- Spain and Switzerland racked up 11 goals
between them to qualify for Euro 2016 on Friday as
England maintained their 100 percent record.
Champions in 2008 and 2012, Spain beat
Luxembourg 4-0 in Group C thanks to a brace each
from Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla and Valencia
striker Paco Alcacer.
The result saw Spain win the group outright after
rivals Slovakia, who had been breathing down their
necks, went down 1-0 at home to Belarus and drop
to third.
Vicente del Bosque's men are five points clear of
Slovakia and Ukraine, who won 2-0 at Macedonia.
Ukraine host Spain in their final qualifier in Kiev on
Monday.
On the down side, Spain suffered a double injury
blow losing David Silva to a twisted ankle before
Alvaro Morata was stretchered off with a calf injury.
Cazorla opened the scoring five minutes before
half-time as he swept home a rebound after
Jonathan Joubert had made a smart save from
Pedro Rodriguez.
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Alcacer slotted home a neat through ball from Cesc
Fabregas on his 99th international appearance 23
minutes from time.
Jordi Alba's cut-back was then tapped into an empty
net by Alcacer for his sixth international goal in
nine appearances.
And Cazorla rounded off the scoring with the best
goal of the night when he thundered in a shot from
the edge of the box to seal Spain's ticket to France
in style.
"We've managed to qualify at last. We knew we
couldn't be complacent, we played very well and
managed to get the win," Cazorla told Television
Espanola.
"The coach showed his faith in me and it went well
with the two goals."
The Swiss stormed to a 7-0 win over San Marino
converting three spot-kicks on the way to join
England as the two direct qualifiers from Group E.
Having co-hosted the 2008 Euros with Austria,
Switzerland missed the 2012 edition.
On Friday, seven different players got the goals to
ensure they did not miss out this time.
Defender Michael Lang got the opener on 17
minutes with Gokhan Inler, Admir Mehmedi, Johan
Djourou, Pajtim Kasami, Breel Embolo and Eren
Derdiyok completing the rout after the break.
Roy Hodgson's England maintained their 100
percent record in the qualifiers with a ninth straight
win, 2-0 over Estonia at Wembley, with Theo
Walcott and Raheem Sterling delivering the goals
late in each half.
With record goal-scorer Wayne Rooney injured,
Harry Kane led the line for England, but it was
Walcott who opened the scoring in a drab game
before Sterling struck a second goal late on.
"We had to work hard, we attacked a lot, we had a
lot of the ball and had a lot of chances. I thought we
were good value for our 2-0 win," said Hodgson.
In Group G, Russia, Sweden and Montenegro had
been locked in a desperate battle for qualification
behind runaway leaders Austria.
Austria won again, coming from behind to win 3-2
in Montenegro and have 25 points from nine
games.
But Russia's 2-1 win in Moldova leaves them
needing only a win at home over Montenegro on
Monday to qualify in second place after full back
Sergei Ignashevich and forward Arten Dzyuba got
Friday's goals.
Russia coach Leonid Slutsky, who took over from
the sacked Fabio Capello in August, has won three
games since taking the hot seat for the 2018 World
Cup hosts.
Sweden can still overhaul Russia after Zlatan
Ibrahimovic made up for missing a penalty by
scoring the second goal in his side's 2-0 win in
Liechtenstein.
The Paris Saint Germain striker thereby stretched
his national goalscoring record to 58.
Spain and Switzerland join already qualified Austria,
Czech Republic, England, France (as hosts), Iceland,
Northern Ireland, and Portugal in the 24-team
finals next year.
- AFP
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