European heavyweights punching way to WC2010

Holland moved regally to the brink of the 2010 World Cup finals on Wednesday while England and Spain struggled to preserve their perfect records in European qualifying.

Defending champions Italy were held to a 1-1 draw by the Republic of Ireland, while three-time winners Germany beat Wales 2-0 to also stay on course for next year's South Africa showpiece.

Poland were the night's biggest winners smashing San Marino 10-0 in Group Three with Ebi Smolarek grabbing four goals. But Northern Ireland are the unlikely leaders of that pool thanks to a 1-0 win over Slovenia.

Wayne Rooney celebrated his 50th cap but it was defender John Terry who scored the winner five minutes from time at Wembley to give England a 2-1 victory over Ukraine.

Terry ensured Fabio Capello's squad reached the half-way stage in their campaign with five wins out of five in Group Six, and maintained their five-point lead over Croatia whose 2-0 win over Andorra saw Arsenal striker Eduardo on target.

England just about deserved the three points but the outcome hung in the balance after Andriy Shevchenko came off the bench to cancel out Peter Crouch's first-half strike.

"It was not a rich game, a little bit poor," said Capello. "But the result is very important. We suffered a bit in the second half but we showed a lot of character and patience."

Ukrainian coach Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko bemoaned the poor defending from his side.

"England did not exactly win the match, Ukraine helped them get the result," he said.

Liverpool's Albert Riera and Xabi Alonso scored as European champions Spain came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 in Istanbul.

Spain were hit in the 26th minute when Semih Senturk scored. Their equaliser came from Xabi Alonso from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute after Ibrahim Uzulmez had handled following a Fernando Torres header.

The winner came in the second minute of injury time when substitute Daniel Guiza crossed for Riera to find the target.

Spain stay top of Group Five with 18 points from six games, six ahead of Bosnia who defeated 10-man Belgium 2-1 with Edin Dzeko hitting both goals for the Balkan nation who have never played in the World Cup.

Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt scored twice as Holland beat Macedonia 4-0 in Amsterdam to register their fifth win in five games.

The win gave Bert van Marwijk's team 15 points from five games in Group Nine, eight ahead of Scotland who edged Iceland 2-1 with three games to play.

Kuyt opened the scoring in the 16th minute converting a cross from Arjen Robben.

Real Madrid's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made it 2-0 just 10 minutes later with Robben again the provider before Kuyt added a third three minutes before the interval. Rafael van der Vaart put away the fourth in the dying moments.

Greece, the 2004 European champions, stay top of Group Two on goal difference from Switzerland after a 2-1 home win over Israel.



Bleier

Prices, review, pictures

Prices, review, pictures

Listings provided by Cars.com