Narrow margins boost Euro giants’ World Cup dreams

PARIS – Former champions England, France and Italy all avoided potentially dangerous away day traps to keep their World Cup campaigns firmly on track Wednesday with narrow victories.

England defeated Poland 2-1, France saw off the Faroes 2-0 while Italy came away from Moldova with a 1-0 victory on a packed night of qualifiers across Europe. In Chorzow, Jermain Defoe celebrated his first international start with a superbly taken goal as England hauled their World Cup qualifying campaign out of the mire with a gritty 2-1 win over Poland.Lambasted after throwing away a two-goal lead against Austria in their opening Group Six match on Saturday, England went into the match knowing another shambolic display could cost Sven-Goran Eriksson his job as head coach.Their response was a mature performance, Eriksson’s men declining to panic when Maciej Zurawski cancelled out Defoe’s first half effort shortly after the break.They went on to clinch a deserved victory courtesy of Akradiusz Glowacki knocking the ball past his own goalkeeper, Jerzy Dudek.Austria’s 2-0 home win over Azerbaijan puts then top of the table with only the eight group winners in Europe guaranteed places in the finals in Germany in 2006.France coach Raymond Domenech said his team had to show more commitment after their 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands in Torshavn which was marred by the expulsion of captain Patrick Vieria for diving.Goals either side of half-time from Ludovic Giuly and Djibril Cisse handed France the vital three points to keep the wheels on their campaign after a 0-0 draw with Israel on Saturday.Italy’s campaign gathered momentum despite a scrappy 1-0 win away to Group Five rivals Moldova.Pierre van Hooijdonk ensured Marco van Basten enjoyed his first competitive match as coach of the Netherlands producing both goals in their 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Amsterdam.Elsewhere, Switzerland and Ireland battled to a 1-1 draw in Basel in Group Four to join France and Israel on four points from two matches.In Glasgow, Scotland were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Slovenia which piled further pressure on manager Berti Vogts.Despite a promising start to the game with early chances for James McFadden and Darren Fletcher, they were forced to hang on in the second half with Slovenia unlucky not to win the match.German World Cup winner Vogts was hoping to pick up all three points to get the qualifying campaign off to a flying start and to ease the criticism directed towards him, but as the final whistle blew, there were boos from the 33,000 crowd.There was plenty of action in Cardiff where Northern Ireland and Wales, both in England’s group, drew 2-2 in a game which saw three players sent off.- Nampa-ReutersIn Chorzow, Jermain Defoe celebrated his first international start with a superbly taken goal as England hauled their World Cup qualifying campaign out of the mire with a gritty 2-1 win over Poland.Lambasted after throwing away a two-goal lead against Austria in their opening Group Six match on Saturday, England went into the match knowing another shambolic display could cost Sven-Goran Eriksson his job as head coach.Their response was a mature performance, Eriksson’s men declining to panic when Maciej Zurawski cancelled out Defoe’s first half effort shortly after the break.They went on to clinch a deserved victory courtesy of Akradiusz Glowacki knocking the ball past his own goalkeeper, Jerzy Dudek.Austria’s 2-0 home win over Azerbaijan puts then top of the table with only the eight group winners in Europe guaranteed places in the finals in Germany in 2006.France coach Raymond Domenech said his team had to show more commitment after their 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands in Torshavn which was marred by the expulsion of captain Patrick Vieria for diving.Goals either side of half-time from Ludovic Giuly and Djibril Cisse handed France the vital three points to keep the wheels on their campaign after a 0-0 draw with Israel on Saturday.Italy’s campaign gathered momentum despite a scrappy 1-0 win away to Group Five rivals Moldova.Pierre van Hooijdonk ensured Marco van Basten enjoyed his first competitive match as coach of the Netherlands producing both goals in their 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Amsterdam.Elsewhere, Switzerland and Ireland battled to a 1-1 draw in Basel in Group Four to join France and Israel on four points from two matches.In Glasgow, Scotland were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Slovenia which piled further pressure on manager Berti Vogts.Despite a promising start to the game with early chances for James McFadden and Darren Fletcher, they were forced to hang on in the second half with Slovenia unlucky not to win the match.German World Cup winner Vogts was hoping to pick up all three points to get the qualifying campaign off to a flying start and to ease the criticism directed towards him, but as the final whistle blew, there were boos from the 33,000 crowd.There was plenty of action in Cardiff where Northern Ireland and Wales, both in England’s group, drew 2-2 in a game which saw three players sent off.- Nampa-Reuters