France completed their second impressive win in UEFA Women's EURO 2013 qualifying with a 3-1 success against Republic of Ireland, while England bettered that scoreline, returning to winning ways with a 4-0 defeat of Slovenia.
England were stunned when Serbia rallied from two-down to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw on Saturday, but there were no such dramas this time for Hope Powell's side, who overcame Slovenia 4-0. Two goals inside the first five minutes by Rachel Yankey (1) and Ellen White (5) settled any early nerves and the 2009 runners-up scored twice more after the break through Stephanie Houghton (56) and Rachel Williams (88). The victory takes England top of Group 7, a point above the Netherlands, who have a game in hand.
France won the battle of the early pacesetters in Group 4 as second-half goals secured a 3-0 success against the Republic of Ireland in Cork. The FIFA Women's World Cup semi-finalists took the lead through Louisa Necib (62) before two substitutes secured the points for Les Bleues. Marie-Laure Delie doubled the visitors' lead (69) and Eugénie Le Sommer confirmed their success five minutes later, rendering Aine O'Gorman's late effort academic.
Kazakhstan ended a nine-match losing streak, including Saturday's opening 3-0 reverse to Romania, by beating Turkey 2-0 in Group 2. Second-half goals from Larissa Li and Begaim Kirgizbaeva mean that Kazakhstan currently stand level with Germany, Switzerland, Romania and Spain on three points.
On Wednesday, Norway, Denmark, Russia and the Netherlands all secured wins while Germany were among the teams doing well at the weekend. Qualifying resumes on 12 October with Scotland's Group 4 trip to Israel, followed by two full programmes of games later that month.
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