Mark van Bommel scored the only goal after 64 minutes with a well-struck volley.

The result made it three wins from three for Bert van Marwijk's Oranje, which now holds a five-point cushion over nearest challenger Scotland.

Norway fell to the bottom of the standings with two points after Iceland enjoyed its first win in qualifying with a 1-0 victory over FYR Macedonia.

A 17th-minute strike from Veigar Pall Gunnarsson was enough for the hosts.

In group four, Finland shot itself in the foot against Russia as two own goals handed the host a 3-0 victory in Moscow.

Defender Petri Pasanen turned into his own net in the 23rd minute, Veli Lampi did the same shortly after the hour mark and one-time Tottenham target Andrei Arshavin added a third right at the death.

Russia is now second, four points behind leader Germany which beat Wales 1-0, and on the same as the Welsh in third.

Switzerland ended Greece's 100 percent record after a deserved 2-1 victory in a closely-contested group two encounter in Athens.

Alexander Frei's first-half penalty gave Ottmar Hitzfeld's men the lead before Angelos Charisteas levelled for Greece.

But Blaise Nkufo latched on to substitute Hakan Yakin's superb threaded pass to slot home 13 minutes from full-time to snatch three precious points for the Swiss.

Vladimirs Kolesnichenko struck a late leveller to secure a point for Latvia in a 1-1 draw against Israel which had taken the lead through Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun.

Elsewhere, Luxembourg was twice denied by the woodwork as it let slip a glorious chance to claim its second World Cup qualifying win, against Moldova, with the match ending goalless.

Spain maintained its remarkable unbeaten run, posting a come-from-behind 2-1 win against Belgium in Brussels.

Belgium's in-form striker Wesley Sonck hit his fifth goal in four qualifiers to hand the host the lead after seven minutes, but Spain hit back with a memorable effort from Andres Iniesta before David Villa bagged an 88th-minute winner.

The win keeps Spain clear at the top of Group Five with four successive wins, while it also stretches its unbeaten run to 27 matches.

Second-placed Turkey fell off the coat-tails of the leader as it was held to a frustrating goalless draw by second-bottom Estonia in Tallin.

The point leaves Turkey trailing Spain by four points after four games, one point and one place ahead of Belgium.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is next up on six points after it returned to winning ways with a comfortable 4-1 victory over pointless Armenia.

Serbia and Lithuania have a five-point cushion at the top of Group Seven after both sides picked up their third wins.

Serbia produced a devastating first-half spell to claim a 3-1 victory in Austria, while a Tomas Danilevicius goal gave Lithuania a rather more low-key 1-0 success at home to the Faroe Islands.

The duo now head the group on nine points, with Austria, France and Romania - the latter two having a game in hand - all on four.

Alberto Aquilani's first goals for his country saw Italy hold off a strong challenge from Montenegro with a 2-1 win that maintained its position as Group Eight leader.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi opted for Aquilani instead of Riccardo Montolivo in the centre of the field and his decision paid off as the Roma midfielder fired the Azzurri into the lead in the eighth minute.

His Roma team-mate Mirko Vucinic equalised 10 minutes later but Aquilani grabbed his second shortly before the half-hour mark to ensure a win that keeps the Italians three points clear of the Republic of Ireland, which has a game in hand.

Giovanni Trapattoni's side kept in touch with the Italians after striker Robbie Keane scored the only goal of the game against Cyprus in Dublin.

The Liverpool hitman headed home the 35th goal of his senior international career after five minutes to extend Trapattoni's unbeaten run to six games and put his side firmly in the race for top spot.

Georgia and Bulgaria are still winless after playing out a goalless draw which leaves both teams struggling to qualify for the finals in South Africa.

Stanislav Sestak struck twice in as many minutes late into Slovakia's game with Poland to clinch an unlikely victory and fire his team to the top of Group Three.

Sole leadership of the group beckoned for the winner of this match, after Slovenia lost 1-0 to Czech Republic earlier in the night, and it looked as though the Poles would secure that advantage after Ebi Smolarek finally broke the deadlock of a chance-riddled game with 20 minutes left.

But, with five minutes remaining, the match turned on its head as Sestak first profited on a defensive mix-up from a corner to equalise before scoring the winner a minute later.

Veteran midfielder Libor Sionko scored the only goal of the game to get Czech Republic's qualification campaign on track against Slovenia.

Petr Rada's side was without a win going into its third game and any trepidation it felt in the lead up was not helped by the morning's news that first-choice goalkeeper Petr Cech had been ruled out with the thigh injury he sustained in the 2-1 defeat to Poland at the weekend.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland posted its biggest win in 13 years to thrash minnow San Marino 4-0.

David Healy scored the opener after half an hour and Grant McCann doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time, before Kyle Lafferty (56) and Steven Davis (75) sealed an emphatic win in the second half.