London, October 12: Portugal returned to Rotterdam on Wednesday and rekindled memories of their great Euro 2000 win over Germany with a 2-0 defeat of the Netherlands in a crucial World Cup qualifier.Nearly four months after crushing Germany 3-0 in the first round of the European Championship with a hat-trick from Sergio Conceicao, Portugal repeated their magic against the slugglish Dutch with Conceicao needing only 11 minutes to score again.Portugal wrapped up all three points with Pauleta adding the second a minute before halftime after poor Dutch defending.There were other significant wins for Italy, who beat Georgia 2-0 in Ancona, Ukraine, who defeated Norway 1-0 in Oslo and Ireland, who overcame Estonia 2-0 in Dublin.But England's poor start to the campaign continued when they could only draw 0-0 with Finland in Helsinki, a result that left them bottom of Group IX after Albania scored a rare win, beating Greece 2-0.Round-up Of Wednesday's World Cup QualifiersÃ?Group IRussia maintained their 100 per cent start with a 3-0 win over Luxembourg in Moscow while 10-man Slovenia drew 2-2 with Switzerland in Ljubliana.With the match between Yugoslavia and the Faroe Islands postponed in Belgrade because of political tensions, Russia moved to the top of the group with six points, one ahead of Slovenia with Switzerland on Four.Maxim Buznikin (19), Dmitry Khokhlov (57) and Yegor Titov (90) scored for the Russians.Kubilay Turkyilmaz scored both Switzerland's goals. Ermin Siljak and Milenko Acimovic replied for Slovenia.Group IIPortugal moved top of the group on seven points after their 2-0 victory over the Dutch. It was also a good night for Ireland who beat Estonia 2-0 in Dublin with goals from Mark Kinsella (25) and Richard Dunne (50).Estonia are second with six points, but have played four matches, one more than third-placed Ireland, who have five.Group IIITHE Czech Republic surprisingly lost their 100 per cent record in a 0-0 draw at Malta, but remain top with seven points, two more than Denmark. Denmark dominated the match against Bulgaria in Copenhagen but had to settle for a 1-1 draw when Dimitar Berbatov scored in the 82nd minute to cancel out Ebbe Sand's 73rd minute strike.Group IV:TURKEY went top with a 1-0 win over Azerbaijan in Baku thanks to a late strike from Hakan Sukur. They have seven points, the same tally as Slovakia who slipped from first to second after being held 0-0 by Sweden in Bratislava. The Swedes have five points. Moldova drew 0-0 with Macedonia in the other match played.Group VUkraine, bidding to qualify for their first major finals after narrowly missing out on Euro 2000, scored a superb 1-0 win over Norway in Oslo with Andriy Shevchenko hitting the only goal his fourth in three qualifying matches.Poland stayed top on seven points despite being held 0-0 at home by Wales. Belarus joined Ukraine on six points after a 2-1 win over Armenia.Group VIIn the only match played, Scotland maintained their unbeaten record with a 1-1 draw in Croatia who took the lead after 16 minutes through Alen Boksic. Kevin Gallacher swept in Scotland's equaliser eight minutes later, and the only black mark for the Scots was the banishing of coach Craig Brown from the dug-out for dissent.Scotland lead the group with seven points from three matches, followed by Belgium on four from two and Croatia two from two. San Marino and Latvia have no points.Group VII:The group is shaping up as a three-way fight between teams who all battled through the same qualifiying group in Euro 2000 Spain, Israel and Austria.Spain could only manage a 1-1 draw against Austria at Vienna on Wednesday, while Israel beat Bosnia 3-1 in Tel Aviv.Spain lead the group with seven points, followed by Israel and Austria on six points. Bosnia and Liechtenstein have no points.Group VIII:Italy beat Georgia 2-0 in Ancona with two goals from Alessandro del Piero both penalties and they head the group with seven points from Hungary, on four.Hungary scored the biggest win of the night, bringing back memories of their glory days of the 1950s, when they crushed Lithuania 6-1 in Vilnius.Miklos Feher scored a hat-trick and Bella Iles, Ferenc Horvath and Krisztian Lisztes (pen) added the others.Group IX:England's poor start to their campaign continued when they were held 0-0 by Finland in Helsinki.England were denied what looked to be a valid goal late in the game when Ray Parlour's shot hit the bar and bounced down over the goal-line, but was not given.With Albania scoring a rare win, defeating Greece 2-0 in Tirana, england are bottom of the group with one point from two games. Germany, who beat England 1-0 on Saturday but did not play on Wednesday, are top with six from their two matches.
