Spain sink France, England draw

Rearguard action ... the Spanish defence somehow keep the French at bay. Source: FRANCK FIFE / AAP

World Cup holders Spain are back in control of European qualifying Group I after a 1-0 win against France in Paris, as Pedro Rodriguez scored the only goal of the game in the second half.

Pedro's scrambled effort just before the hour mark was Spain's reward for dominating possession and playing with assuredness despite coming into the game trailing France by two points at the top of the group.

Group H

Montenegro 1 (Damjanovic 75) England 1 (Rooney 6)

Poland 5 (R Lewandowski 21 pen, 50, Piszczek 28, Teodorczyk 61, Kosecki 90+2) San Marino 0

Ukraine 2 (Yarmolenko 61, Hacherydy 71) Moldova 1 (Suvorov 80) Send-offs: (Stepanenko 92 - Ukraine)

Group I

 France 0 Spain 1 (Pedro 58) Send-offs: (Pogba 78 - France)

Group F

Northern Ireland 0 Israel 2 (Refaelov 78, Ben Basat 84)

Azerbaijan 0 Portugal 2 (Bruno Alves 63, Almeida 79) Send-offs: (Aliyev 55 - Azerbaijan)

Group A

Wales 1 (Bale 21 pen) Croatia 2 (Lovren 77, Eduardo 87)

Belgium 1 (Hazard 62) FYR Macedonia 0

Serbia 2 (Djuricic 60, 65) Scotland 0

Group B

Malta 0 Italy 2 (Balotelli 8 pen, 45)

Denmark 1 (Agger 63 pen) Bulgaria 1 (Manolev 51)

Armenia 0 Czech Republic 3 (Vydra 47, 81, Kolar 90+4)

Group C

Germany 4 (Reus 23, 90, Gotze 27, Gundogan 32) Kazakhstan 1 (Schmidtgal 46)

Republic of Ireland 2 (Walters 25 pen, 45+1) Austria 2 (Harnik 11, Alaba 90+2)

Group D

Netherlands 4 (van der Vaart 12, van Persie 56, 65pen, Lens 90) Romania 0

Turkey 1 (Yilmaz 62) Hungary 1 (Bode 71)

Estonia 2 (Anier 45+1, Lindpere 61) Andorra 0

The home team were always a threat going forward but could not find a way past Victor Valdes in the Spain goal and finished the game with 10 men after young midfielder Paul Pogba was sent off late on.

With just three matches left to play in Group I, Spain now lead France by a point, with only one team qualifying automatically for the finals in Brazil.

Meanwhile, England produced a highly inconsistent performance against Montenegro as they had to settle for a 1-1 draw in Podgorica.

Wayne Rooney gave England a dream start, banishing the ghosts of his red card from his last visit as he headed home Steven Gerrard's corner with just six minutes on the clock and Roy Hodgson's side dominated the opening 45 minutes.

But the second half was a completely different affair, with the hosts in the ascendency and they grabbed a fully deserved leveller in the 77th minute when half-time substitute Dejan Damjanovic forced home at the third attempt.

In other matches in Europe, Portugal and Czech Republic scored important away wins while Hungary kept their hopes of making it to Brazil 2014 with a draw away to Turkey.

Portugal won 2-0 in Azerbaijan, despite star striker Cristiano Ronaldo being suspended.

Azerbaijan had striker Rauf Aliyev sent off 10 minutes into the second half and seven minutes later defender Bruno Alves broke the deadlock for Portugal by heading in a centre from Joao Moutinho.

Hugo Almeida sealed Portugal's win by making it 2-0 to the visitors 11 minutes from time, heading in a clever centre from left-back Fabio Coentrao.

The victory left Portugal joint second of Group F with Israel, both on eight points, four points behind leaders Russia.

In Group B, the Czech Republic won 3-0 in Armenia, thanks to a brace from youngster Matej Vydra plus a third goal from substitute Daniel Kolar.

Denmark could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Bulgaria, who took the lead through Stanislas Manolev seven minutes into the second half.

Defender Daniel Agger levelled for the Danes with a penalty but Bulgaria managed to hold out for what might be an important draw.

Hungary, who have not qualified for the World Cup finals since 1986, sit second in Group D four points behind the Netherlands after playing out a 1-1 draw with Turkey in Istanbul.

In-form Galatasaray striker Burak Yilmaz put the home side ahead in the 63rd minute, heading home from close range, but Daniel Bode scored eight minutes later to secure a point.

The disappointing draw left Turkey in fourth place with just seven points. In the other group match, Estonia beat Andorra 2-0 thanks to goals from Henri Anier and Joal Lindpere. Estonia are now joint fourth with Turkey, while Andorra are rock bottom with zero points.

Meanwhile, Ukraine beat Moldova 2-1 on goals from Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Khacheridi, to go third in Group H.

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