England, France get the job done

It was a night that tabloid writers dream of ... the fates of England and France were said to be in the balance.

But the knife-carriers will have to wait. Fabio Capello and Laurent Blanc can breathe a little easier today as both their teams came through with victories on the second big night of qualifying for Euro 2012.

EURO 2012 QUALIFYING

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• England scrape to win against Wales
• Spain marches into Euro 2012 finals
• Torres' future with Spain in doubt
• Italy leaves it late against Slovenia
• France stays top despite draw with Romania
• Braves Ireland holds on for draw in Russia
• Wales fan dies in assault at Wembley
• Netherland defeats 10-man Finland

Wayne Rooney scored in 10 minutes to bury any chance of another England collapse and put his own long weekend in the rear-view mirror in Switzerland. The headlines about his life will today be about his action on the field.

The French ended months of their own misery with a dominant performance in Sarajevo. Blanc's rebuild began to show some signs of bearing fruit, with Karim Benzema the architect of a 2-0 triumph over Bosnia-Herzegovina that put les Bleus’ qualification campaign back on track.

There were some upsets, to be sure.

Slovakia went to Russia and showed that their World Cup qualification wasn't an oddity, with a 27th minute goal from Muroslav Stoch the difference in a 1-0 game.

Lithuania's 1-0 win in the Czech Republic also was against the odds, but the Czechs had missed South Africa, after all.

And then the biggie -- Norway's 1-0 home win over Portugal, thanks to a first-half goal from Erik Huseklepp. The result left Portugal with just one point from two starts in Group H and may well be seen as confirmation may have confirmed that a great decade of Portuguese play is over.

Rooney's goal got England started in Basel, with Adam Johnson and Darren Bent completing the job in an eventual 3-1 win. The Swiss had Stephan Lichsteiner sent off (two yellows) just two minutes before the Johnson goal made it 2-0 for the winners. Xherdan Shaqiri gave Switzerland hope when he scored two minutes later, but Bent sealed the verdict in the dying minutes.

Blanc's French side was on top from the very start in Bosnia, but it took 72 minutes before Benzema's goal finally broke the home side's resistance. Benzema had hit a post in the first half and was a constant danger on the right side for France, which may have found a strike force leader on the day that Nicolas Anelka couldn't resist getting into the news by announcing his retirement from international football. The French, of course, had already suspended Anelka for 18 games after his role in the South Africa fiasco.

Florent Malouda got the second French goal six minutes after Benzema danced clear of two defenders to score beautifully on the turn. At the other end, Hugo Lloris had little to do behind a tight France defense.

The World Cup third place finishers, Germany, got two goals from Miroslav Klose, another from his international doppelganger, Lukas Podolski, to cruise past Azerbaijan, 6-1.

In Group B, Ireland's 3-1 win over Andorra has them in a good spot, especially after the Russian home loss, while Italy did the expected in Group C, burying the Faroe Islands, 5-0 in Florence. It was the second-straight win for the Azzurri, who looked more like themselves after Alberto Gilardino got them in front after just 11 minutes.

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There were two more goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, giving him five for the weekend, as Holland edged Finland, 2-1 while Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice in Sweden's 6-0 rout of San Marino.

There was also a nervous home win for struggling Scotland, who grabbed a goal at the last possible second against tiny Liechtenstein. Stephen McManus headed home in the 97th minute for the Scots, who had actually trailed in the game thanks to a Mario Frick goal before Kenny Miller struck in the 63rd minute at Hampden Park.

Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the UEFA Champions League.