Russia beat Azerbaijan in World Cup qualifying

Russia beat Azerbaijan in World Cup qualifying Hamburg  - Roman Pavlyuchenko was the man of the match as Russia defeated Azerbaijan 2-0 in 2010 World Cup qualifying on Saturday.

The Tottenham Hotspur striker opened the scoring in Moscow with a curling free-kick in the 32nd minute and fed Konstantin Zyrianov for the other in the 71st.

Russia improved to nine points from four games in qualifying group 4, one point behind leaders Germany who were due to play minnows Liechtenstein later Saturday in Leipzig.

Azerbaijan are second from bottom in the group with one point and have not scored away from home in 11 World Cup qualifiers since 2001.

In another early match in the same group, Finland ambushed hosts Wales 2-0 in Cardiff.

Jonathan Johansson's opening strike in the 42nd minute set up by veteran Jari Litmanen came out of the blue. Finland, which drew 3-3 with Germany earlier in the campaign, then wasted several first-rate chances before Shefki Kuqi wrapped up matters in injury time.

Finland are third with seven points while Wales have six from five games and appear out of contention in their World Cup bid.

Twenty games in eight of the nine European qualifying groups were scheduled for Saturday, with Euro 2008 champions Spain hosting Turkey in a group 5 topper and world champions Italy visiting Macedonia in group 8.

The group winners and the best second-placed team advance directly to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the other eight number two teams determine four further qualifiers in a playoff round. (dpa)

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