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World champs held 1-1 by Lithuania

Italian forward Alberto Gilardino reacts during the Euro 2008 qualifying match against Lithuania at the San Paolo stadium in Naples on Saturday. Italy began their Euro 2008 qualifying campain with a disappointing 1-1 draw against Lithuania. PHOTO: AFP

World Cup champion Italy was held to 1-1 by Lithuania on Saturday in European Championship qualifying, and Germany, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands struggled to beat underdog opponents.

Lithuania captain Tomas Danilevicius gave his team a 21st-minute lead in Naples, Italy. The hosts, who won the World Cup less than two months ago, needed Filippo Inzaghi's 30th-minute goal to salvage a point in Group B.

A deflected shot from Lukas Podolski enabled Germany to edge Ireland 1-0 in Stuttgart, the Czech Republic needed a last-minute winner for a 2-1 victory over Wales and a goal by defender Joris Mathijsen helped the Netherlands squeeze past Luxembourg 1-0.

There were no such scares for World Cup runner-up France, England or Spain, however, while defending champion Greece began with a 1-0 victory at Moldova.

The French cruised to a 3-0 victory at Georgia while England outplayed Andorra 5-0 with Peter Crouch taking his scoring record to 10 goals in his last nine games. Spain brushed aside Liechtenstein 4-0 with David Villa scoring twice. Fernando Torres and Luis Garcia also scored in the Group F match.

Italy's surprise draw means it's in fourth place behind Scotland, Georgia and France, who all have three points. France and Italy meet in Paris on Wednesday.

"This is the reality," said Italy coach Roberto Donadoni, who was called in when Marcello Lippi resigned after the World Cup.

He said his squad is behind physically because the Italian league season doesn't start until next weekend.

"Let's move forward," Donadoni said. "Our condition can only improve. We have two days to work before Wednesday's game. Tomorrow [yesterday] we'll rest. Then Monday [today] and Tuesday [tomorrow] we're going to have to find some way to raise our energy level."

France coach Raymond Domen-ech feared the World Cup runners-up might slip up in Tbilisi against a Georgia lineup which crushed the Faeroe Islands 6-0 in its opening Group B game.

But after Florent Malouda and Louis Saha had put his team ahead 1-0 in the first 16 minutes, Domenech had no need to worry. An own-goal by Malkhaz Asatiani in the 46th completed the victory.

"This type of match is never easy," Domenech said. "Georgia are a good team. We did not take this match lightly. The fact we played well in the first half shows how much we respected the team in front of us."

In another Group B game, Kris Boyd scored two goals to help Scotland to a 5-0 lead by the 38th minute on the way to a 6-0 victory over the Faeroe Islands. The Faeroes have now conceded 12 goals in two matches.

Co-strikers Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe scored two goals each in England's predictably easy win over Andorra at Old Trafford in Group E. Steven Gerrard also hit the target and Owen Hargreaves twice hit the post as England repeatedly opened up the Andorra side, which often had all 11 players behind the ball.

The comfortable victory was another positive for England coach Steve McClaren, who took over from Sven-Goran Eriksson after England's disappointing World Cup performance.
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