Spain opens World Cup qualifying with late win
LONDON — Spain left it late to open its 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 1-0 victory over Georgia on Tuesday, capping an unconvincing night for Europe’s major powers.
While England needed an 87th-minute penalty by Frank Lampard to salvage a 1-1 draw with Ukraine at Wembley Stadium, Germany, Portugal and Italy all failed to impress despite securing victories in the second round of qualifiers.
Germany held on to beat neighbor Austria 2-1, with Mesut Oezil’s 52nd-minute penalty proving the difference, while Portugal needed three goals in the final 27 minutes to see off Azerbaijan 3-0 and Italy only edged past lowly ranked Malta 2-0.
Spain, the reigning world and European champion, looked as if its run of 22 straight victories in qualifying — dating back to 2007 — would come to an end against a heavily defensive Georgia until Cesc Fabregas crossed for Roberto Soldado to turn the ball in from close range in the 86th minute.
“It was a hard-fought win against a rival that gave us the ball but pulled back into its area,” said Soldado, who was given a rare start up front ahead of Fernando Torres and the fit-again David Villa. “It was bewildering.”
Spain, which in 2014 will be seeking an unprecedented fourth straight major title, wasn’t in qualifying action on Friday — it beat Saudi Arabia 5-0 in a friendly instead — allowing France to take the early lead in Group I.
After beating Finland 1-0 on Friday, Didier Deschamps’ side followed up with a 3-1 win at home to Belarus.
Franck Ribery finished off the scoring with a well-taken strike and helped create the other two — scored by Etienne Capoue and Christophe Jallet for their first international goals — in Saint-Denis.
“It was important for us to win tonight,” Ribery said, thinking ahead to France’s next qualifier — away to Spain.
Lampard’s 26th international goal came from the penalty spot after Yevhen Khacheridi handled the ball, making it three goals in five days for the Chelsea midfielder following his brace in England’s 5-0 thrashing of Moldova on Friday.
Ukraine had taken the lead through Yevhen Konoplianka’s stunning first-half opener and was unable to mount a late charge for victory despite England — missing the injured Wayne Rooney, John Terry and Ashley Cole — finishing the match with 10 men after Steven Gerrard’s sending-off for a second booking in the 88th.
“These games are not easy and in the end getting a point is a good result considering we were 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go,” Lampard said.
After four straight losses before qualifying began, the Netherlands continued its revival by easing past Hungary 4-1 through goals by Jeremain Lens (two), Bruno Martens and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The Dutch beat Turkey 2-0 on Friday and is level on six points with Romania in Group D.
Russia thrashed Israel 4-0 to also make it two wins from two in Group F, but it was far less easy for Germany and Italy.
After going 2-0 ahead through Marco Reus and Oezil, Austria halved the deficit thanks to Zlatko Junuzovic’s goal and missed several chances to avoid an eighth straight loss to its local rival. Marko Arnautovic was guilty of the worst of the late misses.
“They had some great chances,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said, “but they all resulted from our mistakes.”
Germany is top of Group C and Italy is atop Group B despite only drawing at Bulgaria on Friday and limping to a flat win over Malta side ranked 139th in the world.
Mattia Destro and Federico Peluso bookended the match with goals but the lack of attacking thrust will again be of concern to Azzurri coach Cesare Prandelli.
“Yes, we suffered in this game, and didn’t play a very nice game, but these games are useful to look at these players and see what they are like and have an idea of what stage they will be at in two years’ time,” Prandelli said. “Overall, I’m satisfied.”
Silvestre Varela, Helder Postiga and Bruno Alves were the scorers for Portugal in its Group F game against Azerbaijan, which rode its luck in the first half before caving in after the break. Cristiano Ronaldo set up Portugal’s first two goals, with Varela scoring just 82 seconds after coming off the bench.
