England and reigning champions Spain both secured home victories in Euro 2016 qualifying on Saturday as some of the continent's minnows again enjoyed outstanding results. A turgid Group E encounter between England and Slovenia at Wembley came to life in the second half as Roy Hodgson's side fought back to win 3-1 and make it four wins from four games in Group E to remain firmly on track for a place at the finals in France.
Danny Welbeck of Arsenal then netted a brace to seal the victory. Spain will go into a friendly with World Cup winners Germany fresh from a routine 3-0 victory against Belarus in Group C, a result that saw the current European champions make it three wins from four qualifiers.
Meanwhile, after the Faroe Islands recorded a stunning 1-0 win in Greece on Friday. San Marino, ranked 208th and joint-last in the world by FIFA alongside Bhutan, ended a run of 61 consecutive defeats by holding Estonia to a 0-0 draw at home in Group E.
In contrast, Europe's largest nation Russia went down 1-0 in Austria in the same group to increase the pressure on coach Fabio Capello.
The only goal of the game in Vienna was scored by 1860 Munich's Pakistan-born striker Rubin Okotie in the 73rd minute, moments after officials had deemed that another effort by the same player had not crossed the line. Elsewhere, Ukraine claimed their third consecutive win in Group C as Andriy Yarmolenko scored a second-half hat-trick to secure a 3-0 victory in Luxembourg.
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