Defending champion France led the first four qualifiers into next year's European Championships on Wednesday by winning 2-0 at Slovenia.
Sweden, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic also made it to Euro 2004, the Czechs scoring an impressive 3-1 victory over the Netherlands to leave the star-studded Dutch to try and qualify for the runners up playoffs.
Goals by David Trezeguet and Olivier Dacourt maintained France's perfect record of seven wins and the team goes to Portugal full of confidence despite its inept defense of the World Cup last year. The only sour note was the ejection of Claude Makelele in the second half for two yellow cards.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"This was the toughest match for us so far," France coach Jacques Santini said. "We let go a little for 20 minutes in the first half, but after putting two or three little things into place at halftime, I think that the win is deserved, and of course so is the qualification."
Jan Koller scored an early penalty and Karel Poborsky and Milan Baros netted the other goals as the Czechs outplayed the Dutch in Prague.
Rafael Van der Vaart replied with the Netherlands already 2-0 down and playing with 10 men after the 14th minute ejection of Edgar Davids for two yellow cards.
Although the Dutch can still catch the Czechs for points, they have an inferior head-to-head record having been held 1-1 at home in March.
"This squad deserved to win," Czech captain Pavel Nedved said. "We did our best and scored some wonderful goals."
Sweden scored a 2-0 victory over Poland in Warsaw to ensure it finished top of Group 4 with strikes by Mikael Nilsson and Olof Mellberg.
The achievement means that the Swedes have qualified for their last three international tournaments including Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup and are unbeaten in 25 qualifying games under joint coaches Tommy Soderberg and Lars Lagerback.
Bulgaria gained a 3-0 win at Andorra and guaranteed finishing top of Group 8 because Croatia lost 2-1 at Belgium.
Dimitar Berbatov netted twice for the Bulgarians in Andorra but they also had Belgian striker Wesley Sonck to thank for two strikes in Brussels.
The Bulgarians have 17 points from seven games and an unbeatable four-point lead over Croatia and Belgium who are now fighting over the playoff spot. The Croats face Bulgaria in their final match Oct. 11, while Belgium takes on Estonia.
World Cup runner up Germany edged Scotland 2-1 to jump to the top of Group 5 above Iceland which was idle. Rudi Voeller's team, slammed by the German media after a 0-0 tie with Iceland on Saturday, now leads by two points with a four-point advantage over the Scots. The Germans host Iceland in their final match Oct. 11.
Italy should have been joining the other four teams into the finals but conceded a late equalizer in a 1-1 tie at Serbia-Montenegro.
After Filippo Inzaghi, who scored three times against Wales on Saturday, had put the Italians ahead in Belgrade, Sasa Ilic leveled for the home team eight minutes from the end.
Wales also threw away two points when it was held 1-1 at home by Finland and that means Italy remains a point ahead of Mark Hughes' Welsh team with a game to go. The odds remains heavily in favor of Giovanni Trapattoni's team who go to last place Azerbaijan while the Welsh host the Serbs.
Spain can still win the group if it wins in Armenia on Oct. 11 and Greece fails to beat bottom-place Northern Ireland at home the same day. Northern Ireland, which lost 1-0 at home to Armenia, has now gone 19 hours without scoring.
Despite Andriy Shevchenko's goal in the 84th minute Ukraine can't qualify so that the top two spots are between Greece and Spain.
The 2-2 tie between Denmark and Romania in Copenhagen left the two teams tied on 14 points atop Group 2. With the Romanians without any further games, it's all down to the Danes' visit to third place Bosnia-Herzegovena.
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Ninad Malwade was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
This year’s Taiwan Athletics Open, which offers Taiwanese athletes an opportunity to compete against their international peers, would be held under a new name after its organizers had earlier announced the event’s cancelation. In a statement issued yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association said the competition would still take place on June 6-7 at Banciao Stadium, but under the name “New Taipei City Athletics Open 2026.” The event was given a new name to emphasize its local identity and conform with the international practice of naming World Athletics Tour events after cities, the association said. It said it would soon
Taiwanese shortstop Cheng Tsung-che on Friday made history for the Boston Red Sox’s Triple A affiliate, hitting the Worcester Red Sox’s first cycle, while netting two runs, as they beat fellow Taiwan teammate Stuart Fairchild’s Columbus Clippers. The 24-year-old former Pittsburgh Pirates prospect went 4-4, completing a full cycle, starting with a triple in the second inning off Ryan Webb in the WooSox’s 9-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians’ Triple A affiliate. He scored in the same inning after teammate Vinny Capra, a fellow former Pirate, grounded out. The Pingtung County native followed that up with a walk in the third, an
RSS