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The mid-week mop-up: all last night's results

So begins a new snazzily-titled round-up feature.

ALL LAST NIGHT’S interesting Euro 2012 qualifiers (and one friendly) rounded up into one page.

Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-2 France

Laurent Blanc at last reversed France’s ailing fortunes with a decent away win, after losing his first two matches in charge. Les Bleus triumphed thanks to a magnificent opening goal from Karim Benzema followed by a late goal by on-form Chelsea winger Florent Malouda.

Scotland 2-1 Liechtenstein

The downward slump in Scottish football looked like continuing when Liechtenstein took the lead at Hampden Park through Mario Frick just before half time. Scotland didn’t get a shot on goal for the whole first half, but an equaliser from Kenny Miller followed by a 97th minute winner from Steven McManus carried the day for Craig Levein’s side. And all against a country which you can rent.

Italy 5-0 Faroe Islands

Even Drimnagh’s finest couldn’t stop the Azzurri hammering the helpless Faroes. Brian Kerr’s men took a hell of a beating, with goals from Alberto Gilardino, Daniele De Rossi, Antonio Cassano, Fabio Quagliarella and Andrea Pirlo. Kerr got a bit stroppy afterwards too, saying the grass on their training pitch was so high that “all the sheep in the Faroes would take a month to eat it”.

Switzerland 1-3 England

The latest exercise in how to build up hype continues, with England winning away in Basel. Capello played a few new-ish players, but Adam Johnson stole the show, scoring England’s second. Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent scored the other two, with Xherdan Shaqiri getting the only goal for the ten-man Swiss.

Argentina 4-1 Spain

World Champions Spain lost their first match in what seems like decades in Buenos Aires, losing 4-1 to a now Diego-less Argentina in a friendly. Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez goals gave the hosts a 3-0 lead at half-time. Fernando Llorente grabbed one back for Spain before Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero netted in added time.

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