HAMBURG, 1 June 2004 — Italy managed to beat African champions Tunisia 4-0 in Tunis, while Denmark were held to a 2-2 draw in Tallinn by Estonia in warm-up matches for Euro 2004 on Sunday.
In Tunis, Italy played their last game before the start of their Euro campaign and the Azzurri found themselves one up after 15 minutes from an own goal by midfielder Riadh Bouazizi, who nodded the ball past his keeper Ali Boumnijel as he attempted to prevent Italy's top striker Christian Vieri from scoring.
The Inter Milan striker fired wide from an angled position on 19 minutes and fullback Fabio Cannavaro, also from Inter, scored Italy's second eight minutes later off a corner kick.
In other matches played on Sunday, Euro finalists Denmark were held to a 2-2 by Estonia in Tallinn. AC Milan striker Jon Dahl Tomasson opened the scoring for the visitors midway through the first half. The home side equalized with 15 minutes to go through Kristin Viikmae.
Denmark thought they secured a morale-boosting victory four minutes later, when Kenneth Perez found the back of the net, but Joel Lindpere's goal in injury time gave the home side a deserved share of the spoils.
In Edinburgh, beleaguered Scotland coach Berti Vogts did a bit more to silence his critics by guiding the Brave Hearts to a 4-1 victory against Trinidad & Tobago.
The Scots were four goals up at half-time through Darren Fletcher (6 minutes) Gary Holt (14), Gary Caldwell (24) and Nigel Quashie (35). The visitors replied ten minutes after the restart through Stern John.
In Wrexham, Paul Parry scored in the 21st minute to give Wales a 1-0 victory against Canada, while Japan came from behind in Manchester to beat Iceland 3-2. Heidar Helguson gave Iceland the lead after five minutes, before Tatsuhiko Kubo equalized in the 21st. He added a second 15 minutes later to give the Asians the lead.
Five minutes after the restart, Helguson scored his second to bring Iceland back on level terms, but a penalty scored by Brazilian-born Alessandro Santos in the 57th minute, gave Japan victory.
Iceland had Brynjar Gunnarsson sent off eight minutes from the end.
Brighton Bounce Back With 1-0 Playoff Victory
In London, Brighton bounced straight back into the English first division with a 1-0 victory over Bristol City in the second division playoff final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Sunday.
A Leon Knight penalty seven minutes from time was enough for the south coast side to return to England's second flight, from which they were relegated last year. After 83 minutes of deadlock, City defender Daniel Coles clearly brought down Brighton striker Chris Iwelumo and Knight, who had scored 26 goals in all competitions this season before Sunday, calmly put the ball past Steve Phillips.
