LONDON — World champion Spain was held by lowly Finland but there were wins for England, Germany, France and Netherlands as Europe's top teams returned to the task of qualifying for next year's World Cup Finals Friday. The first of this month's two rounds of qualifiers — with another 20-plus matches scheduled for Tuesday — went according to plan for the big guns apart from Spain which lost top spot in Group I to France after Finland forced a 1-1 draw in Gijon. England scored its biggest victory for 26 years when it triumphed 8-0 in San Marino, Germany won 3-0 in Kazakhstan, France beat Georgia 3-1 in Paris and Netherlands scored three second-half goals to beat Estonia 3-0 in Amsterdam. The rapidly maturing Belgium team took another step toward next year's Finals in Brazil when it won 2-0 — albeit with a nervy performance in Macedonia — to stay top of Group A, level on points with Croatia which won a passionately intense derby against bitter Balkan rival Serbia 2-0 in Zagreb. There was also an important win for another former part of the old Yugoslavia with Bosnia beating Greece 3-1 in Zenica to move three points ahead of the Greeks at the top of Group G. Other teams with their eyes on Rio who stumbled included Portugal, which trailed 3-1 in Israel before recovering for a 3-3 draw and Sweden, which lost ground on Group C leader Germany when it was held to a 0-0 draw by Ireland in Stockholm. The biggest surprise, though, came in Gijon where Teemu Pukki scored 11 minutes from time to give Finland its second point in the group and help knock Spain off top spot. Pukki fired past Victor Valdes on a rare counter-attack after it had withstood waves of pressure from the host. Spain's Sergio Ramos, winning his 100th cap, broke the deadlock with a header from a corner just after halftime but Vicente del Bosque's side struggled to make its dominance count. The draw leaves world and European champion Spain under pressure to get a victory next Tuesday when it visits its closest rival France, which was too strong for Georgia in Paris. Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Valbuena and Franck Ribery scored for France which leads the group on 10 points, two more than Spain. England was the highest scorers on the night, showing San Marino no mercy in a demolition in Serravalle for its biggest win since a victory by the same score over Turkey in 1987. England faces a sterner test Tuesday against Group H pacesetter Montenegro, which still leads Roy Hodgson's side by two points after beating Moldova 1-0 away despite having Milorad Pekovic sent off just past the hour mark. In Zagreb, strikers Ivica Olic and Mario Mandzukic scored as Croatia beat Serbia to stay level with group leader Belgium. The match was played under tight security amid fears of crowd trouble but apart from sporadic abuse from home supporters toward Serbia's players, it was incident-free after both federations agreed not to take away fans to either fixture. The sides, meeting for the first time as independent countries after the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, meet each other again in Belgrade on Sept. 6. — Reuters
