LONDON, 6 September 2004 — Sweden made no mistake with a 7-0 flier over Malta but other big guns including European champions Greece, former champions France, England, Denmark and Turkey all failed to successfully take off when the serious World Cup qualifying action began across Europe on Saturday.
Sweden crushed Malta in their opening Group Eight match in Ta’Qali with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring four times including a hat trick in the opening 14 minutes.
But Greece, playing their first competitive match since being crowned European champions in July, crashed 2-1 at northern neighbors Albania whose fans celebrated the Group Two victory as if they had qualified for the finals themselves.
France, who just over two years ago were world and European champions, are proving those days are well behind them following the international retirements of Zinedine Zidane and a host of his glittering colleagues from the recent past.
They were held to a 0-0 draw by Israel in Paris in their opening Group Four match and despite dominating most of the play no-one could find the golden key that Zidane used to keep to unlock a tightly regimented defense.
England, seeking to restore the glories of long-ago rather than maintain any recent successes, appeared to be heading for victory in their opening Group Six match by leading Austria 2-0 with 19 minutes to play in Vienna but ended up drawing 2-2.
Denmark and Turkey, who have both impressed in the last few years without winning any major honors, also failed to start their campaigns with what looked probable Group Two home wins. Denmark were held to a 1-1 draw in Copenhagen by Ukraine, while Turkey drew by the same score with Georgia in their game in Trabzon.
But Italy, starting a competitive match under new coach Marcello Lippi for the first time, had something to celebrate. They managed a 2-1 Group Five win over Norway in Palermo thanks to an 80th minute winner from substitute Luca Toni, who plays for the newly-promoted local Serie A club. It was Norway’s first defeat in nine matches and came even after they had taken a 42-second lead through John Carew.
Switzerland were one of the other big winners — thumping Faroe Islands 6-0 in Basel with Johann Vonlanthen and Alexander Rey both scoring hat tricks in their Group Four encounter. Estonia, often on the end of some sizable defeats, also had a good day, crushing Luxembourg 4-0 in Tallinn to top Group Three after two matches, although they will find things tougher when they travel to play Portugal .
The Portuguese, re-adjusting to life after losing the Euro 2004 final to Greece in Lisbon two months ago, had a good start by beating Latvia 2-0 in Group Three in Riga. Cristiano Ronaldo and Pauleta scored the goals in a two-minute second-half spell.
In Kingston, veteran striker Julio Dely Valdes scored an injury-time winner as Panama beat ten-man Jamaica 2-1 in their World Cup qualifier on Saturday, leaving the Reggae Boyz bottom of their group. The 37-year-old scored in the second minute of stoppage time to silence a partisan 24,500 crowd that had expected a comfortable home win. Roberto Brown had given Panama the lead in the second minute before substitute Damani Ralph equalized in the 77th.
In Foxboro, Massachusetts, little used forward Brian Ching led America to a 2-0 win over a short-handed El Salvador in a World Cup qualifying game here Saturday. Ching’s goal in the fifth minute gave the home team a much needed boost in the game, which was marked by an ejection, aggressive play and a brawl.
Ching, who salvaged a tie against Jamaica last month with a goal in the 89th minute, has two scores in four appearances. Landon Donovan added the insurance in the 69th minute, sending home 25,266 happy fans.
Amado Guevara scored from the penalty spot to earn Honduras a 1-1 draw against Canada in CONCACAF qualifying action in Edmonton on Saturday.
Ipswich Town defender Jason deVos had appeared to give Canada a much-needed victory to put their qualifying campaign back on track when he headed home Iain Hume’s cross in the 82nd minute.
However, Guevara equalized six minutes later after he was deemed to have been brought down by Canadian defender Mark Watson in the penalty area.
Canada appeared to retake the lead in the dying seconds when Olivier Occean swept the ball past goalkeeper Noel Valladares following a scramble in front of the Honduran net. But the home side’s joy turned to despair when the referee disallowed the goal for a foul in the build up.
In Kinshasa, a mazy run through the South African defense by substitute Mbutu Mbala in the final minutes of their World Cup qualifier set up the Democratic Republic of Congo for a hard-fought 1-0 victory. Mbala dispossessed South African defender Neil Winstanley, then ran around him and central back Mbulelo Mabizela to pass to Kabamba Musasa who converted the opportunity three minutes from time in the African qualifying zone Group Two match.
