October 18, 2002	Friday	Sha'aban 11, 1423

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PARIS, Oct 17: German coach Rudi Voller put it into words — though perhaps he was only being wise after the event — but there really are no easy games in European football any more, something England’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italy’s Giovanni Trapattoni know to their cost after stumbling in Wednesday’s Euro 2004 qualifiers (partly reported in Thursday’s edition).

Voller wore the smile of a man who knew his side had got out of jail after a 2-1 win over the Faroe Islands in Hanover.

But England and Italy were wiping egg off their faces after Eriksson’s men could only draw 2-2 at home to Macedonia at Southampton — twice coming from a goal down — while the Italians scored their habitual one goal, but conceded two, in going down 2-1 to Wales in Cardiff.

So it appears the bookies are on to a winner by making defending champions France their clear favourites, not just to qualify but to win the tournament.

The French, having thrashed Slovenia 5-0 at the Stade de France on Saturday, let Malta off with a 4-0 beating on Wednesday in Valletta, although even they started with the narrowest of wins in Cyprus.

And England’s Group 7 rivals Turkey crushed Liechtenstein 5-0 in Istanbul to go five points clear — though England have a game in hand.

England’s dismal result was the most incomprehensible of the lot, Macedonia did after all equally draw at ultra-minnows Liechtenstein so were hardly expected to survive on their first appearance against the former world champions.

Macedonia were worth their point which goalkeeper Petar Milosevski saved for them with an excellent save from Alan Smith in the dying seconds.

Veteran keeper David Seaman was rooted to the spot as Artim Sakiri’s corner flew straight into the far corner of the England net on 11 minutes for shades of Brazil’s Ronaldinho, who caught Seaman out with a free-kick at the World Cup.

England levelled three minutes later when Paul Scholes’ pass caught the Macedonian back four napping and David Beckham chipped home over Milosevski.

Yet the confident Macedonians went ahead again on 25 minutes when Sol Campbell only half cleared a Sakiri effort and Vanco Trajanov swept the rebound home.

Steven Gerrard volleyed a second equaliser after 36 minutes but even if the storm had passed they were unable to make their experience tell in the second period.

If Eriksson will wake up to face the fury of the tabloids Trapattoni could wake up with his head on the chopping block after Italy crashed at the Millennium stadium in a Welsh performance of the Millennium.

Wales coach Mark Hughes has vowed to make the Welsh a team to be reckoned with and they began with a fine win in Finland, not a result to send shockwaves around Europe but a start. Wales 2 Italy 1 was a result which sent seismic shocks around the continent.

Simon Davies fired Hughes’ men into a 12th-minute lead but Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero whipped in a deflected free kick on 32 minutes.

That setback only kindled Welsh fire and Newcastle forward Craig Bellamy, denied the chance through suspension to outshine Del Piero in the Champions League, did so with the winner, outsprinting Alessandro Nesta before rounding keeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Wales now lead the group as Yugoslavia, 2-0 winners over Finland in Belgrade, dropped two points in Italy, now two points off the pace.

Ireland were another side along with England and Italy to experience a miserable evening as they bowed 2-1 to Switzerland for their second straight Group 10 loss which piles the pressure on under-fire coach Mick McCarthy.

A 45th-minute effort from Hakan Yakin late strike from substitute Fabio Celestini did the damage at Lansdowne Road with Ludovic Magnin putting through his own goal for the Irish.

Russia lead the group after beating Albania 4-1.

France are sailing through Group 1 after Thierry Henry scored twice and Sylvain Wiltord and Eric Carriere added two more after the break against outclassed Malta, normally bracketed alngside Macedonia in footballing terms as well as FIFA’s alphabetical classification.

Wednesday’s collated results: