International duo on target at weekend

Freddie Ljungberg and James Collins both scored in Euro 2008 qualifying action on Saturday night while Christian Dailly has plenty of reason to be cheerful.

Sweden captain Ljungberg will be confident of being involved in Europe's elite national-team competition next June after helping his country to a 3-0 victory at minnows Liechtenstein. Ljungberg got the ball rolling in the 19th minute with a drilled effort from the edge of the area.

The midfielder had to go off in the 39th minute as a precautionary measure after picking up a slight knock to his left calf but is still set to feature when George McCartney's third-placed Northern Ireland travel to Stockholm on Wednesday night. With three games to go, Sweden top Group F and are six points ahead of their midweek opponents.

Dailly came on in the 60th minute for Scotland and helped them win 3-1 at home against Ukraine. The 33-year-old was introduced with the Scots leading 2-1 and took up a holding midfield position just in front of the back four. The defence shored up, Scotland moved two goals clear of their opponents within eight minutes and hung on for victory four days before they go to Georgia on Wednesday night. It leaves them clear of France and Italy at the top of Group B and, with the top two ultimately going through to Austria and Switzerland, Dailly has every chance of playing at next summer's finals.

Towering defender Collins scored the first international goal of his career with a neat right-foot shot from a free-kick in in the 20th minute in Nicosia against Cyprus. However, that was to be as good as it got for John Toshack's men as Collins lasted only 43 minutes before being substituted with a calf injury before Cyprus struck three times in the second half to claim a 3-1 victory.

Better news for West Ham United was that Craig Bellamy and Collins' defensive partner Danny Gabbidon both played the full 90 minutes for Wales ahead of the trip to San Marino on Wednesday, although Collins will not be available. Bellamy was in action for the first time since West Ham's 3-0 win against Middlesbrough on 15 September while Gabbidon got a full game for the second time in seven days, having played in the 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa.