Poland beat stubborn Latvia as Israel sink Austria

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Poland v Latvia - PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland - March 24, 2019 Poland's Kamil Glik scores their second goal REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland made it two wins out of two at the start of their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign after second-half goals by Robert Lewandowski and Kamil Glik gave them a 2-0 home win over Latvia in Group G on Sunday.

In the group's other games, an Eran Zahavi hat-trick steered Israel to a 4-2 home win over Austria while Slovenia were held to a 1-1 home draw by fellow former Yugoslavs North Macedonia.

Poland, who beat Austria 1-0 away in their opening match, lead the way with six points from two games. Israel and North Macedonia have four each and Slovenia have two while Austria and Latvia are pointless.

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Israel v Austria - Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel - March 24, 2019 Israel's Eran Zehavi scores their second goal REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Lewandowski hit the post with a deft shot in the first half and missed three other chances as Latvia keeper Pavels Steinbors pulled off a string of superb saves before he was finally undone by a pair of headers.

Left back Arkadiusz Reca produced a fine run and cross for Lewandowski to break the deadlock with a thumping header from six metres in the 76th minute before Glik netted with almost a carbon copy in the 84th.

Kamil Grosicki had twice come close for the home side while Vladislavs Gutkovskis also had two chances at the other end, failing to capitalise on rare forays by the Latvians.

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Poland v Latvia - PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland - March 24, 2019 Poland's Grzegorz Krychowiak in action with Latvia's Deniss Rakels REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Israel fell behind to a Marko Arnautovic goal in the eighth minute but Zahavi turned the match on its head with a treble and Munas Dabur made it 4-1 before Arnautovic scored a late consolation for the visitors.

Miha Zajc gave Slovenia a 34th-minute lead in Ljubljana before Enis Bardhi levelled for North Macedonia, who have made a bright start to their campaign as they beat Latvia 3-1 at home in their opening match on Thursday.

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Israel v Austria - Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel - March 24, 2019 Israel's Eran Zehavi scores their third goal to complete his hat-trick REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Editing by Clare Fallon)

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Poland v Latvia - PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland - March 24, 2019 Poland's Kamil Glik celebrates scoring their second goal with Robert Lewandowski as Latvia's Kaspars Dubra and team mates look dejected REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Israel v Austria - Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel - March 24, 2019 Austria's Peter Zulj in action with Israel's Bibras Natcho and Dor Peretz REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Poland v Latvia - PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland - March 24, 2019 Poland's Kamil Glik scores their second goal REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Israel v Austria - Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel - March 24, 2019 Israel's Eran Zehavi scores their first goal REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 Qualifier - Group G - Poland v Latvia - PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland - March 24, 2019 Poland's Robert Lewandowski scores their first goal REUTERS/Kacper Pempel