Spain go top with win in Paris

Tuesday 26th March 2013 22:52

Spain: Celebrate their victory over France

Pedro's second-half strike ensured Spain moved to the top of Group I after claiming a 1-0 victory at World Cup qualification rivals France.

France's misery was compounded by Paul Pogba's red card.
Tuesday night's clash at the Stade de France offered the chance for both sides to stamp their authority on the group and it was world and European champions Spain who duly took advantage just before the hour.
Barcelona forward Pedro slotted home from close range following Nacho Monreal's cross from the left and France's hopes of a share of the spoils took a blow when Pogba collected two quick bookings to see red in the 78th minute in just his second appearance for Les Bleus.
Germany moved five points clear of Sweden at the top of Group C after their Borussia Dortmund connection inspired them to a 4-1 win over Kazakhstan.
Marco Reus was on target twice with Mario Gotze and Ilkay Gundogan also scoring for Joachim Low's men.
Greuther Furth's Heinrich Schmidtgal scored a consolation for the visitors, who caused Germany an unexpectedly high number of problems in the second half.
David Alaba's late equaliser left Republic of Ireland's hopes of second spot in the pool in tatters as Austria came away from the Aviva Stadium with a 2-2 draw.
Jon Walters looked to have given the Republic the points when he cancelled out Martin Harnik's opener from the penalty spot and then headed his side in front, but, with a minute of stoppage time remaining, Alaba blasted the Austrians into second place.
England remain two points behind Group H leaders Montenegro after they were held to a 1-1 draw in Podgorica.
Roy Hodgson's side were the better team in the opening 45 minutes and deserved their lead through Wayne Rooney, but the home side were rejuvenated after the interval and took a share of the spoils thanks to substitute Dejan Damjanovic's strike.
Goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Khacheridi helped 10-man Ukraine edge to a 2-1 win over Moldova, who grabbed a late consolation through Alexandr Suvorov, with their hopes of a point briefly raised when Taras Stepanenko was dismissed for violent conduct in injury time.
Robert Lewandowski scored two penalties either side of Lukasz Piszczek's strike, while Lukasz Teodorczyk and Jakub Kosecki were also on the scoresheet as Poland hammered San Marino 5-0.
Holland maintained their perfect record in Group D as two goals from Robin van Persie helped them earn a convincing 4-0 win over Romania at the Amsterdam ArenA.
Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring in the 11th minute, while after the break Van Persie struck twice, the second a penalty, and Jeremain Lens added a fourth in the last minute.
Substitute Daniel Bode earned a 1-1 draw for Hungary at Turkey, who had taken the lead through Burak Yilmaz, while goals either side of half-time from Henri Anier and Joel Lindpere gave Estonia a 2-0 win over fellow group minnows Andorra.
Mario Balotelli continued his hot streak in front of goal with a brace to fire Italy to a 2-0 victory over Malta in Group B.
Gianluigi Buffon did have to deny Malta's Michael Mifsud from the spot, though, before Balotelli netted his second as Italy did enough to pull three points clear of Bulgaria.
Lyuboslav Penev's side reached 10 points with a 1-1 draw in Denmark, who secured a point from a Daniel Agger penalty after Stanislav Manolev had put the visitors in front.
Elsewhere in the group, Matej Vydra bagged a brace before substitute Daniel Kolar rubber-stamped a 3-0 victory for the Czech Republic at Armenia.
Eden Hazard was on the scoresheet as Belgium maintained their position as leaders of Group A with a 1-0 victory over Macedonia.
Dejan Lovren and Eduardo came to Croatia's rescue as they came from behind to claim a 2-1 triumph at Wales, who had opened the scoring through Gareth Bale's penalty, while Filip Duricic's second-half brace ensured Serbia eased past Scotland 2-0.
Second-half goals from Bruno Alves and Hugo Almeida helped stuttering Portugal to a 2-0 Group F victory at 10-man Azerbaijan, who had Rauf Aliyev sent off for two bookings in Baku, while Israel beat Northern Ireland by the same scoreline thanks to late strikes from Lior Refaelov and Eden Ben Basat. ------------------ Team Talk.com