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Spain, England and Netherlands maintain perfect starts
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-16 11:08
LONDON - Spain, England and the Netherlands maintained their perfect starts in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday to open up big leads in the race for places at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.


England' Wayne Rooney (L) fights for the ball with Belarus' Igor Stasevich during World Cup 2010 qualifying soccer match at the Dinamo stadium in Minsk October 15, 2008. [Agencies]

Portugal's faltering challenge continued with a 0-0 draw at home to 10-man Albania.

David Villa, the leading scorer at this year's European Championship, scored a late winner for Spain in a 2-1 victory at Belgium after the Euro 2008 winners had fallen behind in Brussels after just seven minutes.

After Wesley Sonk had fired the Belgians ahead, Andres Iniesta equalized in the 36th and Spain stretched its unbeaten streak to 27 games.

After four Group 5 victories, coach Vicente del Bosque's team now has a four-point lead over Turkey, which jumped above Belgium into second place after a 0-0 draw in Estonia.


Spain's David Villa duels for the ball with Belgium's Thomas Vermaelen (R) during their 2010 World Cup qualifier soccer match at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels October 15, 2008. [Agencies]

England is off to its best ever start in World Cup qualifying and Wayne Rooney was again England's star, scoring two goals in a 3-1 win at Belarus only days after his two in Saturday's 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan at Wembley.

After victories in Andorra and Croatia, England has a five-point advantage over Ukraine and Croatia in Group 6 going into a six-month break in qualifying.

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