Croatia, Ukraine win in Group 6

Croatia defended their second place in Group 2 of the European World Cup qualifiers with a 1-0 win over Belarus, while Ukraine applied pressure beating Andorra 5-0.

Ivan Rakitic scored what turned out to be the only goal of the match between Croatia and Belarus, with 24 minutes played. The hosts held on to their narrow lead, despite a second yellow card for Verdan Corluka in the 79th minute.

Ukraine remain at three points from Croatia following an easy and expected win over Andorra.

Andriy Yarmolenko made it 1-0 in the 18th minute, and Artem Milevskiy added a second just before the break. In the second half, the Ukrainians were awarded no less than three penalties. Andriy Shevchenko, Milevskiy and Evgeniy Seleznev converted the respective spot kicks, for a 5-0 final result.

England remain on top in Group 6 and aren’t likely to give up that first place. Croatia are in second place with three points more than Ukraine, but the latter have a game in hand.