DHAKA: Germany, Belgium and Switzerland became the latest teams to book their passage to the World Cup finals in Brazil next year while England look set to join them after debutant Andros Townsend inspired a 4-1 win over Montenegro at Wembley Friday.
Germany have long since been in command of Group C and a 3-0 scoreline against the Republic of Ireland made it a mathematical certainty, while the Belgium were impressive 2-1 winners over Croatia in Zagreb to head Group A.
The Swiss have clinched Group E after a 2-1 away victory over Albania with Bayern Munich`s Zherdan Shaqiri and Michael Lang scoring in either half before a late home consolation for Hamdi Salihi from the penalty spot.
England must still win their final home match against Poland to win Group H but the three points against Montenegro was vital after Andriy Yarmolenko had given Ukraine a 1-0 home win over the Poles to briefly top the section.
With Ukraine playing San Marino in the last match it meant three points were vital for England and Tottenham`s Townsend proved the key, charging down the right wing to help set up Wayne Rooney for the opener just after half time.
An clumsy own goal from Branko Boskovic put England 2-0 ahead until Dejan Damjanovic pulled one back from Montenegro to set nerves jangling in the famous stadium.
Townsend eased them with a run and resounding shot to which made it 3-1. Daniel Sturridge then won and converted a late penalty to round off an excellent night for Roy Hodgson and his men.
"Perhaps the most important goal was Andros`s goal, because that restored our two-goal margin," Hodgson told ITV Sport.
Germany will be among the favorites to lift their fourth World Cup crown next year and Real Madrid`s Sami Khedira gave them an early lead against the Irish.
Chelsea`s Andre Schuerrle and Arsenal`s new signing Mesut Ozil grabbed further goals in the second half for a comfortable victory in Cologne.
Belgian have established a reputation as one of the leading side`s in Europe and showed their quality again in an impressive 2-1 win over Croatia in Zagreb.
Striker Romelu Lukaku, on loan at Everton from Chelsea, scored two first half goals in the 16th and 38th minutes to put the Belgians in control.
Croatia substitute Niko Kranjcar pulled one back with six minutes left but they could not grab the equalizer.
2018 hosts Russia only need a draw against Azerbaijan in Baku next Tuesday to clinch Group F.
A 4-0 victory in Luxembourg Friday kept Fabio Capello`s team ahead of nearest rivals Portugal, who were held to a disappointing 1-1 home draw by Israel in a later match.
Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Alexander Samedov scored the crucial opener with Viktor Faizukin, Denis Glushakov and Alexander Kerzhakov also on target.
The Netherlands have already qualified but showed no signs of easing off with an 8-1 rout of Hungary, who are bidding for a place in the European playoffs.
Manchester United`s Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick for the Dutch who have dominated Group D from the start.
Group G will be decided in the final round of matches as leaders Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Liechtenstein 4-1 and Greece stayed level on points with a 1-0 win over Slovakia.
Greece host Liechtenstein, while Bosnia face a trickier test in Lithuania, but have a vastly superior goal difference.
World and European champions Spain are also on the brink of qualification after a 2-1 win over Belarus in a Group I match that was under threat after a generator blew up in the car park of the stadium in Mallorca Thursday.
Barcelona`s Xavi and Alvaro Negredo of Manchester City put Spain ahead with second half goals before Sergei Kornilenko`s late strike for the visitors.
The nine group winners all qualify for the 2014 finals while the eight best runners-up will play off for the remaining four spots.
Meanwhile, world governing body FIFA has said over six million applications have been made for next year`s finals in Brazil.
The requests came from 203 countries and FIFA will allocate the tickets from a random draw. Over 70% of the applications came from Brazil, with over 700,000 bids for tickets for their opening match as hosts.
Source: CNN
BDST: 0848 HRS, OCT 12, 2013
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