Italians held, Czechs march on

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Italy and Croatia played out a 1-1 draw in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group H. Antonio Candreva had put the Azzurri ahead on 11 minutes, but that was quickly cancelled out when Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon fumbled a shot from Ivan Perisic over the line.

Flares were then thrown onto the field, with a hold-up before play was able to be resumed. The atmosphere continued to be hostile into the second half, and on 70 minutes the referee took the players off after more flares landed on the pitch.

Following a stoppage of around 12 minutes, the match eventually restarted, but the scoreline remained at 1-1 in the end. Croatia are ahead of Italy on goal difference with both teams level on ten points from four matches.

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Czech Republic maintained their 100 per cent record in qualifying while condemning Iceland to a first defeat of the campaign with a 2-1 win in Plzen.

Iceland looked set to continue their good run of form when Ragnar Sigurdsson headed them into the lead after nine minutes.

But Pavel Kaderabek equalised in first-half stoppage-time and a mistake from goalkeeper Hannes Thor Halldorsson contributed to a Jon Dadi Bodvarsson own-goal which allowed the home side to open up a three-point lead at the top of Group A.

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Elsewhere in the group, Turkey beat Kazakhstan 3-1 for their first win in Euro 2016 qualifying.

Burak Yilmaz's first-half brace, including a penalty, put the home side in control and Serdar Aziz headed the third.

Kazakhstan scored a penalty of their own through Samat Smakov and had a number of chances in the closing stages but Turkey held on.

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Omer Damari scored his fifth goal in three European Championships qualifying matches as Israel claimed a 3-0 win over ten-man Bosnia-Herzegovina in Haifa.

Gil Vermouth opened the scoring for Israel with a powerful shot from just outside of the box before Damari netted on the stroke of half-time to leave Bosnia-Herzegovina reeling.

Eran Zahavi added the third in the 70th minute after Toni Sunjic had been sent off early in the second period for bringing down Damari.

The result means Israel have won all three of their opening games in qualifying and moved to the top of Group B following the win.

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Malta fought from behind to claim a point against Bulgaria in Group H. Audrey Galabinov opened the scoring early in the game but Clayton Failla's second half penalty saw the Maltese claim their first point of this qualifying campaign.