Advocaat spots Dutch 'problems'

Holland coach Dick Advocaat watched his side fight back from a goal down to beat Moldova in Tiraspol but was less than pleased.

Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy was on target after Vadim Boret had stunned the visitors by opening the scoring on 17 minutes.

Van Nistelrooy continued his prolific season when he drew the Dutch level seven minutes before the break.

PSV Eindhoven midfielder Mark van Bommel struck the winner with six minutes left to keep up Dick Advocaat’s side’s challenge in Group Three.

However, Advocaat said: “It was a stupid game. There were lots of problems with the Dutch team, we didn’t look ready to play.

“It was a very bad start for my team, I am satisfied with the final score,” he added.

The Czech Republic remain top of the group after a comfortable 4-0 win over Austria in Prague, giant striker Jan Koller on target in each half.

Defending champions France were made to battle before securing a narrow win over Israel in Palermo.

France, who went into the match on the back of four consecutive wins in Group 1, found themselves behind inside two minutes when Omri Afek slotted home.

But Juventus striker David Trezeguet equalised midway through the half before captain Zinedine Zidane netted what proved to be the winner on the stroke of half-time.

Slovenia moved back into contention for a play-off place after a convincing 4-1 victory over Cyprus in Ljubljana.

Norway took advantage of Denmark’s shock home defeat to Bosnia to move to the top of Group 2 after a 2-0 win in Luxembourg.

Sigurd Rushfeldt and Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were the goalscorers.

First-half goals from Sergei Barbarez and Elvir Baljic handed Bosnia their unexpected win in Copenhagen.

In Group 4, a goal in each half from Aston Villa’s Marcus Allback earned Sweden their first win of the qualifying campaign in Hungary.

Poland recorded a comfortable 5-0 victory over minnows San Marino in Ostrowiec.

Croatia leapfrogged Belgium into second place in Group 8 after a 2-0 win over Andorra in Varazdin, while Bulgaria’s 100% record was ended in Tallinn as they were held by Estonia.

In the other game in England’s group, Slovakia beat Liechtenstein 4-0 in Trnava, Middlesbrough’s Szilard Nemeth helping himself to a brace.

Group 10 leaders Switzerland failed to match the Ireland’s victory in Tbilisi on Saturday after they were held to a goalless draw by Georgia.

Euro 2004 hosts Portugal beat Macedonia 1-0 courtesy of Luis Figo’s first-half strike in a friendly at Lausanne.

Spain tightened their grip on Group 6 with a 3-0 win over Armenia in Leon.

All the goals came in the second half, with Diego Tristan, Ivan Helguera and Joaquin on the scoresheet.