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Croatia drop points with draw against Ukraine

12/10/2008

England have been handed a boost following their 5-1 win over Kazakhstan with the news that main rivals Croatia and Ukraine dropped points after drawing.

The two sides faced-off in Kiev but neither team could find a goal in a lacklustre 0-0 effort in group six of the World Cup qualifying.

England are now two points clear of Ukraine and five ahead of Croatia. Ukraine's next match in the group is against England in March while Slaven Bilic's team will hope to move into second place on Wednesday after their match with Andorra.

In group eight Italy extended their lead over Republic of Ireland, but could only get a 0-0 draw away to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria were able to keep the World Cup holders at arms length for most of the first half. But with the introduction of extra forwards Italy dominated the second 45 minutes, however they failed to find the back of the net.

Holland lead group nine by two points from Scotland following a 2-0 win over Iceland. Joris Mathijsen scored in the first half and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar finished the game off midway through the second period.

Germany lead group four, one point ahead of Wales, following a 2-1 win over Russia. Lukas Podolski and Michael Ballack gave Germany the lead in the first half but a strike from Andrei Arshavin gave them cause for concern in the second half.

Russia pushed for an equaliser but Germany managed to hold them off. Guus Hiddink's side are four points adrift of Germany and three behind Wales but do have a game in hand over both countries.

In group seven Serbia are now joint top following a 3-0 win over Lithuania. Those two sides are on six points, two ahead of France and Romania who drew 2-2 in Constanta.

Finally, Denmark lead group one thanks to a 3-0 win over Malta. They overtook Portugal and Sweden who played out a goalless draw in Solna.