Spain punches World Cup ticket, Serbia made to wait

PARIS: Heavyweights Spain qualified for the 2018 World Cup with a routine 3-0 home win over Albania, but Serbia must wait to seal to their place following a 3-2 loss in Austria.

Rodrigo, Isco and Thiago Alcantara all scored inside the first 30 minutes in Alicante as the 2010 world champions locked up top spot in Group G as Italy were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Macedonia in Turin.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique was greeted with a mixture of jeers and applause on his 92nd international appearance just days after voting in a referendum on Catalan independence deemed illegal by the Spanish government and blighted by police violence.

“We had to concentrate solely on football,” coach Julen Lopetegui told Spanish TV station Teledeporte.

“It has been a difficult, complicated week and fortunately we managed to do that in a very, very good first 30 minutes.”

Four-time World Cup winners Italy are destined for the November play-offs after Macedonian substitute Aleksandar Trajkovski’s 77th-minute equalizer canceled out a first-half goal by veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini.

“There’s still one match left and then we’ll think about the play-offs. We hope to get some players back,” said Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura, whose squad has been depleted by a raft of injuries.

Serbia missed out on a chance to wrap up qualification from Group D with a match to spare as Louis Schaub struck a minute from time to give Austria victory in Vienna.

Serbia, who could have sealed a spot in Russia with victory, led through an early Luka Milivojevic goal but fell behind as Austria replied through efforts from Guido Burgstaller and Marko Arnautovic.

Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic had levelled on 83 minutes before