London, October 12:

Croatia beat England 2-0 on Wednesday to leave its group wide open in European Championship qualifying, while Italy beat Georgia 3-1.

Defending champion Greece made it three shutout victories in a row by winning 4-0 at Bosnia-Herezegovina, and Sweden stayed five points clear atop Group F with a 2-1 win at Iceland.

Lukas Podolski scored twice as Germany won 4-1 at Slovakia, although it remains a point behind the Czech Republic, which drew 1-1 at Ireland. Malta upset Hungary 2-1, and Hakan Sukur scored four goals in Turkey’s 5-0 victory over Moldova.

Croatia punished two mistakes by England goalkeeper Paul Robinson to move into a four-way tie atop Group E with England, Israel and Macedonia, which won 3-0 at Andorra.

Eight minutes after Eduardo da Silva headed over the stranded goalkeeper, England defender Gary Neville’s back pass was missed by Robinson and the ball rolled into an empty net.

Italy followed its 2-0 victory over Group B rival Ukraine with the win over Georgia. Daniele De Rossi, Mauro Camoranesi and Simone Perrotta all scored.

France beat the Faeroe Islands 5-0 with Louis Saha scoring after 36 seconds and David Trezeguet scoring twice. Thierry Henry scored his 38th international goal to move within three of Michel Platini’s record for France, and Nicolas Anelka marked his return with a goal. Robin van Persie scored for the Netherlands in its 2-1 win over Albania.