Olic leads Croatia to qualifying victory

Croatia’s World Cup hopes are still alive following a 3-1 victory away to Belarus in Wednesday’s Group 6 qualifier.

The match had been underway for 24 minutes when Ivica Olic headed home from a corner kick, and Arsenal’s Eduardo made it 0-2 from a Darijo Srna cross in the 69th minute.

Belarus pulled one back through Dmitry Verkhovtsov in the 81st minute but Olic restored the original two-goal gap two minutes later.

Croatia remain in second place in Group 6, well behind England and three points ahead of Ukraine who have a game in hand. Belarus are fourth and their chances have significantly decreased as result of this defeat.