Hamburg - Russia stayed on Germany's heels with a 3-0 win over Liechtenstein in their World Cup qualifying group on Saturday. First-half goals from defender Vasili Berezutski (17th minute) and two penalties from Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko (40 and 45) made sure of the victory in St Petersburg.
Guus Hiddink's side moves to within a point of Group 4 leaders Germany (19 points), who were not in World Cup qualifying action.
Finland stayed in with an outside qualifying chance by coming from behind to defeat Azerbaijan 2-1.
The home side took the lead in the 49th minute through Elvin Mammadov but goals from Markus Heikkinen (74) and Petri Pasanen (85)settled it for Finland who move to 13 points in the group.
On Wednesday, Germany are at home to Azerbaijan, who have no chance of qualifying, while Russia are at Wales and Finland visit bottom side Liechtenstein.
Goals from Scott Brown and James McFadden gave Scotland a 2-0 win over Macedonia in Glasgow to keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive.
Brown opened the scoring at Hampden Park in the 56th minute and McFadden made sure of the victory 10 minutes from time with a solo run after winning the ball in midfield.
Scotland now face already-qualified Netherlands on Wednesday in their quest for a play-off place in Group 9 and the chance to qualify for next year's finals in South Africa.
The Dutch lead the group on 21 points, followed by Scotland (10), Macedonia (7) and Norway (6) who were playing Iceland (4) later in the day.
In Group 6, Ukraine enjoyed a 5-0 win over Andorra to move level on points with Croatia who were to play Belarus later.
England - not in World Cup action - lead the group on 21 points, seven ahead of Croatia and Ukraine.
Bosnia-Herzegovina were 2-0 winners in Armenia to improve their qualifying chances in Group 6.
The win moves them to within three points of European champions Spain (18) who were playing visiting Belgium later in the evening. Turkey (8) also had a later kick-off, at home to Estonia.
