Defoe the hat-trick hero
The Tottenham striker lifted the 73,000 crowd by netting after only three minutes and added a second just after the hour mark.
Substitute Adam Johnson made sure of the points in the 83rd minute before Defoe completed his treble four minutes from time. Wayne Rooney helped to set up all four goals.
And Defoe said: “I’m delighted with the performance tonight, not just the goals but the way we played and pressed in the first half.”
The striker said of his partnership with Rooney: “Obviously when you play with a partner it takes a bit of time to gel but Wazza (Rooney) is a great player and technically gifted. Like I’ve said before, if I make the runs he’ll find me and he did tonight.
“When I got the second he said ‘keep going and you’ll get the third’ and it’s always nice when you play with a partner and he wants you to get the hat-trick. It’s good.”
England boss Fabio Capello added: “We were really focused on the game, I’m really happy.
“Rooney and Defoe are fantastic players, four assists from Rooney and three goals from Defoe. They were really good in every moment during the game.
“I’m really happy with the performance of the two forwards – but also the other players.”
Elsewhere in the same group, Mirko Vucinic enhanced his soaring reputation by firing Montenegro to a 1-0 win over Wales.
The Roma striker, linked with both Manchester clubs earlier this year, struck after 30 minutes to hand the hosts a deserved victory against a ragged Welsh side in Podgorica.
In Group D, Laurent Blanc’s first competitive match as France coach ended in a shock defeat which deals an early blow to their Euro 2012 qualifying bid.
Sergey Kisliak scored the only goal four minutes from time to punish France, who failed to capitalise after dominating possession.
Corry Evans was pleased to answer Northern Ireland’s critics with the winning goal as they started their quest to qualify from Group C in the right manner.
Evans’ goal in the 70th minute gave Nigel Worthington’s team a 1-0 victory over Slovenia in Maribor.
And the Manchester United midfielder said afterwards: “I haven’t scored for Northern Ireland since I was a schoolboy, so to get on the scoresheet in such an important match is fantastic.
“We’ve had our criticism over our away from and for not being able to score goals, so to win away with a clean sheet is great.”
In the same group, Brian Kerr’s Faroe Islands lost 3-0 at home to Serbia and Italy beat Estonia 2-1.
World champions Spain began the defence of their European Championship title with a thumping 4-0 win over outclassed Liechtenstein in Vaduz.
Fernando Torres struck twice while David Villa and substitute David Silva were also on the scoresheet to get their Group I campaign off and running in style.
Group rivals Scotland failed to capitalise on their territorial advantage in Lithuania as Craig Levein’s competitive debut as manager ended goalless.
In the late game in Group H, Portugal were held 4-4 at home by Cyprus after an exciting clash in Guimaraes.
Cyprus opened the scoring in the third minute thanks to Efstathios Aloneftis but Miguel Hugo Almeida levelled it five minutes later.
The visitors then edged ahead once again, Michael Constantinou netting in the 11th minute before Raul Meireles got it back to 2-2 just before the half hour mark.
The home side finally took the lead in the 50th minute through Miguel Danny before Yiannis Okkas made it 3-3 in the 56th minute.
Just three minutes later, the Portuguese were ahead again, Manuel Fernandes getting his name on the scoresheet but incredibly, the Cypriots rescued the tie in the 88th minute, Andreas Avraam.
Elsewhere, Belgium were beaten 1-0 at home by Germany while the Netherlands hammered San Marino 5-0.
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