LONDON – Spain stretched its winning run in tournament qualifiers to 23 as it began the journey to the 2014 World Cup with a 1-0 victory in Georgia Tuesday but along with Germany and Italy it struggled to take the points. The world and European champion, which last failed to win a qualifying match five years ago in Iceland, needed an 86th minute Roberto Soldado strike to kick-start its Group I campaign in Tbilisi. Germany, which won all 10 of its qualification matches for Euro 2012, made it two from two in Group C but had to battle all the way for a 2-1 victory against neighbor Austria in Vienna. Italy, beaten by Spain in the European Championship final, was unimpressive in a 2-0 win at home to lowly-ranked Malta. England had to settle for a point against Ukraine in Group H, Frank Lampard's late penalty salvaging a 1-1 draw at Wembley that put Roy Hodgson's side level on four points with Poland and Montenegro. England had skipper Steven Gerrard sent off for a second booking late in the game. France, which will battle for top spot in Group I with Spain, beat Belarus 3-1 in Paris to claim six points from two games. While some fancied sides labored, the best performances on a busy night came from Russia, which won 4-0 in Israel to top Group F, the Netherlands, 4-1 winner in Hungary in Group D, and Serbia which beat Wales 6-1 in their Group A clash in Novi Sad. Bosnia leads the scoring charts though after crushing Latvia 4-1 having put eight past Liechtenstein Friday. Greece joined Bosnia on six points in Group G after beating Lithuania 2-0. Spain encountered an ultra-defensive Georgia side and was enduring a night of frustration until Soldado, given a rare start in place of the likes of Fernando Torres and David Villa, converted a cross from substitute Cesc Fabregas. Germany survived a torrid first half against Austria before Marco Reus and Mesut Ozil scored either side of halftime to give them a 2-1 win and an eighth successive victory over its neighbor which has not qualified for the World Cup since 1998. Zlatko Junuzovic pulled one back for Austria and Marko Arnautovic missed a great chance for the hosts late on. An early goal from Mattia Destro and a late own goal from Malta's Andrew Cohen earned Italy its first win of the qualifying campaign after Friday's draw with Bulgaria. Italy and Bulgaria have four points each after the latter beat Armenia 1-0 in a game that saw three red cards. A fracas resulted in Bulgaria's Svetoslav Dyakov being shown a second yellow card while Armenia substitute Marcos Pinheiro was also sent off and was later joined by Gevorg Gazaryan who got a red card for shoving a ball boy. England's Gerrard was also in trouble, although there was relief for his side after it had fallen behind to a stunning first-half strike by Echan Konoplianka. Lampard kept his cool to equalize from the spot after Evhen Khacheridi had handled for his third goal of the campaign. Portugal made it two wins from two in Group F with a 3-0 victory over Azerbaijan while Switzerland is the early pacesetters in Group E thanks to a 2-0 victory over Albania. Belgium, which is strongly fancied to qualify for the finals in Brazil, came back from a goal down at home to Croatia in Group A to earn a 1-1 draw. — Reuters
