Wayne
Rooney celebrated his 100th cap for England by scoring the equalizer in a 3-1
victory over Slovenia in an Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley Saturday.
A
lackluster England was trailing to a Jordan Henderson own goal just before the
hour mark when skipper Rooney changed the course of the match.
The
Manchester United striker almost immediately won a penalty after being tripped
and converted from the spot to draw his team level.
It was
his 44th goal for England, drawing him level with the great Jimmy Greaves, but
more importantly sparked his spluttering team into action.
Strike partner Danny Welbeck put
the home side ahead with as scrappy goal as his
scuffed shot beat visiting keeper Samir Handanovic. Continue...
But the
third was a well worked move, the Arsenal man exchanging passes with Raheem
Sterling before converting neatly.
Four wins
from four in Group E puts England well on the way to qualification for the
finals in France in two years time.
Read: Greece falls to Faroe Islands
In the
same group, one of the themes of the weekend continued with minnows San
Marino, ranked 208th and joint-last in the FIFA rankings,
holding Estonia to a 0-0 draw at home.
The
unlikely point came a day after the Faroe Islands stunned former European
champion Greece 1-0 in Athens.
Liechtenstein,
population 40,000, was also in fine form, upsetting Moldova 1-0 in Group G.
Its
captain Franz Burgmeier scored the goal, for a first competitive win since June
2011.
But there
was no such luck for 2018 World Cup hosts Russia, beaten 1-0 in Austria in the same group, a result which
leaves coach Fabio Capello's future under the spotlight.
Rubin
Okotie scored the decisive goal in the 73rd minute as Austria opened up a
five-point lead at the top of the group standings.
Reigning
European champion Spain was boosted by a superb opening goal
from Real Madrid's emerging star Isco in a 3-0 win over Belarus in Group C.
Read: Rooney signs new Man Utd deal
Making is
first start for Spain, Isco picked up the ball just outside the penalty area
and curled a fine shot into the corner of the net.
Barcelona
pair Sergio Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez were also on target in a comfortable
win which is Spain's third win from four matches.
It is
tied with Ukraine on nine points, three adrift of table topping Slovakia, who
won 2-0 in Macedonia Saturday.
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