Spain, England cruise as Italy escape with narrow victory

Fernando Torres scored a brace as world champions Spain began their European title defence with a convincing 4-0 win away at Liechtenstein last night in their opening Group I qualifier for the Euro 2012 finals.

In London, England handed under-fire manager Fabio Capello some badly needed breathing space as a Jermain Defoe hat-trick saw them romp to a 4-0 victory over Bulgaria while Italy survived a scare and came back from a goal down to escape from Tallinn with a 2-1 victory over Estonia.

France’s campaign to qualify for Euro 2012 began in disappointing fashion as they lost 1-0 at home to Belarus in Laurent Blanc’s first competitive game in charge.

It was Spain’s first competitive match since lifting the World Cup in South Africa on July 11 and the Euro 2008 winners were far too strong for hapless Liechtenstein.

After failing to score at the World Cup finals, Torres rediscovered his goalscoring touch on 18 minutes with a beautiful chip to open the scoring before new Barcelona man David Villa thundered in a shot from outside the box on 26 minutes.

Villa, top-scorer at the World Cup with five goals, now has 43 goals in 66 internationals, just one goal from equalling the all-time national record of former Real Madrid striker Raul Gonzalez who netted 44 in 102 games.

Torres, 26, smashed in a second on 54 minutes and his replacement David Silva added a fourth after 62 minutes as Liechtenstein were put to the sword.

Defoe’s first hat-trick for England and a late strike from Manchester City youngster Adam Johnson sealed the Group G points for Capello’s side, desperate to bounce back from a traumatic World Cup campaign.

Capello, who had been mercilessly lampooned by sections of the English media in the build-up to the match, kept faith with seven of the side who started the disastrous 4-1 defeat against Germany which ended their South African campaign.

The Italian supremo’s trust was largely rewarded on an evening at Wembley where the pluses more than outweighed the minuses, with a revitalised Wayne Rooney helping set up all four goals.

As well as the razor-sharp finishing of Defoe, Capello could also reflect with satisfaction on an authoritative performance in goal by Manchester City’s Joe Hart, who pulled off a string of key saves at crucial moments.

Sergei Zenjov had given Estonia a shock first-half lead against Italy but second-half strikes from Antonio Cassano and Leonardo Bonucci, thanks to some non-existent marking at corners, allowed coach Cesare Prandelli to begin his competitive reign at the Italy helm with a win.

It was Italy’s first win of 2010 and a first success in eight matches.

Although his team struggled throughout, Prandelli said he was delighted and that they deserved the three points.

“It was a strong emotion particularly because the players were a bit down in the changing room (at half-time),” he said.

“But then we had a good reaction (in the second period) and we deserved to win.”

Missing a raft of influential players, France struggled to procure clear sights of goal and were undone in the 86th minute when substitute Sergei Kislyak netted the winner from Vyacheslav Hleb’s cutback.

The hosts largely controlled the game but there was a palpable lack of creativity in attacking areas that frustrated Blanc’s hopes of banishing memories of the World Cup with a rousing performance.

France play away against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday.

Evergreen striker Miroslav Klose backed up his wish to keep playing until the next World Cup with a second-half goal to seal Germany’s 1-0 win away at Belgium.

Klose, 32, who has 14 World Cup goals to his credit and is just one away from matching Ronaldo’s all-time record, scored his 53rd goal for his country on his 102nd appearance.

Despite clinching three points, Joachim Loew’s Germany are second in Group A behind Turkey after Guus Hiddink’s side had earlier won their opening qualifier 3-0 in Kazakhstan.

The Germans were at virtually full-strength at the Stade Roi Baudouin and were made to work hard for the victory as Belgium, led by Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen, battled hard throughout.

Turkey made a perfect start to life under Hiddink by confidently beating Kazakhstan.

Galatasaray winger Arda Turan, Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop and Besiktas striker Nihat Kahveci all scored for Turkey, who recorded their third win in as many competitive meetings with Kazakhstan.

Ireland also made a flying start with a gritty 1-0 win in their Group B opener against Armenia.

Birmingham midfielder Keith Fahey grabbed the decisive goal – his first in a senior international – in Ireland’s first competitive fixture since France striker Thierry Henry’s infamous handball in the World Cup play-off.

Scotland’s qualifying campaign began with a 0-0 draw against Lithuania, but Craig Levein’s side will be disappointed with the result after carving out the best chances.