Last update - 00:00 15/11/2006
Croatia beats Israel 4-3, topping its Euro 2008 qualifying group
By Associated Press and Haaretz Service
Eduardo da Silva scored a hat trick Wednesday for Croatia to beat Israel 4-3 and top its 2008 European Championship qualifying group.
Darijo Srna also netted with a penalty kick for Croatia, while Roberto
Colautti scored two goals and Yossi Benayoun had the other for Israel.
Croatia has 10 points in Group E, two more than Russia, which won 2-0 at
Macedonia, and three more than idle England, Israel and Macedonia.
Israel went ahead in the eighth due to a mistake in the Croatian defense.
After an initial mix up with teammate Vedran Corluka, Josip Simunic prodded the ball to where he thought goalkeeper Vedran Runje was. But the ball eluded Runje and Colautti tapped it into the open net from close range.
Croatia equalized in the 35th when a back pass by Tomer Ben Yosef was
under-hit and goalkeeper Dudu Awat fouled Mladen Petric in the area. Srna
scored from the ensuing penalty kick.
Four minutes later, Niko Kranjcar passed a through ball to Da Silva and he beat one defender before sliding the ball past Awat from 15 meters.
Da Silva scored again in the 54th while lying on the ground after Awat had blocked his initial header. Israel pulled a goal back in the 68th when Adoram Keise appeared to control a cross by Amit Ben Shushan with his arm. He passed the ball back and Benayoun volleyed home from 16 meters.
Da Silva made it 4-2 in the 72nd after receiving the ball, eluding a defender and shooting low past Awat from 10 meters.
In the 89th, Colautti raced through a large gap in the Croatian defense to score past Runje.