LONDON (AP):

SPAIN, ENGLAND and the Nether-lands maintained their perfect starts in World Cup qualifying yesterday to open up big leads in the race for places at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Portugal's faltering challenge continued with a 0-0 draw at home to 10-man Albania.

David Villa, the leading scorer at this year's European Championship, scored a late winner for Spain in a 2-1 victory at Belgium after the Euro 2008 winners had fallen behind in Brussels after just seven minutes.

Equaliser

After Wesley Sonk had fired the Belgians ahead, Andres Iniesta equalised in the 36th and Spain stretched their unbeaten streak to 27 games.

After four Group 5 victories, coach Vicente del Bosque's team now has a four-point lead over Turkey, who jumped above Belgium into second place after a 0-0 draw in Estonia.

England are off to their best ever start in World Cup qualifying and Wayne Rooney was again England's star, scoring two goals in a 3-1 win at Belarus only days after his two in Saturday's 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan at Wembley.

Five-point advantage

After victories in Andorra and Croatia, England have a five-point advantage over Ukraine and Croatia in Group 6, going into a six-month break in qualifying.

"We had to work very hard," Rooney said. "I've got to give a lot of credit to my teammates. It's a great three points. Twelve points from the first four games is a great boost for us."

Helped by two goals for Ivan Rakitic, Croatia outplayed last-place Andorra 4-0 to draw level on seven points with Ukraine, who didn't have a game and next play at England on April 1.

The Netherlands also hold a five-point advantage in Group 9 after beating Norway 1-0.

A minute after Dirk Kuyt had hit the crossbar, Mark van Bommel scored in the 64th minute and the Dutch have nine points from three games. That is five more than their nearest rivals, Scotland and Iceland, who jumped from fifth to third by edging Macedonia 1-0.

Results

Europe

Group 1: Malta 0 Hungary 1, Portugal 0 Albania 0.

Group 2: Latvia 1 Israel 1, Luxembourg 0 Moldova 0, Greece 1 Switzerland 2.Group 3: Czech Republic 1 Slovenia 0, Slovakia 2 Poland 1, Northern Ireland 4 San Marino 0.

Group 4: Russia 3 Finland 0, Germany 1 Wales 0.

Group 5: Bosnia-Herzegovina 4 Armenia 1, Estonia 0 Turkey 0, Belgium 1 Spain 2.

Group 6: Croatia 4 Andorra 0, Belarus 1 England 3.

Group 7: Lithuania 1 Faeroe Islands 0, Austria 1 Serbia 3.

Group 8: Georgia 0 Bulgaria 0, Ireland 1 Cyprus 0, Italy 2 Montenegro 1.Group 9: Norway 0 Netherlands 1, Iceland 1 Macedonia 0.

Asia

Group 1: Australia 4 Qatar 0, Japan 1 Uzbekistan 1.

Group 2: South Korea 4 United Arab Emirates 1, Iran 2 North Korea 1.

Friendly

South Africa 2 Ghana 1.