect when the teams meet on Friday?

Moldova Vs. England, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Game Time And TV Schedule

The Three Lions face Moldova in their first 2014 World Cup qualifier. Get ready for some English angst!

Germany Vs. Faroe Islands, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Game Time And TV Schedule

Germany will look to push aside the Faroe Island as they begin down the road to World Cup 2014

Finland Vs. France, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Game Time And TV Schedule

France will look to get their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a good start against Finland

Russia Vs. Northern Ireland, 2014 World Cup Qualifying: Game Time And TV Schedule

Fabio Capello and Russia open World Cup Qualifying with a tough, but very winnable test against Northern Ireland.

World Cup 2014 Qualification: UEFA Begins Their Qualifying Cycle

World Cup qualifying gets underway for European teams on Friday. The Netherlands face a tough test, while England and Germany should coast to wins.