Tallinn, Estonia (SportsNetwork.com) - Wayne Rooney fired home an excellent free kick on Sunday to lift England to a 1-0 victory over Estonia in Group E of European Championship qualifying.
After an absolutely abysmal showing at the World Cup in Brazil over the summer, the Three Lions entered the qualifying cycle for the 2016 Euros with something to prove and they've gotten off to a fine start with wins over Switzerland and San Marino prior to Sunday.
It was a largely frustrating evening for Roy Hodgson's team as they struggled to break down a stout Estonian defense, but relief for England arrived in the 73rd minute when Liverpool man Raheem Sterling was fouled on the edge of the penalty area, setting up the set-piece opportunity.
Rooney stepped up and whipped it over the wall and into the net at the near post past Estonia goalkeeper Sergey Pareiko.
The result keeps the Three Lions atop Group E with nine points from three games, while Estonia remains on three points through three matches.
Also in Group E on Sunday, Milivoje Novakovic scored twice in a span of four first-half minutes as Slovenia rolled to a 2-0 victory over Lithuania.
In Group C play, David Silva, Diego Costa, Francisco Alcacer and Juan Bernat all found the back of the net as Spain rebounded from a shock loss to Slovakia with a 4-0 thrashing of Luxembourg, while Marek Hamsik scored twice and Stanislav Sestak added a third goal to lift Slovakia to a 3-1 win over Belarus.
Finally in Group C, Serhiy Sydorchuk netted the winner on the stroke of halftime to hand Ukraine a 1-0 win over Macedonia.
In Group G. Erkan Zengin and Jimmy Durmaz scored on either side of the intermission to help Sweden claim a 2-0 result against Liechtenstein.
Rubin Okotie struck after 24 minutes to carry Austria to a 1-0 victory over Montenegro, while Artem Dzyuba and Alexandru Epureanu swapped goals as Russia and Moldova played to a 1-1 draw.
