Wayne Rooney became the youngest goal-scorer in European Championship history on Thursday, leading England to a 3-0 victory over Switzerland.
And Croatia almost got revenge for its 1998 World Cup semifinal loss to France, but settled for a 2-2 draw that leaves Euro 2004 Group B wide open.
Off the pitch, there was more violence in the southern beach resort of Algarve and bad news for Italy, whose star playmaker Francesco Totti was banned for three games for spitting in the face of a Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen and is likely to miss Italy's remaining Group matches and the quarterfinals, if the Azzurri qualify.
PHOTO: AP
In Coimbra, England bounced back from an injury-time loss to France by beating the 10-man Swiss behind two goals from Rooney and one from Steven Gerrard.
Rooney, aged 18 years and 7 months, headed in a cross from Michael Owen in the 23rd minute after England was outplayed early. He added a second goal with 15 minutes left. The ball struck the post so hard that it hit goalkeeper Joerg Stiel in the back bounced into the net.
Swiss defender Bernd Haas was sent off in the 60th minute for his second yellow card.
PHOTO: AP
The match was played in 30?C heat at Coimbra's Municipal stadium, which had so many England fans in the 30,000-seater ground it looked like an England home match. Security was tight, but no violence was reported before or immediately after the match.
In Leiria, an own goal by Igor Tudor midway through the first half of Croatia's game against France in Leiria seemed to have Les Bleus on course for the quarterfinals. But two goals in four minutes early in the second, a Milan Rapaic penalty and a brilliant shot by Dado Prso, turned the game.
David Trezeguet took advantage of a blunder by goalkeeper Tomislav Butina in the 64th minute to salvage a draw for France. At the 1998 World Cup, Croatia scored first but France rallied with two goals from defender Lilian Thuram.
France leads Group B with four points followed by England (3), Croatia (2) and Switzerland (1). If France beat the Swiss in the final group match on Monday, England will advance to the quarterfinals with a draw. Croatia must win to advance.
In bad news for Italy, UEFA banned Totti for his spitting incident. He is likely to miss Group C games against Sweden and Bulgaria and the quarterfinals, if Italy goes through.
Italy has until Friday to appeal the decision.
UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said the soccer body's in-house prosecutors had recommended a four-match ban and that Italy argued for a one or two-game suspension.
The verdict was based on three factors.
"First, the player's admission of guilt," Gaillard said "Second, the circumstances of the tournament, the importance and the length -- if the tournament was longer, the decision may have been different. Third, the gravity of the offense."
"We will not tolerate this type of behavior. We have not in the past and we will not in the future."
The suspension is a major blow to Italy. Totti is widely considered the team's best player and coach Giovanni Trapattoni has built his offense around him.
Without Totti, Trapattoni is likely to move Alessandro Del Piero into the playmaker role and add Antonio Cassano as a striker alongside Christian Vieri for yesterday's game against Sweden in Porto.
The southern Portuguese town of Albufeira, a vacation resort on the Algarve coast, saw more violence late on Thursday as two English were arrested in disturbances that followed England's win over Switzerland.
Earlier, police stepped up nighttime patrols in the streets and promised to act quickly against troublemakers.
An Albufeira court ordered the deportation of 44 Englishmen detained in Monday and Tuesday night's clashes. One of the Englishmen, named as 47-year-old Gary Mann, was convicted on violent public disorder charges and sentenced to two years in jail. He was to serve his sentence in England. One other man was freed.
Portuguese Interior Minister Antonio Figueiredo Lopes, who oversees the police, praised the security forces for their "very positive" work.
"Unfortunately, this type of incident can happen even without Euro 2004. All you need is for violent people to gather in one place for trouble to start," Figueiredo Lopes said.
In other security news, Police said 12 people were detained on Wednesday for selling 175 illegal tickets for Euro 2004 matches. Two of those detained were British who were allegedly trying to sell 36 tickets for the Russia-Portugal game, which the Portuguese won 2-0 to stay alive in Euro 2004.
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