World Cup qualifiers round-up:Russia and the Netherlands maintained perfect starts to their World Cup qualifying campaigns with fourth successive wins but Spain lost their 100 per cent record as they were held by France while England lost out to the rain when their match in Poland was postponed.
France substitute Olivier Giroud headed past Iker Casillas with almost the last touch of the game to snatch a 1-1 draw against the holders Spain. The draw denied Spain a 25th straight win in major championship qualifiers although they remain top of the group tied with France on seven points from three matches.
Sergio Ramos had put Spain deservedly ahead in the 25th minute before France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saved a Cesc Fabregas penalty shortly before the break. The French came out fighting in the second half and almost equalised several times before Franck Ribery crossed for Giroud to nod the ball into the corner of the net in the fourth minute of added time.
Russia beat Azerbaijan 1-0 with a late penalty in Moscow while the Dutch won 4-1 in Bucharest to end Romania's three-match winning start.
There was no action in Warsaw where Poland's Group H game against England was postponed until tomorrow afternoon after a downpour drenched the pitch at the National Stadium and made it unplayable. Montenegro pulled level with England at the top of Group H, although they have played one more match, after beating Ukraine 1-0 in Kiev.
Croatia also maintained their unbeaten start with a 2-0 win over Wales whose optimism following their 2-1 defeat of Scotland on Friday evaporated in Osijek.
Russia, who have made a good start under Italian coach Fabio Capello, appeared to be heading for a goalless draw against Azerbaijan after dominating the match but the breakthrough finally came six minutes from time. Roman Shirokov made certain of all three points when he calmly converted a penalty following a foul on substitute Vladimir Bystrov.
Video replays showed the foul was committed outside the area but Azerbaijan coach Berti Vogts said the home team deserved to win.
"I can only congratulate Russia on their victory," former Germany manager Vogts told reporters. Capello, who replaced Dick Advocaat as Russia coach following their poor showing at Euro 2012, added: "Of course, it would have been much easier for us if we scored an early goal.
"But you have two teams on the pitch. Azerbaijan have become a very organised team under Berti Vogts, so today we had a very tough opponent."
Like the Russians, the Dutch also made it four wins out of four and ended Romania's perfect start after three goals in the first half set up a 4-1 win to give them control of Group D. Jeremain Lens put the Dutch ahead after eight minutes with Bruno Martens scoring in the 28th and Rafael van der Vaart netting a penalty to make it 3-1 just before the break.
Ciprian Marica had scored for Romania after 39 minutes but Robin van Persie wrapped the game up five minutes from time.
England's clash with Poland will now take place in Warsaw at 4pm tomorrow because the pitch became waterlogged after the stadium roof was left open. The decision was taken to rearrange the game following a pitch inspection at after an evening of torrential rain.
The Warsaw stadium has a retractable roof, but a Polish FA spokeswoman said neither of the team representatives nor the Fifa delegate wanted to make the decision to close it.
"None of the sides wanted such a solution," said Agnieszka Olejkowska. "We knew there would be heavy rain but we could not 100 per cent predict the downpour."
