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Spain makes impressive start

GREAT START:Fernando Torres rediscovered his touch with a double against Liechtenstein on Friday. David Villa (left) also scored.

Paris: Spain made an impressive start to its quest for a historic treble in the opening salvos in Euro 2012 qualifying, which saw wins for England, Holland and Germany but defeat for France. Spain is seeking to become the first country in history to claim a World Cup and two European titles.

And Vicente del Bosque's men, in their first competitive outing since scaling football's global summit at Soccer City in July, swept aside little Liechtenstein, ranked 141 places below them in FIFA rankings, 4-0 in Vaduz on Friday.

Liverpool forward Fernando Torres, who failed to score in South Africa, rediscovered his touch with a double, the rout completed by the two Davids, Villa and Silva.

Holland, defeated 1-0 by Spain in the World Cup final, was also quick out of the blocks on the long road to Ukraine and Poland, Bert van Marwijk's Oranje dishing out a 5-0 beating to minnow San Marino.

Easy for England

At Wembley, England went some way on the road to redemption with a sparkling 4-0 rout of Bulgaria.

Jermain Defoe's treble and Adam Johnson's first goal for England will have helped relieve the mounting pressure on coach Fabio Capello. “I was concentrating on the match, not the critics,” said Capello. “We played very well. I knew that the players had been training well and that they had great spirit.”

Key to the win was a revitalised Wayne Rooney, who has shaken off the lethargy that had gripped him at the World Cup, conjuring up three assists.

Germany, which finished third in the World Cup, eked out a 1-0 win over Belgium in Brussels. Evergreen striker Miroslav Klose's 53rd international goal secured the three Group A points for Joachim Loew's side. Despite the win, Germany is lying second to Guus Hiddink's Turkey, 3-0 winner in Kazakhstan.

The results: Group A: Belgium 0 lost to Germany 1 (Klose 51); Kazakhstan 0 lost to Turkey 3 (Turan 24, Altintop 26, Kahveci 79).

Group B: Andorra 0 lost to Russia 2 (Pogrebnyak 14, 64-pen); Armenia 0 lost to Republic of Ireland 1 (Fahey 76) ; Slovakia 1 (Holosko) bt Macedonia 0.

Group C: Estonia 1 (Zenjov 31) lost to Italy 2 (Cassano 60, Bonucci 63); Faroe Islands 0 lost to Serbia 3 (Lazovic 14, Stankovic 18, Zigic 90+1); Slovenia 0 lost to Northern Ireland 1 (C. Evans 70).

Group D: France 0 lost to Belarus 1 (Kislyak 86); Luxembourg 0 lost to Bosnia-Herzegovina 3 (Ibricic 6, Pjanic 12, Dzeko 16); Romania 1 (Stancu 80) drew with Albania 1 (Muzaka 87).

Group E : Moldova 2 (Suvorov 69, Doros 74) bt Finland 0; San Marino 0 lost to Netherlands 5 (Kuyt 16-pen, Huntelaar 38, 48, 67, van Nistelrooy 90+1); Sweden 2 (Wernbloom 51, 73) bt Hungary 0.

Group F: Greece 1 (Spiropoulos 72) drew with Georgia 1 (Iashvili 3); Latvia 0 lost to Croatia 3 (Petric 43, Olic 51, Srna 82).

Group G: England 4 (Defoe 3, 61, 86, A. Johnson 83) bt Bulgaria 0; Montenegro 1 (Vucinic 30) bt Wales 0; Group H: Iceland 1 (H. Helguson 38) lost to Norway 2 (Hangeland 59, Abdellaoue 75); Portugal 4 (Almeida 8, Meireles 29, Danny 50, Manuel Fernandes 60) drew with Cyprus 4 (Aloneftis 3, Konstantinou 11, Okkas 57, Avraam 89).

Group I: Liechtenstein 0 lost to Spain 4 (Torres 18, 54, Villa 26, Silva 62); Lithuania 0 drew with Scotland 0 . — AFP

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