Slovakia hit five past sorry Wales

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CARDIFF. Wales -- Slovakia condemned Wales to their heaviest home defeat since 1908 with a 5-1 Euro 2008 Group D qualifying win in Cardiff.

Dusan Galis' side took the lead through Dusan Svento and Marek Mintal added a pair of long-range strikes either side of a Gareth Bale goal for Wales before Miroslav Karhan and Robert Vittek sealed the rout.

Slovakia had already demonstrated their attacking power with a 6-1 win against Cyprus in their opening qualifier before losing to the Czech Republic, but this was a far more impressive result against a talented young Welsh team.

John Toshack's team enjoyed the majority of the possession in the early stages without creating a serious threat to Slovakia and the visitors took the lead with their first attack in the 14th minute.

Vittek turned Lewin Nyatanga on the edge of the Welsh penalty area before drilling a low cross to the far post, where Svento held off Richard Duffy and side-footed his shot past Paul Jones from close range.

Wales striker Rob Earnshaw forced Kamil Contofalsky into action for the first time with a snap-shot, but Toshack's side had been rocked by that early goal and were unable to regain control of the match.

Their main problem was the failure of Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy, captaining Wales for the first time in the absence of Ryan Giggs, to make any impact on a resolute Slovakian defence.

Welsh goalkeeper Jones was making his 50th appearance but he won't have fond memories of the day after his horrendous blunder gifted Slovakia a second goal in the 32nd minute.

There appeared to be no danger when Jones came out of his penalty area to clear a loose ball, but the QPR player scuffed his kick straight to Mintal, who worked enough space to curl a superb strike back over the stranded keeper and into the net.

Wales responded well to that blow and reduced the deficit in the 36th minute thanks to a stunning free-kick from their youngest ever player.

Bale, a 17-year-old Cardiff-born left-back, has earned a reputation as a set-piece specialist at Southampton and he showed why with a magnificent strike that flashed into the top corner of Contofalsky's goal from 20 yards.

But just when they had given themselves hope of a comeback, Wales were caught out again as Slovakia restored their two-goal advantage just 90 seconds later.

Mintal's first goal had shown his ability from long-range but the Welsh defence obviously had not taken note as, when the Nurnberg player received possession 25 yards out, they backed off and allowed the striker to pick his spot as he drove a blistering shot past Jones.

Any chance of a Wales revival after the break was snuffed out in the 51st minute as Slovakia increased their lead further with another goal that raised doubts about Jones.

The 39-year-old was caught flat-footed by Karhan's looping shot from just outside the penalty area after Jan Kozak's short corner exposed Wales' lack of concentration.

Karhan's strike sailed over Jones' head and into the net even though the goalkeeper seemed in position to tip it over.

But Galis's side were not finished yet and piled on the embarrassment for Wales with a fifth goal in the 59th minute.

Svento made a run down the left and whipped in a precise cross to Vittek, who had the simple task of burying his shot into the net as the Wales defence disappeared again.

Wales will try to bounce back against Cyprus at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday, while Slovakia host Germany.

Ireland stunned by Cyprus

Meanwhile, Cyprus humbled Ireland's Premiership stars with a shock 5-2 victory in another Group D qualifier in Nicosia.

For so long the whipping-boys of international football, Cyprus produced a result and a performance that will make the rest of Europe stand up and take notice.

Smarting from a 6-1 drubbing against Slovakia, this was not the time for a depleted Ireland side to be playing the Cypriots.

Although the score was 2-2 at halftime, Cyprus came out after the interval firing on all cylinders, rocking the Irish back on their heels. Ireland looked shaky in defence and could not ride their good fortune for the full 90 minutes.

The visitors struggled to contain an attack-minded Cyprus that needed no excuse to run at a mistake-prone Irish defence, lacking the dependability of Newcastle pair Shay Given and Stephen Carr.

They were undone by man-of-the-match Michalis Konstantinou who scored a brace and hit the woodwork while causing panic in the Irish backline.

Ireland opened the scoring on eight minutes when an unmarked Stephen Ireland, making his first start for in a green jersey, volleyed into the left-hand corner of the net.

The visitors did not enjoy the lead for very long, though, before Cyprus' top scorer Konstantinou slotted home past keeper Paddy Kenny after the defence failed to clear.

The equaliser pumped renewed confidence into the home side who took a deserved lead on 16 minutes when Alexis Garpozi again capitalised on poor defending and flicked a header past the on-rushing keeper.

It could have been three goals for Cyprus in the opening twenty minutes but a Constantine Makridis lob over Kenny bounced the wrong side of the upright.

Soon after it was the Irish cursing their luck when a close-range Robbie Keane header struck the woodwork.

As Ireland pressed for an equaliser Clinton Morrison saw a shot cleared off the line by Lambros Lambrou.

However, with the game becoming increasingly stretched, the Irish hit back with a sucker punch as Manchester City defender Richard Dunne ghosted in from a Damien Duff corner to score with a bullet header on 43 minutes.

Incredibly, Cyprus almost took the lead again on the stroke of half-time through Konstantinou, but the Olympiakos ace saw a 12-yard volley rattle the crossbar.

It was a different game after half-time. The home side were awarded a penalty when Aloneftis was hacked down by John O'Shea.

Konstanintou stroked the spot-kick past Kenny.

Then it was the turn of substitute Costas Charalambides to make a double contribution. He finished off some smart inter-play that bamboozled the Irish and then slotted a second after Kenny pushed out a Konstantinou header on 75 minutes.

Cyprus had never beaten Ireland in a competitive fixture or scored a goal against them for 26 years.

Moreover, the makeweights of European football had not beaten a team ranked higher than them in a qualifying group since 1999.

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