World Cup qualifiers:England are just one win away from qualification for South Africa 2010 after they recorded their seventh win in as many games with a pummelling of Andorra at Wembley this evening. Fabio Capello's side are 10 points clear of Croatia and Ukraine in Group Six after making light work of the minnows, who conceded three goals in each half and barely made it into enemy territory.
Wayne Rooney opened the scoring after just four minutes and, after Frank Lampard had doubled the lead, bagged another before being replaced by Jermain Defoe.
The Spurs striker then got two himself and former Portsmouth team-mate Peter Crouch added the sixth for England's biggest win in a competitive game since a 6-0 success over Luxembourg in a Euro qualifier in 1999.
Ukraine moved level Croatia after coming from a goal down to claim a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan.
The visitors, who entered the game with just one win in their Group Six campaign, took the lead after 19 minutes through Tanat Nuserbayev before Nazarenko levelled after 33 minutes with the winner arriving two minutes after half-time.
The visitors missed a great chance to take the lead on the stroke of half-time when home keeper Stanislav Bogush parried the ball to the feet of Vyacheslav Erbes but the Kazakh striker sent his shot over the bar.
Kazakhstan will have rued their failure to score as they were 2-1 down two minutes after the break when Nazarenko slotted home a precise shot after Artem Milevskiy's pass.
FYR Macedonia moved level with second-placed Scotland in Group Nineafter beating Iceland 2-0 in their World Cup qualifier in Skopje this evening.
An early strike from Aco Stojkov and a late one from his replacement Filip Ivanovski secured the three points for the hosts, enabling them to leapfrog their opponents in the race for the runner-up spot behind already-qualified Holland.
The Macedonians are now on seven points along with Scotland, who enjoy a slightly better goal difference and have a game in hand ahead of September's game north of the border.
Iceland's hopes of reaching South Africa 2010 are over as they have managed just four points with only one game left to play.
Midfielder Stojkov headed Macedonia into a 10th minute lead after a surging run and cross by Filip Despotovski.
The home side should have added to their lead through Ilco Naumoski, who missed two good chances, before Ivanovski - who came on for Stojkov shortly after the hour - sealed their win in the 85th minute with a close range effort.
Brian Kerr's first match in charge of the Faroe Islands ended in a 2-0 defeat to Group Sevenleaders Serbia in Toshavn.
Goals from Milan Jovanovic (44) and Neven Subotic (62) moved the Serbs eight points clear of France who have two games in hand.
Kerr’s side remains bottom with one point from five games, six adrift of fifth-placed Romania.
I n Group One, Sweden outclassed Malta 4-0 to maintain their faint hopes of reaching next year's World Cup in South Africa.
Goals from Kim Kallstrom, Daniel Majstorovic, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcus Berg sealed a victory that took the Swedes up to nine points from six matches.
Fourth-placed Sweden still have a lot of work to do if they are to grab one of the top two places in the group.
They trail leaders Denmark by seven points with four matches to play. Hungary are second on 13 points, with Portugal third on nine, ahead of Sweden on goals scored.
Russia closed the gap on Group Fourleaders Germany with a 4-0 over Finland in Helsinki.
Goals by Alexander Kerzhakov in the 26th and 53rd minutes and Konstantin Zyryanov in the 71st secured the visiting side's victory and Finland rarely threatened Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev.
Russia have 15 points from six matches, one behind Germany and five ahead of Finland.
