France Wins in Qualifier
Defending champion France, former winner Italy and upstart Greece all moved closer to securing their places in the 2004 European Championship Saturday, but Germany again came up short.
On a day of 20 qualifying matches throughout Europe, France thumped Cyprus, 5-0, in Paris, with David Trezeguet and Sylvain Wiltord each getting two goals and Thierry Henry scoring once.
France needs only to tie Slovenia in Ljabljana, Slovenia, on Wednesday to become the first team to join host and automatic qualifier Portugal in the 16-nation finals.
Italy avenged a 2-1 loss to Wales in Cardiff last October with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Wales in Milan. Filippo Inzaghi scored a second-half hat trick, all the goals coming in an 11-minute span, and Alessandro Del Piero got the fourth goal on a penalty kick.
Greece upended Armenia, 1-0, at Yerevan, Armenia, on a goal by Zisis Vryzas and needs to defeat only Northern Ireland at home on Oct. 11 to qualify for Euro 2004.
The Greeks have not reached the European Championship since 1980.
Germany Woes
Germany, the 2002 World Cup runner-up and winner of the European Championship as recently as 1996, continued its stumbling path toward Euro 2004 by gaining a point in a 0-0 tie against Iceland in Reykjavik.
The unimpressive result brought immediate sharp criticism from the German media and a quick response from Germany Coach Rudi Voeller.
“I have to stand behind my team,” Voeller said. “I can’t stand to hear this any more about ‘another low point’ for German football. We have to work harder.”
Rooney-Mania
Wayne Rooney, at 17 years 317 days, became the youngest player to score a goal for England as he and David Beckham earned Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team a 2-1, come-from-behind victory over Macedonia and kept alive English hopes of reaching Portugal.
Georgi Hristov had given Macedonia an early lead in the game played at Skopje, Macedonia, but Rooney tied it in the second half and Beckham won it with a penalty kick.
The match was marred by racist abuse aimed at some English players by Macedonian fans, and Beckham said that he was spat on and verbally abused by unidentified Macedonia players, one of whom allegedly told him: “Be careful, you’ll die tonight.”
World Cup 2006
South American qualifying for the Germany 2006 World Cup began Saturday and the first day produced the first surprise.
Argentina, seeking to bounce back from its first-round exit at Korea/Japan ‘02, built a 2-0 lead over Chile in Buenos Aires on the strength of first-half goals by Kily Gonzalez and Pablo Aimar, but its neighbor then fought back to earn a 2-2 tie.
Milovan Mirosevic cut the deficit in half and Reinaldo Navia tied it up in a rough encounter that saw three players ejected in the closing minutes. But Chile was celebrating at the end.
“I can’t think of a better start than this,” said goalkeeper Nelson Tapia.
In Quito, Ecuador, meanwhile, Ecuador got its 18-game campaign off on the right foot by defeating Venezuela, 2-0, with Giovanni Espinoza and Carlos Tenorio providing the goals.
Peru beat Paraguay, 4-1.
Quick Passes
Australian Basil Scarsella resigned as president of the Oceania Football Confederation after a vote of no confidence in his leadership by Oceania board members passed, 6-5, in Auckland, New Zealand. “When you don’t have the numbers, it would be pointless and, I would say, counterproductive to attempt to lead a group of people who are divided,” Scarsella said.
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
