They've still got their work cut out to qualify for the European championships in Portugal next year, with the second leg in Turkey on Wednesday. But Turkey will be without defender Emre Asik (who was sent off near the end for a blatant elbow) and, probably more significantly, goalkeeper Rustu Recber who picked up his second yellow card of the tournament.

We can only assume that Stepanovs played a blinder, although the minute-by-minute report on the UEFA site's only mentions of him is that he conceded a corner on 40 minutes. See also this UEFA page with brief report and links to longer report and more.

Meanwhile Thierry Henry had what he described as a "beautiful evening", as France destroyed Germany 3-0 in a friendly in Gelsenkirchen. In doing so, the team set a new national record of 13 wins in a row, beating a target established by the famous Platini side in 1984.

Henry and Trezeguet tore Germany apart, so don't be surprised to see the "Trezeguet for Arsenal" rumours start up again. Our man scored the first (at the end of a move started by Pires), then set up Trezeguet for an easy second, and had a hand in the third as well.

On the ex-Gooner front, it was nice to see Paul Dickov doing so well against Holland, although one has to fancy Overmars and Gio's team to do the business in the return leg. Mixed feeling on that one, but it'd be great for John Hartson if Wales could get past Russia.