Serbia beats Georgia in World Cup qualifier

Belgrade Oct 10 (IANS) Serbia has achieved a tight home victory over Georgia 1-0 in the last match of the qualifications for the FIFA World Cup 2018.

The Monday triumph enabled Serbia to seal its first position in the Group D with 21 points out of 10 matches six of which were won reports Xinhua news agency.

The first half started on a slow pace and with a slight domination of the Georgian team but ended 0-0.

In the second half the home team became aggressive and created more scoring chances.

One such chance was used by Aleksandar Prijovic in the 74th minute in an attack orchestrated by Branislav Ivanovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic who assisted in the goal.

The Georgian team did not manage to catch up with the late lead.

The game was played at the Rajko Mitic stadium here in front of some 40 000 spectators who celebrated the qualification with fireworks after the match.

In the other match Albania lost 0-1 to Italy. Antonio Candeva scored the only goal in the 73rd minute.

--IANS
gau/mr