England, Germany and Spain all
secured big victories in Friday
night's World Cup qualifiers.
Manchester United strikers
Wayne Rooney and Danny
Welbeck led the charge with
two goals apiece as England
cruised to a 5-0 victory over
San Marino at Wembley.
Rooney, wearing the armband
in the absence of the
suspended Steven Gerrard, led
by example as he scored twice
in what ultimately proved to
be a comfortable victory for
Three Lions.
England were always expected
to emerge easy victors
against the European minnows,
but it took Roy Hodgson's side
over half an hour to find the
net.
Rooney stepped up to open
the scoring from the penalty
spot after Danny Welbeck, who
moments earlier had hit the
woodwork, was brought down
by Aldo Simoncini.
Welbeck doubled England's
advantage three minutes later
with a neat finish, flicking the
ball past Simoncini from Aaron
Lennon's pull-back.
Rooney then sparked a
second-half goal flurry, curling
in from the left to score his
31st international goal to
move ahead of Nat Lofthouse,
Tom Finney and Alan Shearer
to become England's fifth
highest goalscorer.
As in the first half, Welbeck
was not far behind, slotting
home from Tom Cleverley's ball
before Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain capped a facile
victory with his first senior
England goal.
England were also given a
boost as Ukraine, who earned
a point at Wembley last month,
played out a goalless draw
against Moldova.
Ukraine, without Oleg Blokhin
due to the coach requiring
surgery to remove a blood
clot from a carotid artery,
failed to produce their best
form in Chisinau.
World champions Spain eased
to a 4-0 win over Belarus in
Minsk with Pedro netting
three goals.
Pedro provided the assist for
Barcelona team-mate Jordi
Alba to open the scoring on 12
minutes before completing an
impressive hat-trick.
The result puts Spain ahead of
France at the top of Group I
on goal difference.
In the other game in the
group, ten-man Finland
secured a 1-1 draw at home
to Georgia. Kuram Gashia put
the visitors ahead on 57
minutes and Finland had Alexei
Eremenko sent off soon
afterwards, but Kasper
Hamalainen equalised to give
Mixu Paatelainen's men their
first point of the campaign.
Germany made it three wins
out of three in Group C as
they recorded a 6-1 win over
Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
Marco Reus and Toni Kroos
netted two goals apiece while
Mesut Ozil, with a penalty, and
Miroslav Klose were also on
the scoresheet. Andy Keogh
headed a late consolation for
the hosts.
Russia produced a strong
defensive display to secure a
1-0 victory over Portugal in
Moscow.
Alexander Kerzhakov scored
the only goal of the game on
six minutes after a defensive
mix-up, with Russia then
forced to withstand lengthy
spells of pressure.
Cristiano Ronaldo led the
charge but Fabio Capello's men
were resolute as they claimed
a victory that maintains their
100% record in Group F after
three games. Portugal are in
second place with six points.
Italy failed to hit top gear but
emerged from their clash in
Armenia with a 3-1 victory in
Group B.
Italy took the lead with an
early Andrea Pirlo penalty
after Hrayr Mkoyan had
handballed, but the hosts
were level on 27 minutes
through Henrikh Mkhitarian.
It took a Daniele De Rossi
header on 64 minutes to
restore the Azzurri's lead and
the Roma midfielder crossed
for club team-mate Pablo
Osvaldo to round off the
scoring with ten minutes
remaining.
Czech Republic battled to a
3-1 victory at home to Malta
in Plzen.
Theodor Gebre Selassie opened
the scoring in the 34th minute
but the visitors grabbed an
equaliser four minutes later.
Tomas Pekhart and Jan Rezek
then scored to avoid
embarrassment for the
Czechs, although former
Coventry striker Michael
Mifsud missed a 95th-minute
penalty for Malta.
Also in Group B, Denmark are
still searching for their first
three points of the campaign
as they were held to a 1-1
draw away to ten-man
Bulgaria.
Denmark, who drew their
opening game against the
Czechs, had an extra man for
more than an hour in Sofia but
were unable to make their
advantage count. Dimitar
Rangelov had put the hosts
into an early lead before Ivan
Bandalovski was dismissed in
the 27th minute, and while
Nicklas Bendtner levelled
shortly afterwards they could
not find a winner.
Two late goals from Gareth
Bale earned Wales a
memorable victory as they
came from behind to beat
Scotland 2-1 in Cardiff.
James Morrison's first-half
strike looked to have secured
all three points for the visitors
at Cardiff City Stadium, but
Bale equalised from the
penalty spot ten minutes from
time before netting the winner
at the death.
Netherlands maintained their
100% start as they dispatched
Andorra 3-0 at De Kuip.
Rafael van der Vaart opened
the scoring on seven minutes
with a long-range strike
before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
and debutant Ruben Schaken
added their names to the
scoresheet.
Romania trail the Dutch on
goal difference alone as they
beat Turkey 1-0 at the Sukru
Saracoglu Stadium. Gheorghe
Grozav got the only goal of
the game just before the
break as Nuri Sahin missed a
good chance to level late on
for the hosts.
Sweden were forced to rely
on Zlatan Ibrahimovic to avert
embarrassment in a 2-1 Group
C victory away to Faroe
Islands.
Rogvi Baldvinsson gave the
minnows the lead just before
the hour mark, but Ibrahimovic
set up Alex Kacaniklic for the
equaliser and the Paris Saint-
Germain star scored the
winner with 15 minutes to
play.
Austria had to settle for a
goalless draw in their Group C
game at Kazahstan as both
sides claimed their first point
of the campaign.
Switzerland played out a 1-1
draw with Norway in Berne.
Mario Gavranovic opened the
scoring in the 79th minute, but
Brede Hangeland headed an
instant reply to ensure a
share of the spoils.
Iceland battled to a 2-1
victory in Albania in Group E.
After Birkir Bjarnason and
Edgar Cani had exchanged
goals, Tottenham midfielder
Gylfi Sigurdsson smashed in a
free-kick with nine minutes to
play to give the visitors the
victory.
Lithuania won 2-0 in
Liechtenstein courtesy of a
Edgaras Cesnauskis brace to
secure their first three points
in Group G.