France rebound with impressive win

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TBILISI, Georgia -- World Cup runners-up France began the post-Zinedine Zidane era in impressive fashion by crushing Georgia 3-0 in their opening Euro 2008 qualifier.

Playing their first official match without their inspirational playmaker who retired after the World Cup final in July, the French struck twice in the first 15 minutes to silence a capacity 55,000-strong home crowd.

Scotland top the group after blitzing the Faroe Islands 6-0 in their opening qualifier at Celtic Park for their biggest win for 37 years.

Florent Malouda opened the scoring for France after seven minutes when he surprised keeper Grigol Chanturia with a 20-meter drive.

Louis Saha doubled the lead with another low blast after a neat feed from Thierry Henry eight minutes later.

The visitors made it 3-0 less than a minute after the break. Georgia fullback Malkhaz Asatiani inadvertently directed the ball into his own net, although Henry was said to be claiming the goal.

The Georgians, under new German manager Klaus Toppmoeller, thrashed Faroe Islands 6-0 in their opener two weeks ago.

But their game plan quickly turned sour as the French took control of the match, played in hot and humid conditions.

Georgia, missing captain Kakha Kaladze and fellow fullback Levan Tskitishvili through injury, appealed for a penalty midway through the first half when Shota Arveladze went down after a challenge from William Gallas but it was waved away by Dutch referee Jan Wegereef.

Urged on by a raucous home crowd including President Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia tried to penetrate a tight French defence in the second half to salvage some pride.

Their best chance came five minutes from time but Giorgi Demetradze's free kick hit the crossbar.

France midfielder Claude Makelele, recalled against his will last week, was included in the starting line-up.

France now take on Italy in a rematch of the World Cup final at Paris' Stade de France in their next qualifier on September 6 while Georgia travel to Ukraine.

Poor start for world champions

World champions Italy made a stuttering start to their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign when they were held to a shock 1-1 draw by Lithuania.

First-half goals by Lithuania striker Tomas Danilevicius and Italy's Filippo Inzaghi cancelled each other out and put a dampener on the party atmosphere inside the San Paolo stadium.

About 60,000 spectators had gathered to celebrate the Azzurri's first competitive outing since they beat France on penalties in the World Cup final on July 9 in Berlin.

Flashbulbs, klaxons and a deafening cheer greeted the arrival of Italy's World Cup heroes when they ran on to the pitch to start their warm-up an hour before kickoff.

The team's Naples-born captain, Fabio Cannavaro, was applauded every time he approached the stands and the World Cup trophy was taken on a lap of honor atop a blue sportscar.

But the party atmosphere almost spluttered out in the face of the visitors' determination to show they had no intention of acting as the world champions' whipping boys.

As Italy struggled to find their rhythm, Lithuania created a series of chances culminating in a 21st minute counter-attack that saw midfielder Deividas Cesnauskis cutt the ball back for Danilevicius to fire into the bottom corner of the net.

Italy's blushes were spared by Antonio Cassano, returning to the national team after a 15-month absence, who combined with Simone Perrotta down the left before rolling the ball across the face of goal for the 33-year-old Inzaghi to poke home.

Cassano almost added a second goal shortly before halftime when he dribbled into the area and unleashed a shot that keeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas did well to push on to his post.

Both teams went close to scoring early in the second half as Inzaghi narrowly failed to connect with a Massimo Oddo cross and Lithuania midfielder Mantas Savenas conjured up a swerving long-range effort that Italy's Gianluigi Buffon punched away.

The Italians, though, were tightening their grip on the contest.

Karcemarskas did well to jab an Inzaghi shot wide with his foot and Cassano conjured up another magic moment in the 75th minute, jinking left and right to shake off his marker before crossing low for Inzaghi, who scooped over from inside the box.

Italy's final chance came in the last minute when Tomas Tamosauskas cleared Alberto Gilardino's header off the line.

Italy's disappointing night had one extenuating circumstance.

The late start to the season caused by the legal battles from the Serie A match-fixing scandal led coach Roberto Donadoni to leave out several players, including strikers Luca Toni and Alessandro Del Piero, who he felt were short of match fitness.

Even so, it will increase pressure on the team to perform better in their next qualifier, the mouthwatering re-run of the World Cup final against France.

The result also raised some skeletons in Italy's closet. The last time they were crowned world champions, back in 1982, they went seven matches and 15 months before winning another match and failed to qualifying for Euro 1984.

Scotland hammer Faroes

Meanwhile, Scotland led 5-0 at halftime with goals from Darren Fletcher, Kris Boyd, two, James McFadden and Kenny Miller before 50,103 fans in Glasgow.

Substitute Garry O'Connor added the sixth four minutes from time.

Manchester United midfielder Fletcher began the rout by knocking a four meter shot into the net after seven minutes.

Everton's McFadden made it 2-0 with a magnficient low, curling effort into the far corner from the edge of the box three minutes later.

Boyd squeezed home a 24th minute penalty between the left post and diving goalkeeper Jakup Mikkelsen and five minutes later Kenny Miller saw his tame spot-kick squirm under the keeper for the fourth.

Boyd ran free to score the fifth seven minutes from the interval after Mikkelsen blocked his first shot 12 meters out.

O'Connor drilled the sixth goal home after 86 minutes from 15 meters.

The 6-0 victory is the Scots best win since they beat Cyprus 8-0 at home in a World Cup qualifier in 1969.

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