A spectacular goal from Michael Owen helped England to a rousing 3-0 win over Israel to put a much needed spring back into their step on the road to Euro 2008.
On a charged programme of qualifiers on Saturday, Germany kept up their relentless march to Switzerland and Austria with a 2-0 win over Wales in Cardiff, while over in Milan it was stalemate between old foes Italy and France.
That goalless draw left France atop of Group B with Scotland up into second ahead of world champions Italy after a fine 3-1 win over Lithuania at Hampden.
Owen’s 38th England goal was sandwiched between Shaun Wright-Phillips’s first-half opener and a Micah Richards header midway through the second period as Steve McClaren’s side strolled to their first win at the rebuilt Wembley.
It lifted England into third in Group E ahead of Wednesday’s visit by Russia, lying second after beating Macedonia 3-0.
McClaren voiced confidence that Steven Gerrard, who was taken off after an hour to ensure he did not aggravate his broken toe, would be ready to line up against Russia.
Emphatic win
Scotland’s emphatic win over Lithuania firmly kept alive their dreams of making next year’s finals. Backed by a capacity 52,000 Hampden crowd, Scotland opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Rangers striker Kris Boyd sent a diving header into the corner of the net.
Tomas Danilevicius converted a dubious spotkick after the hour mark to level but late goals from Stephen McManus and Everton’s James McFadden gave Scotland a vital win.
Scotland will face a France in Paris next week bereft of striker Thierry Henry, the Barcelona attacker suspended after picking up a yellow card in Milan.
In a hardfought encounter Italy’s Filippo Inzaghi lobbed on to the bar on the half hour and Nicolas Anelka of France only had keeper Gianluigi Buffon to beat following the break in the best chances of this tough-tackling match.
Italy coach Roberto Donadoni was far from unhappy with the result. “This was not a wasted opportunity,” Donadoni said. “France are top of the group but they didn’t really create any problems for us.”
Unbeaten
Unbeaten Germany tightened their grip on Group D, moving up to 22 points from eight games with a convincing 2-0 win over Wales in Cardiff, the goals coming from the boot of debut captain Miroslav Klose.
The Czech Republic are placed second, five points behind after brushing aside San Marino with the Republic of Ireland third after their 2-2 draw in Slovakia.
In Riga, Northern Ireland’s six-match undefeated run was ended when an own goal by stand-in captain Chris Baird handed Latvia a 1-0 win to end the home team’s seven match losing sequence.
That left Nigel Worthington’s men second in Group F ahead of Iceland, who drew 1-1 with Spain, next week. 
In Amsterdam, Real Madrid duo Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy were behind the Netherland’s 2-0 win over Bulgaria which lifted the Dutch up a place into second, three points behind Group G leaders Bulgaria with a game in hand.