ON COURSE: Champs edge France to get back on track as big guns hit the target
LONDON: EUROPE'S top teams took important steps towards next year's
World Cup finals in Brazil with qualifying victories on Tuesday, notably
world champions Spain who scored a hugely significant 1-0 win over
France in Paris.
Netherlands, Germany and Italy also picked up three points but England,
fourth in the world rankings, were held 1-1 in Montenegro after a
bright start in which they scored first.
After a weekend of speculation about Spain losing their way on the road
to Rio after a 1-1 home draw with Finland on Friday, their victory at
the Stade de France steadied the nerves and put them back on top with 11
points, one more than France.
Pedro scored the only goal in the 58th minute after a scramble in front
of goal and a desperate attempt to keep the ball out by home keeper
Hugo Lloris while France finished with 10 men after Paul Pogba was sent
off 12 minutes from time.
Spain are now unbeaten in their last 50 World Cup qualifiers since March 1993 and coach Vicente Del Bosque was a happy man.
"This is a very important three points. It helps support the conviction
we have in our ideas," he told Spanish TV. "Everyone has doubts at
times.
"When they went down to ten men in theory it should have been easier
for us, but this is when we perhaps had the most problems. The team
played like men today."
Netherlands steamed to a sixth straight qualifying win in this campaign
-- and a 14th overall -- when they thumped Romania 4-0 in Amsterdam
with Robin van Persie scoring twice.
The Dutch moved on to 18 points, seven clear at the top of Group D, after second-placed Hungary drew 1-1 with Turkey.
"This was the best match under my management so far," Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal told reporters.
"We executed our game plan much better than we did on Friday (in a 3-0
win over Estonia). We only played sloppily in the final quarter of the
first half and that resulted in their sole chance of the match."
Germany also moved a step closer to the finals when they followed up
Friday's 3-0 win in Kazakhstan with a 4-1 victory over the same
opposition in Nuremburg to climb to 16 points and open up an eight-point
gap at the top of Group C.
Sweden, who did not play, Austria and Ireland are all on eight points
after the latter drew 2-2 with the Austrians in Dublin after the
visitors salvaged a point with an equaliser from David Alaba in the 92nd
minute.
Germany, again without a recognised striker, hit three goals in eight
minutes through Borussia Dortmund trio Marco Reus, Mario Goetze and
Ilkay Guendogan in the first half.
Reus added a fourth in stoppage time to give Germany their fifth win in
six qualifiers as they also hit the woodwork six times in a one-sided
game that at times looked like a friendly.
"Obviously, in the second half our concentration and our presence was
not as strong but we still could have scored two or three more goals.
But the game was decided by then," Germany coach Joachim Loew said.
"Kazakhstan had 10 men around the box and waited for us but did little else. They did not want to play football."
Italy also consolidated top spot in their section when they won 2-0 in
Malta with a double from in-form Mario Balotelli to move three points
clear of second-placed Bulgaria who drew 1-1 in Denmark in their Group B
game. Italy now have 13 points.
Balotelli, buoyed by his outstanding goal in a 2-2 friendly draw with
Brazil on Thursday, again delivered for Italy who survived two
first-half scares before applying the killer blow with a second goal in
the dying minutes of the opening half.
"We have to treasure the fact that when we come up against a
well-organised team we have to be quicker with our play," Italy coach
Cesare Prandelli told Rai television.
"But the great performance against Brazil and the three points tonight are paramount."
Balotelli opened the scoring with a sixth-minute penalty after Malta
defender Luke Dimech floored Stephan El Shaarawy in the penalty area but
Malta refused to lie down.
Their bold reaction unsettled Prandelli's men whose struggles were laid
bare when, after 16 minutes, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon brought down
Malta midfielder Andre Schembri in the box after an intelligent pass
from Roderick Briffa.
Michael Mifsud marched towards the spot but his low effort was stopped by Buffon.
Belgium and Croatia, who started the day joint-top of Group A with 13
points, stayed neck-and-neck after Belgium beat visitors Macedonia 1-0
with a goal from Eden Hazard and Croatia won 2-1 in Wales with late
goals from Dejan Lovren and Eduardo.
The pair are nine points clear of third-placed Serbia, who won 2-0
against Scotland 2-0 who became the first team in the European
qualifiers to be mathematically eliminated as they cannot catch either
of the joint leaders Belgium or Croatia.
Portugal rekindled their chances by winning 2-0 in Azerbaijan after
stumbling to a 3-3 draw against Israel on Friday to move within a point
of Group F leaders Russia, who did not play.
The Israelis also maintained their hopes of a first World Cup finals
appearance since 1970 with a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in Belfast to
stay level with Portugal on 11 points. Reuters
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