While England left nothing to doubt, Spain is in a conundrum after it lost its first qualifier in eight years in European Championship qualifying on Thursday.
The toothless attack and shaky goalkeeping that plagued Spain at the World Cup returned in a 2-1 defeat at Slovakia in Group C, dealing the two-time defending champion its first defeat in a qualifier for the European Championship and World Cup since 2006.England had no such trouble against minnows San Marino, rolling to a 5-0 win in Group E. Phil Jagielka, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, and Andros Townsend scored for England and Alessandro Della Valle added an own goal.
GROUP C
Spain’s eight-year unbeaten run in qualifying matches ended in a stunning 2-1 defeat at Slovakia in qualifying for the European Championship on Thursday.Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas did not, however, shine. He let the opener by him in the 17th minute when he failed to punch out Juraj Kucka’s free kick.
Paco Alcacer leveled for Spain in the 82nd, but fellow substitute Miroslav Stoch headed a cross past Casillas in the 87th with Spain caught looking for the winner that instead fell to the hosts in Zilina.Spain was left level on three points with Macedonia and Ukraine after they both rebounded from losses in their first matches.
Striker Diego Costa has nine goals in as many games for his Chelsea club, but he again failed to find the net in his sixth appearance for Spain despite generating its best chances.After exiting the World Cup by losing its first two matches, Spain bounced back with a rejuvenated team to thrash Macedonia 5-1 in its first Euro 2016 qualifier.
But the same problems in Brazil returned at Slovakia: Casillas, once considered among the best in the world, again let a shot that was powerful but stoppable past him. Costa couldn’t mesh with Andres Iniesta and David Silva in the tight spaces Spain’s passing game causes, and its defense proved brittle when faced with counterattacks.
Despite fielding a starting 11 who all played at the World Cup, it fell to Alcacer to score his second goal in as many games to finally break through Slovakia’s defense when he timed his move to stay onside and reach Jordi Alba’s lobbed pass.Del Bosque sent Alcacer and Pedro Rodriguez on in the second half at the cost of pulling defenders Raul Albiol and Juanfran Torres.
The decision led to the equalizer but also left Spain undermanned when Stoch played a one-two with Marek Hamsik before beating Santi Cazorla to head home a cross for the winner that sent the home crowd into raptures.
Casillas was both at his best and his worst early in the match. He was caught wrong-footed but reacted in time to make a superb one-handed save of Robert Mak’s strike in the 11th.But moments after Costa header hit the bottom of the post, Casillas made an error in Slovakia’s opener that was rare to see before his poor displays in Brazil.Casillas misjudged the free kick Kucka struck hard but right at him, falling to one side and letting the strike glance off his fists and hit his net.
GROUP E
England routing San Marino 5-0 was no surprise, a 60th consecutive loss for world football's co-lowest-ranked side. But Switzerland sitting bottom with zero points after two games is surprising.Switzerland, which reached the World Cup round of 16 in Brazil, followed up last month's loss to England by going down 1-0 at Slovenia. Milivoje Novakovic scored an 80th-minute penalty after Switzerland defender Johan Djourou brought down Kevin Kampl.
At the top, England has a superior difference to lithuania, which beat Estonia 1-0 on Saulius Mikoliunas' late goal.
At Wembley, San Marino did prevent England from scoring until the 24th minute through Jagielka's header, but Rooney extended the hosts' lead before half time from the penalty spot. Welbeck and Townsend netted after the break before Della Valle scored an own goal from Rooney's cross.Switzerland's campaign went from bad to worse as the team which made the last-16 at the World Cup slumped to a 1-0 defeat in Slovenia.
Milivoje Novakovic grabbed the winner from the penalty spot in Maribor in the 79th minute after Johan Djourou had brought down Kevin Kampl.
GROUP G
Russia heads a trio of teams on four points after being held to 1-1 in Sweden. level on points with the Russians are Austria, which beat Moldova 2-1 away, and Montenegro, which failed to defeat tiny liechtenstein in a goalless draw.The Swedes languish in fourth with two points after the draw with Russia following up on an opening-day draw in Austria.
Sweden went behind after 10 minutes when Artyom Dzyuba set Alexander Kokorin free behind the Swedish defense, and the striker slotted the ball past Andreas Isaksson with a low shot from outside the box.Sweden missed a good chance to respond almost immediately when Sebastian larsson's penalty was saved by Igor Akinfeev. Toivonen brought Sweden level in the 49th, finishing from close range off a left-wing cross from Durmaz.