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Faroe Islands - YUGOSLAVIA 0-6
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| Mateja Kezman (Yugoslavia) |
Toftir, FAROE ISLANDS, June 6 (Reuters) - Yugoslavia beat
the Faroe Islands 6-0 in a World Cup group one qualifier on
Wednesday with striker Mateja Kezman grabbing a hat-trick.
The win greatly improves Yugoslavia's goal difference as
they chase second-placed Slovenia, who beat Switzerland 1-0 in
Basel earlier on Wednesday.
Russia beat the basement team, Luxembourg, to extend their
lead at the top to four points from Slovenia who have 13, the
Swiss on 11 and Yugoslavia on nine. The Yugoslavs still have a
game in hand of the teams they are chasing.
The North Atlantic Faroe Islands, who fielded only three
professionals, suffered one of their worst defeats at the hands
of the Yugoslavs and stay second from bottom on four points.
Yugoslavia's Lazio midfielder Dejan Stankovic opened the
scoring after only 20 minutes, putting a header past Faroese
goalkeeper Jakup Mikkelsen from a corner by Sinesa Mihajlovic.
PSV Eindhoven striker Kezman, the top scorer in the Dutch
league, scored his first goal just before the half-hour mark to
put the Yugoslavs 2-0 ahead by the break.
The Faroese played bravely in the first half and almost
scored on three occasions but they collapsed under pressure from
the vastly superior Yugoslavs in the second period.
Stankovic scored his second goal 10 minutes after the break
before Savo Milosevic added the fourth on 68 minutes.
Kezman left it late to score his hat-trick with two goals in
the last three minutes to wrap up a convincing away victory.
The next match in the group sees Yugoslavia playing the
Faroe Islands at home on August 15.
*****
2002 World Cup group one qualifiers - previous results: Switzerland - Russia 0-1, Luxembourg - YUGOSLAVIA 0-2, Faroe Island - Slovenia 2-2, Switzerland - Faroe Islands 5-1, Luxembourg - Slovenia 1-2, Russia - Luxembourg 3-0, Slovenia - Switzerland 2-2, YUGOSLAVIA - Switzerland 1-1, Russia - Slovenia 1-1, Luxembourg - Faroe Islands 0-2, Slovenia - YUGOSLAVIA 1-1, Russia - Faroe Islands 1-0, Switzerland - Luxembourg 5-0, YUGOSLAVIA - Russia 0-1, Faroe Islands - Switzerland 1-0, Slovenia - Luxembourg 2-0, Russia - YUGOSLAVIA 1-1, Luxembourg - Russia 1-2, Switzerland - Slovenia 0-1, Faroe Islands - YUGOSLAVIA 0-6.
Group One - current standings
G W D L F-A Pts
1. Russia 7 5 2 0 10-3 17
2. Slovenia 7 3 4 0 11-7 13
3. Switzerland 7 3 2 2 14-6 11
4. YUGOSLAVIA 6 2 3 1 11-4 9
5. Faroe Islands 6 1 1 4 5-15 4
6. Luxembourg 7 0 0 7 2-18 0
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