LONDON: World champions Italy and Euro 2008 winners Spain took determined steps towards World Cup qualification with victories on Saturday but France and Portugal are struggling after being held to disappointing draws.
Nobody was in a position to join already-qualified Netherlands in securing a place at the finals in South Africa next year but Spain can make a provisional booking after seven wins out of seven following a 5-0 home thrashing of Belgium.
After forward David Villa missed an early penalty Spain scored three goals in the 10 minutes either side of halftime through David Silva, Villa and defender Gerard Pique.
Midfielder Silva added his second goal after 68 minutes and Villa completed the rout five minutes from time to leave Spain on 21 points with three games remaining in Group Five.
Bosnia, 2-0 winners in Armenia, are second on 15 points with Turkey on 11 after a 4-2 home win over Estonia.
Italy needed two own goals by Kakha Kaladze, who plays his club football for AC Milan, to secure a 2-0 win in Georgia.
It was enough to keep them top of Group Eight with 17 points, a point clear of Ireland who won 2-1 in Cyprus thanks to a late header by striker and captain Robbie Keane.
Bulgaria are also still in the hunt on 11 points after they thumped visitors Montenegro 4-1.
France, World Cup runners-up in 2006, still face a fight to reach South Africa after a disappointing 1-1 draw in their Group Seven match with Romania in Paris.
Thierry Henry’s 48th minute effort was cancelled out by a Julien Escude own goal to leave France on 14 points, still four adrift of leaders Serbia who they visit on Wednesday.
With Austria third on 10 points after beating Faroe Islands 3-1, the 1998 champions risk not even making the playoffs.
Portugal are up against it in Group One even though Liedson cancelled out an excellent Nicklas Bendtner opener for Denmark.
Portugal, who have drawn four and lost one of their seven matches, are struggling in fourth place on 10 points.
Denmark lead the way on 17 with Hungary on 13 after losing 2-1 at home to Sweden. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored in the last minute for the Swedes, who are up to third on 12 points.
Switzerland scored twice in the last six minutes to beat 10-man Greece 2-0 and go top of Group Two.
Headers from Stephane Grichting and Marco Padalino took the Swiss to 16 points. Greece, who had Loukas Vyntra sent off late in the first half, have 13, as do Latvia who won 1-0 in Israel.
Roman Pavlyuchenko scored two penalties as Russia beat Liechtenstein 3-0 to keep up the pressure on Group Four leaders Germany, who beat South Africa 2-0 in a friendly.
Germany have 19 points with Russia one behind and Finland still in contention on 13.
Croatia and Ukraine remained in the hunt for a probable second spot behind England in Group Six with contrasting wins.
Ivan Rakitic’s 24th-minute effort was enough for Croatia to beat Belarus 1-0 while Ukraine thumped Andorra 5-0.
England, who beat Slovenia 2-1 in a Wembley friendly, top the group with a maximum 21 points and host Croatia (17) on Wednesday. Ukraine have 14.
Group Three looks certain to go to the wire with five teams still in contention.
Wednesday’s games did little to clear the log jam as leaders Slovakia were held 2-2 at home to Czech Republic and Poland drew 1-1 with visiting Northern Ireland. Slovakia, who have 16 points, visit Northern Ireland (14) on Wednesday. Poland and Slovenia have 11 points while even the fifth-placed Czechs still have a slim chance on nine.
Netherlands long ago secured top spot in Group Nine but Scotland strengthened their grip on second place with a 2-0 home win over Macedonia.
However, the Scots must beat the Dutch in Glasgow on Wednesday and hope a lot of other results go their way to sneak through to the play-offs as one of the best eight runners-up.
Mexico shock Costa Rica, USA, Honduras win
SAN JOSE: Mexico dealt Costa Rica a damaging home defeat while Honduras and the United States won Saturday to shake up the standings in 2010 World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Mexico more than met the challenge of taking on Costa Rica on the artificial pitch at notoriously hostile Saprissa Stadium, winning 3-0 with goals from Giovanni Dos Santos, Guillermo Franco and Andres Guardado.
It was Mexico’s first away win in the six-nation final round of qualifying, while Costa Rica lost for the first time at home and fell from first place to fourth.
Dos Santos’s long-range, left-footed blast put Mexico ahead in the 45th minute. Dos Santos also played a key role in Mexico’s other two goals. He brought the ball into the area and passed to Franco, who fired home in the 61st minute. He also delivered the ball to Guardado for a shot from short range in the 70th.
The victory gave Mexico 12 points, the same as Costa Rica but ahead on goal difference. They trail Honduras and the United States, both on 13 points.
In San Pedro Sula, Honduras pummelled Trinidad and Tobago 4-1, while the United States rallied to beat El Salvador 2-1 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Carlos Pavon in the 19th and 27th minutes, Amado Guevara in the 61st and David Sauzo in the 82nd scored for Honduras, while Kerry Baptiste scored in the 85th for Trinidad and Tobago.
In Utah, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scored first-half goals to lift the United States to a 2-1 victory over El Salvador in Salt Lake City. Christian Castillo had given El Salvador a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute with a header over US ’keeper Tim Howard.
But Dempsey equalised in the 41st when he headed in a free kick from Landon Donovan.
Donovan’s cross in first-half injury time also supplied Altidore, while Howard’s save of William Reyes’s point-blank shot in the 87th preserved the victory.
“The best part was the response when we went down,” US coach Bob Bradley said. “It’s never easy. You feel that pressure for a moment, but there was a real strong response from everybody on the field. That says a lot about what these guys are all about.”
The top three teams in the group advance directly to the World Cup finals in South Africa. The fourth-placed team plays off for a berth against the fifth-placed team from South America.
Saturday’s defeats left Trinidad and Tobago and El Salvador both on five points, and their hopes of qualifying all but extinguished.
Qualifying continues on Wednesday, when Mexico host Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago host the United States and El Salvador host Costa Rica.
“We’ve got three more tough games, but if we continue to get points we’re going to be all right,” Dempsey said.
