England's World Cup 2010 qualifying hopes were handed a boost as Group Six rivals Ukraine and Croatia played out a goalless draw.

After their hammering by Fabio Capello's side last time out, Croatia were looking to bounce back.

However, Slaven Bilic's men could not find a way past their hosts at the Olympic Stadium.

The result leaves Ukraine in second spot, while Croatia remain third and are now five points behind England.

Croatia welcome Andorra on Wednesday, while Ukraine travel to England at the start of April.

Holland made it two wins in two as they saw off Iceland 2-0 in Rotterdam to take charge of Group Nine - which also includes Scotland.

The Dutch defeated Macedonia last month and headed into Saturday's encounter looking to continue their positive start.

Joris Mathijsen opened the scoring on 15 minutes before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar wrapped up the victory in the second period.

Holland are next in action on Wednesday when they tackle Norway, while Iceland face Macedonia on the same day.

Germany held off a second-half fightback from Russia to move four points clear at the top of Wales' World Cup qualification group with a 2-1 win.

Goals from Lukas Podolski and Michael Ballack had put the Germans in control in Dortmund before Andrei Arshavin halved the deficit early in the second half.

Guus Hiddink's side pressed for the equaliser in the closing stages, but the hosts - with goalkeeper Rene Adler making his debut in place of the injured Robert Enke - stood firm.

Germany now have seven points from their opening three qualifiers in Group Four, one more than second-placed Wales, but Russia, currently fourth, have a game in hand on them both.

Elsewhere in the group, Finland beat Azerbaijan 1-0 in Helsinki with a goal from former Chelsea and Birmingham striker Mikael Forssell.

Serbia are now joint leaders of Group Seven after a comfortable 3-0 home victory brought Lithuania's flying start to an end.

After victories over Romania and Austria, Lithuania's 100% record was cut-short by goals from Branislav Ivanovic, Milos Krasic and Nikola Zigic.

The bubble was burst as early as the sixth minute when Ivanovic headed Serbia into the lead and the hosts doubled their advantage in the 34th minute.

The visitors rallied in the second half but any hopes of rescuing a point were extinguished in the 75th minute when defender Arunas Klimavicius was red carded for stopping a shot on the goal line with his hands.

Although Zigic missed from the penalty spot, the striker redeemed himself six minutes later with a header from substitute Bosko Jankovic's cross.

With both teams on six points, the result puts Serbia above Lithuania on goal difference.

France and Romania are two points behind after Les Bleus fought back from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw in Constanta in a match which will have done neither coach any favours.

France coach Raymond Domenech, already hanging on to his job by a thread, must have been fearing the worst when Romania led 2-0 with less than 17 minutes on the clock courtesy of Florentin Petre and Dorin Goian.

However, Franck Ribery marked his return from injury nine minutes before half-time and Yoann Gourcuff scored his first international goal in the 69th minute to level matters.

Domenech will learn his fate after the French Football Federation's meeting on Wednesday, while Romania boss Victor Piturca will also be sweating on his future.

Austria also have four points after they were held to a 1-1 draw in the Faroe Islands.

Bogi Lokin fired the hosts into a shock lead just two minutes into the second half, but Austria responded within 120 seconds when Martin Stranzl levelled the scores.

However, the islanders clung on to take only their second competitive point in six years.

Spain continued to set the pace at the top of Group Five after easing past Estonia 3-0 to maintain their 100% start.

The European champions struggled for long periods, but first-half goals from Juanito and David Villa broke the deadlock and Carles Puyol wrapped up the scoring after the break.

Aside from keeping their World Cup bid on track, the victory also extended Spain's unbeaten run to 26 matches and saw the team break a national record for not conceding.

The previous record was set at 692 minutes, but that mark was eclipsed 74 minutes into Saturday's encounter in Tallinn.

But Spain's rivals in Group Five kept the pressure up with both Turkey and Belgium recording important wins.

Turkey came from behind to extend their unbeaten start to the World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-1 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in Istanbul.

Edin Dzeko gave the visitors the lead after 27 minutes, but then turned villain as he gifted Turkey the equaliser with an own goal.

Mevlut Erdinc's effort secured the win for the Turks.

Meanwhile, Belgium recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over Armenia in Brussels.

First-half strikes from Wesley Sonck and Marouane Fellaini ensured Belgium continued their unbeaten start to the World Cup qualifiers and left them just two points behind the Spanish.

For Armenia it was their third successive defeat during a campaign in which they have yet to score a goal.

Bulgaria and Italy were forced to settle for a point apiece in Group Eight as neither side came close to breaking the deadlock in a tight game.

Bulgaria made a bright start and kept their opponents on the back foot for large periods of a very tight first half.

It was a different story in the second half, though, as the World Champions looked for the win which would have seen them take a considerable step towards qualifying for the 2010 World Cup after two wins from their opening two games.

But they had to settle for a draw which keeps them at the top of the group on seven points, three clear of the Republic of Ireland.

After a hard-fought first half Italy dominated the second 45 minutes as coach Marcello Lippi threw caution to the wind by introducing additional forwards Giuseppe Rossi and Luca Toni.

Rossi created arguably the best chance of the game in the 72nd minute when he put Alberto Gilardino through, but the Fiorentina forward was unable to provide the finish.

Georgia played out a 1-1 draw with Cyprus in Tbilisi in the other game in the group.

The hosts fell behind in the 66th minute when Michalis Konstantinou put Cyprus ahead but Levan Kobiashvili equalised seven minutes later to give Georgia their first point of the campaign.

Cyprus had the chance to secure all three points, but Konstantinou failed to convert a 53rd-minute penalty.

The two sides occupy the bottom two places in the group with one point each.

A goalless draw between Sweden and Portugal allowed Denmark to jump into pole position in Group One.

With neither side able to find a goal in Solna, the Danes leapt to the top of the group thanks to a 3-0 win over Malta.

Coming off the back of an impressive 3-2 win in Portugal, Denmark rushed into an early lead courtesy of a goal from Soren Larsen after nine minutes.

Daniel Agger made it two from the penalty spot just after the half-hour mark and Larsen wrapped up the scoring two minutes after the break.

Portugal were left with just four points from their three games, while Sweden are one better off.

The group's other game saw Hungary labour to a 2-0 win over Albania.

Albania held out until half-time, but Sandor Torghelle broke the deadlock four minutes after the break as he powerfully headed home Szabolcs Husztis' whipped left-wing delivery.

Roland Juhasz sealed the points with nine minutes remaining when he met Balzs Dzsudzsks' corner at the far post and nodded Hungary's second.

The win left the home side level on points with their opponents and Portugal.

Greece continued their 100% start to after strolling to a third successive Group Two victory at the expense of Moldova.

Angelos Charisteas' strike from a clever free-kick and Kostas Katsouranis' superb long-range effort gave Otto Rehhagel's men a two-goal half-time lead.

Charisteas then bagged his second of the game just after the break as the recently deposed European Champions chalked up three more precious points at the group summit with a 3-0 win ahead of Wednesday's encounter with Switzerland in Athens.

The Swiss will go into that game having finally got their campaign up and running as a 2-1 victory over Latvia restored some pride in the national team.

Switzerland were looking to bounce back from a humiliating loss to Luxembourg on their last outing in Group Two.

And Blaise N'Kufo ensured they picked up their first three-point haul in three games with the winning goal 17 minutes from time.

Latvia defender Deniss Ivanovs had earlier cancelled out Alex Frei's opener moments after the visitors had been reduced to 10 men by the sending off of Juris Laizans.

Ottmar Hitzfeld's men now have four points from their opening three games, three behind second-placed Israel and five adrift of the Greeks.

Israel kept up their unbeaten start with a routine 3-1 win in Luxembourg, Yossi Benayoun opening the scoring with a penalty after just two minutes.

Rene Peters' 14th-minute equaliser gave the hosts hope of repeating their heroics against Switzerland, but it was not to be as second-half goals from Omer Golan and Salim Toama ensured victory for the visitors.

Luxembourg are level on three points with Latvia, while basement boys Moldova are still looking for their first point.

Poland and Slovenia lead the way in Group Three after both nations recorded impressive wins on Saturday.

The Poles beat Czech Republic 2-1 in Chorzow while Slovenia left if late to see off Northern Ireland 2-0 in Maribor.

Pawel Brozek and Jakub Blaszczykowski scored either side of half-time to lift Poland on to seven points from their opening three games.

Martin Fenin's consolation was too little too late for the Czechs.

Ten-man Slovakia cruised to victory in San Marino to get their qualifying campaign back on track.

The hosts held out for just over half an hour but were then undone by two goals in five minutes by Stanislav Sestak (33) and Jan Kozak (38).

Andy Selva grabbed one back for the minnows but their hopes of getting anything from the match were dented five minutes into the second half when Miroslav Karhan restored Slovakia's two-goal advantage.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 72nd minute when Roman Kratochvil was sent-off for a second yellow card but never looked in danger of conceding again.

Slovakia remain third, a point behind Slovenia and Poland while San Marino remain firmly rooted at the bottom of the group with no points.