GERMANY RAN UP an expected goal avalanche in thrashing San Marino 7-0 tonight in their World Cup qualifier.
Having already trounced San Marino 8-0 in the reverse fixture, Germany’s almost second string line-up quickly set about running up another rugby score in Nuremberg.
Julian Draxler opened the scoring on 11 minutes before a brace from Sandro Wagner had the Germans 3-0 up before the half hour mark.
Amin Younes added the fourth seven minutes before the break while Shkodran Mustafi added a fifth two minutes after the restart.
Julian Brandt made it six 18 minutes from time before Wagner completed his hat-trick on 85 minutes as Germany continued their perfect start to qualifying, a feat matched only by Switzerland in Group B.
England, who drew 2-2 with Scotland, saw their lead at the top of Group F cut to two points as Slovakia won 2-1 in Lithuania. Vladimir Weiss and Marek Hamsik scored the goals as Slovakia recorded a fourth win from six qualifiers.
Darvydas Sernas’s goal for the hosts came deep into injury time and too late to mount a desperate late comeback.
Slovenia also closed the gap to England to three points as Josip Ilicic and Milivoje Novakovic netted in a 2-0 win over Malta.
Czech Republic dropped four points behind Northern Ireland — who won in Azerbaijan — after being held to a 1-1 draw in Norway.
Theodor Gebre Selassie opened the scoring for the Czechs nine minutes before half-time but an Alexander Soderlund penalty 10 minutes after the restart snatched a draw for the hosts.
Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick, including two penalties, as Poland kept their six-point lead in Group E with a 3-1 victory over Romania. Bogdan Stancu’s strike 13 minutes from time was too little, too late for the visitors.
Montenegro and Denmark remain locked on points in the battle for second place after respective victories, 4-1 at home to Armenia and 3-1 in Kazakhstan.
Former Manchester City forward Stevan Jovetic, now at Inter Milan, also notched a hat-trick after Fatos Beqiraj had given Montenegro the lead in Podgorica. Ruslan Koryan scored a late consolation for Armenia.
Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen scored from the spot as Denmark came away from the Kazakh capital with three points.
