Israel needed Austrian assistance to reach the Euro 2000 playoffs yesterday after their tame 3-0 defeat by Spain.

Victory over Group Six winners Spain would have guaranteed Israel second place. But they were comprehensively outplayed as goals from Fernando Morientes, Cesar Martin and Raul Gonzalez earned the hosts a comfortable win.

But Austria's 3-1 triumph over Cyprus in Vienna rendered the result in Albacete irrelevant and ensured Israel could not be caught in second place.

Israel never looked likely to end Spain's seven-match winning run in the qualifiers but their midfielder Haim Revivo attempted to put a positive spin on the performance.

"To concede just three goals away to Spain isn't such a bad result," said the Celta Vigo player.

"The coach said he would start bringing off players on yellow cards if the Austria result was going our way and we finished without any more bookings.

"We were certainly a lot calmer after we heard Cyprus were losing 2-0 at half-time and I think that showed."

Spain, meanhwhile, took their scoring tally to 42 in eight qualifiers at a rate of more than five a match.

Israel's debutant goalkeeper Dudu Awat made a decent start to his international career, handling well and dominating his area, but he was at fault for Spain's first two goals.

The first came on 30 minutes as Guerrero sent in a speculative shot from the edge of the area which skied up off a defender.

The Hapoel Haifa goalkeeper was slow to react to the loose ball, allowing Morientes to beat him with a header from close in.

Spain's second featured a similar error as Luis Enrique nodded back a Guardiola corner into the area only for Awat to be beaten in the air by the substitute Cesar.

Awat will also have been disappointed with his part in Spain's third as he could only parry an Etxeberria shot straight to Raul to tap in his 15th international goal.

In between, Israel had their best chance of the match, Spanish goalkeeper Toni Jimenez saving brilliantly from Amir Turjeman in a one-on-one.

Austria ended the dreams of Cyprus by beating them 3-1 in an ill-tempered fixture in Vienna.

The Cypriots, whose midfielders Costas Kaiafas and Milenco Spoljaric were sent off in the 31st and 45th minutes, needed a win to take second place behind Spain. Instead Israel booked the vacant berth.

Austria's Eduard Glieder opened the scoring in the fifth minute and captain Ivica Vastic made it 2-0 from a free-kick in the 23rd.

Costas Costas replied in the 63rd minute before second-half substitute Andreas Herzog, back after a seven-week absence because of an an ankle injury, made it 3-1 with a solo effort in the 81st.

Cypriot coach Stavros Papadopoulos said: "I understand the first red card but the second was unfair.

"We were considerably weakened after that and it was impossible for us to turn around the match."

Sweden scored a convincing 2-0 win over Poland on Saturday which eliminated the Poles and gave England a place in the playoffs.

Sweden, who had already won the group took the lead through Kennet Andersson after 64 minutes and were always the more impressive side. Henrik Larsson added the second in the last minute.

"It's a great feeling," said Andersson, who has been criticised in the Swedish press for failing to score enough goals.

"I was delighted to score as I haven't scored for Sweden for some time. We knew how much this match meant to England as well as us, but we didn't do anything special because of that. We just wanted to win - and we won it for us, not for England."

Larsson added: "The Poles came for a 0-0 draw and if you do that and go a goal behind it is very hard to change your tactics."

The teams produced a lacklustre first half, but the Poles, who only needed a point to take second place, rarely threatened and although they had a couple of chances in the second half, Sweden always appeared to be in control with their defence well on top of the impotent Polish attack.