England registered a morale-boosting 3-0 victory over Israel in the Group E clash of the Euro 2008 qualifiers at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday. Shaun Wright-Philips opened the scoring after 20 minutes and Michael Owen doubled the lead five minutes after the interval with a brilliant goal. Manchester City's promising defender Micah Richards completed the rout with a 66th minute header. In Zagreb, leaders Croatia eased to a 2-0 victory over minnows Estonia thanks to a double from Arsenal forward Eduardo Dos Santos. In another match, Russia beat Macedonia 3-0 in Lokomotiv, Moscow, to maintain second position and remain unbeaten alongside leaders Croatia. The Russians had to thank their reserve goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev, who saved a crucial 70th minute penalty when the score was 1-0.
Eduardo scored twice for Croatia Vasili Berezutski broke the deadlock after eight minutes, but the home side's goalkeeper Vladimir Gubalov conceded a 69th minute penalty and was sent off for a foul inside the area. Macedonia's Igor Mitreski stepped up, but his effort was foiled by the Russian hero of the day Malafeyev, whose penalty save proved to be the game's turning point. Andrei Arshavin and Alexander Kerzhakov concluded the result with two late goals in the last six minutes. The two qualifying spots are up for grabs in the very tight Group E, as Croatia and Russia remain in charge with 20 and 18 points respectively, England leapfrogged Israel to take third place thanks to a better goal difference as both nations are tied at 17 points.
