France, the 1998 world champions, suffered an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to lowly Austria to endure a nightmare start to their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Reputations counted for little when star-studded France were defeated by less-fancied Austria in their 2010 World Cup qualifierFrance, the 1998 world champions, suffered an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to lowly Austria to endure a nightmare start to their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.
On a night when reputations counted for little, defending champions Italy needed a last-minute goal to beat Cyprus 2-1 while England could only defeat little Andorra, the 186th team in the world rankings, 2-0.
Elsewhere, European champions Spain managed a 1-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina but Germany went on a goal rampage demolishing Liechtenstein 6-0 while 2006 World Cup semi-finalists Portugal saw off Malta 4-0.
After a dismal Euro 2008 finals, where they failed to get out of the group stages, France again hit the rocks with a 3-1 group seven loss in Vienna against Austria with the defeat again throwing the future of coach Raymond Domenech into doubt.
Goals by Marc Janko and Rene Aufhauser before the break put the hosts firmly in front but Sidney Govou got one back for France on the hour.
“It’s difficult to analyse what happened immediately. I will have to look at the match again to see what exactly happened,” said Domenech. “What disappointed me the most? To have lost.”
Last minute win for ItalyIn Larnaca, defending champions Italy needed a last-minute goal to eke out a 2-1 victory against lowly Cyprus in Group Eight. Antonio Di Natale, with his second of the night, secured an undeserved three points after Cyprus had ran Italy ragged at times on a balmy Mediterranean evening.
Portugal dominate MaltaPortugal saw off little Malta 4-0 to top group one but it was only late in the game that they really dominated. A Brian said own-goal gave the Portuguese, with Carlos Queiros having succeeded Luiz Felipe Scolari at the helm, a 25th-minute lead before Hugo Almeida, Simao and Nani added to the total in the last 30 minutes.
It is Villa again Spain, with Vicente del Bosque having taken over from Luis Aragones, opened their group five campaign with a 1-0 win over Bosnie-Herzegovina in Murcia. Missing the injured Fernando Torres and David Silva, they needed a 58th-minute goal from David Villa, who had missed a first-half penalty to secure the three points.
Liechtenstein hit for a sixIn group four, striker Lukas Podolski gave the perfect answer to last week’s accusation of “whining” with two goals as Germany beat Liechtenstein 6-0. The 23-year-old Bayern Munich forward struck either side of half-time to lead Germany’s charge and he has now scored 30 goals for his country in 56 matches.
Only the nine group winners are assured of places in the finals with the eight best runners-up playing off for the remaining four spots.
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