Sunday 11th October 2009
WCQ: Group Seven Review
Serbia booked their place in next year's World Cup finals in South Africa with a 5-0 thrashing of 10-man Romania.
Nikola Zigic put the home side in front after 37 minutes and Marko Pantelic, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and a double from Milan Jovanovic - all in the second half - completed the rout.
A miserable night for Romania was completed by a red card for captain Cristian Chivu in the 84th minute.
The win puts Serbia four points clear at the top of Group Seven, so France will have to content themselves with a place in the play-offs after also winning 5-0 against the Faroe Islands.
Andre-Pierre Gignac, who had scored his first goal for France against the Faroes in the 1-0 victory last year, set Les Bleus on their way with a first-half brace and William Gallas extended their lead shortly after the break.
Late goals from Nicolas Anelka and substitute Karim Benzema put the icing on the cake and helped ease the pressure on under-fire coach Raymond Domenech.
Roman Wallner converted a penalty 10 minutes from time as Austria defeated Lithuania in Innsbruck to secure third place in the group.
Marc Janko fired the hosts into a 16th-minute lead but Marius Stankevicius levelled for the visitors after 66 minutes.
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