Isco double sweeps away Italy
Madrid, Sept. 3: Spain took a giant step towards qualifying for next year’s World Cup as Isco’s double and Alvaro Morata’s late strike swept aside Italy 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Isco was the star performer in a brilliant team display from the hosts as his early free-kick and long-range effort before half-time put Spain in control before Morata came off the bench to rub salt in Italian wounds.
“Isco was magnificent, like the rest of his teammates,” said Spain coach Julen Lopetegui.
“He opened the game up for us with his two goals.”
Italy’s first defeat in a qualifier since 2006 means Spain now lead Group G of European qualifying by three points with just three games remaining and can also count on a far superior goal difference.
The Azzurri are now likely to face a tricky twolegged playoff in November to book their place in Russia.
“We’ve seen a match in which there was a huge difference in the quality and physique of the sides,” admitted Italy boss Giampiero Ventura.
“Our objective is to work hard to get to the World Cup and be competitive at the World Cup.”
Lopetegui opted to start without a recognised striker as Real Madrid’s Marco
Asensio made his first competitive international start as one of six midfielders.
Asensio has made a habit of scoring on his debuts for Real and was heavily involved in the opener, although it was his club team-mate Isco who provided the killer touch on 14 minutes.
Leonardo Bonucci was lucky only to see a yellow card for chopping down Asensio on the edge of the area.
Isco scooped the resulting freekick over the Italian wall and beyond legendary keeper Gianluigi Buffon, who was slow to react.
In stark contrast to when Isco Italy dumped Spain out of Euro 2016 little over a year ago with a comprehensive 2-0 last-16 win, the visitors were thoroughly outplayed in the first 45 minutes. However, the Azzurri had one glaring opportunity when Andrea Belotti’s powerful header produced an excellent reaction save from David de Gea. “It was incredible to watch Isco up close, he is an incredible player” added Ventura. A packed Bernabeu was given more to cheer in the final seconds as Spain’s all-time leading scorer David Villa’s three-year exile from international football came to an end when the New York City
striker replaced Isco to a standing ovation.
Woodburn spurs
Wales’ bid
Cardiff: Teenager Ben Woodburn enjoyed a dream international debut as he fired Wales to a 1-0 victory over Austria in Cardiff on Saturday to bolster their chances of reaching next year’s World Cup.
The 17-year-old Liverpool striker drilled home the winner just four minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute to keep Wales unbeaten in qualifying and four points adrift of Group D leaders Serbia.
Chris Coleman’s side also cut the gap to secondplaced Republic of Ireland, held 1-1 in Georgia, to two points with three matches to play as they attempt to reach the World Cup finals for the first time since 1958.
“The ball just came out of the air and I just tried to shoot it as quickly as I could,” Woodburn told Sky Sports, after becoming Wales’ second youngest goalscorer in history at 17 years and 322 days, behind only Gareth Bale.
“It’s a great feeling, I couldn’t ask for much more from the fans. I won’t sleep tonight.”
Earlier, Ireland were frustrated in Tbilisi as Valeri Kazaishvili cancelled out Shane Duffy’s fourth-minute goal for the visitors.
Serbia held onto top spot in the group thanks to a 30 home win over Moldova, with Mijat Gacinovic, Aleksandar Kolarov and Aleksandar Mitrovic getting the goals.
Martin O’Neill’s Ireland dropped two points behind Serbia, who they host in Dublin on Tuesday, while Austria’s prospects now appear all but doomed ahead of the visit of Georgia. Results: Group D: At Tbilisi: Georgia 1 (Kazaishvili 34) Republic of Ireland 1 (Duffy 4); At Belgrade: Serbia 3 (Gacinovic 20, Kolarov 30, Mitrovic 81) Moldova 0; At Cardiff: Wales 1 (Woodburn 74) Austria 0 Group G: At Elbasan, Albania: Albania 2 (Roshi 54, Agolli 78) Liechtenstein 0; At Madrid: Spain 3 (Isco 14, 40, Morata 77) Italy 0; At Haifa, Israel: Israel 0 Macedonia 1 (Pandev 73); Group I: At Tampere, Finland: Finland 1 (Ring 8) Iceland 0; At Zagreb: Croatia v Kosovo - abandoned due to waterlogged pitch At Kharkiv, Ukraine: Ukraine 2 (Yarmolenko 18, 42) Turkey 0.