World Cup Qualifiers: Spain secure dominating victory against Georgia

Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice as Spain maintained its perfect form in World Cup qualifying with a 40 win in Georgia on Saturday as it closed in on a berth at next yearrsquos showpiece tournamentLuis de la Fuentersquos side has scored 19 times while conceding zero goals in five group victories The European champion is poised to wrap up a spot in the finals when it meets Turkey on Tuesday in its last qualifierSpain lead Group E by three points over Turkey which beat Bulgaria 20 on SaturdayLuis de la FuenteThe only way the Turks could pip Spain for the top spot and grab a direct ticket to the World Cup would be by winning in Seville by a huge margin A tiebreaker would be decided by overall goal difference Spain is on 19 while Turkey is on 5Even so De la Fuente said it was too early to celebrateldquoWe have maximum respect for all our rivals including Turkeyrdquo De la Fuente said ldquoWe have to keep our feet on the ground and maintain this attitude until we are mathematically qualifiedrdquoThe home side didnrsquot miss injured stars Lamine Yamal Pedri Gonzalez or Rodri against the overmatched Georgia The Real Sociedad striker Oyarzabal led Spain with his two goals and an assist Martiacuten Zubimendi and Ferran Torres also scored as their team was up 30 by halftimeOyarzabal opened the scoring with a penalty in the 11th minute and headed in the fourth goal in the 63rdThose were goals 20 and 21 for him on his 50th appearance for Spain Turkey locked up a toptwo finish and assured a playoff spot after Hakan Calhanoglu scored a penalty and Bulgaria defender Atanas Chernev added an own goalBelgium must waitBelgium was held to a 11 draw in Kazakhstan and missed a chance to qualify for the tournament in the United States Canada and Mexico Belgium leads Group J with two points more than North Macedonia Rudi Garciarsquos side can still advance with a win over Liechtenstein on Tuesday in their final qualifierKazakhstan took a ninthminute lead through 17yearold Dastan Satpayev Hans Vanaken leveled for Belgium in the 48th when the Club Brugge midfielder headed in a cross by Timothy Castagne Also in Group J Jordan James scored as Wales won 10 at LiechtensteinWales and North Macedonia are tied on 13 points in joint second place before they faceoff on TuesdayGreece Switzerland winGreece beat Scotland 32 in Group C while Denmark drew 22 with Belarus That means the Danes will have a onepoint lead over the Scots when they meet in Glasgow on Tuesday Switzerland remained in charge of Group B after downing Sweden 4119No of goals scored by Spain in five World Cup qualifying games7No of goals Turkey need to beat Spain by in order to pip them to the top spotThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever