Romania foil Argentina on busy night of friendlies

While Europe's FIFA World Cup hopefuls occupied much of the attention, it was also a busy night for the rest of the continent's national teams. Romania earned a creditable goalless stalemate with Argentina, Scotland sealed victory in Poland, Gareth Bale was on form as Wales overcame Iceland, and Gibraltar continued their introduction to international football.

Albania 2-0 Malta
Torino FC midfielder Migjen Basha put the hosts ahead on 26 minutes, with Alban Meha making it 2-0 eight minutes after the break as Malta failed to get into their stride in Durres.

Algeria 2-0 Slovenia
A header from NK Dinamo Zagreb's El Arbi Hilal (45) opened the scoring, and a fine strike from FC Internazionale Milano's Saphir Taider (56) set the seal as Slovenia failed to sparkle.

Andorra 0-3 Moldova
Captain Alexandru Epureanu scored following corners in the 13th and 62nd minutes either side of an opportunistic Luvannor Henrique effort (21) as Moldova made amends for a 1-1 draw against Andorra in Chisinau last year.

Austria 1-1 Uruguay
Marc Janko fired Austria in front (14) and David Alaba had a free-kick pushed onto the bar soon afterwards. Heinz Lindner denied Luis Suárez after the interval, but Álvaro Pereira pounced on a corner (66) to level things up.

Azerbaijan 1-0 Philippines
Tugrul Erat, Abdulla Abasiyev and Elvin Yunuszade made their debuts for Berti Vogts's side, and Yunuszade made the biggest impression, heading the only goal of the game from Vagif Javadov's 27th-minute corner.

Bulgaria 2-1 Belarus
Georgi Milanov put Bulgaria ahead from a 14th-minute corner in Sofia, before Stanislav Manolev set up substitute Vladimir Gadzhev to make it 2-0 midway through the second half, with Sergei Krivets pulling a goal back on 87 minutes.

Cyprus 0-0 Northern Ireland
The home team failed to make pressure pay, with Demetris Christofi and Nestor Mytides both passing up chances before Gareth McAuley was sent off in the closing stages for a foul on Christofi.

Czech Republic 2-2 Norway
Morten Gamst Pedersen caught Petr Čech off guard at the death to mar new Czech Republic coach Pavel Vrba's debut. Tomáš Rosický (11) and Vladimír Darida (43) had struck either side of Tarik Elyounoussi (21) in Prague.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 2-1 Latvia
Jovan Kostovski notched a fine individual goal on 29 minutes, but FYROM flirted with disaster after Daniel Georgievski turned Artjoms Rudņevs's cross into his own net (65). Salvation came as Agim Ibraimi converted a 73rd-minute penalty.

Georgia 2-0 Liechtenstein
Temuri Ketsbaia's men earned their first win in 13 months, with Giorgi Chanturia – one of four debutants – on target for the first before Jano Ananidze made the result certain from the penalty spot.

Gibraltar 1-4 Faroe Islands
Gibraltar 0-2 Estonia
Roy Chipolina headed Gibraltar's first senior international goal in Saturday's meeting with the Faroes. However, the visitors roared back with two from Christian Holst and one apiece for Jóan Edmundsson and Arnbjørn Hansen to equal their record margin of victory.

Gibraltar returned to Victoria Stadium on Wednesday, with ex-Manchester United FC defender Danny Higginbotham playing his last game before retirement. Estonia, already the only nation to have played every other current UEFA member, travelled without nine injured regulars but clinched victory in Magnus Pehrsson's debut match as coach.

Dmitri Kruglov pounced on a defensive slip (17) and, for all Gibraltar's endeavour, Rimo Hunt (81) completed the scoring with his first national-team goal.

Hungary 1-2 Finland
Gergely Rudolf's early volley augured well for Attila Pintér's debut as Hungary coach, but Roman Eremenko teed up Joel Pohjanpalo (74) for the equaliser before hitting the winner from the penalty spot (85).

Israel 1-3 Slovakia
Headers from Martin Jakubko (37) and Ján Ďurica (69) enabled Slovakia to forge ahead, and while Maor Buzaglo's long-range strike (80) was the goal of the game, Róbert Mak (89) registered to restore the visitors' advantage.

Kazakhstan 1-1 Lithuania
Substitute Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev's low drive on 69 minutes levelled the scores in rainy Antalya after Gediminas Vičius had broken the deadlock for Lithuania following a fourth-minute corner.

Luxembourg 0-0 Cape Verde Islands
Luxembourg defended stoutly for much of the match. Aurélien Joachim managed to carve out presentable chances in the third, 53rd and 63rd minutes, but the forward was unable to convert.

Montenegro 1-0 Ghana
Dejan Damjanović scored from the spot after David Addy had fouled Filip Kasalica in the box with just 12 seconds gone. Mladen Božović made good saves later, while Adam Kwarasey did brilliantly to deny Damjanović a second from close range.

Poland 0-1 Scotland
With the injured Robert Lewandowski rested, Ludovic Obraniak did his best to lead the line for Poland, yet they were undone on 78 minutes in Warsaw, Scott Brown seizing on Rafał Szukała's attempted clearance.

Republic of Ireland 1-2 Serbia
Shane Long pounced on a slack Branislav Ivanović back pass to put the hosts in front (8), but James McCarthy scored an own goal (47) while trying to clear Aleksandar Kolarov's effort before Dusan Tadić teed up Filip Djordjev.

Romania 0-0 Argentina
Alexandru Maxim had a first-half effort disallowed as Romania stood up to a star-studded Argentina side. Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín and Sergio Agüero came at them, but the home team showed impressive resolve in Bucharest.

Turkey 2-1 Sweden
Mevlüt Erdinç nodded the hosts in front in the first minute in Ankara. Their good work appeared to have been undone when substitute Ola Toivonen curled in Sweden's reply (55), but Olcan Adın headed the winner three minutes later.

Ukraine 2-0 United States
Mykhailo Fomenko's men prospered in Cyprus. Andriy Yarmolenko made the breakthrough (12), assisted by Denys Garmash after Tim Howard had saved the 23-year-old's attempt, and substitute Marko Dević (68) extended the advantage.

Wales 3-1 Iceland
Gareth Bale's free-kick set up James Collins (12) for Wales's opener and though Jóhann Gudmundsson replied, Sam Vokes (63) followed up after the Real Madrid CF man had a shot saved to make it 2-1. Bale capped off a fine display with his side's third (70).