Goals from Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel enabled the Dutch to maintain their 100% record in qualifying Group Nine - this was their sixth win out of six - before Kristjan Orn Sigurdsson headed a late consolation.

In the other Group Nine qualifier, Norway remain without a win as they were held to a goalless draw by FYR Macedonia in Skopje.

Two goals each from Gennady Bliznyuk and Sergey Kornilenko eased Belarus to a 5-1 win over Andorra - England's next opponents in Group Six.

The victory kept the home side's hopes of qualification alive as they lie third in the table behind England and second-placed Croatia. It was a sixth loss in as many qualifying games for Andorra.

Croatia and Ukraine cancelled each other out, sharing four goals.

Mladen Petric gave Croatia a second minute lead before former Chelsea striker Andrei Shevchenko (13) and Oleksiy Gai (54) turned things around - only for Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric to net a 68th-minute equaliser.

Slovakia shot to the top of Group Three - Northern Ireland's group - with a 7-0 rout of San Marino in Bratislava.

Marek Cech's brace came either side of Peter Pekarik's goal and Miroslav Stoch and Jan Kozak made it 5-0 before half-time, with Martin Jakubko and Lubos Hanzel adding further goals after the break.

Denmark maintained their unbeaten record in Group One with victory over Scandinavian rivals Sweden.

Thomas Kahlenberg scored the only goal in the first half after Kim Kallstrom had missed from the penalty spot for the Swedes.

The victory sees Morten Olsen's men open up a three-point gap over Hungary at the top of Group One, with Sweden now 10 points behind their neighbours.

Portugal needed a last minute goal from Eduardo Bruno Alves to seal a 2-1 win in Albania.

Miguel Hugo Almeida gave the visitors a 28th-minute lead but Erjon Bogdani levelled matters within a minute.

Finland kept alive their hopes of finishing second in Group Four with a 2-1 victory over Liechtenstein.

The home side were left red-faced when Mario Frick fired winless Liechtenstein in front after 13 minutes, but former Chelsea and Birmingham striker Mikael Forssell restored parity 12 minutes before the interval.

Hibernian's Jonatan Johansson then grabbed the winner after 71 minutes to move Finland five points behind second-placed Russia and with a game in hand over their rivals.

Liechtenstein remain at the foot of the table - Wales' group - with just a single point.

In Group Eight - the Republic of Ireland's group - Cyprus and Montenegro also cancelled each other out in a 2-2 draw.

The Cypriots had held a two-goal cushion at the interval following a strike from Konstantinos Makridis (14) and a Chrysostomos Mihail penalty (45).

But a second-half double from Dejan Damjanovic (65 and 79) earned Montenegro a share of the spoils, although they remain winless in the group.

Serbia stretched their lead at the top of Group Seven with a narrow win over Austria in Belgrade.

An early penalty from Nenad Milijas proved the difference between the sides as the Serbians opened up a five-point gap over France, who have a game in hand.

Cipriani Marica got the 39th-minute goal which gave struggling Romania an important victory over Lithuania.