Spain and Czech Republic work hard for wins

Published on Tuesday 29 March 2011 21:26

SPAIN maintained their 100 per cent record in Euro 2012 qualifying Group I, but were pushed hard by Lithuania in Kaunas before securing a 3-1 victory.

Xavi Hernandez opened the scoring on 20 minutes but Marius Stankevicius struck 11 minutes after the break to briefly threaten an upset.

However, an own goal from Tadas Kijanskas gave Spain the lead again and a late Juan Mata strike made it five out of five wins at the top of the group.

Earlier in the day, former Liverpool striker Milan Baros grabbed a third minute opener as the Czech Republic eased past Liechtenstein in Ceske Budejovice to cement second place. Michael Kadlec's 70th-minute header sealed a 2-0 win.

Northern Ireland saw their qualifying hopes plummet as they mustered only a goalless draw against Group C rivals Slovenia at Windsor Park, while Sweden moved into second place in Group E behind the Netherlands with a 2-1 win over Moldova in Stockholm.

Mikael Lustig opened the scoring for the Swedes before Sebastian Larsson made the game safe. Alexandru Suvorov got an injury-time consolation. The Netherlands edged an eight-goal thriller with Hungary in Amsterdam, needing a Dirk Kuyt double to see off their visitors.

Robin Van Persie gave the Dutch the lead in the 13th minute, but goals from Gergely Rudolf and Zoltan Gera saw Hungary snatch the lead. In a ding-dong battle, Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored to restore the Netherlands' lead, only for Gera to score his second 15 minutes from time. But Kuyt had the final say, scoring in the 78th and 81st minute.

In Group A, Turkey grabbed a vital 2-0 win over Austria in Istanbul, Arda Turan and Gokhan Gonul scoring for the home side.

Israel leapfrogged Georgia in an increasingly tight Group F with a 1-0 win in Tel Aviv, Tal Ben Haim scoring the only goal of the game in the 59th minute.

Adrian Mutu scored twice as Romania got back on track in Group D with a 3-1 win over Luxembourg. Lars Gerson gave the visitors a 22nd-minute lead, but Mutu's brace and a Ianis Zicu strike made it safe for Romania.

Meanwhile a much-changed Republic of Ireland side went down 3-2 to Uruguay in a friendly at the Aviva Stadium.

Shane Long cancelled out Diego Lugano's opener for the visitors before Edinson Cavani and Abel Hernandez put Uruguay in the driving seat. Keith Fahey's 48th-minute penalty gave the Irish hope but they couldn't find an equaliser.

Franck Ribery and Patrice Evra were both booed by the home fans as France were held to a 0-0 draw by Croatia in a friendly in Paris.Ribery and Evra were both suspended after last year's World Cup when France players went on strike to support Nicolas Anelka, who was kicked out for insulting coach Raymond Domenech.