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| Iceland's Eidur Gudjohnsen (L)
celebrates with his team mate Heidar Helguson after scoring against
Italy during their friendly match at the Laugardalsvollur Stadium in
Reykjavik August 18, 2004.
(Reuters) |
Iceland scored one of the biggest upsets in their history when they beat Italy
2-0 in a friendly international on Wednesday on a day that marked the
start of the new international season.
While Italy were losing their first match under new coach Marcello
Lippi, Germany began their new era under Juergen Klinsmann with a 3-1 win
over Austria in Vienna with Kevin Kuranyi scoring a hat-trick.
England, getting back to soccer after a summer dominated by
tabloid headlines focusing on
the private life of coach Sven Goran Eriksson, crushed Ukraine 3-0 in
Newcastle with newly-united Real Madrid team mates David Beckham and
Michael Owen scoring England's opening two goals. Debutant Shaun Wright-Phillips added the
third.
 The Netherlands, starting life under Marco van Basten, performed
creditably against Sweden in Stockholm, leaving with a 2-2 draw, but
former European champions France, also beginning a new era with coach
Raymond Domenech, did not fare so well, their new-look side only drawing
1-1 with Bosnia in Rennes.
There was also a shock for Turkey, World Cup semi-finalists just two
years ago. After failing to qualify for Euro 2004 and having to watch
arch-rivals Greece win it, Turkey started the season with a shock 2-1 home
defeat to lowly-ranked Belarus.
Greece, who inherited the European title from the French in Portugal
last month, drew 0-0 with the Czech Republic in Prague, the country they
beat 1-0 with a silver-goal winner in the semi-finals of Euro 2004 just
over six weeks ago.
Denmark scored a one-sided 5-1 win over Poland in Poznan with Peter
Madsen scoring a hat-trick, while Russia edged a seven-goal thriller 4-3 against Lithuania in Moscow
with Victor Onopko making a record 113th appearance for the home side.
Meanwhile Spain, with 66-year-old Luis Aragones at the helm for the first time, beat
Venezuela 3-2 in Las Palmas with Fernando Morientes opening the scoring
and Raul Tamudo scoring twice in the second half.
 Elsewhere, there was an emphatic 6-0 win by world champions Brazil
in their "peace match" against Haiti in Port-au-Prince with Ronaldinho
spearheading their victory with a hat-trick.
Earlier in the day, Argentina beat newly-crowned Asian champions Japan
2-1 in Shizuoka -- their seventh successive win over the Japanese since
they first met in 1988.
For most of the European countries, Wednesday's games were their only
warm-ups before their World Cup qualifiers begin early next month, but
four European zone World Cup qualifiers were played.
In Group One, Macedonia beat Armenia 3-0 and Romania beat Finland 2-1
while in Group Three, Estonia won 2-1 away to Liechtenstein, who finished
the match with nine men, while Slovakia beat Luxembourg 3-1.
Apart from Belarus's unexpected win over Turkey, the biggest shock of
the night was in Reykjavik where Iceland beat Italy thanks to goals from
Eidur Gudjohnsen after 17 minutes and Gylfi Einarsson two minutes later.
Although the domestic Icelandic season is in full swing and the Italian season does
not start until the middle of next month, the result was still a surprise.
Italy will need to improve quickly before they start their World Cup
qualifiers against Norway on September 4 and away to Moldova four days
later.
Iceland, whose soccer has improved over the last few years taking them
close at least to the playoffs for Euro 2004 late last year, were far more
lively than a young Italian side and made up in enthusiasm and team work
for anything they may have lacked in skills to the delight of the 20,034
crowd, a record for a home Iceland international.
They start their World Cup campaign against Bulgaria on September 4
before meeting Hungary four days later and will be heartened by their
victory.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-08-19 16:47