Originally Posted by BBC Sport

International Round-up: 28/3


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England warmed up for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine with a comfortable victory over Slovakia - but coach Fabio Capello was left contemplating a potential striker shortage.

Emile Heskey set England on their way at Wembley when he turned in Steven Gerrard's cross at the near post after seven minutes.

And Wayne Rooney sealed the win for England with 20 minutes left when he headed in David Beckham's cross as the former captain produced an impressive cameo on his record-breaking 109th appearance for an outfield player.

Frank Lampard turned in a close-range effort with nine minutes left and Rooney grabbed his second in injury time to give England the emphatic victory margin their supremacy deserved.

But the gloss was taken off England's triumph by the early loss of goalscorer Heskey, as well as his replacement Carlton Cole before the interval. Peter Crouch, another substitute, then limped off late on as Capello faced the prospect of seeing his attacking resources severely depleted.

Netherlands opened up a commanding lead in World Cup qualifying Group 9 after a comfortable win over Scotland.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie were both on target with free headers in the first half.

Dirk Kuyt added a 77th-minute penalty after Scotland's Gary Caldwell had seen a headed effort harshly disallowed.

Scotland, who now trail the Dutch by eight points after four games, rarely threatened, although Kenny Miller did squander a great early chance.

The Dutch are ranked the third best team in the world but the star-studded home line-up barely broke sweat as the Scots contributed hugely to their own downfall.

There was no shortage of endeavour from the visitors but all three goals came from lapses of concentration at the back.

Northern Ireland's hopes of making the World Cup finals were boosted by an impressive win at a sunny Windsor Park.

Warren Feeney finished from close range after 10 minutes but Poland levelled when Maik Taylor failed to keep out Ireneusz Jelen's shot.

Jonny Evans slid in to restore the lead and Northern Ireland went further ahead when Michal Zewlakow's backpass bobbled past keeper Artur Boruc.

Marek Saganowski pulled one back with a header but Northern Ireland held on.

The result took Nigel Worthington's side to the top of Group Three and they will now look to further improve their position when they take on Slovenia on Wednesday.

They made a positive start to the game when a superb Chris Brunt pass sent Feeney clear after three minutes but the Dundee United striker fired just wide.

An under-hit back-pass from Michal Zewlakow let in Healy five minutes later but the usually deadly marksman struck a weak shot which was kept out by Celtic keeper Boruc before the ball was

Wales hopes of qualification for next year's World Cup suffered a massive blow after being stunned by Finland.

Jonatan Johansson put Finland ahead two minutes before the break, capitalising on Jari Litmanen's neat through-ball.

The home side had controlled possession throughout the first half without hurting the visitors.

But the Finns stepped up the tempo after the restart and Mikael Forssell had chances to wrap up the win before Shefki Kuqi did so in injury time.

Wales went into the game needing to win to keep them in the hunt for second place in Group Four and the chance of the play-off places for the eight best runners-up out of nine.

But they knew failure to win could leave them with an uphill task as Russia and Finland will still have games in hand.

Captain Craig Bellamy and defender James Collins handed Wales a boost in the run up to the crunch qualifier by declaring themselves fit.