BASEL, Switzerland -- Danny Welbeck scored twice to give England respite from criticism and a deserved 2-0 win at Switzerland in their European Championship qualifying opener on Monday. . Welbeck finished off Raheem Sterlings pass on a fast counter-attack in the 58th minute and slotted in a right-footed shot deep into stoppage time. Englands lead was preserved in the 70th by defender Gary Cahill sliding to block Josip Drmics shot after the Swiss substitute dribbled around goalkeeper Joe Hart. Widely criticized for failure to win a game at the World Cup, England responded by winning its most difficult fixture in Euro 2016 qualifying against the No. 9 team in FIFAs rankings. England is No. 20. "Ive never really lost faith," England coach Roy Hodgson said. "I thought that the way we approached the game from the first minute was exactly what we wanted and we got our reward for once." Switzerland was praised for reaching the last 16 in Brazil, but new coach Vladimir Petkovic begins his tenure with the teams first competitive home loss in four years. Then, England won 3-1 at the same St. Jakob-Park early in Euro 2012 qualifying. "They lacked a bit of calm in their game," Petkovic said of his players. "The first goal is a gift but we reacted well after that". Also in Group E on Monday, Lithuania won 2-0 at San Marino, and Estonia beat Slovenia 1-0. The top two in each group qualify for Euro 2016 in France. The third-place team can qualify directly or advance to a playoff. Hodgson was rewarded for selecting youth in a starting lineup with an average age under 25. The 19-year-old Sterling took Rooneys weighted pass in his speedy stride, advanced into the left side of the Swiss penalty area and slid the ball across goal for 23-year-old Welbeck to score. Though it was Welbecks shin connecting with the ball, Arsenals new 16 million-pound ($25.8-million) signing from Manchester United was perfectly positioned to strike. Rooneys astute play launched the move when the captain seized on his Swiss counterpart Gokhan Inlers misplaced pass deep in Englands half. England merited its lead, though the flip side of the youthful verve which created several chances was a lack of composure in dangerous situations. "I think we created a number of chances which maybe we could have done better with the final pass," Welbeck said. A three-on-one break was wasted in the 29th when Welbeck passed the ball beyond Sterlings reach in front of goal. Earlier, Sterling delivered a slow pass into the path of Rooney whose weak shot was easily gathered by goalkeeper Yann Sommer. Sommer excelled diving low to his left in the 43rd to push away a powerful header from Phil Jones at a corner. England goalkeeper Joe Hart stood out saving twice from centre forward Haris Seferovic. Hart stretched his right leg to block Seferovics shot in the 33rd minute after the forward collected a clever Admir Mehmedi pass. Two minutes before England took the lead, Hart stood tall to push away a rising Seferovic shot with his left hand. Elsewhere, Lithuania extended San Marinos 24-year run of never winning a competitive match with two first-half goals. Deivydas Matulevicius scored in the fifth and Arvydas Novikovas in the 36th. Estonia got an 86th-minute winner from Ats Purje to beat a visiting Slovenia team it trails by 54 places in the FIFA rankings. Slovenia was reduced to 10 men in the 78th when Dalibor Stevanovic was shown a second yellow card. Estonia took advantage when Purje pounced on a fourth shot in a goalmouth scramble, after goalkeeper Samir Handanovic twice blocked shots. Estonia hosts England in Tallinn on Oct. 12, three days after Hodgsons team plays San Marino at Wembley Stadium. "They are areas we can work (on) and weve got a couple of years to do so," said Hodgson, who can expect less stress at work after this victory. . And while taking highly-touted Simon Fraser offensive lineman Matthias Goossen second overall on Tuesday night will definitely help in an area of need for the club, it was a swap of draft picks that may prove to be his most shrewd move. "When Jesse Briggs started to fall a little bit, you could just see Kyle perk up in his chair. . With the Pirates in the thick of the race in the NL Central, the timing couldnt be better. Liriano struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season and Pittsburgh beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Tuesday night. . Despite Barcelona showing the same vulnerability in defence, Messis best performance since returning from a lengthy injury layoff ensured that his side bounced back from a defeat by Valencia in the previous round.ATLANTA -- Mike Minor believes he will be sharp in October even though he hasnt won a start since Aug. 25. "I dont think its been great, and I think it shows," he said. "But its one of those things that I thought I pitched pretty well all year, but right now Im kind of struggling a little bit." Minor gave up two home runs in the Atlanta Braves 5-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night. The NL East champion Braves began the night with the leagues best record and are one-half game in front of St. Louis Cardinals, who beat Washington 4-3 on Monday. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who did not play Monday, moved two games back. Atlanta was shut out for the 16th time, second-most in the NL. Minor (13-8) allowed eight hits and three runs and struck out six in seven innings. The left-hander, whom manager Fredi Gonzalez is considering to start the playoff opener next week, is winless in his last five starts. "What I like is he gave us every opportunity to win the game," Gonzalez said. "Seven innings, and you hold the opposition to three runs, youve got a pretty good chance." With six games left in the regular season, the Braves have the majors best home record at 52-23, but Milwaukee led 4-0 in the eighth when Aramis Ramirez homered off reliever Anthony Varvaro. Marco Estrada (7-4) gave up two hits, walked three and struck out six. He threw a career-high 115 pitches, 76 for strikes. "Id get ahead and once we had two strikes, my goal was just to try and bounce (a changeup) and see if Id get a swing out of it," Estrada said. The hits Estrada allowed were a triple by Andrelton Simmons in the second and single by Justin Upton in the sixth. In his last eight starts since coming off the disabled list with a strained left hamstring, Estrada is 3-0 with a 2.26 ERA, a span of 51 2-3 innings. Carlos Gomez gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead in the first, hitting the first pitch he saw from Minor for his 22nd homer. The Brewers went up 3-0 in the fifth when Norichika Aoki doubled and scored on Jonathan Luucroys 18th homer. . After Ramirezs 12th homer in the eighth, Milwaukee took a 5-0 lead when Sean Halton doubled off Varvaro, moved to third on Yuniesky Betancourts infield single and scored on shortstop Simmons throwing error. Minor has allowed at least two homers in seven starts this season and is 0-3 with a 5.12 ERA in those outings. He gave up just three homers over an 11-start stretch from June 26-Aug. 25, but has been taken deep seven times in his last five games. "I think Im trying to throw more sinkers in and when I throw four-seamers away or try to go back and forth with them, theres a different release point and I think Im just leaving the ball up," Minor said. "Theyre big-league hitters, so when they see that, they take advantage of it." Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez ejected Gonzalez with two outs in the seventh. With a runner at first, Estrada hit Paul Janish in the left leg with a pitch, but Hernandez ruled that Janish, who leaned into the 89 mph fastball, did not attempt to get out of the way. Rob Wooten pitched the eighth and Michael Blazek the ninth for Milwaukee. NOTES: Gonzalez said C Brian McCann took the day off to spend time with his family after his wife Ashley gave birth to their second child, a daughter. ... 1B Freddie Freeman, the first Atlanta player with at least 100 RBIs since Chipper Jones and Jeff Francoeur in 2007, was given the night off. Freeman has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 games with six homers and 17 RBIs. ... Gonzalez said that Braves LHP Alex Wood will pitch out of the bullpen in the post-season. Wood is 0-1 with a 2.29 ERA in 19 2-3 innings as a reliever, and Gonzalez is concerned that LHPs Luis Avilan and Scott Downs are battling minor injuries and have struggled recently in late innings. ... Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said SS Jean Segura, out since last Wednesday with a strained right hamstring, did some running Monday and could be used off the bench by Wednesday. ... The Brewers snapped an eight-game losing streak at Turner Field. ' ' '
blueberryjerry » 12 дек 2016, 11:43 
