Republic of Ireland's group eight rivals Bulgaria suffered a 6-1 hammering against Serbia in a friendly game in Belgrade which marked Savo Milosevic's last international appearance.
The former Aston Villa striker scored two goals, but also missed two penalties to take his tally to 37 goals in 102 games for his country.
Dimitar Berbatov enjoyed another miserable night in a Bulgaria jersey, before limping off clutching the back of his right leg with what looked like a hamstring injury.
Milan Jovanovic fired Serbia ahead either side of Milosevic's failed spot kicks before Blagoy Georgiev equalised with a superb free kick.
Serbia then ran riot as Jovanovic struck again and Milosevic turned in a pair of Milos Krasic crosses to make it 4-1 by halftime, with Nenad Milijas and Danko Lazovic completing the rout in the second half.
Bulgaria have had a poor start to their group eight campaign, drawing all three games. They currrently lie four points behind Giovanni Trapattoni's side.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)