Teenager Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick as England beat Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb yesterday to avenge the two defeats that cost them a place at Euro 2008.

Miroslav Klose also hit a hat-trick for Germany but his goals only salvaged a 3-3 draw for a side who were just seven minutes from losing to Finland for the first time in 85 years.

Theo Walcott (L) scored a hat-trick as England beat Croatia 4-1 in Zagreb yesterday to avenge the two defeats that cost them a place at Euro 2008. [Sina.com]

Most of the other teams expected to reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa came through the second round of qualifiers in five days unscathed. World champions Italy beat Georgia 2-0 in Udine and World Cup runners-up France beat Serbia 2-1 in Paris.

European champions Spain maintained their perfect start in Group Five with a 4-0 win over Armenia in Albacete.

There was an amazing finale in Lisbon where Denmark beat Portugal 3-2 with four of the five goals in the match scored between the 83rd minute and the second minute of stoppage time.

Nani put Portugal ahead after 42 minutes, Nicklas Bendtner made it 1-1 after 83 minutes before Deco put Portugal ahead with an 86th minute penalty. Christian Poulsen equalised after 89 minutes before Daniel Jensen won it for the Danes in the second minute of stoppage time.

The one major shock was in Zurich where Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland lost 2-1 to Luxembourg, ranked 152nd in the world.

Bosnia scored the biggest win of the night, crushing Estonia 7-0, but the Czech Republic, ranked eighth in the world, failed to convince on a rainy night in Belfast and were held to a 0-0 draw by Northern Ireland.

The Netherlands, who went out of Euro 2008 at the quarter-final stage after a brilliant start to the competition, opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Macedonia in Skopje. John Heitinga and Rafael van der Vaart got the goals.