England struggle, tempers flare in Italy

| Thursday October 14, 2010 00:00

England, for their part, continue to blow hot and cold after a disappointing Group G goalless draw at Wembley with Montenegro, who thus still top the group with ten points from four games to seven from three for Fabio Capello's men. World champions Spain briefly threw away a two-goal lead at Hampden Park before Fernando Llorente conjured a close-range winner barely three minutes after coming on in place of David Silva. The 3-2 win ensured that the world and European champions maintained their run of winning all their qualifiers going back to a 2007 draw with Iceland - 17 matches ago. David Villa was earlier on target from the spot with his 44th Spanish goal to go level with record marksman Raul while Andres Iniesta also netted with Steven Naismith and a Gerard Pique own goal giving Scotland fans something to cheer after a poor loss away to the Czechs last Friday.

Germany, the team Spain beat in the World Cup semifinal as well as the final of Euro 2008, ran out far clearer winners in their Group A encounter away to Kazakhstan.

Miroslav Klose, Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski all scored in a 3-0 win to make it a maximum 12 points - five ahead of Austria, who drew a topsy-turvy game 4-4 in Belgium.

German coach Joachim Loew was delighted to negotiate a long trip into the unknown.'We made quite a few errors but that was a problem of adaptation to the pitch with its artificial grass,' said Loew. 'We have 12 points and we are in a good place. I cannot ask for more.' England's match aside, there was no shortage of goals in most of the evening's encounters - but events in Genoa, Italy, cast a shadow as hooliganism reared its ugly head, Serbian supporters throwing flares onto the pitch to force the postponement of their match with the Azzurri.

Following an initial half-hour delay, Scottish referee Craig Thomson stopped the encounter after just six minutes when a flare appeared to hit Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano. After police struggled to maintain order at the Marassi stadium, officials finally called off the match following protracted meetings between Uefa, the Italy and Serbia Football Associations and referee from Scotland.

There had been problems before the game in the centre of town while Serbia's first choice goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic had been attacked by his own fans.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli told reporters: 'We're not playing, I've never seen anything like this before. 'It seemed organised, listening to the Serbian players it turns out their team coach was attacked.

'Before the game the Serbian goalkeeper (Stojkovic) was in our dressing room and wasn't just afraid to play he was also afraid for his return home, he didn't understand anything. Stojkovic was taken to hospital for tests following the attack in which a flare was thrown onto the team bus with him in it but was not said to be badly hurt.

He used to play for Red Star Belgrade but now plays for Patizan Belgarde, angering hardcore Red Star fans. Elsewhere, Russia top Group B following a 1-0 win in Macedonia after a Robbie Keane missed penalty saw the Republic of Ireland blew a chance to stay in pole position on the way to a 1-1 draw in Slovakia.

The Irish had taken the lead through Sean St Ledger before Slovakia equalised through Jan Durica. Russia lead the Irish and Slovaks by two points. (SAPA-AFP)