France, Portugal, Russia Take Series Openers; Goose Eggs For Greece And Ukraine

Four two-match total-goals playoff series from the European zone for four places in next year's FIFA World Cup finals commenced Saturday.

At Moscow:

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored twice (40', 51') as Russia took game one of their two-game series with Slovenia 2-1 at home. The visitors did get an away goal from Nejc Pecnik at 88 minutes.

The two teams will play the second match this coming Wednesday at Maribor, Slovenia.

At Athens, Greece:

Ukraine and Greece battled their way to a 0-0 stalemate in the series opener. The return match will be held on Wednesday at Donetsk, Ukraine.

At Dublin, Ireland:

Nicolas Anelka scored the only goal of the match at 72 minutes as France topped Ireland 1-0 in game one of their two-game series. The series will conclude Wednesday at Saint-Denis, France, near Paris.

At Lisbon, Portugal:

Bruno Alves provided all the scoring (31') in Portugal's series-opening 1-0 home win over Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Bosnian town of Zenica will host the Wednesday return match.