Netherlands 2 - Turkey 0; Romania 2 - Estonia 0; Hungary 5 - Andorra 0

Romania went into Tallinn looking for the full three points against their hosts Estonia.  Estonia were looking to build on their playoff berth in the qualifiers for Euro 2012.  The first half did not produce any memories and finished 0-0.

In the second frame, Romania announced their intentions to contend in Group D. Ten minutes into the half, Ciprian Marica beat two defenders up the left side of the pitch before slotting a perfect ball across four defenders and the goalkeeper so that only his sliding teammate Gabriel Torje could slot home for 1-0.  Twenty minutes later, Marica and Torje played a one-two-one to give Marica a shot to the far post from just wide of the near post.  He finished and so did Romania.  They left Estonia wondering what could have been after their 2-0 defeat of the hosts.

In the most highly anticipated of the Group D fixtures, Turkey made the trek to Amsterdam looking to knock group favorites Netherlands from their supposedly inevitable passage to Brasil 2014.  Omar Toprak headed a corner just wide of goal in the first minute, an early warning shot from the visitors.  Bruno Martens then nearly caused an own goal with a botched clearance, but he ran to his goalmouth to clear the ball for a corner kick.  In spite of having been outplayed, it were the Oranje who scored first.  Robin van Persie scored off a powerful header from a corner at the quarter hour mark to give Netherlands a 1-0 lead.  Turkey maintained pressure and were unlucky to see Arda Turan's breakaway effort roll outside the far post.  Umut Bulut later headed a cross over the goalkeeper toward an open net, but the crossbar interfered.  Miraculously, Netherlands won the first half 1-0.

In the second frame, Hamit Altintop fired another bullet for the visitors, but goalkeeper Tim Krul leaped to the rescue with a diving save.  Sercan Sarerer missed a header from the back post on a cross to further illustrate the luckless night of the Turks.  Netherlands scored a second goal off a long through ball in stoppage time when Turkey had nine men pushed forward.  The final scoreline of 2-0 to the Netherlands must surely be one of the most unjust scorelines in the history of football not to have been improperly affected by a poor referee.

Hungary went to Andorra la Vella looking to put up a big scoreline against group minnows Andorra.  Ronald Juhasz rose to meet a corner kick at its apex and nod home in the twelfth minute to give Hungary a 1-0 lead. A bad Marc Garcia tackle in his own box allowed Hungary a penalty kick that they would score for 2-0.  Hungary hit the post before the half.  The score at the break was 2-0.

In the second period, Hungary continued to attack.  A diving header on a cross to the far post by Adam Szalai made it 3-0.  Andorra lost a man to a second yellow card when Marc Vales was ejected in minute 66.    Hungary would add two more to their tally before the final whistle.  Hungary win 5-0 on the road.

Goals
Romania
Gabriel Torje 55
Ciprian Marica 75

Netherlands
Robin van Persie 15
Luciano Narsingh 90+2

Hungary
Roland Juhasz 12
Zoltan Gera 32 PK
Adam Szalai 54
Tamas Priskin 67
Vladimir Koman 82

Match Reports:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1697312/index.html

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDBqymZWw1o (Romania v. Estonia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmg14hV-KdI (Netherlands v. Turkey)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U104_MKfU (Hungary v. Andorra)