Super Mario to the rescue as penalty blasts Azzurri to World Cup finals

Mario Balotelli fired Italy to next year’s World Cup finals as the Azzurri came from behind to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in Turin last night.

Aston Villa striker Libor Kozak put the visitors ahead in the 19th minute before Giorgio Chiellini equalised for the Group B leaders shortly after the restart.

Former Manchester City striker Balotelli scored the winner from the penalty spot in the 54th minute after he was brought down by Gebre Selassie in the box.

Bulgaria made sure they remained in second place in Group B with a 2-1 win against Malta. The result left Bulgaria one point ahead of Denmark, who defeated Armenia 1-0.

France ended their recent barren spell in style by winning 4-2 in Belarus in a roller-coaster match, where Les Bleus twice trailed.

Franck Ribery starred for the French, canceling out goals from Egor Filippenko and Timofey Kalachev, before Samir Nasri put Didier Deschamps’ men ahead for the first time and youngster Paul Pogba put daylight between the World Cup qualification Group H rivals. The result keeps French hopes of catching group leaders Spain alive.

England took a small step towards World Cup qualification after they scraped a 0-0 draw in Kiev thanks to Ukraine’s profligacy.

Ukraine applied pressure to Roy Hodgson’s shell-shocked team, but they could not get the killer goal that would have put them top of Group H with two games left.

Indeed England keeper Joe Hart was lucky to not have a penalty awarded against him in the first minute when he brought down Roman Zozulya.

The draw moves England one point clear of Montenegro at the top of Group H with two matches left.

In Group A, not even the appearance of the world’s most expensive player, Gareth Bale, in the second half could save Wales as they hit the bottom of Group A with a 3-0 defeat against Serbia in Cardiff.

Goals from Filip Djordjevic, Aleksandar Kolarov and Lazar Markovic put the game well beyond Wales. Bale, a pre-match doubt due to a groin problem, appeared just before the hour to get his first action since joining Real Madrid to become the world’s most expensive player, which was about as good as it got for the home side.

Shaun Maloney secured a 2-1 victory for Scotland over Macedonia with a stunning late free-kick in Skopje. Watford’s Ikechi Anya scored on his first international start for the Scots before Ivan Kostovski levelled in the 84th minute, but Maloney curled into the top corner to lift Scotland above the Welsh.

“I thought we were terrific tonight,” said Scotland boss Gordon Strachan.

“A draw would have been hard to take. I was coming in on the team bus tonight and I was trying to think how we would manage on a surface like this. How do we win a game of football on this?

“I thought a 1-0 would have been great. But to win it like that was beyond what I would have dreamed.”

Robin Van Persie ensured Holland qualified for the World Cup finals from Group D with a 2-0 win over Andorra.

The Dutch striker scored a quick-fire brace in the second half as Louis van Gaal’s side claimed a win that will take them to Brazil following Romania’s defeat by Turkey.

Hungary are second in the group after a 5-1 win over Estonia. Goals from Burak Yilmaz and Mevlut Erdinc kept Turkey’s hopes of appearing at next summer’s World Cup alive as they won 2-0 at group rivals Romania.

Two goals from Fabian Schar helped Switzerland move ever closer to a place at the 2014 World Cup finals as they beat Norway in qualifying Group E.

Slovenia kept their hopes alive though as they came out on top 2-0 against a lively Cyprus side in Nicosia.

Greece kept pace with Bosnia-Herzegovina at the top of Group G as Dimitris Salpingidis’ goal gave them a vital win over Latvia in Piraeus as both sides ended the game with 10 men. Bosnia-Herzegovina won 2-1 at Slovakia.