Greek god: Georgios Samaras celebrates scoring for Greece

The Greeks started the night knowing a win was almost essential in their penultimate match in the group, with the Croatians enjoying a one-point lead.

Samaras struck in the 71st minute and Gekas added the second eight minutes later to leave the Greeks knowing a point in their final group game in Georgia next Tuesday will be enough. Latvia beat Malta 2-0 in the other Group F game.

Belgium wrested control of the race for a play-off place in Group A with a 4-1 win over Kazakhstan in Brussels, while rivals Turkey were sent crashing 3-1 by group winners Germany in Istanbul.

Timmy Simons, Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany and Vitaly Yevstigneev's late own goal gave Belgium a 4-0 lead, but in order to guarantee their play-off spot Georges Leekens' men must now win in Germany.

Turkey, who have a home game against Azerbaijan, went down to strikes from Mario Gomez and Thomas Muller. Hakan Balta pulled one back before Bastian Schweinsteiger settled matters with an 86th-minute penalty.

Belgium's win eliminated Austria, despite their 4-1 win in Azerbaijan.

Holland were made to work harder than expected to extend their 100% record to nine games in Group E, Klaas Jan Huntelaar scoring the only goal of the game in the 40th minute at home to group minnows Moldova.

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