Spain, Germany Narrow Winners; Netherlands Cruise

UEFA World Cup qualifying was onto matchday two on Tuesday with a couple big match-ups in the mix. Here are the results:

Belgium 1-1 Croatia

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

But all of those things happened and England found themselves down 1-0 at halftime. Then at the hour mark. Then with fifteen minutes to go, then ten. This was a match that the hosts couldn’t afford to lose. You can’t drop points at home against even the stronger teams in your group and have much hope of qualifying. Fortunately for England, some good substitutions paid off.

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

Through 45 minutes of their match on Tuesday, France looked like the same boring side that has failed to play up to their talent level since around 2007. In the second half, they turned on the style and scored three goals in a 3-1 victory over Belarus.

Belarus surprisingly got back into the game just a couple of minutes later when Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa gave away a penalty. Sergei Kornilenko missed the penalty, but Anton Poutilo was able to score on the follow-up.

Shortly after the break, Thomas Müller drew a foul on Veli Kavlak in the box, and Mesut Özil converted from the spot to put Germany on top. They fell asleep soon afterwards, perhaps a bit too comfortable in their lead. Austria got back into the match in the 57th minute, when Marko Arnautovic hit a perfect cross for Zlatko Junuzovic, who headed home.

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

Just five minutes later, Hungary were surprisingly level. Clasie took down Zoltan Gera in the penalty area and Balazs Dzsudzsak stepped up to bury the penalty. Unfortunately for the home side, that would be the highlight of the match for them. It turned into a rout shortly afterwards.

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

It took until the 86th minute for them to find the back of the net, but Spain were able to avoid embarrassment with a late goal in Tuesday. For 85 minutes, Georgia held them at bay and held onto a 0-0 draw, but Roberto Soldado eventually struck the winner to preserve a long winning streak in major tournament qualifying matches for the Spaniards.

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.

Alexander Kerzhakov got Russia off to a brilliant start in the 7th minute when he scored a direct free kick from 20 yards out. The Russians doubled their lead 11 minutes later through Alexander Kokorin, who cleaned up the mess left by Israeli defenders. They blocked Vladimir Bystrov’s effort on a great through ball by Roman Shirokov, but couldn’t clear their lines and Kokorin finished off the chance. Unfortunately, Bystrov suffered an injury on the play and had to leave the match.

Russia continued to pile it on in the second half as they added to their tally. Kerzhakov completed a brace with his 64th minute strike, which was followed up by a 77th minute goal by Viktor Fayzulin, who netted his second goal in as many matches for his country.

There’s absolutely no reason at all why Portugal shouldn’t win comfortably in Braga on Tuesday evening, but there was also no reason why they should have trailed Luxembourg for 15 minutes in their last qualifying match. They’ll be facing a very tightly packed defense with tons of men behind the ball once again on Tuesday, something they seem to struggle to deal with.

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, 3:15 p.m. ET, 8:15 p.m. local

*The football had glory too: of the sweet, memorable but not quite complete kind as this clip from an (actually good, yes I was being flippant about Braveheart; it’s balls) Scotland-inspired film captures.

The best example of this, of course, is the infamous 4-6-0 formation in which Scotland faced the Czech Republic in Prague. As I moaned at the time, this went beyond reactive football because the formation was such that it made reaction to going behind impossible. You can only react if you have the ball, which they didn’t because with no one to occupy the defence, Scotland’s six-man midfield still ended up being outnumbered. You can only react if you still have a bit of energy, which they didn’t because they never had the ball.

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, 3 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. local

Venue: Stade de France, Paris, France

Malta is usually good for a couple of points at best during major qualifying cycles and couldn’t snatch any points against Armenia at home on Friday, even though that match was probably their best opportunity to grab any points and avoid finishing on zero. Cesare Prandelli will probably make a couple of changes, but don’t expect anything drastic. Even the players who deserve dropping might be worth keeping in the team, just for the sake of boosting their confidence with a win and a clean sheet.

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, 2:35 p.m. ET, 8:35 p.m. local

Belgium is not one of the world’s footballing powers just yet, but they’re well on their way. Considering the immense young talent in their ranks and their fairly easy qualifying group, Euro 2012 should be the last major tournament that they fail to make for around a decade. They play one of the most important matches of their qualifying campaign on Tuesday, at home against Croatia.

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. local

Date/Time: Tuesday, Sep 11 (8:00 PM BST; 3:00 PM EDT).

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London, England.

And if none of them start, then, well, that’s an even better indicator.

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, 2:35 p.m. ET, 8:35 p.m. local

Zoltan Gera and Balazs Dzsudzsak have the quality to exploit a less than spectacular Oranje defense, but the Dutch are unlikely to be too concerned with them. They’ll commit numbers forward and attempt to play with the ball in their opponent’s final third again. If Turkey couldn’t take advantage of the Netherlands’ deficiencies, Hungary probably aren’t up to the task.

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, 2:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. local

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, 1 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. local

Venue: Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel

Schedule (all times ET)

We’ll have live coverage of every qualifier in our UEFA 2014 World Cup Qualifying StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on Twitter.