Spain see off Scotland, England held

Wayne Rooney spurned two good chances for the hosts but England were perhaps thankful to emerge with a point after Milan Jovanovic's late volley cannoned back off the bar.

Fernando Llorente's late winner for Spain sealed a 3-2 win and broke Scotland hearts after they had come back from two goals down at Hampden Park.

Steven Naismith sparked an impressive fightback after Scotland had fallen behind to David Villa's penalty and a strike from Andres Iniesta, before a Gerard Pique own-goal set the home side on course for a precious point. But glorious failures are Scotland's speciality and Llorente came off the bench to have the final say and deny Craig Levein's men a draw from a gutsy display - with Steven Whittaker sent off late on.

Italy's Group C qualifier against Serbia was abandoned by UEFA after just six minutes had been played due to crowd disturbances. The game at Genoa's Luigi Ferraris stadium was delayed for 35 minutes after a section of Serbian fans threw firecrackers and flares in the direction of the north stand where Italian supporters were seated, and onto the pitch.

Serbian players urged their fans to calm down as families began to make their way towards the exit. The game started but it was not long before play was stopped after a Serbian fan threw a flare onto the pitch, which narrowly missed Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano.

Holland made it four wins from four in qualifying, with a handsome 4-1 win over Group E rivals Sweden. The Dutch were all over their opponents for large periods and could have added to strikes from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay, who both scored twice, on several occasions. Instead Sweden's Andreas Granqvist managed to convert a rare chance to deny Holland a clean sheet.

France strengthened their hold on Group D with a 2-0 win over struggling Luxembourg in Metz. Karim Benzema and Yoann Gourcuff got the goals as France won comfortably against a Luxembourg side who had captain Rene Peters sent off 10 minutes into the second half.

Germany extended their 100% record in Group A to four games with a 3-0 victory over Kazakhstan. Miroslav Klose finally got his side on the scoresheet three minutes into the second half, while Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski also found the target to give a more comfortable look to the scoreline.

New Portugal coach Paulo Bento claimed his second-straight win as they won 2-1 against Iceland. Cristiano Ronaldo's stunning free-kick gave the Iberian side the best possible start but they were stunned when Helgi Danielsson levelled for the hosts. Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles struck to put them back in front just before the half-hour mark and substitute Helder Postiga sealed the win in the second half.

Turkey's qualification bid suffered a second successive setback as they lost 1-0 at minnows Azerbaijan. Guus Hiddink's side were expected to bounce back from their 3-0 defeat to Germany on Friday against the minnows, but Rashad Sadygov's 38th-minute strike condemned them to a surprise reverse.

The Republic of Ireland claimed a point in a 1-1 draw with Slovakia but were left to rue Robbie Keane's penalty miss. Sean St Ledger gave Ireland the lead before Jan Durica's header drew the home side level. But after Aiden McGeady was felled by goalkeeper Jan Mucha, Keane saw his penalty saved.

Northern Ireland were left to reflect on some wasteful finishing as they came unstuck 1-0 against the Faroe Islands. Christian Holst put the hosts in front on the hour but Kyle Lafferty rescued a point.

Russia moved top of Group B after a narrow 1-0 victory over a hardworking Macedonia at Stadium Skopje. Alexander Kerzhakov put the visitors ahead after just eight minutes and that proved to be the only goal of a game they had been expected to win with more ease.

Goals in the second half from Morten Rasmussen and Kaspar Lorentzen gave Denmark a 2-0 victory over Cyprus. After a first half in which Cyprus had successfully frustrated their hosts, Rasmussen put Denmark in front only three minutes into the second half with a header. Lorentzen made sure of the points when he lashed a powerful effort home nine minutes from time.

Valentin Stocker struck twice as Switzerland sent Wales crashing to their third successive qualifying defeat with a 4-1 victory. Valentin Stocker struck twice while Gokhan Inler and Marco Streller each scored as Wales were punished for some slack defending. Gareth Bale had brought Wales level at 1-1.

First-half goals from Tomas Necid and Vaclav Kadlec guided Czech Republic to a 2-0 win away at minnows Liechtenstein. Necid opened the scoring after 12 minutes and the game was as good as safe just before the half-hour mark when Kadlec fired home from just outside the area.

Greece moved to the top of Group F with a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Israel. Dimitris Salpingidis and Georgios Karagounis netted either side of Nikolaos Spyropoulos' own goal.

Moldova picked up their second win of their Group E campaign as goals from Nicolae Josan and Anatolie Doros gave them victory over pointless San Marino in Serravalle.

Balazs Dzsudzsak's dramatic injury-time winner handed Hungary a precious win in Finland. The visitors took the points with a breathtaking burst at the death after Adam Szalai's second-half opener had been cancelled out by Finland's Mikael Forssell.

Martin Harnik struck deep in injury-time to secure 10-man Austria a dramatic 4-4 draw in Belgium. In a thrilling topsy-turvy clash in Brussels, Nicolas Lombaerts had seemingly earned Belgium a last-gasp win as he fired home in the 90th minute. However, Harnik was in the right place at the right time to slam home a stunning leveller and send the travelling band of Austrian fans barmy.

Belarus climbed above Albania in Group D as goals from Vitaly Rodionov and Siarhey Krivets eased them to a 2-0 victory in the Dinamo Stadion in Minsk.

Aleksandrs Cauna scored in the last minute to get Latvia a point in a 1-1 draw with Georgia after David Siradze had given the away side the lead in the second half.

An own goal by Andrei Sidorenkov earned Slovenia a valuable 1-0 win in Group C against Estonia. Both sides had their chances but the tie was settled after 67 minutes when Sidorenkov scooped the ball into his own net.

Armenia routed Andorra 4-0 to pick up their second win in Group B. Gevorg Ghazaryan, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Yura Movsisyan and Marcos Pinheiro Pizelli all got on the scoresheet in a one-sided affair in which Armenia might have scored more.

Source: espnsoccernet.co.uk