Spain thrashed Slovakia 5-1 in Madrid, with Liverpool's Luis Garcia bagging a hat-trick, 2 of them in the first 18 minutes. The rest of the goals came after the visitors had a man sent off for deliberate handball (and a penalty conceded, scored by Torres) in the 65th minute. Reyes had been substituted by this point, having played the first 56 minutes. He came close with a shot in the first half which just went just over the bar, after Torres had let a ball along the edge of the area run through to him. See reports from FIFA and UEFA. Slovakia may have home advantage in Wednesday's second leg but it'll take a miracle for them to overturn the 4 goal deficit.

The Swiss also played the first leg at home, and Senderos had another cracking game in defence and once again scored a crucial goal (like in the draw against France). He came forward just before half-time to head home a free kick by Ludovic Magnin. Magnin was the focus of much of the Turk's rough tactics, but misses the second leg after picking up a booking of his own (as does Serkan for the Turks, who was lucky not to get booked twice).

The second goal came right at the death from Lazio striker Behrami, and could prove vital as Turkey will no doubt feel that they should be able to beat Switzerland in Turkey. Hopefully, for Big Phil's sake, a 2 goal deficit will prove too much to overcome. See reports from UEFA (with a cracking picture of Senderos celebrating his goal) and The Times.

If both Philippe and Jose can get through Wednesday's second legs, Arsenal will once again have 11 players at the World Cup (see this article).