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Spain, England and Netherlands maintain perfect starts
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-16 11:08

"We had to work very hard," Rooney said. "I've got to give a lot of credit to my teammates. It's a great three points. Twelve points from the first four games is a great boost for us."

Helped by two goals for Ivan Rakitic, Croatia outplayed last-place Andorra 4-0 to draw level on seven points with Ukraine, which didn't have a game and next plays at England on April 1.


Norway's Thorstein Helstad (R) fights for the ball with Joris Mathijsen of the Netherlands during their World Cup 2010 qualifying soccer match in Oslo October 15, 2008. [Agencies]

The Netherlands also holds a five-point advantage in Group 9 in the race for spots at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after beating Norway 1-0.

A minute after Dirk Kuyt had hit the crossbar, Mark van Bommel scored in the 64th minute and the Dutch have nine points from three games. That is five more than its nearest rivals, Scotland and Iceland, which jumped from fifth to third by edging Macedonia 1-0.

"We knew it was going to be a very tough game," Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst said. "We are very happy with the three points. It gives us a lot of trust and confidence going into the future."

Portugal stumbled to a scoreless draw with Albania in Group 1, wasting a chance to go top. The Albanians had to play the last 50 minutes with 10 men after Admir Teli was shown his second yellow card when his forearm hit Cristiano Ronaldo in the face.

Denmark, which didn't have a game, is level on seven points with Hungary, which jumped from fifth to second after winning 1-0 at Malta. Two points behind are Portugal, Albania and Sweden.

Alberto Aquilani's first two international goals helped World Cup holder Italy stay three points clear at the top of Group 8 by beating Montenegro 2-1 in Lecce. The Italians lead Ireland which edged Cyprus 1-0 in Dublin.

Germany edged Wales 1-0 with a 72nd-minute goal by Piotr Trochowski in Moenchengladbach to open a four-point advantage over Russia and the Welsh in Group 4. Helped by two own-goals and a late strike by Andrei Arshavin, Russia outplayed Finland 3-0.

Slovakia's Stanislav Sestak scored in the 85th and 86th to overturn Poland's lead and win 2-1 at home to jump from third to first in Group 3.

Slovakia now holds a two-point lead over Poland and Slovenia, which lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic.

After taking only one point from its first two games, the Czechs rallied with Libor Sionko's 62nd-minute goal. But they still slipped to fifth place, five behind Slovakia, because Northern Ireland beat San Marino 4-0 and moved above the Czechs on goal difference.

Lithuania edged last-place Faeroe Islands 1-0 to keep the pressure on Group 7 leader Serbia, which both have nine points from four games. The Serbs won 3-1 at Austria.

Greece tumbled 2-1 at home to Switzerland but stayed top of Group 2. Israel moved to within a point after a 1-1 draw at Latvia and the Swiss moved up to third, two points off the lead.