Spain, England up and running, Ukraine beaten

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http://www.fifa.com/world-match-centre/news/newsid/243/753/6/index.html

Spain took the first steps on the road to recovery from their 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ collapse with a thumping 5-1 win over Macedonia in Valencia.

Centre-back Sergio Ramos, got them up and running against Macedonia with a cool Panenka penalty after 16 minutes.

Spain doubled their lead just a minute later when Paco Alcacer, on his home ground, marked his first competitive game for his country with a goal.

Agim Ibraimi pulled one back from the spot for the visitors shortly before the half-hour mark, but thoughts of an upset were quickly dashed.

Sergio Busquets added a third on the stroke of half-time and second-half goals from David Silva and Pedro wrapped up the win.

Elsewhere in Group C, Ukraine suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Slovakia, Robert Mak with the winner in the 17th minute.

There was a surprise in Luxembourg as well as the hosts held Belarus to a 1-1 draw. Lars Krogh Gerson put the hosts ahead three minutes before the break and they led until the 78th minute when Stanislav Dragun equalised.

Like Spain, England also endured a disappointing World Cup and they too responded in impressive fashion in their Group E opener as a second-half brace from new Arsenal signing Danny Welbeck earned a 2-0 win over Switzerland in Basle.

Estonia left it late to beat ten-man Slovenia, substitute Ats Purje with the winner four minutes from time after Dalibor Stevanovic had been sent off in the 80th minute. In the same pool Lithuania won 2-0 in San Marino thanks to goals from Deividas Matulevicius and Arvydas Novikovas.

Russia, who also failed to live up to expectations in Brazil, set the early pace in Group G following a 4-0 win at home to Liechtenstein, although they were given a helping hand by their opponents.

The visitors scored two own goals to put Russia 2-0 in front, Martin Buchel putting through his own net after four minutes and Franz Burgmeier following suit five minutes after the break. A Dmitri Kombarov penalty five minutes later made it three before Artem Dzyuba completed the scoring.

Montenegro also got off to a winning start, seeing off Moldova 2-0 thanks to goals from Mirko Vucinic and Zarko Tomasevic. Austria and Sweden drew 1-1, David Alaba putting the Austrians ahead with a seventh-minute penalty and Erkan Zengin equalising five minutes later.