Spain register easy win against Belarus

Madrid, Nov 16 (IANS) The Spanish national team continued their progress to the finals of the 2016 European Championships with a comfortable 3-0 win over Belarus in Huelva.

The victory Saturday night leaves Spain well placed in their efforts to qualify for the 2016 event with three wins from four qualifying games, second behind Slovakia, who so far have a 100 percent win record, reports Xinhua.

Without stalwarts Andres Iniesta, David Silva and Cesc Fabregas through injury and with full back Dani Carvajal and Diego Costa also out injured, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque brought Isco, Juanfran and Pedro Rodriguez into his side and was rewarded by an impressive display by Isco.

The Real Madrid midfielder opened the scoring with an excellent shot after 17 minutes and then set up Sergio Busquets to add Spain's second two minutes later.

With Santi Cazorla enjoying himself in midfield, Spain were rarely in trouble.

Although Del Bosque replaced Busquets with Bruno Soriano at halftime, the Spanish dominance continued and the lead was extended after halftime following a smart move between Cazorla and Juanfran, who left the ball for Pedro to score with an accurate shot.

Jose Callejon made his debut, replacing Cazorla with 20 minutes to go, but although the Spanish were still laying siege to the Belarus penalty area, the urgency to their game was, perhaps logically, missing.

Pedro was close to adding a fourth goal two minutes from time, but his shot bounced back off the post after a good pass from Bruno, nevertheless the game was won and the Spanish will now face Germany in a friendly match Tuesday.