HAMBURG, 20 February 2004 — Ireland held world champions Brazil to a goalless draw in Dublin Wednesday while a superb free kick by Pauleta saved Portugal’s blushes against England.
In other matches, Germany needed a late goal from Carsten Ramelow to overcome Croatia 2-1 while Spain edged Peru by the same scoreline in Barcelona and defending European champions France had a comfortable 2-0 win over Belgium.
Luis Figo celebrated his 100th cap for Portugal but it was his teammate Pauleta who drew the biggest cheer of the night with the equalizer in a 1-1 draw.
Pauleta scored his 28th international goal with a superb curling free kick in the 70th minute after Luis Boa Morte was fouled on the edge of the area by Nicky Butt.
The goal canceled out Ledley King’s strike early in the second half and gave the capacity 30,000 crowd a rare moment of drama in an otherwise forgettable encounter.
Meanwhile, Brazil could only manage a 0-0 result against Ireland in a game which saw Gilberto Silva replaced after only 13 minutes as a result of a crunching tackle by Stoke City midfielder Graham Kavanagh.
Brazil, playing in their new lightweight strip, dominated possession and nearly took the lead in the 40th minute but Real Madrid star Ronaldo’s well struck shot from 18 meters out drifted wide of the left-hand post.
It was Ireland who came closest to breaking the deadlock against the run of play just before the break when Stephen Carr found himself one on one with Dida six meters out but the Tottenham Hotspur defender’s effort was well saved.
Ronaldo came more and more into the game in the second period and had a fine effort saved by Given on 74 minutes before the ball found its way to Ronaldinho who clipped the top of the bar with his effort.
In a frantic finish, AC Milan’s Kaka could have won it but for a fine tackle from Andy O’Brien. France celebrated their 14th straight win in rainy Brussels as Manchester United newcomer Louis Saha had a dream debut, setting up Sydney Govou for the opener in first-half injury time.
Saha then tucked away his first international goal 15 minutes from the end after Zinedine Zidane had carved open the Belgian defense.
Meanwhile in Split, Ramelow struck with a deflected last-minute shot as visiting Germany got a lucky 2-1 victory.
Ramelow’s 90th-minute shot from the edge of the area was deflected by a defender into the right corner, just four minutes after Croatia had leveled from Mato Neretljak’s header after a blunder from Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.
Germany had earlier led from Miroslav Klose’s 34th-minute tap-in in front of a small 15,000-strong crowd. Spain came from behind to score a gratifying 2-1 win over Peru in a pleasant friendly played in Barcelona.
To the delight of the 15,000 Peruvian fans in the Montjuic Olympic stadium, Aston Villa’s Nolberto Solano shot the visitors ahead in the 20th minute with a fierce right-foot drive from the edge of the box.
It looked as if Spain were in for a difficult night. But within twelve minutes they had turned the result around against the run of play.
The key man in this process was left winger Vicente Rodriguez. In the 30th minute he centerd from the left for Joseba Etxeberria to volley in a spectacular equalizer. Just two minutes later Vicente switched to the right and put over another clever cross, this time headed in by Valencia teammate Ruben Baraja.
In Palermo, Italy and the visiting Czech Republic drew 2-2 with Christian Vieri opening the scoring with his 20th goal for Azzurri. The Czechs, however, managed a deserved equalizer through Jiri Stajner on 41 minutes.
The guests took control of the game in the second half but fell behind on 85 minutes through a 12-meter header by Antonio Di Natale.
The lead, however, lasted only for two minutes as Tomas Rosicky surprised substitute Italian keeper Francesco Toldo with a drive from the edge of the area.
In early matches, Euro 2004 finalists Latvia defeated Kazakhstan 3-1 at a tournament in Cyprus while Romania downed Georgia 3-0 in Larnaca, which was part of the same tournament, from a double by Adrian Mutu in the 29th and 69th minute and a late effort by Florin Cernat.
