Wiltord saves Les Bleus blushes

By James Whelan

DEFENDING champions France started their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign with a stuttering 2-1 win over Cyprus in Nicosia on Saturday.

The Cypriots took a stunning early lead through striker Giannis Okkas, but goals from Djibril Cisse and Sylvain Wiltord overturned the deficit for Les Bleus.

Arsenal striker Wiltord made his goal out of nothing, picking the ball up 30 yards from goal and ending a fine run with a magnificent strike into the top corner.

There was late excitement in Oslo as Norway snatched a 2-2 draw at home to Scandinavian rivals Denmark.

The Danes looked to have kicked off their qualifying campaign with a famous victory after AC Milan striker Jon Dahl Tomasson scored in each half to cancel out John Arne Riise's 54th-minute leveller.

But Valencia striker John Carew headed home in the 93rd minute to take the pressure off under-fire Norway coach Nils Johan Semb and leave the visitors shell-shocked.

In Osijek, Croatia coach Otto Baric was left scratching his head after his new-look side stalled to a disappointing goalless draw against Estonia.

The Croatians controlled the match against Arno Pijpers' hard-working side for long spells but lacked power up front without injured Middlesbrough striker Alen Boksic and a host of first-team regulars.

World Cup finalists Germany had no such trouble though as they ran out comfortable 2-0 winners against Lithuania in Kaunas.

Bayern Munich midfielder Michael Ballack produced a trademark thunderbolt to give the Germans the lead after 26 minutes and an own goal from Marius Stankevicius in the 59th minute settled matters.

There were red faces in Yereven as Armenia came back from two goals down to stun 10-man Ukraine and snatch a point in an entertaining Group 6 clash. The hosts looked dead and buried at the break after first-half strikes from Serhei Serebrennikov and Hennadiy Zubov put the visitors in control. The Armenians came out revitalised in the second half, though, and hit back through Artur Petrosyan in the 74th minute before Albert Sarkisyan fired home a late penalty.

Two penalties from veteran midfielder Andreas Herzog sealed a hard-fought 2-0 victory for Austria against Moldova in Vienna. The 33-year-old Rapid Vienna stalwart, who was dropped for last month's 3-2 friendly loss to Switzerland, netted after four and 30 minutes in his 97th international.

World Cup semi-finalists Turkey opened their qualifying campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Slovakia in Istanbul. Arif Erdem notched a double after Serhat had put the Turks ahead, and Senol Gunes' men were rarely troubled against a poor Slovakia side bereft of attacking ideas and without a cutting edge up front due to the absence of striker Szilard Nemeth.

Slovenia enjoyed a 3-0 win as well, sweeping aside Malta at the Central Stadium in Ljubljana. An own goal by Darren Debono set the Slovenians on their way with strikes from Ermin Siljak and Sebastijan Cimerotic sealing the points for Bojan Prasnikar's men.

Italy, finalists at the last European Championships, also got off to a winning start but they needed a piece of Alessandro Del Piero magic and an own goal to see off plucky Azerbaijan 2-0 in Baku.

The Azzurri took the lead in the 34th minute when midfielder Damiano Tommasi's cross from the right proved too difficult for Tarlan Akhmedov to deal with and he ended up planting the ball beyond his own goalkeeper.

And the points were secured when dead-ball specialist Del Piero, who had earlier hit the woodwork from a similar situation, conjured up another piece of free-kick artistry to put Italy 2-0 up after 64 minutes.

Bulgaria made the most of a below-par Belgium side to record a fine 2-0 win in Brussels. After a scrappy opening, the visitors broke from the back to take the lead in the 16th minute when Stilian Petrov raced down the left flank and fired in a low cross for the unmarked Zoran Jankovic to bundle home. The points were secured in the second half when Krassimir Balakov rolled his free-kick to Petrov, whose shot took a wicked deflection off Yves Vanderhaeghe and into the net. There was also something of a surprise in Riga where Latvia held Sweden to a goalless draw.

A strong performance from Holland saw them sweep aside Belarus in Eindhoven. The 3-0 win was the perfect start to their qualifying campaign and for coach Dick Advocaat and his assistant Willem van Hanegem the victory saw them extend their unbeaten run since taking over.

And the Dutch were hungry for goals from the off, creating numerous chances before Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert handed them a comfortable half-time lead. Substitute Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink completed the scoring in the 70th minute, smashing home from close-range after Kluivert had headed through Rafael van der Vaart's cross.

Spain coach Inaki Saez was a happy man after goals from Real Madrid marksman Raul and Juan Carlos Valeron gave his side a 2-0 victory over Greece in Athens.

''Greece were quite good but our performance in general was not as good as I expected,'' he said.

''The most important thing for us is the away win.

''We played better and we showed mainly in defence that we were very effective. We not only played well but satisfied our supporters with this very positive result.''

In Kosovo, Romania cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Bosnia Herzegovina thanks to goals from Christian Chivu, Vlad Munteanu and Ioan Ganea, while Poland picked up an unconvincing 2-0 win over Group 4 minnows San Marino, Pawel Kaczorowski and Mariusz Kukielka the men on the scoresheet.