SUBSTITUTE JAMES MCARTHUR rescued a point for Scotland with an 89th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Lithuania, who had taken the lead through skipper Fiodor Cernych.
Thomas Mueller netted a brace with Toni Kroos also on target as reigning world champions Germany extended their perfect start to Group C against the Czech Republic in Hamburg.
Mueller failed to score at Euro 2016 this summer but has since rediscovered his goalscoring touch at international level with four goals in his country’s opening two qualifiers.
He tucked away Mario Goetze’s pass to nudge Germany ahead on 13 minutes, before converting a Jonas Hector cross midway through the second half after Kroos had doubled the lead shortly after the break.
We can be very happy with the win and we had a good grip on the game,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew.
“After 60 minutes you could see the opposition had run themselves into the ground and didn’t have any more clear chances.”
Kyle Lafferty struck twice, Steven Davis converted a penalty and Jamie Ward also scored to hand Northern Ireland a 4-0 win over San Marino, while Norway suffered a shock 1-0 loss away to Azerbaijan, who now have two wins from two.
Robert Lewandowski, Mueller’s strike partner at Bayern Munich, tormented Denmark as he grabbed a hat-trick in a 3-2 victory in Warsaw to leave Poland level on four points with Montenegro and Romania in Group E.
Romania thrashed 10-man Armenia 5-0 in Yerevan as the visitors punished their opponents after the dismissal of Gor Malakyan in just the third minute, while Montenegro defeated Kazakhstan by the same scoreline.
Results in European qualifying for the 2018 World Cup on Saturday:
Group C
Azerbaijan 1 (Medvedev 11) Norway 0
Germany 3 (Mueller 13, 65, Kroos 49) Czech Republic 0
Northern Ireland 4 (Davis 26-pen, Lafferty 79, 90+4, Ward 85) San Marino 0
Group E
Armenia 0 Romania 5 (Stancu 4-pen, Popa 10, Marin 12, Stanciu 29, Chipciu 60)
Montenegro 5 (Tomasevic 24, Vukcevic 59, Jovetic 64, Beciraj 73, Savic 78) Kazakhstan 0
Poland 3 (Lewandowski 20, 36-pen, 48) Denmark 2 (Glik 49-og, Poulsen 69)
Group F
England 2 (Sturridge 29, Alli 38) Malta 0
Scotland 1 (McArthur 89) Lithuania 1 (Cernych 59)
Slovenia 1 (Kronaveter 74) Slovakia 0
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