Hamburg - England, Spain and the Netherlands all maintained their perfect records in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with away wins, while Russia got their campaign back on track with a victory against Finland. Steven Gerrard gave Fabio Capello's side an early lead against Belarus in Minsk, and although Pavel Sitko levelled for the home side, a second-half brace from Wayne Rooney sealed a deserved 3-1 win.
The victory moves England on to 12 points from four matches in Group 6, the first time they have ever won their opening four games of a World Cup campaign, five clear of Ukraine and Croatia, who thumped Andorra 4-0.
The Dutch made it three wins out of three in Group 9 with a 1-0 win over Norway in Oslo, Mark van Bommel scoring the winner after 62 minutes. Iceland beat Macedonia by the same scoreline in Reykjavik through an effort from Veigar Gunnarsson to move joint second in the group alongside Scotland with four points.
Two own goals helped Russia to a 3-0 victory over Finland in Group 4. Petri Pasanen and Veli Lampi were the unfortunate players to put into their own net for Finland while Andrei Arshavin scored the third for Guus Hiddink's Russia side late on.
Russia now sit joint second in the group, level with Wales and four points behind Germany who struggled to a 1-0 victory over the Welsh until Piotr Trochowski finally broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute with a well-taken shot from just outside the area for his first international goal.
Slovakia moved top of Group 3 after coming from behind to beat Poland 2-1 while the Czech Republic got their first win of the campaign with Libor Sionko netting a second-half goal to ensure a 1-0 win at home to Slovenia. Northern Ireland beat San Marino 4-0 in the other group game.
In Group 2, Israel played out a 1-1 draw away to Latvia, who salvaged a point thanks to Vladimirs Kolesnichenko's late equalizer, while group leaders Greece were stunned 2-1 at home to Switzerland and Luxembourg and Moldova played out a scoreless draw.
A brace from Alberto Aquilani helped Italy beat Montenegro 2-1 in Lecce. The world champions now have 10 points from four games and lead Group 8 ahead of Ireland, who trail on seven points after beating Cyprus 1-0 in their third game thanks to an early close-range header from Robbie Keane.
Bulgaria registered a third draw in succession after the other game in the group against Georgia finished scoreless.
Serbia sit joint top of Group 7 with nine points after beating Austria 3-1, level with Lithuania, who struggled to a 1-0 victory against the Faroe Islands.
In Group 5, David Villa kept Spain on course for qualification by heading in the late winner in the 2-1 win away to dogged Belgium.
The European champions had to dig deep to win in rainy Brussels, because Belgium took an early lead - then battled manfully until the bitter end.
The late win leaves Spain top of the group with 12 points from four games, four points ahead of Turkey - who were held to a 0-0 draw away to Estonia - and five ahead of luckless Belgium. Bosnia- Herzegovina enjoyed a resounding 4-1 win over Armenia.
