England, Germany, France and the Netherlands all started the long road to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil with victories but Italy stumbled out of the blocks when the European qualifying campaign began on Friday.

Grandmasters P Harikrihsna and Abhijeet Gupta played in copy book style to give Indian men their third victory in a row in the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.

World champions Spain and Italy completed the formalities of qualification for Euro 2012 on Tuesday, Netherlands are as good as through and England are in a commanding position to secure a place in next year's finals.

Germany all but secured a place at the Euro 2012 finals with a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan while Zlatan Ibrahimovic got a hat-trick as Sweden demolished Finland 5-0 to provide an unexpected spark to the end of the European season.

Germany broke Austrian hearts with a last-gasp win in Vienna on Friday, extending their perfect start to Euro 2012 qualifying on a night of far more serene progress for Italy and frustration for France.

For so long seen as the bad boy of Italian soccer, Antonio Cassano came of age in Italy's opening Euro 2012 qualifying win over Estonia and he will again be their focal point for Tuesday's game with the Faroe Islands.

France's completely new team lost 2-1 to Norway in a friendly on Wednesday with the ghosts of World Cup controversy and failure also hanging over England despite Steven Gerrard's brace in a 2-1 win over Hungary.

Soon, the greatest global show will be over. Life will not be the same, probably a bit boring with no octopus, no blundering referees, no Paraguayan starlet or horrible cacophony (though by the end of the competition we will be missing it!).

Spain, who won Euro 2008 with a series of superb performances culminating in their victory over Germany in the final, are ranked number one in the world and were grouped with Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania and Liechtenstein.

World champions Italy and Euro 2008 winners Spain took determined steps towards World Cup qualification with victories on Saturday but France and Portugal are struggling after being held to disappointing draws. Nobody was in a position to join already-qualified Netherlands in securing a place at the finals in South Africa next year but Spain can make a provisional booking after seven wins out of seven following a 5-0 home thrashing of Belgium.

France take on Romania in a World Cup qualifier on Saturday in precious need of both points and the love of their fans, something that has been sadly lacking since the side flopped at Euro 2008.

France squeezed a 1-0 victory out of an unconvincing performance in Wednesday's World Cup qualifier in the Faroe Islands while Germany laboured to a 2-0 win in Azerbaijan. Germany lead the group with 19 points from seven games, four more than second-placed Russia who have played six matches.

International Master Tania Sachdev guided India to a creditable draw against top seed Russia while her male compatriots thumped El Salvador to remain in joint lead after the third round of the 32nd Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. The Indian men's resounding 3.5-0.5 win against El Salvador in the open section kept them in joint lead on six match points along with Russia, Armenia, Germany '1', Spain, Ukraine, Norway, England and Romania.

Spain, Germany and England all chalked up victories in their qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup on Saturday.

Striker Mirolsav Klose scored a hat-trick as Germany were held to a surprising 3-3 draw by Finland in their Group Four World Cup qualifier in Helsinki on Wednesday. Finland led three times, but Klose replied each time to deny the Finns, who have never reached the World Cup finals, a first win over Germany for 85 years. Klose's final goal came just seven minutes from time.

With Michael Ballack back fit and in the form of his life, Germany look stronger favourites than ever to win Group B at Euro 2008, with Croatia, Poland and co-hosts Austria likely to be scrapping for second place. Ballack had an outstanding second half of the season for Chelsea and the 31-year-old midfielder capped a great performance against Serbia with the winning goal in the team's last match before departing for Switzerland.

Italy's football league will be suspended at the weekend following fan violence sparked by the shooting of a Lazio supporter by a policeman.

In Moscow, Russia rallied to beat England 2-1 and keep their hopes alive for a berth in the finals.

Germany became the first country to win a place at Euro 2008 with a 0-0 draw in Ireland on Saturday, while World Cup finalists Italy and France still live in fear of losing out to Scotland.

The 31-year-old Nesta has 78 Italy caps and played in three World Cups.

Greece together with France, Germany and Romania all moved closer to a place in next year's European Championship finals.

Meanwhile, France outclassed Ukraine 2-0 and Portugal beat Belgium 2-1 in the other Euro qualifiers.

Scotland shocked World Cup finalists France 1-0 while England were held to a goalless draw by Macedonia.

Poland's squad for the World Cup finals in Germany comprises the following 23 players.

Recent poor performances by the Indian football team resulted in the country falling two places in the latest rankings.

Striker Thierry Henry is likely to miss France's final two World Cup qualifiers because of a groin injury

European champions Liverpool will start their title defence against Total Network Solutions of Wales in the Champions League's first qualifying round next month.