Walcott dazzles as England stun Croatia, Finland hold Germany: World Cup qualifiers

LONDON, Sept 11: Teenager Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick as England beat Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb on Wednesday to avenge the two defeats that cost them a place at Euro 2008.

Miroslav Klose also hit a hat-trick for Germany but his goals only salvaged a 3-3 draw for a side who were just seven minutes from losing to Finland for the first time in 85 years.

Most of the other teams expected to reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa came through the second round of qualifiers in five days unscathed. World champions Italy beat Georgia 2-0 in Udine and World Cup runners-up France beat Serbia 2-1 in Paris.

European champions Spain maintained their perfect start in Group Five with a 4-0 win over Armenia in Albacete.

There was an amazing finale in Lisbon where Denmark beat Portugal 3-2 with four of the five goals in the match scored between the 83rd minute and the second minute of stoppage time.

Nani put Portugal ahead after 42 minutes, Nicklas Bendtner made it 1-1 after 83 minutes before Deco put Portugal ahead with an 86th minute penalty. Christian Poulsen equalised after 89 minutes before Daniel Jensen won it for the Danes in the second minute of stoppage time.

The one major shock was in Zurich where Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland lost 2-1 to Luxembourg, ranked 152nd in the world.

Bosnia scored the biggest win of the night, crushing Estonia 7-0, but the Czech Republic, ranked eighth in the world, failed to convince on a rainy night in Belfast and were held to a 0-0 draw by Northern Ireland.

The Netherlands, who went out of Euro 2008 at the quarter-final stage after a brilliant start to the competition, opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Macedonia in Skopje.

John Heitinga and Rafael van der Vaart got the goals.

The most impressive performance in the 25 European qualifiers came from England in Zagreb, the scene of a painful 2-0 defeat to Croatia nearly two years ago. Croatia also beat England 3-2 at Wembley in November to end their hopes of reaching the European championship in June.

Coach Fabio Capello saw his men dominate for most of the match as Walcott justified the Italian’s decision to start him on the right instead of David Beckham, who came on near the end to win his 105th England cap.

Walcott was outstanding and scored his first senior goals as England ended Croatia’s run of 35 unbeaten European and World Cup home qualifiers since they began playing competitive football in 1994.

Croatia’s miserable night was compounded when Robert Kovac was sent off for elbowing Joe Cole in the head early in the second half.

The win, following Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Andorra, put England top of Group Six, along with Ukraine, who maintained their perfect start with a 3-1 win in Kazakhstan.

Italy, who beat Cyprus 2-1 away on Saturday, scored a second successive win in Group Eight by beating Georgia 2-0 in Udine, Daniele De Rossi scoring twice.

France got their first points in Group Seven following Saturday’s shock 3-1 defeat by Austria, beating Serbia 2-1 in Paris with goals from Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka.

Despite their draw in Finland, Germany still top Group Four, a point ahead of Russia and Wales.

Russia opened their campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Wales in Moscow, though the Euro 2008 semi-finalists left it late with Pavel Pogrebnyak lashing home the winner nine minutes from time.

Greece, who won 2-0 in Latvia, have maximum points and top Group Two while Lithuania, 2-0 winners over Austria, also have a 100 per cent record and top Group Seven.Results (European qualifiers):

Group One:

Portugal 2 Denmark 3

Sweden 2 Hungary 1

Albania 3 Malta 0

Group Two:

Switzerland 1 Luxembourg 2

Latvia 0 Greece 2

Moldova 1 Israel 2

Group Three:

Slovenia 2 Slovakia 1

San Marino 0 Poland 2

Group Four: