Russia 2 - Northern Ireland 0; Azerbaijan 1 - Israel 1; Portugal 2 - Luxembourg 1

Russia, surprising upset victims of Slovenia during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs, open their 2014 account at home to Northern Ireland.  The talk of Group F is the battle for first between Russia and Portugal, so Russia wanted to get off to a winning start to keep the pressure on their group rivals.  In the first half, Russia dominated ball possession whereas Northern Ireland could barely string five passes.  However, it took half an hour to break the deadlock, but a fine bit of through ball play starting with Vladimir Bystrov and continued by Alexander Kerzhakov was finished by the left instep of Victor Fayzulin, who netted his first ever goal for Russia to stake them to a 1-0 lead.  The half finished with that score intact.

In the second period, the desperation of Northern Ireland started to improve their play.  Nevertheless, Russia found themselves with two dangerous dead ball opportunities.  With fifteen minutes left to go, Russia had a dead ball in the half circle which Kerzhakov curled over a huge wall off the far post.  Russia then found a golden opportunity when Craig Cathcart shoved a Russian attacker down in the box, leading to a penalty which was converted for 2-0.  Northern Ireland nearly pulled one back soon thereafter, but the header off a corner kick was cleared off the line at the far post by a well-positioned Russian player.  The final score read 2-0 in favor of Russia in the opening UEFA qualifier of Brasil 2014.

Azerbaijan welcomed Israel to Baku.  Israel have not been to a FIFA World Cup finals since Mexico 1970, but a road win would do wonders to change that.  The first half featured few chances in ended unsurprisingly at 0-0.

In the second period, Israeli Bebras Natcho hit a knuckle ball from long distance that ate up goalkeeper Kamran Agayev, a mistake that would end up costing the home side points.  Ruslan Abisov equalized within fifteen minutes on a rolled shot that in all honesty should have been saved by Israeli goalkeeper Dudu Aouate.  Aouate made amends with two upper-ninety saves in the final two minutes plus stoppage time to secure Israel a point on the road.  The match ends in a 1-1 draw.

Luxembourg was the site of Portugal versus Luxembourg in the final match in Group F action today.  The home side was completed unaware of their supposed inferiority and took it to the Portuguese with reckless abandon from the opening whistle.  The opening quarter hour was convincingly Luxembourg's, and their supremacy translated into a shock goal.  Aurelien Joachim took a ball up the right side of the pitch and used his time and space to pick out a cross-field change-of-play.  The ball landed at the feet of Daniel Da Mota, who shook Bruno Alves and then finished past a diving Rui Patricio for Luxembourg's opening goal.  Tom Schnell made a sliding stop to prevent a Portuguese shot from troubling his goalkeeper five minutes on from Da Mota's goal.  Cristiano Ronaldo hit a dipping free kick on frame that was tipped over by Luxembourg goalkeeper Johnathan Joubert.  Portugal had awoken, however, and it took all Luxembourg had to desperately defend a 1-0 lead.  Lars Gerson got caught with the ball at his feet in his own half circle, and the ball was knocked away by Portugal right into Ronaldo's path.  His finish off the post equalized the scoreline. Ronaldo could have made it two, but his shot bounced off the turf, over the goalkeeper, and off the far post. Helder Postiga had a header in the box tipped over the bar by Joubert.  Joubert saved again from Postiga two minutes later, this time off the ground.  Da Mota regain control of the match with five minutes left in the half, but was unable to convert his opportunities in anything more than corner kicks.

Joubert, the figure of the match, was called into action after only three minutes to knee away a Ronaldo shot.  Postiga finally earned his time a lead after he headed a ball up to himself and then waited for the ball to finally fall to his foot.  He did not know much about the finish because he was being shoved to the ground, but his foot made proper contact and the ball found the net.  Just his team seemed out of it, Joachim did a pirouette around the ball before striking toward Rui Patricio's left; Rui Patricio was up to the task, however, and the lead was preserved.  The rest of the match was low energy, and Portugal coasted to a 2-1 win.

Goals
Russia
Victor Fayzulin 30
Roman Shirokov 78 PK

Israel
Bebras Natcho 50

Azerbaijan
Ruslan Abishov 64

Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo 27
Helder Postiga 54

Luxembourg
Daniel Da Mota 13

Match Reports:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1696841/index.html
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1696923/index.html
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1697257/index.html

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG03QDebvuE (Russia v. Northern Ireland)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDEgSm8kNuU (Azerbaijan v. Israel)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A8S_sY0QB4 (Portugal v. Luxembourg)