France appears ready for this summer's Euro 2004 Championship after a 2-0 friendly victory on Wednesday at neighbor Belgium.
The defending champions won in Brussels as Sidney Govou scored in first-half injury time and Manchester United striker Louis Saha clinched the victory with a 75th-minute strike. It was Saha's first match for Les Bleus.
PHOTO: EPA
Govou collected a deflected ball in the area and scored with an angled drive from the right. Playmaker Zinedine Zidane set up Saha's goal with a perfect pass before 48,000 fans at King Baudouin stadium.
PHOTO: EPA
With Euro 2004 only four months away, 15 of the 16 qualifiers were in action across Europe with Russia the only idle team.
In a showdown between two teams headed to the June 12-July 4 championship, Germany defeated Croatia 2-1 on a second-half injury-time goal by Carsten Ramelow.
Miroslav Klose gave Germany a first-half lead against the run of play, but Ramelow got the winner after Mato Neretljak scored a late equalizer.
In another match between qualifiers, the Czech Republic stayed unbeaten in 20 games as it drew Italy 2-2 in Palermo, Sicily. Tomas Rosicky equalized for the Czechs in the 89th.
Christian Vieri gave Italy an early lead but the Czechs rallied each time. Antonio Di Natale scored Italy's other goal and Jiri Stajner did the same for his side.
Portugal and England drew 1-1 in the southern city of Faro as each team prepares for the summer tournament.
England took a 1-0 lead when defender Ledley King -- in his debut for England -- deflected the ball home in the 47th off a David Beckham free kick. Pauleta knotted the match 1-1 on a perfect free kick that curled in over the outstretched right hand of 'keeper David James.
Other qualifiers for the continental championship including the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Greece and Latvia picked up victories in friendlies.
Arjen Robben scored in the 56th as the Dutch defeated the US 1-0 in Amsterdam. It was the first time the Americans had a full-strength team since reaching the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup.
The speedy Robben took the ball on the left wing and headed it past US defender Frankie Hejduk. He then drove it home to the right of sliding goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
Denmark won 1-0 at non-qualifier Turkey on Martin Jorgensen's winner in the 32nd. In the match at Adana in southern Turkey, Inter Milan's Thomas Helveg provided the winning cross.
The victory came as Turkey's coach Senol Gunes reshuffled his team after Turkey failed to reach this summer's championship.
Playing in Barcelona, Spain defeated Peru 2-1 after Nolberto Solano gave the Latin Americans a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Ten minutes later, Joseba Etsebarria scored and Ruben Baraja added another a minute later.
In a showdown between two teams bound for the tournament in Portugal, Greece defeated Bulgaria 2-0 to stay unbeaten in 14 games. It was Greece's 10th win in 14 under German coach Otto Rehhagel. Dimitris Papadopoulos and Zissis Vryzas scored for Greece.
Latvia, a surprise qualifier, won 3-1 over Kazakhstan in a match played in Larnaca, Cyprus. Jurijs Laizan scored two and Marian Pahars scored the other. Youri Assenov gave Kazakhstan a lead after only 24 minutes.
In an upset, non-qualifier Albania defeated qualifier Sweden 2-1 to hand the Swedes their fourth straight defeat.
Sweden took a 1-0 lead on Stefan Selakovic's goal in the 50th. But Ervin Skela, who plays for Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga, equalized in the 68th and Ardian Aliaj scored the winner in the 75th.
In a friendly between two teams that failed to qualify, host Poland defeated Slovenia 2-0. Sebastian Mila and Andrzej Niedzielan scored for Poland.
Morocco, losing finalist to Tunisia in the African Nations Cup, defeated Switzerland 2-1.
In an interesting but lackluster matchup in Dublin, Ireland, World Cup champion Brazil -- playing at full strength -- was held to a 0-0 draw by the Irish.
In Belfast, Norway hammered Northern Ireland 4-1 with two goals from Morten Pedersen. David Healy scored in the 56th to end Northern Ireland's goal drought, which reached 1,298 minutes.
World cup qualifiers
South Korea and Japan started strong in their opening World Cup qualifiers, while Palestine recorded the biggest win by trouncing Taiwan 8-0.
South Korea, which reached the semifinals at the 2002 World Cup, blanked Lebanon 2-0 Wednesday while Japan topped Oman 1-0.
China, another World Cup finals participant, nipped Kuwait 1-0, while Saudi Arabia defeated Indonesia 3-0.
In first-leg matches in the CONCACAF region, it was: Antigua and Barbuda 2, Netherlands Antilles 0; Haiti 5, Turks and Caicos Islands 0; and US Virgin Islands 0, St. Kitts and Nevis 4.
In Seoul, forward Cha Du-ri scored South Korea's first goal in the 32nd minute, heading in a low-flying pass from Lee Young-pyo.
Cho Byung-kuk made it 2-0 in the 50th minute with a header off a corner pass from Park Ji-sung.
In Saitama, Japan, substitute Tatsuhiko Kubo scored three minutes into injury time as Japan squeaked past Oman 1-0.
With just over a minute remaining, Kubo picked up a loose ball in front of the net and fired past Oman goalkeeper Ali Abdullah Harib Al Habsi as Japan took advantage of a defensive breakdown by their opponents.
Japan, with several Europe-based stars on the roster, looked disorganized in the second half and narrowly escaped an embarrassing 0-0 draw on home soil.
In Guangzhou, China, veteran striker Hao Haidong headed the ball into an open net in the 74th minute to lead China past 10-man Kuwait 1-0.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim al-Sewid scored two goals as Saudi Arabia beat Indonesia 3-0 in Group 8 at Riyadh's King Fahd stadium.
Palestine 8, Taiwan 0
Palestine's Safwan Habiab and Roberto Besee scored two goals each to help their team beat an inexperienced Taiwan side 8-0 on Wednesday in their Asian Zone Group 2 World Cup qualifier played in Doha, Qatar.
Palestine, who for security reasons will play their three home games at neutral venues, had an easy ride as they started only their second World Cup qualifying campaign since they joined world soccer's governing body FIFA in 1998.
They opened the scoring through Ziad Al Kord after just eight minutes and had cruised into a 4-0 lead by halftime after a double from Habiab (20 and 32 minutes) and another goal a minute before the break from Edgardo Montero.
Besee got the first of his two eight minutes into the second half before three goals in a late five minute spell from Taysir Amir (83), Besee again (84) and substitute Ahmed Keshkesh (87) rounded off a convincing victory.
Palestine's Austrian coach Alfred Reidl was delighted with the way his team had started their qualifiers on a bumpy pitch at the Al Wakrah stadium 20km outside the Qatari capital in a match watched by fewer than 500 spectators.
"It was a good win for us, a good start to our campaign. It took us 10 to 15 minutes to settle down but once the boys clicked there was no stopping them," he said.
"I am sure [Taiwan] will be a different side when we go there to play the return leg. We know our areas of weakness and we will have to sharpen them up," he added.
Taiwan coach Lee Po-Houng said his team had only two weeks to train together and some practices were cancelled due to rain.
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