Italy moved back into the chase for a spot at next year’s European Championship, beating Scotland 2-0 on Wednesday as England also played themselves back into contention by downing Andorra 3-0.
England’s win, however, will do little to ease the pressure on coach Steve McClaren, who had been winless in five straight games before facing a team with only one competitive victory.
The Czech Republic, Spain, The Netherlands, Poland and defending champions Greece also won on a night when another 20 Euro 2008 qualifiers were played.
Italy, who had failed to impress since beating France on penalties in the World Cup final, got goals off headers from Luca Toni in the 12th and 70th minutes.
”Maybe I was being presumptuous, but I expected nothing less,” Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said. ”This team showed its quality.”
It was Italy’s third straight win after a rough start to qualifying and it may have saved Donadoni’s job.
The Italians improved to 10 points in Group B, trailing Scotland, France and Ukraine by two.
Ukraine moved into a tie for the lead by beating Lithuania 1-0 on Oleg Gusev’s 47th-minute goal off a cross from Maxim Kalinichenko.
England got two second-half goals from Steven Gerrard and another from David Nugent in injury time.
Wayne Rooney chested a ball to Gerrard on the edge of the in the 54th minute, and the Liverpool midfielder added the second in the 76th minute after rolling the ball under goalkeeper Koldo Alvarez.
”We came here to win the game, and it was important to do that and we got the job done,” McClaren said. ”We’ve won the game and now we move on.”
The win puts England, who were jeered throughout the match by their travelling fans, into a three-way tie for second place in Group E with Israel and Russia on 11 points. Croatia lead with 13 points.
Israel beat Estonia 4-0 with teenage striker Ben Sahar scoring two goals. Roberto Colautti and Idan Tal added the others.
Sahar, a 17-year-old Chelsea striker who entered as a substitute in the 65th minute, put Israel up 3-0 with a chip over Estonia goalkeeper Mart Poom from inside the six-yard box in the 77th. He added the other in the 79th when he scored from inside the area.
”When I scored the first goal I put my face in my hands as I couldn’t believe it. It was a dream for me to score my first goals in the Israel … senior team,” Sahar said.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored a late goal to help The Netherlands to a 1-0 win over Slovenia. The Barcelona defender sent a deflected ball into the top corner of goal in the 85th minute to keep the Dutch team atop Group G.
The Czech Republic moved back into a tie for first place in Group D with a 1-0 win over Cyprus.
Radoslav Kovac scored his first international goal in the 20th minute to put the team at the top of the group with Germany. Both teams have 13 points but Germany, who lost to Denmark 1-0 in a friendly, have a game in hand.
Croatian referee Ivan Bebek originally gave the goal to Jan Koller, who appeared to slightly deflect Kovac’s header with his right foot after a corner kick from Tomas Rosicky. But the hosts appealed the decision and the referee finally gave it to Kovac.
”I didn’t touch the ball,” Koller said.
Also in Group D, Ireland beat Slovakia 1-0 and Wales downed San Marino 3-0. Kevin Doyle headed in the only goal for the Irish in the 12th minute.
Poland took a commanding lead in Group A by beating Armenia 1-0, while Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw at Serbia.
Maciej Zurawski scored the winning goal for the Poles in the 26th minute, curling in a low shot after a pass from Michal Zewlakow.
Portugal took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute from a long-range lob by Tiago Mendes that caught Serbia goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic wrong-footed. But Bosko Jankovic levelled for Serbia in the 37th with a powerful header from inside the box after a corner kick by Dejan Stankovic.
”We played much better in the second half, but we should be satisfied with this result,” Tiago said. ”After all, this was an away match against a very good squad.”
Poland have 16 points, five more than Portugal, Serbia and Finland, who were upset 1-0 by Azerbaijan.
Greece struggled to beat Malta 1-0 only four days after losing to Turkey 4-1 in Athens. Angelos Basinas converted a penalty in the 66th minute after Roderick Briffa was sent off for bringing down Fanis Gekas.
”The Turkey match affected us psychologically,” Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said. ”So we had to go out and win and that’s what we did.”
The win moved the Greeks within one point of Group C leaders Turkey, who got two second-half goals from Hamit Altintop to draw 2-2 with Norway.
Simen Brenne and Martin Andresen scored a goal each for Norway in the first half.
Liechtenstein also pulled off an upset, beating Euro 2004 qualifiers Latvia 1-0 in Group F. Mario Frick scored for Liechtenstein in the 17th.
Northern Ireland beat Sweden 2-1 to move to the top of the group with 13 points.
David Healy, who scored three goals on Saturday against Liechtenstein, added two more against Sweden, who dropped to second in the group with 12 points.
Spain moved into third place in the group with nine points after Andres Iniesta saved the team with a 79th-minute goal in a 1-0 win over visiting Iceland.
Also on Wednesday: Georgia 3, Faeroe Islands 1; Hungary 2, Moldova 0; Bulgaria 0, Albania 0; and Romania 3, Luxembourg 0. — Sapa-AP