Sunday 6th September 2009
Spain march on in La Coruna
Spain continued their seemingly unstoppable march towards next year's World Cup finals after thrashing Belgium 5-0 in La Coruna.
Although Spain are still not yet assured of a place in South Africa after second-placed Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Armenia 2-0 earlier in the evening, it seems only a matter of time before the European champions seal their spot as they are six points clear with three games to go.
Valencia duo David Villa and David Silva both netted braces in the win, while Gerard Pique added the other. Villa also missed a first-half penalty when the game was goaless.
Striker Tuncay Sanli struck a double as Turkey kept alive their slim hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup finals with a convincing 4-2 win against Estonia in Istanbul.
Back-to-back defeats against Spain in their previous two outings had rendered this match a must-win affair and things started badly when they fell behind to a Vladimir Voskoboinikov strike after seven minutes.
Tuncay got his first on the half-hour mark before Sercan Yildirim added a second with 36 minutes played. Estonia drew level through Konstantin Vassiljev just after half-time, but goals from Arda Turan and Tuncay's second secured three vital points.
Bosnia-Herzegovina kept up their challenge with their victory over Armenia in Yerevan.
A goal in each half from Senijad Ibricic and Zlatan Muslimovic secured the points for the visitors who consolidated their position in second place.
There could have been more goals as Edin Dzeko missed a penalty for the the visitors in the first half and Artavazd Karamyan struck the woodwork for Armenia in the second.
Match Reports
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