Switzerland and Belgium maintained a 100 per cent record in their respective World Cup qualifying section with comfortable victories yesterday.

Eren Derdiyok set Switzerland up for a fourth straight win in Group B after defeating Faroe Islands 2-0.

Derdiyok latched on to Valon Behrami’s long ball out of defence and fired past Gunnar Nielson in the 27th minute.

Switzerland struggled to convert their domination into goals but finally got a second when Stephan Lichtsteiner headed in Ricardo Rodriguez’s cross in the 83rd minute.

The Swiss are three points clear of Portugal who beat Latvia 4-1 with Cristiano Ronaldo bagging a brace.

On a typically dramatic night for the Portugal captain, Ronaldo fired the European champions ahead from his first spot kick of the evening in the first half, but missed a chance to double their lead when his second effort struck the post.

It looked a costly miss when Arturs Zjuzins equalised for Latvia in the 68th minute but William Carvalho headed Portugal back in front two minutes later, Ronaldo volleyed the third and Bruno Alves completed the win.

Belgium thumped Estonia 8-1 to make it four wins out of four in Group H.

They may have conceded their first goal since the qualification process began but that was the only blemish as Belgium played some outstanding attacking football.

Dries Mertens would claim a hat-trick – though FIFA’s scorers recorded his second as an own goal – while Thomas Meunier, Eden Hazard, Yannick Carrasco and Romelu Lukaku (two) also got on the scoresheet, with Henri Anier scoring for the visitors.

The Belgians are now two points clear of Greece who grabbed a 1-1 draw against Bosnia.

The Bosnians went in front after half an hour when Miralem Pjanic’s venomous free-kick came off the left post, hit the back of unfortunate goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis and rebounded into the net.

Edin Dzeko was sent off in the 80th minute, picking up a second booking for a tussle with Sokratis Papastathopoulos during which he pulled down the defender’s shorts.

Minutes later, Greece’s Kyriakos Papadopoulos was also sent off for violent conduct.

But, just as it seemed the visitors would leave with the points, a bouncing ball broke to Tzavelas in space and he lashed an unstoppable shot inside the left post to equalise.

The point maintained Greece’s unbeaten start to  Group H and kept them three points ahead of their opponents.

Depay double

Memphis Depay spared the blushes of the Netherlands with two second half goals as they won 3-1 in Luxembourg.

Depay came on to score just before the hour mark and break the deadlock as the Netherlands were still being held 1-1 in a match they were expected to win comfortably.

The Man. United striker rose to head home a Daley Blind cross in the 58th minute to hand the momentum back to the Dutch after Luxembourg had fought back .

Depay then scored his second, bending a free kick over the wall in the 83rd minute to help the Netherlands move up to seven points in Group A, three behind France.

The Dutch had gone ahead on   36 minutes through Arjen Robben but Luxembourg equalised through a Maxime Chanot penalty.

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