Roundup: Italy, Germany, Dutch move closer to World Cup bids

Simone Pepe (center) and defending champ Italy are in the driver's seat for a trip to World Cup 2010 after beating Montenegro. AP

LONDON (AP) -- World Cup champion Italy moved into strong position to qualify for the 2010 tournament with a victory Saturday night, and fellow European powers Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands also picked up wins.

Andrea Pirlo converted a penalty kick in the 11th minute and Giampaolo Pazzini scored in his international debut to lead Italy to a 2-0 victory at Montenegro.

Germany routed visiting Liechtenstein 4-0, Spain beat visiting Turkey 1-0, France won 1-0 at Liuthuania, the Netherlands beat visiting Scotland 3-0. In an exhibition, England beat visiting Slovakia 4-0.

In South America, Argentina routed Venezuela 4-0 in Diego Maradona's first official match as coach, Uruguay defeated visiting Paraguay 2-0 and Colombia beat visiting Bolivia 2-0.

In North and Central America and the Caribbean, the United States rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 2-2 tie at El Salvador, Mexico defeated visiting Costa Rica 2-0, and Trinidad and Tobago scored late for a 1-1 tie against visiting Hunduras.

In Africa, Togo defeated visiting Cameroon 1-0.

Italy (4-0-1) leads Europe Group Eight with 13 points, two points ahead of Ireland (3-0-2), which was held to a 1-1 tie by visiting Bulgaria. The Azzurri host Ireland on Wednesday night in Bari.

"We received a gift penalty which we did not entirely deserve," Italy coach Marcello Lippi said. "We played much better in the second half, deserving the important victory."

Michael Ballack and Daniel Jansen scored in the first nine minutes for Germany, and Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski added second-half goals.

Germany (4-0-1) leads Group Four with 13 points, four ahead of second-place Russia (3-0-1), which defeated Azerbaijan 2-0 on goals by Roman Pavlyuchenko and Konstantin Zyryanov.

"This was a must-win, and we did our job," Germany coach Joachim Loew said. "We could have scored the odd goal here or there, but I am satisfied. We were really motivated to push forward early and then had a stretch in the first half where we didn't play very strong. But we knew they would be packed in defensively and hardly come out offensively."

European champion Spain extended its unbeaten streak to 30 games since November 2006 as Gerard Pique scored in the 61st minute following Sergio Ramos' mis-hit.

Spain (5-0) opened a six-point lead in Group Five over second-place Bosnia-Herzegovina, which beat Belgium 4-2, and extended its unbeaten streak to 30 games since November 2006. Turkey (2-1-2), which hasn't beaten Spain in 55 years, fell into third. Spain plays the Turks on Wednesday at Istanbul.

Franck Ribery scored for France from 21 yards off a pass from Yoann Gourcuff in the 67th minute.

France (2-1-1) is third in Group Seven with seven points, five behind first-place Serbia (4-1), which won 3-2 at Romania. Les Bleus are two back of second-place Lithuania (3-2).

"This France team is in the process of growing, of building itself," Bleus coach Raymond Domenech said. "The players had that desire. They know what a World Cup means. Everybody is fighting to play it. We will hang tough until the end."

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Robin van Persie and Dirk Kuyt scored to help the Netherlands take a major step toward qualifying.

Huntelaar headed in Mark van Bommel's cross from 6 yards in the 30th minute, and van Persie headed in Arjen Robben's corner kick in first-half stoppage time. Kuyt converted a penalty kick in the 77th after Christophe Berra fouled Huntelaar in the penalty area.

The Netherlands (4-0) leads Group Nine with 12 points, followed by Scotland and Iceland (1-2-1) with four each. The Dutch host Macedonia on Wednesday, and the Scots host Iceland.

"I didn't thought it was our best performance but we scored the goals, which is what is important," Netherlands captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst said. "We are not yet there."

Portugal tied 0-0 with Sweden. Denmark (3-0-1), which won 3-0 at Malta, and Hungary (3-1-1), a 1-0 winner at Albania, top Group One with 10 points each, followed by Portugal (1-1-3), Sweden (1-0-3) and Albania (1-2-3) with six each.

With Group Six off until Wednesday, David Beckham set up a goal after entering at the start of the second half, passing Bobby Moore for sole possession of second one on England's appearances list behind goalkeeper Peter Shilton (125).

Switzerland joined Greece at the top of Europe Group Two with a 2-0 win at Moldova. Greece conceded a 55th-minute equalizer by Omer Golan to tie 1-1 at Israel after Fanis Gekas had put the former European champions ahead in the 42nd. Israel captain Yossi Benayoun recovered from a hamstring injury to start for the home team, but pulled up in the 73rd minute and taken off on a stretcher, leaving him in doubt for Wednesday's game in Crete.

At Buenos Aires, Lionel Messi scored in the 25th minute off a give-and-go with Carlos Tevez, and Tevez scored off a pass from Messi in the 47th. Maxi Rodriguez (52nd) and Sergio Aguero (73rd), teammates on Atletico de Madid, added second-half goals.

"It was a perfect game," Maradona said. "Reality is always stranger than fiction."

Hired last Nov. 4 following a loss to Chile that led to Alfio Basile's resignation, Maradona is considered Argentina's greatest player. He coached the Albiceleste to exhibition victories over Scotland (1-0 on Nov. 19) and France (2-0 on Feb. 11).

Argentina (5-2-4) is second in South American qualifying with 19 points, four behind Paraguay (7-2-2), which lost 2-0 Saturday at Uruguay. Venezuela (3-7-1) is eighth with 10 points.

Argentina plays at Bolivia on Wednesday.

"Of course there have to be some adjustments, but with this result it's easier to make changes," Maradona said.

Togo opened the final round of African qualifying with a win, getting a 10th-minute goal by Emmanuel Adebayor.

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