England became the first team to qualify for the 2016 European Championship by beating San Marino 6-0 on Saturday, with Wayne Rooney’s opening goal tying him for first place on the country’s all-time scoring list.
Rooney set England on their way to a seventh straight win in Group E by converting a 13th-minute penalty to move onto 49 international goals — the same total as Sir Bobby Charlton .
An own goal in the 30th minute was followed by second-half goals from Ross Barkley, two from Theo Walcott and one from Harry Kane, putting England through with three games to spare.
Rooney was substituted in the 59th, denying him the opportunity to break Charlton’s record against San Marino’s part-timers. The next chance for Rooney to hold the scoring record outright should come on Tuesday against Switzerland.
Also in Group E, Konstantin Vassiljev’s 71st-minute goal gave Estonia a 1-0 win over Lithuania.
The victory put Estonia temporarily into third place ahead of Slovenia’s late game at Switzerland.
Russia revived their hopes of qualifying from Group G by defeating Sweden 1-0 at home.
Artyom Dzyuba ended Russia’s 11-month wait for a competitive goal, scoring off the post in the 38th minute, after Igor Smolnikov played on Roman Shirokov’s backheel pass.
Late on, Sweden’s Martin Olsson cleared an Alexander Kokorin shot off the line.
It was Russia’s first game under coach Leonid Slutsky, who was appointed last month as the replacement for the departed Fabio Capello, under whom Russia won two of their last 10 competitive games.
Russia stayed third in Group G but are only one point behind Sweden, who hold the second of the automatic qualifying places.
Ukraine made light work of Belarus to win 3-1 and put pressure on the top sides in Euro 2016 qualifying group C.
Artem Kravets opened the scoring after seven minutes, before Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka made it 3-0 at the interval.
Sergei Kornilenko pulled a goal back from the spot for Belarus, but it was too late to prevent Ukraine from beating them for the second time in qualifying.
Also in Group C, minnows Luxembourg got a stoppage-time winner from Sebastien Thill to defeat Macedonia 1-0 .
It looked as if it would be Macedonia claiming the three points when Ben Payal fouled Besart Abdurahimi in the area with just six minutes left, but home goalkeeper Jonathan Joubert produced a fine stop from the resulting penalty.
And Thill took advantage in the second minute of time added on as he superbly controlled on his chest before looping a volley into the top corner.
