Russia, Slovakia clinch Euro Finals spots

LONDON — Russia, which hosts the World Cup in 2018, made sure it will be guest at France’s party next year when it beat Montenegro to make sure of its place in the Euro 2016 Finals Monday. On the penultimate night of qualifiers, it was joined by Slovakia, which beat Luxembourg, while Ukraine, Slovenia and Sweden must take their chances in the playoffs. England becomes only the sixth side to go through an entire qualifying campaign with a 100 percent record after chalking up its 10th successive win by beating Lithuania 3-0 in Vilnius. Russia beat Montenegro 2-0 in Moscow while Slovakia won 4-2 in Luxembourg and with the final three groups to be completed Tuesday, 19 teams, including France, are now assured of a place in next year’s expanded 24-team tournament. The draw for the playoffs takes place on Sunday. Russia booked its place with victory over Montenegro at the Otkrytie Arena in Moscow with Oleg Kuzmin scoring his first goal for his country after 33 minutes and Alexander Kokorin adding a second with a penalty shortly afterwards. Russia qualified in second place in Group G behind unbeaten Austria, with Sweden finishing third. Russia’s qualification had looked in the balance when Fabio Capello was still head coach but his replacement Leonid Slutskiy guided Russia to four wins, beginning with a vital defeat of Sweden. Slovakia collected its ticket with its win in Luxembourg while Ukraine’s faint hopes of pipping it for second spot behind defending champion Spain in Group C ended when Spain beat it 1-0 in Kiev on the pitch where Spain won the 2012 final against Italy. Full back Mario Gaspar scored with a header on his debut while Cesc Fabregas, making his 100th appearance for his country, had a penalty saved. Slovakia is now set to make its first trip to the Euros as an independent nation but had a few nervous moments after racing into a 3-0 lead. Luxembourg hit back twice before Marek Hamsik scored his second of the night in stoppage time to clinch a 4-2 win. Austria and England, both going into their last matches unbeaten, preserved those records with Austria beating Liechtenstein 3-0 in Vienna to wrap up its Group G campaign with nine wins and a draw from its 10 games, but England did even better. England won 3-0 in Lithuania to become the only team in the qualifying competition to finish with a 100 percent record after 10 successive wins to join an elite band of France (1992 and 2004 qualifying), Czech Republic (2000), Germany (2012) and Spain (2012) as the only other nations to end a Euro qualifying campaign with a perfect record.