Germany, Italy and the Netherlands took significant strides toward next year's World Cup Finals with comfortable qualifying wins on Saturday. Stuttering France earned a vital 1-0 victory in Lithuania to stay in touch in Group Seven, although they are struggling to keep pace with Serbia who produced the day's most impressive performance with a 3-2 win in Romania. While there were few problems for Europe's big guns, several smaller nations also kept their dreams of appearing in South Africa on track. Northern Ireland went top of Group Three with a 3-2 home defeat of Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina crushed Belgium 4-2 away in Group Five. Germany appears in total control of Group Four after thrashing Liechtenstein 4-0. Captain Michael Ballack and Marcell Jansen put the host two up inside 10 minutes and it cantered to victory with further goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski early in the second half. World champion Italy has a small cushion at the top of Group Eight after negotiating a potentially tricky trip to Montengero, goals from Andrea Pirlo and debutant Giampaolo Pazzini sealing a 2-0 win in Podgorica. Ireland's home draw with Bulgaria means the Italians hold a two-point lead in a group which looks like providing a comfortable journey into the finals. The Netherlands is running away with Group Nine after a 3-0 home defeat of its closet rival Scotland. Goals from Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie left the Dutch with an eight-point lead after just four games. France needed a second-half strike from Franck Ribery to earn the three points in Lithuania, a result that moved them into third place in Group Seven, five points behind leader Serbia. Serbia inflicted Romania's first defeat in the Black Sea resort of Constanta with goals from Milan Jovanovic and Branislav Ivanovic and an own goal from Dorel Stoica. World governing body FIFA could take action, however, after television images showed Serbian fans lighting flares and clashing with riot police in the stadium. There was also crowd trouble in Belfast before and during Northern Ireland's defeat of Poland at Windsor Park which put them top of Group Three. Fighting broke out in Belfast before kickoff and Swedish linesman Stefan Wittberg was hit on the head by an object thrown from the crowd. Beckham reaches milestone England brushed aside Slovakia 4-0 in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday, a victory notable mainly for David Beckham's 109th cap and a rare international goal for striker Emile Heskey. The 33-year-old Beckham, who replaced Aaron Lennon at halftime to move past the late Bobby Moore as England's most capped outfield player, marked his milestone with a deft cross for Wayne Rooney to head England's second 20 minutes from time.Frank Lampard slotted a third England goal in the 82nd minute and Rooney scored again to complete the rout and a satisfactory warm-up for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.
