Turns out to be a pretty decent day of qualifying, as it goes.
The scorelines that matter, with goal videos included for the Liverpool players that scored (videos via 101 Great Goals, as always):
England 4-0 Bulgaria: Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson both played a full 90 as England eventually pulled away from Bulgaria on the strength of Jermain Defoe's hat-trick. Great performance from Gerrard, not so much from Johnson. But now at least we get to see everyone get all amped up about England's chances of winning Euro 2012. Because that won't get old.
Portugal 4-4 Cyprus: Good luck making sense of this one. Raul Meireles put in a full shift and played well, although he was responsible for the knock-on that led to Cyprus' second:
He made up for it soon enough, however, with this left-footed strike from distance:
Solid display all-around from him in a match that had its share of dramatics, with Cyprus finding their equalizer through Andreas Avraam in the 88th minute. For neutrals, match of the day.
Spain 4-0 Liechtenstein: Most importantly, Fernando Torres came through looking fully fit and on form. The two goals were a bonus---with Peter Brukner's admission that the striker is still a few weeks away from top fitness, it was nice to see him handled with relative care in a match that Spain were always going to win. Great touch on the first goal:
And power on the second:
Netherlands 5-0 San Marino: Dirk Kuyt started alongside Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Eljero Elia up front in the Dutch win, scoring from the spot to open the Dutch account on the night. Huntelaar got a hat trick for Holland, and Ruud van Nistelrooy marked his return to the national side the capper after coming on for Kuyt in the 68th minute.
Kuyt's penalty:
Slovakia 1-0 Macedonia: Martin Skrtel and Slovakia barely got all three points from Macedonia, with Filip Holosko's stoppage time strike winning it for the Slovaks. As expected, a full ninety from Skrtel in central defense.
Serbia 3-0 Faroe Islands: Milan Jovanovic played the entire match as the Serbians got past Faroe Islands with two goals in the opening twenty minutes and a 90th minute goal from Nikola Zigic to finish the match off.
Plus, Hamit Altintop did this:
That's an okay goal, too.