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Four-in-a-row for England

Chile surprises Argentina; Colombia holds Brazil

— PHOTO: AFP

IN THE THICK OF THINGS: Wayne Rooney (centre) scored a brace in England’s 3-1 win over Belarus on Wednesday.

PARIS: The established order was respected in Europe on Wednesday night as top nations Italy, England, Germany and Spain all claimed victories to round off the year’s 2010 football World Cup qualifiers.

England had the most to smile about as its 3-1 victory in Belarus meant it had won four matches out of four, while Germany beat Wales 1-0, world champion Italy had a 2-1 win over Montenegro, and European champion Spain won 2-1 in Belgium.

On a worse note for Spain and his Liverpool club, Fernando Torres suffered a torn muscle in his thigh after being taken off in the match in Brussels.

The disciplined regime of Fabio Capello has spelt an unblemished reign at the helm of England so far. The win left England five points clear of Croatia at the top of the group.

Capello said he was delighted with the performance lit up by a Wayne Rooney double and Steven Gerrard’s opener.

Unconvincing Italy

Alberto Aquilani netted a brace as unconvincing Italy edged out Montenegro 2-1 in Group Eight. It means Italy remains unbeaten and in control of the group with 10 points from four games.

Paraguay on top

Paraguay streaked six points clear in the South American qualifying standings with a goal nine minutes from time enough to edge Peru 1-0.

Paraguay moved onto 23 points from 10 games — six clear of an inconsistent Brazil, which could only draw 0-0 at home to Colombia.

But even Brazil was on form compared with a lacklustre Argentina, which went down to a first-half goal from debutant midfielder Fabian Orellana which brought Chile a 1-0 win that leaves it level on points with the Argentines — one behind the Brazilians.

The results: European zone: Group One: Malta 0 lost to Hungary 1 (Torghelle 23); Portugal 0 drew with Albania 0.

Group Two: Latvia 1 (Kolesnicenko 89) drew with Israel 1 (Benayoun 50); Greece 1 (Charisteas 68) lost to Switzerland 2 (Frei 42-pen, Nkufo 77); Luxembourg 0 drew with Moldova 0.

Group Three: Czech Republic 1 (Libor Sionko 63) bt Slovenia 0; Northern Ireland 4 (D. Healy 30, McCann 43, Lafferty 56, Steven Davis 75) bt San Marino 0; Slovakia 2 (Sestak 85, 86) bt Poland 1 (Smolarek 70).

Group Four: Russia 3 (Pasanen 23-og, Lampi 65-og, Arshavin 88) bt Finland 0; Germany 1 (Trochowski 72) bt Wales 0.

Group Five: Bosnia-Herzegovina 4 (Spahic 31, Dzeko 39, Muslimovic 56, 89) bt Armenia 1 (Minasyan 85); Estonia 0 drew with Turkey 0; Belgium 1 (Sonck 7) lost to Spain 2 (Iniesta 36, Villa 88).

Group Six: Croatia 4 (Rakitic (16, 87, Olic 32, Modric 75) bt Andorra 0; Belarus 1 (Sitko 28) lost to England 3 (Gerrard 11, Rooney 50, 74).

Group Seven: Lithuania 1 (Danilevicius 20) bt Faroe Islands 0; Austria 1 (Janko 80) lost to Serbia 3 (Krasic 14, Jovanovic 18, Obradovic 24).

Group Eight: Georgia 0 drew with Bulgaria 0; Republic of Ireland 1 (Keane 5) bt Cyprus 0; Italy 2 (Aquilani 8, 29) bt Montenegro 1 (Vucinic 19).

Group Nine: Norway 0 lost to Holland 1 (Van Bommel 63); Iceland 1 (Gunnarsson 16) bt Macedonia 0.

South American zone: Paraguay 1 (Cardozo 81) bt Peru 0; Chile 1 (Orellana 35) bt Argentina 0; Brazil 0 drew with Colombia 0; Venezuela 3 (Maldonado 47, Moreno 56, Arango 67) bt Ecuador 1 (Mina 10); Bolivia 2 (Martins 15, 41) drew with Uruguay 2 (Bueno 64, Abreu 88).

Asian zone: Group One: Australia 4 (Cahill 9, Emerton pen-17, 59, Kennedy 76) bt Qatar 0; Japan 1 (Tamada 40) drew with Uzbekistan 1 (Shatskikh 28).

Group Two: Iran 2 (Mahdavikia 9, Nekounam 65) bt North Korea 1 (Jong Tae Se 70); South Korea 4 (Lee Kuen-Ho 19, 80, Park Ji-Sung 25, Kwak Tae-Hee 88) bt UAE 1 (Al Hammadi 71). — Agencies

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