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Berlin (dpa) - Victories for Italy and England, successful comeback for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and damper for the former world and European champions Spain: On the second day of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, there were no big surprises.
The English came to a 5-0 win against San Marino on Thursday evening.
Italy beat Northern Ireland 2-0 and now lead Group C together with Switzerland.
Coach Vladimir Petkovic's team achieved an away win in Bulgaria thanks to goals from two Bundesliga professionals.
In Sofia, the Mönchengladbach Bundesliga professional Breel Embolo (7th minute), the former Frankfurt Haris Seferovic (10th) and the current Eintracht professional Steven Zuber (12th) scored a 3-1 (3-0) victory.
Nevertheless, the Swiss were annoyed by the goal they conceded by Kiril Despodow (46th).
"It would be a shame if you missed direct qualification because of a goal in the end," said Embolo.
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Almost five years after his resignation from the national team, Ibrahimovic remained goalless on his comeback, but was able to look forward to a 1-0 win against Georgia thanks to Viktor Claesson's goal (35th).
The Spaniards, on the other hand, did not get beyond a 1-1 draw against Greece.
Austria also played a draw in a 2-2 draw in Scotland.
The formidable VfB Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic ensured the leadership of the team from team boss Franco Foda in the Hampden Park in Glasgow in the 55th and 80th minute.
The Scots managed to win the point after hits from Grant Hanley (71st) and John McGinn with an overhead kick (85th).
Poland also had to be content with one point in the 3: 3 in Hungary.
World footballer Robert Lewandowski from FC Bayern Munich equalized in the 83rd minute.
For the victory of the Italians, who missed the 2018 World Cup, the former Dortmund Bundesliga professional Ciro Immobile contributed the second goal (38th).
Europe has only 13 places available for the 2022 World Cup.
The 55 participants were drawn into ten groups of five or six.
Only the ten group winners are directly qualified for Qatar.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210325-99-973758 / 3