Austria 1 - Spain 3

Spain took a major step towards qualifying for the finals with a good victory in Vienna. Raúl opened the scoring halfway through the first half, following up after Arsenal goalkeeper Manninger had blocked the first shot from the Real Madrid forward. Austria drew level shortly after the break when Hierro deflected Vastic's free kick into his own net, but the veteran defender made up for his mistake six minutes later, striking a free kick from the edge of the penalty area over the defensive wall and past Manniger. Luis Enrique headed the third two minutes from the end from Sergi's cross. Real Sociedad's Kuhbauer brought three good saves out of Spain's goalkeeper Cañizares with long shots.

Austria: Manniger, Hatz, Strteiter, Winklofer, Ibertsberger, Mahlich (min 60 - Schopp), Kuhbauer, Mayrleb, Kirchler (min 66 - Weissenberg), Cerny, Vastic.

Spain: Cañizares, Sergi, Michel Salgado, Hierro, Paco, Guardiola, Etxeberria (min 80 - Mendieta), Valerón (min 71 - Engonga), Luis Enrique, Raúl, Morientes (min 87 - Guerrero).

Spain 8 - Cyprus 0

Spain went in to this game needing a victory to qualify automatically for the Euro 2000 finals as group champions, but with the memory in the back of their minds of the 3-2 defeat a year ago in Cyprus which cost manager Javier Clemente his job. They shouldn't have worried however. This is a new Spain under manager José Antonio Camacho, and they ended up winning by 8-0, giving Camacho an incredible 37-2 record in his six Euro 2000 matches in charge. Without doubt the Athletic de Bilbao players were the stars of the match, with Urzaiz and Julen Guerrero scoring a hat-trick each in the first hour. César headed a seventh in his first full match for Spain, and Hierro scored the eighth, also with a header, two minutes from time. Hierro is now the second equal highest goalscorer of all time for Spain, level on 23 goals with Di Stefano and three behind Butragueño. Not bad for a defender! Raúl is not far behind however - after 26 matches, he has already scored 14. The match was played in Badajoz in Extremadura, and the players won't forget the conditions easily. As well as the heat, the ground was invaded by insects, including a plague of giant grasshoppers and mosquitoes.

Spain: Cañizares (min - 75 Toni), Michel Salgado, Hierro, César, Aranzábal, Guardiola, Etxeberria (min 45 - Munitis), Luis Enrique (min 60 - Mendieta), Guerrero, Raúl, Urzaiz.

Cyprus: Panayiotou, Costa, Pittas (min 13 - Theodolou), Nikolau (min 45 - Aristocleou), Louka, Melanarkitis, Engomitis, Christodolou, Gogic (min 87 - Ioannou), Papavasiliou, Okkas.

The Spanish under 21 squad have now gone almost four years without losing. They went very close against Cyprus last Tuesday however, with Farinós scoring from a free kick in the last minute to level at 1-1. Four days earlier they beat Austria 1-2 to qualify for the finals of the European competition.

Spain will play two friendly matches around the weekend of 14th November in preparation for next year's Euro 2000 finals. One match will be against Argentina and the other probably against either Mexico or Brazil. Spain's last match in the qualifying round of Euro 2000 against Israel on 9th October will probably be in Albacete.