Italian prospects look bleak after draw

England's Micah Richards, fourth left, jumps to head a goal against Israel during their Euro 2008 Group E qualifying match at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

AP, LONDON

Italy's of reaching next year's European Championships now look a lot less bright, and England's look much better after the latest round of qualifying matches on Saturday.

The World Cup winners, playing France for the second time since beating Les Bleus on penalties last year in Germany, were held to a 0-0 draw, dropping them into third place in Group B with four matches to go.

England, however, successfully completed the first step of their six-point plan by beating Israel 3-0. The other three points in the plan could come on Wednesday, when England host Russia in a key Group E match that is likely to leave one of the two teams facing elimination.

Iceland Malta produced the biggest surprises on Saturday. Iceland held Spain to a 1-1 draw, and Malta held 2002 World Cup semi-finalists Turkey to a 2-2 draw.

Emil Hallfredsson put Iceland ahead in the 40th minute, but Andres Iniesta equalized in the 86th minute. In Malta, Brian Said and Andre Schembri each gave the hosts the lead, but Halil Altintop equalized first for Turkey and Servet Cetin again in the 78th minute.

Filippo Inzaghi, left, of Italy shoots against France during their Euro 2008 Group B qualifying match in the San Siro-Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan, Italy, on Saturday. PHOTO: EPA

Neither Italy nor France could make much headway against the other.

Gianluigi Buffon and Italy's solid defense proved too good for France forwards Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka, and Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi were too slow at the other end.

Italy not beaten France without the help of penalties since the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. The Azzurri won last year's World Cup final in a shootout, then lost in France 3-1 in Euro 2008 qualifying.

France Group B with 19 points. Scotland, who defeated Lithuania 3-1, are next with 18 points, followed by Italy with 17. Only the top two teams in each of the seven groups qualify along with co-hosts Austria and Switzerland.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Owen and Micah Richards each scored for England against Israel.

Wright-Phillips, who scored his first competitive international goal, made it 1-0 in the 20th minute with a volley after Joe Cole's cross. Owen added another in the 49th minute -- his 38th goal in 85 international appearances -- and Richards scored his first England goal in the 66th minute, jumping to head in a corner from Gareth Barry.

England 17 points from eight games and Israel have 17 from nine.

Russia improved to 18 points by beating Macedonia with goals from Vasiliy Berezutskiy, Andrei Arshavin and Alexander Kerzhakov.

The Russians scored twice after being to reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute when goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov was sent off for fouling Goran Maznov.

Vyacheslav Malafeyev, who came on for striker Dmitry Sychev, blocked Igor Mitreski's ensuing penalty kick and Maznov's header off the rebound.

Miroslav Klose, playing as Germany's captain for the first time, scored both goals in his team's 2-0 win in Wales.

Klose in the 34th and 60th minutes as Germany stayed five points ahead of the Czech Republic at the top of Group D.

Bastian Schweinsteiger nearly added another goal in the 56th minute, but his shot grazed the crossbar.

The Czech Republic got goals from Tomas Rosicky, Marek Jankulovski and Jan Koller in a 3-0 win over 10-man San Marino.

Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a goal each to help the Netherlands beat Bulgaria 2-0. Sneijder put the Dutch ahead in the 23rd minute with a free kick from 20m, and Van Nistelrooy added a goal in the 58th minute with a shot from close range.

Van Nistelrooy was playing in his first competitive match for the Netherlands since last year's World Cup.

The Netherlands moved into the second place in Group G, three points behind Romania, who beat Belarus 3-1. Bulgaria dropped to third.

Portugal were held to their second straight qualifying draw, this time 2-2 with visiting Poland.

Jacek Krzynowek scored the final goal for Poland in the 88th minute. Mariusz Lewandowski also scored for Poland, while Maniche and Cristiano Ronaldo scored for the hosts.

Poland Group A with 20 points, two more than Finland, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Serbia. Portugal are third with 16 points, one more than Serbia.

Northern Ireland, who had been a surprise in qualifying after beating both Spain and Sweden in Group F, lost 1-0 to Latvia.

Sweden, who were held to a 0-0 draw by visiting Denmark, lead Group F with 19 points, three more than Northern Ireland and Spain.

The other results on Saturday were: Georgia 1, Ukraine 1; Hungary 1, Bosnia-Herzegovina 0; Luxembourg 0, Slovenia 3; Moldova 0, Norway 1; and Slovakia 2, Ireland 2.