England cruise past woeful Wales

England get their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign back on track cruising to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Wales.

CARDIFF:

England got their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign back on track cruising to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Wales.

Frank Lampard and Darren Bent scored to secure a win which saw England return to the top of Group G and eased the pressure on manager Fabio Capello after his decision to reinstate John Terry as captain had come under criticism.

Neat interplay between Terry and Ashley Young ended with the winger being clumsily brought down by James Collins for a penalty. Lampard stepped up to bury his 22nd international goal in the seventh minute. Young scorched past left-back Chris Gunter before squaring for Bent, who swept in with aplomb to make it 2-0 in the 15th minute.

The remainder of the match saw England dominating possession with only token opposition from Wales. The only disappointment for the visitors was that they were unable to extend their lead further.

Villa stars for Spain

David Villa became Spain’s all-time top marksman with a late brace to floor the Czechs 2-1 after Jaroslav Plasil had broken the deadlock. Spain roared back and Villa claimed his 45th and 46th goals in quick succession to surpass Raul in the goal-scoring charts. Spain, for whom mid-fielder Xavi won his 100th cap, are romping through Group I with four wins in as many matches for a six-point cushion over the Czechs.

France see off Luxembourg

France continued their resurrection under new coach Laurent Blanc, beating Luxembourg 2-0. Blanc, however, admitted that his team’s performance was not a perfect one.

“We weren’t great and they were defensive. Even so, the objective was to win,” he said.

Philippe Mexes and Yoann Gourcuff were the goal-scorers in either half. France now lead Belarus by four points after posting a sixth successive win.

Italy overcome Slovenia

Italy had Thiago Motta’s late goal to thank for a 1-0 win in Slovenia. Motta netted with 17 minutes remaining ensuring the Azzurri took charge of Group C.

With Serbia coming from behind to edge out battling Northern Ireland 2-1 in Belgrade, unbeaten Italy are now six points clear with half the qualification campaign behind them.

Northern Ireland looked set to cause a stir at the Serbs’ expense when Gareth McAuley headed the visitors into the lead from Chris Brunt’s free-kick in the 15th minute. But Marko Pantelic levelled in the second-half and Zoran Tosic then scored a neat winner after a surging run by Milos Ninkovic.

Hungary outclassed by  Holland

Holland gave Hungary a 4-0 drubbing as Rafael van der Vaart bagged the opener eight minutes into the game and Ibrahim Afellay made it 2-0 at the stroke of half-time before Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie wrapped up the match.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2011.