Euro 2016 qualifying campaign: England, Spain have reason to smile

Paris A double by Danny Welbeck and Sergio Busquets first goal in 70 appearances helped England and Spain begin their respective Euro 2016 qualifying campaigns on a winning note and start putting behind them a forgettable World Cup finalsEnglands forward Daniel Welbeck No 9 reacts with teammate forward Rickie Lambert after he scored his teams second goal during an UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Switzerland at the St JakobPark stadium in Basel on Monday PicAFPThe brace by Welbeck who was considered surplus to requirements by Louis van Gaal at Manchester United and offloaded to Arsenal last week saw England to a 20 win over Switzerland in Zurich while Busquets effort came in a 51 humbling of Macedonia There was however not to be a memorable evening for Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he failed to mark his 100th appearance for his country with a goal in the 11 draw with Austria his only notable contribution a bookingDavid Alaba opening the scoring for the hosts from the penalty spot his seventh goal for his country at the age of just 22 only for Turkishborn forward Erkan Zengin to level Russia were another side like Spain and England to fail to fire at the World Cup just four years before they host them but they too secured three points with a 40 home win over minnows LiechtensteinHowever Fabio Capellos side hardly convinced as two of their goals were owngoals and another came from the penalty spot Capellos former charges England though were far more impressive against a side that succeeded in reaching the second round at the World Cup and only lost 10 to Argentina thanks to an Angel di Maria goal late in extratimeIt was Welbeck who departed United the same day di Maria arrived for a British record fee of Acircpound59million 99million who executed the chances set up for him as England manager Roy Hodgson celebrated victory over a team he coached and took to the 1994 World Cup finals It was Switzerlands first competitive home defeat since a 31 loss to England in October 2010 and meant that new coach Vladimir Petkovic began his tenure in losing fashionI thought the way we approached the game from the first minute was exactly what we wanted and we got our reward Hodgson told ITV We pressurised the ball well but you need that first goal to get people to come out and attack you From then I thought we looked dangerous and we had several chances to aggravate the scoreline before Danny Welbecks secondPetkovic who has the unenviable task of trying to fill the void left by the German coaching great Ottmar Hitzfeld after he retired from the game following the World Cup said his players would be stronger for the defeat Its a good lesson and well try to make up for it in the next game said the 51yearold handler Bosnianborn but who emigrated to Switzerland aged 24 Spain had begun life after the World Cup debacle with a friendly defeat to France last weekSpains midfielder Sergio Busquets celebrates after scoring during the UEFA Euro 2016 group D qualifying football match vs Macedonia at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium in Valencia on Monday PicAFPHowever they made short work of the Macedonians with aside from Busquets another notable scorer on the night being Paco Alcacer on his competitive international debut It left their lugubrious coach Vicente del Bosque who survived the World Cup reverse licking his lips at the thought of a new beginning We have started the competition with three points and the performance was very good That is the most important thing said the 63yearold who coached the Spanish to the World Cup title in 2010 and the Euro 2012 trophyWe have taken a step forward We are starting a new era and hopefully there is much more to come Capello who faced calls from Russian supporters to step down after they failed to progress through the group stage losing out to Belgium and Algeria was not as upbeat and called for more time with the players if he is to sharpen them up Weve created a lot of chances but unfortunately weve also missed too many of them said the Italian Many of our players looked really good but I think we need more days together to progress as a team