On the day 1 of the round 2 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification from UEFA zone, Spain drew with Italy while Wales drew with Austria by the score-line of 2-2. On the other hand, Croatia thrashed Kosovo 6-0 with the help of Mario Mandzukic’s hat-trick while Turkey, Ukraine played out a 2-2 draw.

In the Group G encounter, Italy vs Spain match ended in a 1-1 draw. Both teams failed to net the ball in the first half as the half-time score was 0-0. In the 10 minutes of the second half, Spain’s Vitolo broke the deadlock and put the visitors Spain ahead 1-0. It was a terrible mistake by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon which cost a goal for the hosts Italy. Buffon totally failed to make a clearance which allowed Vitolo to just push the ball into an open net.

Italy made a comeback into the match on 82nd minute through a penalty. Italy was awarded the penalty after a foul by Spain’s defender Ramos on hosts’ striker Eder in the penalty box. Daniele De Rossi made no mistake to score from the resulting penalty kick as he brought the scoreline level at 1-1 which also remained the final score.

In the other Group G clashes, Albania beat the hosts Liechtenstein by 2-0 while Israel beat the hosts Macedonia by 2-1. Albania went ahead versus the hosts in the 11th minute with the help of hosts’ Peter Jehle’s own goal. Bekim Balaj extended the lead for the visitors on 71 minutes.

In the first half, Israel took a 2-0 lead over the host Macedonia with the help of Tomer Hemed (25′) and Tal Ben Haim’s (43′) goals. Ilija Nestoroski scored on 63 minutes for the Macedonia as the hosts reduced the gap to 2-1. It the injury time of the second-half, Macedonia was awarded a penalty which was saved by the Israel goalkeeper Dudu Goresh as Israel denied the hosts a comeback in the match. Israel’s central defender Eitan Tibi was shown red card at the time of penalty.

In the Group D meetings, Gareth Bale’s Wales played a 2-2 draw against Austria while Serbia clinched a 3-0 victory over Moldova and Republic of Ireland edged over Georgia by 1-0.

Joe Allen put ahead the visitors Wales ahead 1-0 on 22 minutes which was answered by the hosts’ (Austria) Marko Arnautovic 6 minutes later. In the injury time of the first half, hosts’ Kevin Wimmer scored an own goal and put Austria behind 1-2. Just 3 minutes into the second half, Marko Arnautovic scored again for the hosts as Austria once again leveled the scoreline (2-2).

Serbia beat the hosts Moldova by 3-0 with the goals of Filip Kostic (19′), Branislav Ivanovic (37′) and Dusan Tadic (59′). On the other hand, hosts Republic of Ireland edged over Georgia with the only goal from Seamus Coleman’s foot.

In the Group I encounters, Croatia thrashed the hosts Kosovo by 6-0 with the help of Mario Mandzukic’s hat-trick while Iceland dramatically beat Finland 3-2. Also Turkey vs Ukraine match ended in a 2-2 draw.

Mario Mandzukic completed his hat-trick in the first half of the match as he scored the first three goals (6’, 24’ and 35’) for the visitors Croatia. The next 3 goals were scored by Matej Mitrovic (68′), Ivan Perisic (83′) and Nikola Kalinic (90’+2’) as Croatia thrashed Kosovo by 6-0. Since Kosovo has been an UEFA member (in May 2016), it was their first international home game.

Hosts Iceland clinched a dramatic 3-2 victory over the visitors Finland. Finland went ahead on 21 minutes with the help of Teemu Pukki’s goal. Kari Arnason equalised the scoreline for the hosts on 37 minutes but 2 minutes later Robin Lod once again put ahead the visitors by 2-1. After a hard fight, Iceland made a comeback in the match on 90 minutes with the help of Alfred Finnbogason’s header as the scoreline once again leveled at 2-2. In the 5^th minute of injury time, Ragnar Sigurdsson struck for the hosts as Iceland took a 3-2 lead until the end of the match.

Turkey, Ukraine match ended in a 2-2 draw. On 24 minutes, Andriy Yarmolenko put ahead the visitors Ukraine through a penalty. 3 minutes later, Artem Kravets made the scoreline 2-0 for Ukraine. Just before the half time, Ozan Tufan scored a goal for Turkey in the injury time as the scoreline was 2-1 in favour of Ukraine. Turkey equalised the scoreline on 81 minutes through a penalty which was successfully netted by Hakan Calhanoglu.

Brief Scores:

Group D

Austria 2 – 2 Wales

Moldova 0 – 3 Serbia

Republic of Ireland 1 – 0 Georgia

Group G

Italy 1 – 1 Spain

Liechtenstein 0 – 2 Albania

Macedonia 1 – 2 Israel

Group I

Kosovo 0 – 6 Croatia

Iceland 3 – 2 Finland

Turkey 2 – 2 Ukraine

Group Standings after the end of Round 2

Group D

Position	Team	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	GD	Points
1	Wales	2	1	1	0	+4	4
2	Serbia	2	1	1	0	+3	4
3	Austria	2	1	1	0	+1	4
4	Republic of Ireland	2	1	1	0	+1	4
5	Georgia	2	0	0	2	-2	0
6	Moldova	2	0	0	2	-7	0

(Note: GD = goals differences)

Group G

Position	Team	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	GD	Points
1	Albania	2	2	0	0	+3	6
2	Spain	2	1	1	0	+8	4
3	Italy	2	1	1	0	+2	4
4	Israel	2	1	0	1	-1	3
5	Macedonia	2	0	0	2	-2	0
6	Liechtenstein	2	0	0	2	-10	0

(Note: GD = goals differences)

Group I

Position	Team	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	GD	Points
1	Croatia	2	1	1	0	+6	4
2	Iceland	2	1	1	0	+1	4
3	Ukraine	2	0	2	0	0	2
4	Turkey	2	0	2	0	0	2
5	Finland	2	0	1	1	-1	1
6	Kosovo	2	0	1	1	-6	1

(Note: GD = goals differences)