Spain began life under new coach Julien Lopetegui in perfect style, while Gareth Bale inspired Euro 2016 sensations Wales and Kosovo earned a historic point in FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifying on Monday.
Lopetegui enjoyed a perfect competitive debut as Diego Costa, David Silva and Alvaro Morata all hit braces in an 8-0 drubbing of Liechtenstein in Leon.
In Cardiff, Real Madrid’s Bale teed up Sam Vokes for a 38th-minute opener and then scored his 23rd and 24th international goals either side of an effort by Joe Allen, who registered his first in a 4-0 crushing of Moldova.
Photo: Reuters
Elsewhere, Daryl Murphy’s first international goal secured the Republic of Ireland a 2-2 draw against Serbia in Belgrade, while 10-man Italy beat Israel 3-1 in Haifa.
Arguably the performance of the night was in Turku, where Valon Berisha made history, scoring Kosovo’s first goal on their competitive debut as they came from behind to draw 1-1 away to Finland.
The goal gave Kosovo a precious point in Group I after Paulus Arajuuri had put Finland in front from close range in the 18th minute.
Kosovo were accepted into FIFA in May and it was a remarkable result given that world soccer’s governing body only gave their approval for a host of players to represent the Balkan outfit earlier on Monday.
Among those given the green light at the last minute were goalkeeper and captain Samir Ujkani, previously capped by Albania, Albert Bunjaku, who featured for Switzerland at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and goal-scorer Berisha, who was playing for Norway in June.
With several thousand Kosovans living in the Turku region, there was sizeable support for the away side in their first ever competitive outing.
Spain’s comprehensive 8-0 win put them on top Group G ahead of Italy on goal-difference.
“We reaped our rewards in the second half for what we did right in the first half,” Lopetegui said. “I am happy. They are the first three points and it was important to start well.”
Spain and Italy meet in the next qualifier in Turin, Italy, on Oct. 6.
Chris Coleman’s Wales, who lost to eventual champions Portugal at Euro 2016, are seeking to qualify for their first World Cup finals since 1958.
“We had to get off to a good start in the first game,” Wales manager Coleman said. “It was going to be tough, and we had to be patient and disciplined, and we were. We had a good level of professionalism and the supporters were great. The players got the ball and could have scored more.”
Like Coleman, Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill was satisfied with his team’s first steps to Russia.
“I think we fought back magnificently,” the 64-year-old said after Jeff Hendricks had put his team into a three-minute lead, with Filip Kostic and a penalty from Southampton’s Dusan Tadic putting Serbia in front before Murphy’s equalizer. “It is a good result and we would have taken a point before the game.”
In Israel, new Italy manager Giampiero Ventura reflected on his debut win with goals from Graziano Pelle, Antonio Candreva from the penalty spot and Ciro Immobile, after veteran defender Girgio Chiellini was sent off in the 55th minute for his second yellow card.
“I won’t say our performance was perfect, as we conceded that goal similar to the one we let in against France [in last week’s friendly],” Ventura said. “We worked as a team, suffered as a team and won as a team.”
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