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Northern Ireland upsets Spain in draw

Spain fell out of first place in its Euro 2004 qualifying group after a surprising 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland on Wednesday.

The result capped a miserable five days for the Spaniards, who lost 1-0 at home to Greece on Saturday. Greece now leads Group 6 with 12 points -- one more than Spain -- after beating Ukraine 1-0 Wednesday. Ukraine is third with nine points.

Northern Ireland, which hasn't won in 11 games and hasn't scored in 10, is last with two points.

Spain had the first good chance of the match, but striker Raul's shot was saved by Fulham's Maik Taylor. In the 10th minute, Spanish 'keeper Iker Casillas was forced to make a good save off Tommy Doherty, pushing Doherty's lob from meters over the bar. Casillas then stopped a George McCartney header in the 14th minute.

Later in the first half, Taylor make saves to stop Raul and Josebo Etxeberria. Casillas foiled David Healy on a counterattack in the 64th minute and Andrew Smith -- making his competitive debut -- had his rebound deflected away from goal.

Brazil 3, Nigeria 0

A youthful Brazilian team handily defeated an equally inexperienced Nigerian side 3-0 on Wednesday.

Brazil, led by dribbling Paris Saint-Germain star playmaker Ronaldinho, thoroughly dominated the home side Super Eagles, which struggled to test the Brazilian goalkeeper despite being cheered on by a large partisan crowd at the recently-inaugurated national stadium in the West African capital, Abuja. Brazil stars Ronaldo and Rivaldo were missing.

Corinthians forward Gil opened the scoring in the 34th minute on an intercepted pass from a Nigerian defender. Villarreal defender Belletti notched the second four minutes later on a pass from forward Luis Fabiano.

Brazil put on the pressure in the final minutes of the first half, narrowly missing several good chances on the net. The South Americans finally struck net again in the late second half when Adriano scored on a rebound off the Nigerian goalkeeper.

Nigeria, led by Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu, rarely tested Brazil's defense.
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