Friday evening’s round of 2014 World Cup qualifying went flawlessly from a Bayern point of view, as all the Munich men fielded by their national teams ended up on the winning side and collected three vital qualifying points, with an FCB trio also adding their names to the scoresheet. fcbayern.de rounds up the international action from an FCB perspective.
In European Group A, Belgium and Croatia continue to set the pace in a neck-and-neck duel at the top of the standings, where both now have 13 points. Mario Mandzukic (23) and former Munich crowd hero Ivica Olic (37) put the Croats in the driving seat before half-time in a 2-0 victory over Serbia in Zagreb, but a Belgium side featuring Daniel van Buyten in the starting line-up responded a little later and beat Macedonia 2-0 in Skopje.
In Germany’s Group C, Austria moved up the third courtesy of a thumping 6-0 victory over bottom team the Faeroe Islands at Ernst-Happel Stadium in Vienna. Philipp Hosiner (8, 20) and Andreas Ivanschitz (28) scored before half-time, with Zlatko Junuzovic (77), David Alaba (78) and György Garics (82) bringing up the half-dozen before the end. The Austrians now have seven points and remain in the race for second spot, which offers the chance of a World Cup ticket via the play-offs.
2010 World Cup runners-up the Netherlands and Arjen Robben are looking odds-on to qualify directly for Brazil, as the men in orange maintained their perfect record with a 3-0 victory over Estonia in Amsterdam. The Dutch have the maximum 15 points from five games and are already well clear of Hungary (10 points). Rafael van der Vaart (46), Robin van Persie (72) and sub Ruben Schaken (84) scored the second half goals.
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