Euro 2016: Spain, England Swiss win big

Paris: Spain and Switzerland racked up 11 goals between them to qualify for Euro 2016 on Friday as England maintained their 100 per cent record. Champions in 2008 and 2012, Spain beat Luxembourg 4-0 in Group ‘C’ thanks to a brace each from Arsenal playmaker Santi Cazorla and Valencia striker Paco Alcacer.

 

The result saw Spain win the group outright after rivals Slovakia, who had been breathing down their necks, went down 0-1 at home to Belarus and dropped to third. 

Vicente del Bosque’s men are five points clear of Slovakia and Ukraine, who won 2-0 at Macedonia. Ukraine host Spain in their final qualifier in Kiev on Monday.

 

Cazorla opened the scoring five minutes before half-time as he swept home a rebound after Jonathan Joubert had made a smart save from Pedro Rodriguez. Alcacer slotted home a neat through ball from Cesc Fabregas on his 99th international appearance 23 minutes from time.

 

Jordi Alba’s cut-back was then tapped into an empty net by Alcacer for his sixth international goal in nine appearances. And Cazorla rounded off the scoring when he thundered in a shot from the edge of the box to seal Spain’s ticket to France.

 

The Swiss stormed to a 7-0 win over San Marino converting three spot-kicks on the way to join England as the two direct qualifiers from Group ‘E’. 

On Friday, seven different players got the goals to ensure they did not miss out this time.

 

Defender Michael Lang got the opener on 17 minutes with Gokhan Inler, Admir Mehmedi, Johan Djourou, Pajtim Kasami, Breel Embolo and Eren Derdiyok completing the rout after the break. Roy Hodgson’s England maintained their 100 percent record in the qualifiers with a ninth straight win, 2-0 over Estonia at Wembley.