ENGLAND became the first team to join host France at Euro 2016 after crushing San Marino 6-0 Saturday.

    Wayne Rooney’s opener from the penalty spot was his 49th international goal, tying him with Bobby Charlton as England’s all-time leading scorer.

    With a routine win against a San Marino team that included a barman, a lawyer, a pharmacist, and a student, England guaranteed its place in Euro 2016 with three games to spare and remained on course to finish group play with maximum points.

    Rooney started the match needing two goals to surpass Charlton’s record. He got one from the penalty spot in the 13th minute but was taken off just before the hour mark, denying him a chance of a second goal against a tiring home defense late on.

    He’ll get a first chance to reach 50 goals against Switzerland on Tuesday.

    “It would have been great if it had happened tonight,” Rooney said, “but it will be (great) Tuesday, if selected, with the tradition at Wembley.”

    An own goal, as well as second-half goals by Ross Barkley, Theo Walcott (two), and Harry Kane completed England’s win.

    While England secured first place in Group E, Spain pulled level on points with Slovakia and took the lead of Group C on head-to-head results.

    Switzerland roared back to beat Slovenia 3-2 and remained second at six points behind England.

    Spain got early goals from Jordi Alba and Andres Iniesta to deal Slovakia its first loss in qualifying for next summer’s tournament. Last year, Slovakia ended Spain’s 36-game unbeaten run in qualifiers.

    Also, Sweden lost star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to injury in a 1-0 defeat to Russia in Group G.

    Last year’s shock defeat at Slovakia on the heels of Spain’s poor showing at the 2014 World Cup had many wondering if it was time for coach Vicente del Bosque to start over.

    And although he promised to rejuvenate his side, a starting lineup of 11 veterans from the Brazil World Cup played like two-time European champions and could have won by a wider margin.(SD-Agencies)